Thursday, 11 November 2010
IBM South Bank building
IBM South Bank buildingINTERNATIONAL BUSINESS SCHOOL UNICORE: TEH ANTI KOLESTROL
Wednesday, 10 November 2010
Islam homework
1)Add link to revolutionmuslim.com to your blogs
Find 3 other websites that represent Islam, Aim for varying or even conflicting representations.
2) Add links to 3websites that describe/ infrom us about "The Hamburg Cell" (Channel 4 docu - drama)
Due next lesson. Wednesay morning.
http://www.revolutionmuslim.com/
websites what represent Islam!..
http://www.doveworld.org/the-sign
http://www.ummah.com/waragainstislam/
http://www.islamophobia-watch.com/
That decribe/ inform us about 'The Hmburg Cell'
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamburg_cell
Find 3 other websites that represent Islam, Aim for varying or even conflicting representations.
2) Add links to 3websites that describe/ infrom us about "The Hamburg Cell" (Channel 4 docu - drama)
Due next lesson. Wednesay morning.
http://www.revolutionmuslim.com/
websites what represent Islam!..
http://www.doveworld.org/the-sign
http://www.ummah.com/waragainstislam/
http://www.islamophobia-watch.com/
That decribe/ inform us about 'The Hmburg Cell'
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamburg_cell
Saturday, 23 October 2010
Analyse the ways in which the media represents women.
I have chosen to focus on the representation of woman in Britain, using contemporary British film as a case study. I will examine wasp and fish tank by Andrea Arnold. I will also consider feminist theories of gender and Althusser's theory of Interpellation in my answer.
Historically female characters have been represented as the curtailing wives, prospective wives or married lovers for the central male characters ambitions perhaps most notably in 'A kind of Loving' and 'Saturday Night, Sunday Morning'. Of course there were exceptions of course. New Realism is a contemporary movement in British film directors, such as Andrea Arnold aim to produce "a more truthful cinema" We may assume that a more truthful representation of women is a particular goal. Arnold has used the rules of Dogme 95 ("The vows of Chasity") - developed with Danish Director Lars von Trier - to achieve this; Her representations are shaped by all Filming must be done on location. Props and sets must not be brought in, Only Diegetic sound to be used The camera must be hand-held; filming must take place where the action takes place,The film must be in colour. No special lighting, Optical work and filters are forbidden, No superficial action (No murders, weapons, etc.), No temporal or geographical alienation, No genre movies, the aspect ratio must be 4:3, not widescreen and the director must not be credited.
Andrea Arnold uses the ‘Vows of Chastity in Wasp to present British women as trapped by their domestic lives. Andrea has carefully chosen locations of shots, of high run down blocks of flats, stair cases cramped and doomy, a shot of a locked gate, all suggest to the audience that Zoe is trapped, with the majority of the shots, with the children close by. That she always has to look after them, not allowing her to have a life outside of them, any freedom away from them. The audience is made to feel both sorry and annoyed at Zoe. They feel sorry that shes in this situation and we can associate with her, that she lacks personal freedom, But The audience also feels that if she wants to have children then she has a responsibility to look after them to put them first.
In Fish Tank and Wasp, the mothers are both single mothers bringing up children with very little Money and will often be considered as being neglectful to their children. They do not feel that they themselves have given the children a bad upbringing, but will blame everything else including their own children on the situation. In FT in the closing scenes, the audience see Mia farewell to the family, the mother is portrayed as uncaring “Haven’t you gone yet” and just dances while drinking and smoking as Mia says Goodbye, She doesn’t even see her off to the car” while in Fish tank the Mother chooses to attend a date with a Man, than too look after the children who are left outside. In earlier scenes we saw that the children were hungry, but were fed with a bag of sugar between them, but during the date we see the Mum using all of her money to buy a round of drinks than to use the money to pay for the children to have a meal. Also During a sequence in Fish Tank, Mias family are driven to the family by Connor, where it could be considered that sexual rivalry is present between mother and daughter. Sigmund Freud Oedipal triangle, which states that The daughter is jealous of the Mum and wants to be loved by the Mums lover, while the Mum is Jealous of the daughter, as she is ‘the younger version’ of her and feels threatened by her own daughter. In a dramatic twist in Fish Tank, at the discovery of Conors hidden life, Mia takes the extreme unthinkable measure of kidnapping Conors daughter, this in turn, transforms Mia into a Mother figure to the girl, A mother is meant to take care of the child, to look after and to protect, but Mia transforms to her own harmful mother role. In a turn of events Mia does in anger throw the daughter into the water, however this brought out the caring mother of Mia, to save her and to hug her after and takes her home.
Although the portrayal of the failing mothers is not shown through out the film and it can be argued that they are caring mothers, especially in wasp. When the mother brings food to the children outside the pub, with the pubs music playing. She dances with the children, to try and keep them entertained, and to show that she is still thinking of them, as she tells them that she told the DJ to play that song for them. Although left out, the mother feels the children will be more secure at the pub, so that they can come and get her if needed, rather than just leaving them at home alone. This is also emphasised during the scene with the Wasp. The caring mother in her even though not revealing the real reason persuades the date to not drive anywhere from the pub and when the Children scream, she runs out to them, to help them and look after them. The audience feels sympathy for Zoe at this point, that she really does care, but she doesn’t have the help she needs to provide her children with the best care, but the love for them is clear.
In these 2 case studies, it is often evident that the Children are the main carers for the family. In Fish tank, we have this idea that Mia and her sister don’t have a good relationship, that they don’t care for each other. However in the goodbye scene the audience witnesses a change in attitude to each other, the love and the cheekyness, that Mia sister really looks up to her and that Mia really cares for her. This is also evident in Wasp with Kelly, the eldest sister caring for the other children, sharing the food between them equally, while the Mother is inside. She wants to fix the hunger the siblings are feeling, so acts herself in order to look after them.
Winship (2008) states that the predominant view of women in the media is constructed by a male prospectus. This is known as the male gaze, so dominant is the male gaze that women are complicit, defining themselves according to what Men want, so are often portrayed as sex objects, that feel pressured to look like how Men want to view them . E.g. Sexually. When for casting for the lead actress in “MorvernCallar” the director purposely chose someone she thought looked like they could work in a supermarket and who looked bit bored in their picture. This allows us as the audience to focus more on the plot of the film and also allows us to connect their lives with ones similar in real life. Though in the films I watched the women selected are purposely chosen not to look as though they were fashion models, instead they were meant to look like the sorts of people you would expect to see living in council blocks. This allows us as the audience to focus more on the plot of the film and also allows us to connect their lives with ones similar in real life. We do see in “Fish Tank” the male gaze when Mia dances for Conor, which then ends up in the pair having sex, this was also shown earlier in the film with Mias mother and Conor at the flat party, again this similarity is seen in ‘Wasp’ with Zoe comparing herself to Victoria Beckham and Dave – David Beckham. In preparation for the date, Mia dresses up in clothes than a Man would like to see a woman wear.
Historically female characters have been represented as the curtailing wives, prospective wives or married lovers for the central male characters ambitions perhaps most notably in 'A kind of Loving' and 'Saturday Night, Sunday Morning'. Of course there were exceptions of course. New Realism is a contemporary movement in British film directors, such as Andrea Arnold aim to produce "a more truthful cinema" We may assume that a more truthful representation of women is a particular goal. Arnold has used the rules of Dogme 95 ("The vows of Chasity") - developed with Danish Director Lars von Trier - to achieve this; Her representations are shaped by all Filming must be done on location. Props and sets must not be brought in, Only Diegetic sound to be used The camera must be hand-held; filming must take place where the action takes place,The film must be in colour. No special lighting, Optical work and filters are forbidden, No superficial action (No murders, weapons, etc.), No temporal or geographical alienation, No genre movies, the aspect ratio must be 4:3, not widescreen and the director must not be credited.
Andrea Arnold uses the ‘Vows of Chastity in Wasp to present British women as trapped by their domestic lives. Andrea has carefully chosen locations of shots, of high run down blocks of flats, stair cases cramped and doomy, a shot of a locked gate, all suggest to the audience that Zoe is trapped, with the majority of the shots, with the children close by. That she always has to look after them, not allowing her to have a life outside of them, any freedom away from them. The audience is made to feel both sorry and annoyed at Zoe. They feel sorry that shes in this situation and we can associate with her, that she lacks personal freedom, But The audience also feels that if she wants to have children then she has a responsibility to look after them to put them first.
In Fish Tank and Wasp, the mothers are both single mothers bringing up children with very little Money and will often be considered as being neglectful to their children. They do not feel that they themselves have given the children a bad upbringing, but will blame everything else including their own children on the situation. In FT in the closing scenes, the audience see Mia farewell to the family, the mother is portrayed as uncaring “Haven’t you gone yet” and just dances while drinking and smoking as Mia says Goodbye, She doesn’t even see her off to the car” while in Fish tank the Mother chooses to attend a date with a Man, than too look after the children who are left outside. In earlier scenes we saw that the children were hungry, but were fed with a bag of sugar between them, but during the date we see the Mum using all of her money to buy a round of drinks than to use the money to pay for the children to have a meal. Also During a sequence in Fish Tank, Mias family are driven to the family by Connor, where it could be considered that sexual rivalry is present between mother and daughter. Sigmund Freud Oedipal triangle, which states that The daughter is jealous of the Mum and wants to be loved by the Mums lover, while the Mum is Jealous of the daughter, as she is ‘the younger version’ of her and feels threatened by her own daughter. In a dramatic twist in Fish Tank, at the discovery of Conors hidden life, Mia takes the extreme unthinkable measure of kidnapping Conors daughter, this in turn, transforms Mia into a Mother figure to the girl, A mother is meant to take care of the child, to look after and to protect, but Mia transforms to her own harmful mother role. In a turn of events Mia does in anger throw the daughter into the water, however this brought out the caring mother of Mia, to save her and to hug her after and takes her home.
Although the portrayal of the failing mothers is not shown through out the film and it can be argued that they are caring mothers, especially in wasp. When the mother brings food to the children outside the pub, with the pubs music playing. She dances with the children, to try and keep them entertained, and to show that she is still thinking of them, as she tells them that she told the DJ to play that song for them. Although left out, the mother feels the children will be more secure at the pub, so that they can come and get her if needed, rather than just leaving them at home alone. This is also emphasised during the scene with the Wasp. The caring mother in her even though not revealing the real reason persuades the date to not drive anywhere from the pub and when the Children scream, she runs out to them, to help them and look after them. The audience feels sympathy for Zoe at this point, that she really does care, but she doesn’t have the help she needs to provide her children with the best care, but the love for them is clear.
In these 2 case studies, it is often evident that the Children are the main carers for the family. In Fish tank, we have this idea that Mia and her sister don’t have a good relationship, that they don’t care for each other. However in the goodbye scene the audience witnesses a change in attitude to each other, the love and the cheekyness, that Mia sister really looks up to her and that Mia really cares for her. This is also evident in Wasp with Kelly, the eldest sister caring for the other children, sharing the food between them equally, while the Mother is inside. She wants to fix the hunger the siblings are feeling, so acts herself in order to look after them.
Winship (2008) states that the predominant view of women in the media is constructed by a male prospectus. This is known as the male gaze, so dominant is the male gaze that women are complicit, defining themselves according to what Men want, so are often portrayed as sex objects, that feel pressured to look like how Men want to view them . E.g. Sexually. When for casting for the lead actress in “MorvernCallar” the director purposely chose someone she thought looked like they could work in a supermarket and who looked bit bored in their picture. This allows us as the audience to focus more on the plot of the film and also allows us to connect their lives with ones similar in real life. Though in the films I watched the women selected are purposely chosen not to look as though they were fashion models, instead they were meant to look like the sorts of people you would expect to see living in council blocks. This allows us as the audience to focus more on the plot of the film and also allows us to connect their lives with ones similar in real life. We do see in “Fish Tank” the male gaze when Mia dances for Conor, which then ends up in the pair having sex, this was also shown earlier in the film with Mias mother and Conor at the flat party, again this similarity is seen in ‘Wasp’ with Zoe comparing herself to Victoria Beckham and Dave – David Beckham. In preparation for the date, Mia dresses up in clothes than a Man would like to see a woman wear.
Monday, 30 August 2010
Chase idea
Patrick and I also discussed the possibility of a bomb and an explosion and how we could have a timer throughout the film, to build up tension. For this I need to practice with after effects on explosions..
Green screening
That is all.
Wednesday, 23 June 2010
General views of film posters before...
Romance:
An image of a couple together, comfortable looking
colours: Bright colours
white - purity, innocence
red- love
Horror:
unclear blurred image, tense moment
blood, monsters
colours: Dark
Black - Danger, death
Red - Blood
Action:
An action shot, of an explosion, flames, exciting, transport (helicopters)
busy, dark colours
Crime:
Guns, gangs, hidden identities, worn down environment, police, dark colours
Comedy:
A funny image, bright colours.
An image of a couple together, comfortable looking
colours: Bright colours
white - purity, innocence
red- love
Horror:
unclear blurred image, tense moment
blood, monsters
colours: Dark
Black - Danger, death
Red - Blood
Action:
An action shot, of an explosion, flames, exciting, transport (helicopters)
busy, dark colours
Crime:
Guns, gangs, hidden identities, worn down environment, police, dark colours
Comedy:
A funny image, bright colours.
Posters
Today I have been going through www.themovieinsider.com and going through the recent, current and upcoming film posters. I have been putting them all to a big powerpoint, trying to sort them out in to separate genres to make it easier for me to compare the similarities and differences in layout and styles of posters between genres. I'm going to try and make notes on as many posters as I can in the powerpoint so I get a better idea of what posters should involve.
Evidence of me doing a poster presentation
Evidence of me doing a poster presentation
Tuesday, 22 June 2010
Start of the A2 course
This week we have been informed of what the course involves over the next year, I will continue to use this blog to display my work. My first posts will be all to do with researching recent and current film projects ( trailers, posters, magazines and websites)
Tuesday, 11 May 2010
Friday, 7 May 2010
Main task evaluation
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge conventions of real media products?
District B13 is a typical example of an Action | Crime genre Set in the ghettos of Paris in 2010, an undercover cop and ex-thug try to infiltrate a gang in order to defuse a neutron bomb. The action is often fast paced and tense. In the chase scene, the camera durations are short and have a large variety this is conventional in film, as it adds pace to the running and urgency. Along with the Non diagteic music, which without the music it takes away the effect, the music actually makes the video work together. In our opening 2 minutes we wanted or even needed to incorporate for our film to look good. However the protagonist in District B13 an undercover cop goes against the convention of cops in films, conventionally we would normally be introduced to someone of such authority as in a suit, in a meeting etc where the audience would immediately made aware of his status. Whereas in District B13 we are introduced to him in a rundown block of flats, in tatty clothes, trying to dispose of drugs, which does not denote to the audience that he is an undercover police officer but actually the complete opposite. In our media product we keep mystery about the identities of the characters until midway through the film which builds up more suspense. The characters used were also carefully chosen, as the protagonist, the boy being chased was smaller and would be considered weaker than the chasers who are much larger. This keeps to conventions as changing this could possibly change the genre to a Comedy, if one person was chasing 2 or that the chasers are much more smaller than the person chasing, Being Male and involved in films is often the norm for crime films, women are considered innocent.
What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
The institution which is mostly likely to distribute our preliminary task is 'Film4', which is part of channel 4 which has its only film production company, film4 productions. It is quoted on their website "The Company develops and co-finances film productions and is known for working with the most innovative talent in the UK, whether new or established." This would fit our criteria they also fund Projects, which we would need. Another institution could be Universal pictures which produced such films as The Bourne Supremacy which incorporates a Foot Chase across the city of Berlin. It has several similarities to our film with the chase building up tension as it goes along, The protagonist also hides from the chasers and think he's escaped. Universal Pictures would be good as it is a well established production company what know what the audiences want and know how to produce good action films.
Bourne Supermacy http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E586mYraTUs
who would be the audience for your media project?
The audience we originally decided our product was for was 16-27, predominantly males. The final product we would say it's still around the same. However our original plan was to incorporate tense, potentially horrifying flashbacks of someone head being held under water, a girl tied up with a piercing scream and someone being thrown into a boot. Due to unforeseen circumstances, we were unable to put these into our film, which without, our age range may of slightly gone down to about 15- 25. We chose this age range because we could associate with this group and have similar views. It also would most likely be enjoyed by lower-middle class people, as things what happen in the film they could relate to in their own experiences of life around them.
How does your media product represent particular social groups?..
In our opening 2 minutes our characters are young teens, the audience automatically associates them with young gang crime, which in recent years has become a common news headline. Films often represent male teenagers being associated with crime. In our opening 2 minutes we have backed up this representation. With the chase, clearly not just a game but in fact that the guy being chased is In trouble. With the end of the chase ending with the protagonist getting knocked out with a D-lock what shows teens as violent criminal yobs.
How did you attract address your audience?
The start of a film goes straight into the action of the chase scene and the characters identity are kept mysterious, this creates a series of enigmas for the audience to think about ‘whats going on? Whys this person being chased? What’s going to happen to him? Etc. There is also dramatic tense music over the action, which adds to the suspense and suggests something bad is going to happen, we also end with the protagonist getting knocked out by a D-lock and then has the eyes opening as the final scene, this way it makes the audience question even more, “If this was a dream? Is this the same person waking up who was being chased? ” etc it keeps the audience engaged and wants to watch more, they want to find out what caused the chase, who are the characters and whats going to happen.
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
The main thing which is obvious in the film is the effective use of titles we used, I used Adobe after effects to make these, I had to learn about how to use 3d fonts, camera layers, stabilising motion and masking frame by frame so that the writing was strategically placed and so that the action took place in front of the text. We also had to find a suitable text which would suit our action, Windows fonts although many, there is little variation between them, so we had to download a font from a free website , we used a font called Philly Sans what was downloaded from dafonts.com. Which is a graffiti text. Making the titles took a lot of time and a lot of patience to get it right.
see more of how I made the titles at: http://cherwellmediamspringett5232.blogspot.com/2010/04/making-titles.html
We also discovered the difficulties of finding suitable copyright free music, we searched a variations of sites for free copyright free but google suggestions generally directed us to copyright free music, but which you had to pay for. The music from the start throughout the chase was "Killer" (www.freeplaymusic.com) then the heartbeat noise when Rory thinks he has escaped is called "Threatening Behaviour" (www.audio.lgfl.org.uk) and finally the "boom" sound at the end when the person opens his eyes is from iMovie. Music is a hard object to decide before the filming is complete. You can decide the type of music which could work, but not the actual piece of music to be used until the last thing.
Another major point is the realisation of how much minutes of raw footage we need to cut it down to make films work and how many hours it takes to film just 1 scene of a film and retakes needed. We originally filmed all the shots with me as the guy being chased, when editing it down we realised we needed more shots to link the scenes together, we also noticed that when played on the computer the scenes had more in than what the screen on the camera showed, so we planned a day to re-film some shots and do some extra ones to make the clips work well together. Unfortunately due to unforeseen circumstances the plans had to be radically changed when I was admitted into hospital, the group had to re-film all the shots we did with new characters. We had originally filmed most of the shots handheld which added to the effect, e.g tension, but they had to film with a tripod which made a steady shot. We could of maybe added a slight digital shake to add to the effect if we wanted to do so.
Looking back at the preliminary task what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
Our prelim and final task were filmed and edited in different ways, in our prelim we filmed indoors, with only diagetic sound of the doors, footsteps and conversation with no music. We also didnt have to worry so much about lighting, sound (wind against the cameras mic) or continuity factors like people walking in the shot. However in our final task these all became a factor, the light had to be the same throughout, we has to bear in mind that the audio will be effected by the wind, traffic, planes etc. We also had to take into consideration that there will be people walking around, getting in the shot, driving by etc. To try and quash these to the minimum, we filmed very early in the morning so that it wasn't sunny which would go against the conventions of our genre and so that very minimal people and cars were about. This still didnt help the quality of the audio so even though the sound of the running, gates banging etc may have added to the effect, the wind noise would of ruined the effect and just be like a home movie. That the majority of it would have to be replaced by non diagetic music.
We wanted to carry aspects from our prelim into our main task, the sense of mystery, the enigmas created and we also liked how we ended our prelim by the action cutting to black with the opening of the brief case on to the camera because we all agreed these worked effectively and defiantly the going to black where we felt this would be an effective way to put the title of our film. We used the knock out of the protagonist with a D-lock to go to a black out, However when we first did this on our final task we had suggestions that it looked more like a short film than a start to a feature length film so we added the eyes opening at the end.
The titles in our prelim were also very basic and looked home movie style with them at the end on outtakes, made with a Imovie titles preset. This time we had to include them during the action as stated on the specification.
Being outside gave everyone more spaced this meant we could include more shots of the action from a variety of different angles, whereas in the prelim going up the stairs, which is an enclosed space so we only had a few options of shots to play around with. We also in our prelim didn't have a problem of going from scene to scene as it was laid out for us, whereas in the main task our scenes weren't altogether and were all over different places in oxford so we had the problem of linking them to each other.
District B13 is a typical example of an Action | Crime genre Set in the ghettos of Paris in 2010, an undercover cop and ex-thug try to infiltrate a gang in order to defuse a neutron bomb. The action is often fast paced and tense. In the chase scene, the camera durations are short and have a large variety this is conventional in film, as it adds pace to the running and urgency. Along with the Non diagteic music, which without the music it takes away the effect, the music actually makes the video work together. In our opening 2 minutes we wanted or even needed to incorporate for our film to look good. However the protagonist in District B13 an undercover cop goes against the convention of cops in films, conventionally we would normally be introduced to someone of such authority as in a suit, in a meeting etc where the audience would immediately made aware of his status. Whereas in District B13 we are introduced to him in a rundown block of flats, in tatty clothes, trying to dispose of drugs, which does not denote to the audience that he is an undercover police officer but actually the complete opposite. In our media product we keep mystery about the identities of the characters until midway through the film which builds up more suspense. The characters used were also carefully chosen, as the protagonist, the boy being chased was smaller and would be considered weaker than the chasers who are much larger. This keeps to conventions as changing this could possibly change the genre to a Comedy, if one person was chasing 2 or that the chasers are much more smaller than the person chasing, Being Male and involved in films is often the norm for crime films, women are considered innocent.
What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
The institution which is mostly likely to distribute our preliminary task is 'Film4', which is part of channel 4 which has its only film production company, film4 productions. It is quoted on their website "The Company develops and co-finances film productions and is known for working with the most innovative talent in the UK, whether new or established." This would fit our criteria they also fund Projects, which we would need. Another institution could be Universal pictures which produced such films as The Bourne Supremacy which incorporates a Foot Chase across the city of Berlin. It has several similarities to our film with the chase building up tension as it goes along, The protagonist also hides from the chasers and think he's escaped. Universal Pictures would be good as it is a well established production company what know what the audiences want and know how to produce good action films.
Bourne Supermacy http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E586mYraTUs
who would be the audience for your media project?
The audience we originally decided our product was for was 16-27, predominantly males. The final product we would say it's still around the same. However our original plan was to incorporate tense, potentially horrifying flashbacks of someone head being held under water, a girl tied up with a piercing scream and someone being thrown into a boot. Due to unforeseen circumstances, we were unable to put these into our film, which without, our age range may of slightly gone down to about 15- 25. We chose this age range because we could associate with this group and have similar views. It also would most likely be enjoyed by lower-middle class people, as things what happen in the film they could relate to in their own experiences of life around them.
How does your media product represent particular social groups?..
In our opening 2 minutes our characters are young teens, the audience automatically associates them with young gang crime, which in recent years has become a common news headline. Films often represent male teenagers being associated with crime. In our opening 2 minutes we have backed up this representation. With the chase, clearly not just a game but in fact that the guy being chased is In trouble. With the end of the chase ending with the protagonist getting knocked out with a D-lock what shows teens as violent criminal yobs.
How did you attract address your audience?
The start of a film goes straight into the action of the chase scene and the characters identity are kept mysterious, this creates a series of enigmas for the audience to think about ‘whats going on? Whys this person being chased? What’s going to happen to him? Etc. There is also dramatic tense music over the action, which adds to the suspense and suggests something bad is going to happen, we also end with the protagonist getting knocked out by a D-lock and then has the eyes opening as the final scene, this way it makes the audience question even more, “If this was a dream? Is this the same person waking up who was being chased? ” etc it keeps the audience engaged and wants to watch more, they want to find out what caused the chase, who are the characters and whats going to happen.
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
The main thing which is obvious in the film is the effective use of titles we used, I used Adobe after effects to make these, I had to learn about how to use 3d fonts, camera layers, stabilising motion and masking frame by frame so that the writing was strategically placed and so that the action took place in front of the text. We also had to find a suitable text which would suit our action, Windows fonts although many, there is little variation between them, so we had to download a font from a free website , we used a font called Philly Sans what was downloaded from dafonts.com. Which is a graffiti text. Making the titles took a lot of time and a lot of patience to get it right.
see more of how I made the titles at: http://cherwellmediamspringett5232.blogspot.com/2010/04/making-titles.html
We also discovered the difficulties of finding suitable copyright free music, we searched a variations of sites for free copyright free but google suggestions generally directed us to copyright free music, but which you had to pay for. The music from the start throughout the chase was "Killer" (www.freeplaymusic.com) then the heartbeat noise when Rory thinks he has escaped is called "Threatening Behaviour" (www.audio.lgfl.org.uk) and finally the "boom" sound at the end when the person opens his eyes is from iMovie. Music is a hard object to decide before the filming is complete. You can decide the type of music which could work, but not the actual piece of music to be used until the last thing.
Another major point is the realisation of how much minutes of raw footage we need to cut it down to make films work and how many hours it takes to film just 1 scene of a film and retakes needed. We originally filmed all the shots with me as the guy being chased, when editing it down we realised we needed more shots to link the scenes together, we also noticed that when played on the computer the scenes had more in than what the screen on the camera showed, so we planned a day to re-film some shots and do some extra ones to make the clips work well together. Unfortunately due to unforeseen circumstances the plans had to be radically changed when I was admitted into hospital, the group had to re-film all the shots we did with new characters. We had originally filmed most of the shots handheld which added to the effect, e.g tension, but they had to film with a tripod which made a steady shot. We could of maybe added a slight digital shake to add to the effect if we wanted to do so.
Looking back at the preliminary task what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
Our prelim and final task were filmed and edited in different ways, in our prelim we filmed indoors, with only diagetic sound of the doors, footsteps and conversation with no music. We also didnt have to worry so much about lighting, sound (wind against the cameras mic) or continuity factors like people walking in the shot. However in our final task these all became a factor, the light had to be the same throughout, we has to bear in mind that the audio will be effected by the wind, traffic, planes etc. We also had to take into consideration that there will be people walking around, getting in the shot, driving by etc. To try and quash these to the minimum, we filmed very early in the morning so that it wasn't sunny which would go against the conventions of our genre and so that very minimal people and cars were about. This still didnt help the quality of the audio so even though the sound of the running, gates banging etc may have added to the effect, the wind noise would of ruined the effect and just be like a home movie. That the majority of it would have to be replaced by non diagetic music.
We wanted to carry aspects from our prelim into our main task, the sense of mystery, the enigmas created and we also liked how we ended our prelim by the action cutting to black with the opening of the brief case on to the camera because we all agreed these worked effectively and defiantly the going to black where we felt this would be an effective way to put the title of our film. We used the knock out of the protagonist with a D-lock to go to a black out, However when we first did this on our final task we had suggestions that it looked more like a short film than a start to a feature length film so we added the eyes opening at the end.
The titles in our prelim were also very basic and looked home movie style with them at the end on outtakes, made with a Imovie titles preset. This time we had to include them during the action as stated on the specification.
Being outside gave everyone more spaced this meant we could include more shots of the action from a variety of different angles, whereas in the prelim going up the stairs, which is an enclosed space so we only had a few options of shots to play around with. We also in our prelim didn't have a problem of going from scene to scene as it was laid out for us, whereas in the main task our scenes weren't altogether and were all over different places in oxford so we had the problem of linking them to each other.
Bibliography
The music we used in our film was all from copyright free sources. The music from the start throughout the chase was "Killer" (www.freeplaymusic.com) then the heartbeat noise when Rory thinks he has escaped is called "Threatening Behaviour" (www.audio.lgfl.org.uk) and finally the "boom" sound at the end when the person opens his eyes is from iMovie.
The font we used is philly sans from dafont.com
http://www.dafont.com/search.php?psize=m&q=Philly+sans
The font we used is philly sans from dafont.com
http://www.dafont.com/search.php?psize=m&q=Philly+sans
Tuesday, 4 May 2010
Selection of Outtakes from our film
Here is a selection of outtakes from our film what should also prove that I was there for filming, before they had to refilm all the shots we did again, which they did a great job of.
Saturday, 1 May 2010
Initial presentation
Before we started to film, we had to present to the class our ideas, plans and hopes for the final task, Our teacher finally gave us the tape for us to get it off and upload it. Here it is below..
controlling signs of nerves.. fail.
controlling signs of nerves.. fail.
Saturday, 24 April 2010
Making the titles.
The group and I felt we could make titles more advanced than just placing them on in the video we wanted to make them fit into the scene. In the chase we had several places we could put them, but to make it even more complicated for our selves we wanted them to look like they were like actually on the wall, and that the actors would run past it, in front of them, whereas the titles would normally be in front of the action.
Below is how I set about making the titles.
Below is how I set about making the titles.
Wednesday, 21 April 2010
Title editing.
We decided we needed titles what werent just placed on there we decided we were creative enough to come up with something better than that.
First we had to find a suitable font which would suit the genre,
we went for font what is like graffiti, which we believe symbolises, crime, trouble, youth..etc.
I then was given the task of making these titles on after effects. Where I have placed them where on the screen as if they look like they're part of the scene, where the chase runs past it etc. This technique involves me using stablising motion of the footage, using masks, working frame by frame, working with 3d layers and with a camera layer.
The out come looks quite good here are some screen shots...
First we had to find a suitable font which would suit the genre,
we went for font what is like graffiti, which we believe symbolises, crime, trouble, youth..etc.
I then was given the task of making these titles on after effects. Where I have placed them where on the screen as if they look like they're part of the scene, where the chase runs past it etc. This technique involves me using stablising motion of the footage, using masks, working frame by frame, working with 3d layers and with a camera layer.
The out come looks quite good here are some screen shots...
Editing and music
Over the last week we have started and progressed well through editing, we have our shots in a sequence what works well, we have trimmed the clips down. Yesterday we showed the film to our teacher but she had helpful critism for us. For example at the end of the film we had the main character coming out of a phone box being cornered from both sides by the bullies, we used a POV shot, looking both ways at the bullies when doing this a traffic wardern walked past, Ms Parish felt that he could be percieved as a police officer so it was disorientating, as the film ends with the main character getting smacked in the face with a Dlock, this would bring up the question 'why didnt the police officer do anything'.. But fortuantly we had always planned that all the clips would have a back up incase of such problems so we easily worked around this, by just getting rid of this shot and replacing it.
Later on in the day another teacher, Mr Wroe. Said that we need to think about the titles very carefully and how we use them, that they need to have a pulse,a beat. He also said how students often make the mistake of making it look like a tv program rather than the opening 2 minutes of a film and suggested that the ending isnt the black out with the titles as it will look like a short film rather than the opening 2 minutes to a film. This was a very valid point but we think its the best idea and it would easily go to the next scene, like someone waking up, or anything coming out of the darkness, but we cant just end the 2 mins randomly, and we dont have enough time on the film to add anything to the end.
Yesterday we also searched for free copyright free music. On the school media shared area, there was a useful link, which had a great variety of music. We wanted something with a tense, tension building up beat.
We think we have currently found the perfect music which we will play over a constant pulse (heart beat) and slight white noise, which symbolises nothing else matters.
Later on in the day another teacher, Mr Wroe. Said that we need to think about the titles very carefully and how we use them, that they need to have a pulse,a beat. He also said how students often make the mistake of making it look like a tv program rather than the opening 2 minutes of a film and suggested that the ending isnt the black out with the titles as it will look like a short film rather than the opening 2 minutes to a film. This was a very valid point but we think its the best idea and it would easily go to the next scene, like someone waking up, or anything coming out of the darkness, but we cant just end the 2 mins randomly, and we dont have enough time on the film to add anything to the end.
Yesterday we also searched for free copyright free music. On the school media shared area, there was a useful link, which had a great variety of music. We wanted something with a tense, tension building up beat.
We think we have currently found the perfect music which we will play over a constant pulse (heart beat) and slight white noise, which symbolises nothing else matters.
Filming Update.
We filmed our final task earlier in the half term, with me being the main actor, Rory and being chased by Sam Webb and Jonathan Nesbitt. We incorporated most of the shots intended, with some of the flashback triggers. We filmed at 7am in the morning, to fit with our mise en scene, dull sky etc. We also filmed early to avoid lots of people what could potentially avoid continuity errors, such as people in one shot but then not in the next shot, The whole day was succesful with some good inspirational ideas from us. At the end of the day we arranged for another day to film and fill in the missing bits.I tried editing the film quickly at home, but some shots really didnt work.
NB. When filming on the camera display screem we thought we had captured good footage when we played the clips on the computer we found that there was more in the shot than what we could see on the camera screen. For example theres a scene where I hide around a corner waiting for the bullies to run past,on the camera screen it showed me out of shot, but when we went to look at it on the computer I was in shot.
Unfortunatly this plan was destroyed I was admitted in to hospital days before so I wouldnt be able to act or even be there, As our shots already filmed could not work together without the use of more shots. The group had to film again with different actors. Also on the day our other actor didnt turn up so Patrick unforuantly had to step in to film.
The group refilmed all the shots we did and incorporated the fact that the camera display doesnt show all whats in the shot.They managed to film all the shots in one day (seeing as they had already done them before) Unfortunatly the group didnt manage any of the scenes apart from the chase scene, the waking up, the flashback and the triggers, being spotted etc. So now we only have a chase sequence for our film, which completly does not follow the storyboard, but the group had to make the best out of the cirumstances and we did.
NB Although I wasnt able to be present for the filming of the shots what will be in our final piece. I was involved all through out, giving my opionion on what should and needs to be done and how they could improve our initial clips.
NB. When filming on the camera display screem we thought we had captured good footage when we played the clips on the computer we found that there was more in the shot than what we could see on the camera screen. For example theres a scene where I hide around a corner waiting for the bullies to run past,on the camera screen it showed me out of shot, but when we went to look at it on the computer I was in shot.
Unfortunatly this plan was destroyed I was admitted in to hospital days before so I wouldnt be able to act or even be there, As our shots already filmed could not work together without the use of more shots. The group had to film again with different actors. Also on the day our other actor didnt turn up so Patrick unforuantly had to step in to film.
The group refilmed all the shots we did and incorporated the fact that the camera display doesnt show all whats in the shot.They managed to film all the shots in one day (seeing as they had already done them before) Unfortunatly the group didnt manage any of the scenes apart from the chase scene, the waking up, the flashback and the triggers, being spotted etc. So now we only have a chase sequence for our film, which completly does not follow the storyboard, but the group had to make the best out of the cirumstances and we did.
NB Although I wasnt able to be present for the filming of the shots what will be in our final piece. I was involved all through out, giving my opionion on what should and needs to be done and how they could improve our initial clips.
Thursday, 8 April 2010
Editing posts
Ive just noticed that if I edit a previously published post, then it removes itself from where it was on the blog and becomes the most recent blog posting. Which is annoying and then could muck up the whole 'putting them up in order' even if its just changing the title, or going into a post to copy it. So now Im not daring to edit..
Dvd menu practice
Ok so I had little motivation for revision yesterday, but I knew I had to be productive so, I decided I would try and make a dvd menu for our media practicals...
I used Adobe after effects and Adobe encore to make it.. Here it is..
This is obviously just a video so the menu wont actually work. But with Adobe encore, you can set a point to where it will loop to, so that it will never finish unless you click on one of the buttons, these buttons link to a different place or where you can add another menu. But this was a practice video, so that I could see how to do it, so the video clip I used was just one I had because we havent filmed yet but if I decide to make one for the actual dvd, then I can use a clip from our video and when it freezes I can animate it more, like twitching, flashing etc.
I used Adobe after effects and Adobe encore to make it.. Here it is..
This is obviously just a video so the menu wont actually work. But with Adobe encore, you can set a point to where it will loop to, so that it will never finish unless you click on one of the buttons, these buttons link to a different place or where you can add another menu. But this was a practice video, so that I could see how to do it, so the video clip I used was just one I had because we havent filmed yet but if I decide to make one for the actual dvd, then I can use a clip from our video and when it freezes I can animate it more, like twitching, flashing etc.
Filming Schedule
Saturday 10th April
Film bits where Just Matty needed.
Waking up.
Walking to shop
Texting girl friend?
Sunday 11th April
Start filming parts of the chase scene...
Being spotted
Running through the different locations we found.
(use multiple shots for each scene)
We May also need to incorporate the flashback triggers, but this chase could take along time so we may need another day.. (Wednesday)
Monday 12th April
AM- Flash backs
-Head being pushed under water
- Being shut in a car boot
PM- go through all shots done to see if we've missed anything and take note of what we're missing.
Wednesday 14th April
do any bits what are missing and/or need to redo (flashback triggers if not done already)
Saturday 17th April
Esther (Girl) shots
-Tied up
- Screaming (first scene)
- Maybe have her reading the text/picking up the phone?
Film bits where Just Matty needed.
Waking up.
Walking to shop
Texting girl friend?
Sunday 11th April
Start filming parts of the chase scene...
Being spotted
Running through the different locations we found.
(use multiple shots for each scene)
We May also need to incorporate the flashback triggers, but this chase could take along time so we may need another day.. (Wednesday)
Monday 12th April
AM- Flash backs
-Head being pushed under water
- Being shut in a car boot
PM- go through all shots done to see if we've missed anything and take note of what we're missing.
Wednesday 14th April
do any bits what are missing and/or need to redo (flashback triggers if not done already)
Saturday 17th April
Esther (Girl) shots
-Tied up
- Screaming (first scene)
- Maybe have her reading the text/picking up the phone?
Monday, 5 April 2010
Film opening scene research..
In our film we are hoping to have a scream of a girl in darkness then the main character waking up. This is the opening scene to lost. We see darkness and titles, in to a close up of the character face and the eyes opening. Lost cleverly uses non diagetic sound to emphasize the eye opening, as if waking up from the nightmare, the pupil also reduces in size to shows hes been asleep/knocked out and the light is bright once waking up. These are all techniques we can use in ours. We could also use the setting... The video also has a chase, which we can get an idea of the shots.
Wednesday, 31 March 2010
flashbacks/flashforwards
In out opening 2 minutes we have planned to include some flashbacks/flashforwards (as Its only 2 minutes into a film, the audience will not know, and will keep them engaged) Rory would of been having these and he doesnt know what they are trying to tell him, they are reocurring but he can never make out who or where? If we were doing the whole film we probs would them of as flashforwards, and the film would go to them later in the film when they are actually happening..
When writing for an audience, keep in mind they want you to show them what's going on. They're not fond of being told a story. Two great ways of illustrating the past and future events in your story are through flashbacks and flash forwards, respectively.
_____________________________________
FlashBacks
A good flashback example can be seen in the recent film Forgetting Sarah Marshall.
Flashbacks throughout tell the audience of the kind of relationship they shared. There were good times and bad times, but perhaps most memorable of all is a flashback example involving Sarah and her old memories of Peter.
In less than a minute, the film communicates to its audience where Sarah's feelings for Peter are, even though outwardly she shows no signs of the reality. Thus, the flashback example is relevant and triggered by something in the present.
____________________________________
Flash Forwards
In Stephen King's The Dead Zone (novel, film, TV series), the protagonist acquires the gift of predicting the future after a nearly fatal car crash. When he makes physical contact, he is able to flash forward and see a person's future.
The flash forward of a nuclear event becomes a plot point on which the rest of the character's path must travel.
___________________________________
To Note...
Whether it's a flashback or a flash forward, the information that comes to light must be triggered in the present by something relevant...and the information either literary device provides must be essential to the audience's understanding of the story.
When writing for an audience, keep in mind they want you to show them what's going on. They're not fond of being told a story. Two great ways of illustrating the past and future events in your story are through flashbacks and flash forwards, respectively.
_____________________________________
FlashBacks
A good flashback example can be seen in the recent film Forgetting Sarah Marshall.
Flashbacks throughout tell the audience of the kind of relationship they shared. There were good times and bad times, but perhaps most memorable of all is a flashback example involving Sarah and her old memories of Peter.
In less than a minute, the film communicates to its audience where Sarah's feelings for Peter are, even though outwardly she shows no signs of the reality. Thus, the flashback example is relevant and triggered by something in the present.
____________________________________
Flash Forwards
In Stephen King's The Dead Zone (novel, film, TV series), the protagonist acquires the gift of predicting the future after a nearly fatal car crash. When he makes physical contact, he is able to flash forward and see a person's future.
The flash forward of a nuclear event becomes a plot point on which the rest of the character's path must travel.
___________________________________
To Note...
Whether it's a flashback or a flash forward, the information that comes to light must be triggered in the present by something relevant...and the information either literary device provides must be essential to the audience's understanding of the story.
Possible filmimg locations
Merton Street Oxford.
It is an old cobbled road, with the right angles we can make it look it like a 'dodgy' back street. Which would be a good setting for the criminal genre... Hopefully it will be a quiet location with few factors what could effect continuity, like cars, people etc.
New College Lane...
The road with Oxfords symbolic 'Bridge of sighs' which we could also use in the film. The locations aren't meant to link together. the chase will go through several locations...
It is an old cobbled road, with the right angles we can make it look it like a 'dodgy' back street. Which would be a good setting for the criminal genre... Hopefully it will be a quiet location with few factors what could effect continuity, like cars, people etc.
New College Lane...
The road with Oxfords symbolic 'Bridge of sighs' which we could also use in the film. The locations aren't meant to link together. the chase will go through several locations...
StoryBoard
This is the outline of our storyboard. It will only be when we get to the place of filming that we will know how reasoble these shots are and we will obviously be trying different shots at filming to see what will work best. Wednesday, 24 March 2010
Idea Expanded
Wednesdays are good days, 1 lesson and thats General, means a whole school day for media!!
here are my notes I wrote..
- First scene. Girl screaming in darkness, Boy wakes up.
Idea how to do this... Darkness, but can just make out a girl but is not identified, the camera is going in to reveal the face, when suddenly there is bright white light, it only then when it comes into focus that, the audience realize that we're in a different room, and the light is coming from a window. (camera is looking up, and blinks as if eyes) The shot will then change to the boy (Rory) laying on the floor of a dirty place with just a blanket, he then jolts up...shaking and sweating, this dream has been reoccurring to him. He then lays back down and nods off again with the blinking black again...
- Second scene. A chase scence.
Idea to do this... Over the blackness we hear the sounds of running (panting and footsteps) it then leaves the blackness into the chase, Rory is being chased by 3 guys, several locations can be used. During the chase it can go to 'flash back' type shots, ( What Im struggling to explain to my group but... When you're asleep dreams are random and change regularly, sounds what happen while you're asleep can be something else in a dream.. for e.g when the radio goes off, in your dream sometimes it fits in with the dream like it could be music at a disco) We could use this in our film, like The sound of rain outside in a dream could represent someones head being held under water, people banging on the door to get at rory in a dream could be fighting to stop being tied up and getting peoples attention, a door shutting, in a dream could be the boot of a car being slammed shut. What Im suggesting is what the audiences thinks are flash backs are actually what will happen in the film. Like the dream of the girl Rory thinks its his mother who went missing when he was 5, but in fact it could be his girlfriend. but he doesnt know and nor does the audience until its revealed...
So the chase will use many different shots, quick durations to show urgency, makes it exciting.
The 2 mins could end with: Rory thinking he got away from the chasers but in fact when he looks back in front gets smacked and blacks out... title
or.. Him getting to a dead end, with an over the shoulder shot from the attackers...and leave the audience thinking what happens next...
or he could get away.. e.g finding a bike and cycling off into the distance with the chasers chasing the bike for a bit but then giving up and shouting even though hes long gone.
here are my notes I wrote..
- First scene. Girl screaming in darkness, Boy wakes up.
Idea how to do this... Darkness, but can just make out a girl but is not identified, the camera is going in to reveal the face, when suddenly there is bright white light, it only then when it comes into focus that, the audience realize that we're in a different room, and the light is coming from a window. (camera is looking up, and blinks as if eyes) The shot will then change to the boy (Rory) laying on the floor of a dirty place with just a blanket, he then jolts up...shaking and sweating, this dream has been reoccurring to him. He then lays back down and nods off again with the blinking black again...
- Second scene. A chase scence.
Idea to do this... Over the blackness we hear the sounds of running (panting and footsteps) it then leaves the blackness into the chase, Rory is being chased by 3 guys, several locations can be used. During the chase it can go to 'flash back' type shots, ( What Im struggling to explain to my group but... When you're asleep dreams are random and change regularly, sounds what happen while you're asleep can be something else in a dream.. for e.g when the radio goes off, in your dream sometimes it fits in with the dream like it could be music at a disco) We could use this in our film, like The sound of rain outside in a dream could represent someones head being held under water, people banging on the door to get at rory in a dream could be fighting to stop being tied up and getting peoples attention, a door shutting, in a dream could be the boot of a car being slammed shut. What Im suggesting is what the audiences thinks are flash backs are actually what will happen in the film. Like the dream of the girl Rory thinks its his mother who went missing when he was 5, but in fact it could be his girlfriend. but he doesnt know and nor does the audience until its revealed...
So the chase will use many different shots, quick durations to show urgency, makes it exciting.
The 2 mins could end with: Rory thinking he got away from the chasers but in fact when he looks back in front gets smacked and blacks out... title
or.. Him getting to a dead end, with an over the shoulder shot from the attackers...and leave the audience thinking what happens next...
or he could get away.. e.g finding a bike and cycling off into the distance with the chasers chasing the bike for a bit but then giving up and shouting even though hes long gone.
Media Idea
Possible film names: Time for action/ Action time
Break away
Ground Battle
equilibrium/expectations/Persistance/ ( Random word generator)
Conscience (ibby)
Withholding information (favorite)
Tag lines: To escape the trouble, you must be the trouble.
Does a new life mean the loss of an old life?
Is a life of crime ever left fully behind?
Genre: Action | Crime | Romance
Rory Slein had a bad start to life as a child he was largely neglected and forced to look after himself. His father a persistent jail occupier and now in the second year of a 9 year charge for the manslaughter of a local supermarket security guard. While his mother has never been seen since Rory was 5 years old, going between foster homes, life hasn’t been easy.
Rory now 17 years old, unemployed and living in an abandoned flat, involved with the wrong type of people now has a reason to try and change his life around; Rory has fallen in love with Gemma Sharpe a part time shop assistant. Rory realises that the only way he can keep Gemma and to keep her safe is to get away from the trouble, but those who he wants to leave behind aren’t so keen on the idea of him changing and just gets him in even more trouble, threatening lives in the process… can he get away? Can he change his life around? What Will Happen to Rory and Gemma? Will the people he once hurt help him?
Side story: Rory trying to locate the whereabouts of his mother, Will he discover the constant screaming he hears in his head? Is it the sound of his mother? Will he find her?!
Break away
Ground Battle
equilibrium/expectations/Persistance/ ( Random word generator)
Conscience (ibby)
Withholding information (favorite)
Tag lines: To escape the trouble, you must be the trouble.
Does a new life mean the loss of an old life?
Is a life of crime ever left fully behind?
Genre: Action | Crime | Romance
Rory Slein had a bad start to life as a child he was largely neglected and forced to look after himself. His father a persistent jail occupier and now in the second year of a 9 year charge for the manslaughter of a local supermarket security guard. While his mother has never been seen since Rory was 5 years old, going between foster homes, life hasn’t been easy.
Rory now 17 years old, unemployed and living in an abandoned flat, involved with the wrong type of people now has a reason to try and change his life around; Rory has fallen in love with Gemma Sharpe a part time shop assistant. Rory realises that the only way he can keep Gemma and to keep her safe is to get away from the trouble, but those who he wants to leave behind aren’t so keen on the idea of him changing and just gets him in even more trouble, threatening lives in the process… can he get away? Can he change his life around? What Will Happen to Rory and Gemma? Will the people he once hurt help him?
Side story: Rory trying to locate the whereabouts of his mother, Will he discover the constant screaming he hears in his head? Is it the sound of his mother? Will he find her?!
Friday, 19 March 2010
The group is having several hiccups, with disowning ideas which we originally thought were good, today in the double lesson, The 3 of us were in disagreement probably more to the fact that we werent getting each others ideas... So we all did our own story board for our idea...
My idea was we see torch lights in the wood, first coming towards the camera, then we see the main character, we see them clearly looking for something, and it goes back and fourth between an Interrogation in a room, where it shows it links with voice overs like.. "I'm not telling you anything!" over the shot of them looking and "Where is it?". I was thinking that it was MI5 looking for something and this person was withholding it from them, which would be the story line throughout the film, them trying to find it, with side stories aswell, like relationships, but clearly we don't need to show that in the 2 minutes..
Below I have uploaded a quick video I did to demonstrate my idea as much as I could with just me being the camera man and the actor.. It would be alot shorter, I only tried to edit the light transition, with more time and better filming I could do a lot better but its just an idea.
Torch
The video basically shows the light coming towards the camera, we then see me, a bit of mucking about with the light, then I tried to go into the light of the torch and out through the light in my room on to a computer, It doesnt quite work but it could with more work and filming.
My idea was we see torch lights in the wood, first coming towards the camera, then we see the main character, we see them clearly looking for something, and it goes back and fourth between an Interrogation in a room, where it shows it links with voice overs like.. "I'm not telling you anything!" over the shot of them looking and "Where is it?". I was thinking that it was MI5 looking for something and this person was withholding it from them, which would be the story line throughout the film, them trying to find it, with side stories aswell, like relationships, but clearly we don't need to show that in the 2 minutes..
Below I have uploaded a quick video I did to demonstrate my idea as much as I could with just me being the camera man and the actor.. It would be alot shorter, I only tried to edit the light transition, with more time and better filming I could do a lot better but its just an idea.
Torch
The video basically shows the light coming towards the camera, we then see me, a bit of mucking about with the light, then I tried to go into the light of the torch and out through the light in my room on to a computer, It doesnt quite work but it could with more work and filming.
Wednesday, 17 March 2010
RESEARCH! Own video Practice
Wall kick Jump
Sorry I didnt edit this dowm, perhaps should of.. but um this was really just testing movement of character rather than the camera shot itself.
Cycle Cam
We wanted to test how easy and effectively it would be to record action whilst cycling... We did this by Patrick holding the Mobile phone (Camera) in one hand while directing the bike with one hand. There was no pedaling just a roll down a slight hill we found from this that it did produce a fairly good, few shakes shot, but this was on smooth ground, probably on not so smooth ground shake would of been significantly shakier. But Overall a good shot and if possible to use, would be good.
Jumping down over Obstacles
Ok these 2 videos, again were more the movement of the character we wanted to see, we could use this technique with clever shot and editing to make it look like someone jumping big distances and high walls, making it more exciting...
Jumping up over Obstacles
Sorry I didnt edit this dowm, perhaps should of.. but um this was really just testing movement of character rather than the camera shot itself.
Cycle Cam
We wanted to test how easy and effectively it would be to record action whilst cycling... We did this by Patrick holding the Mobile phone (Camera) in one hand while directing the bike with one hand. There was no pedaling just a roll down a slight hill we found from this that it did produce a fairly good, few shakes shot, but this was on smooth ground, probably on not so smooth ground shake would of been significantly shakier. But Overall a good shot and if possible to use, would be good.
Jumping down over Obstacles
Ok these 2 videos, again were more the movement of the character we wanted to see, we could use this technique with clever shot and editing to make it look like someone jumping big distances and high walls, making it more exciting...
Jumping up over Obstacles
Sunday, 14 March 2010
Final film IDEA.
Ok literally in the last few minutes. The group have come up with a good solid idea. With the use of facebook, we managed to expand on an initial idea. Ok basically our dilemma before is what could cause a chase sequence. Basically I will just sum it up..
Guy thrown in boot of car, car boot closed.
Driving somwhere (whether we show this)
Car stops
one of the gang open the boot thinking that the guy is still tied up
Guy in boot knocks this person out the way, gang member falls on the floor and shouts to get the attention of the others, seeing the guy escaping causing a chase... possibly through woods.
Only thing we havent decided is how our 2 mins will end, maybe with it somehow going to a black out, whether he escaopes or gets caught again is to be decided... also a synopsis of the whole film is needed.
We were ahead of the class now were not so much, we must get ahead again :) so competitive.
Guy thrown in boot of car, car boot closed.
Driving somwhere (whether we show this)
Car stops
one of the gang open the boot thinking that the guy is still tied up
Guy in boot knocks this person out the way, gang member falls on the floor and shouts to get the attention of the others, seeing the guy escaping causing a chase... possibly through woods.
Only thing we havent decided is how our 2 mins will end, maybe with it somehow going to a black out, whether he escaopes or gets caught again is to be decided... also a synopsis of the whole film is needed.
We were ahead of the class now were not so much, we must get ahead again :) so competitive.
Chase scenes and more specfic research.
Hostage 2005
Director: Florent Emilio Siri
Release Date:11 March 2005 (UK)
Genre: Action | Crime | Drama | Thriller
Plot:A failed police negotiator turned small town cop, must save the lives of a family held hostage, which draws him into a much more dangerous situation.
Ok on friday I saw this on film4, what caught my attention straight away was its creativity in the opening titles. It uses red and black graphics going around the location of the first scene, having names of actors and other 'important' people on buildings, cars etc. It is not clear at the beginning it has anything to do with the first scene, until it flows into the film effortlessly and then goes to show that the graphics were showing the scene. The scene also sets up the main character for the rest of the storyline. But I'm mainly talking about the titles as we could implement this into our own films.
Casino Royale
Ok this is completely impossible for us to do, but this is just an example of how the camera shots and editing is done. They had lots of cameras recording the same action at the same time, we will not have that so will have to like in our prelim do shots over and over again from different angles. The shot durations are quick and change rapidly thus showing urgency, continuity and pace, all what we can develop into our own film.
Tony Jaa Ong-Bak
Basically this chase scene is so bad that its funny. The only thing to note is that when one of the characters does a spectacular move it shows it from different angles, although this isn't continuity, it works well with the sound.
Point Break
Ok this has very good elements what we could implement, again quick camera shots, lots of variety going between each character but also having both in the scene. We could realistically do shots like these.
If we want to have free running in our film. there are several groups in oxford who we could email (through youtube) and ask if they would help us out.
Director: Florent Emilio Siri
Release Date:11 March 2005 (UK)
Genre: Action | Crime | Drama | Thriller
Plot:A failed police negotiator turned small town cop, must save the lives of a family held hostage, which draws him into a much more dangerous situation.
Ok on friday I saw this on film4, what caught my attention straight away was its creativity in the opening titles. It uses red and black graphics going around the location of the first scene, having names of actors and other 'important' people on buildings, cars etc. It is not clear at the beginning it has anything to do with the first scene, until it flows into the film effortlessly and then goes to show that the graphics were showing the scene. The scene also sets up the main character for the rest of the storyline. But I'm mainly talking about the titles as we could implement this into our own films.
Casino Royale
Ok this is completely impossible for us to do, but this is just an example of how the camera shots and editing is done. They had lots of cameras recording the same action at the same time, we will not have that so will have to like in our prelim do shots over and over again from different angles. The shot durations are quick and change rapidly thus showing urgency, continuity and pace, all what we can develop into our own film.
Tony Jaa Ong-Bak
Basically this chase scene is so bad that its funny. The only thing to note is that when one of the characters does a spectacular move it shows it from different angles, although this isn't continuity, it works well with the sound.
Point Break
Ok this has very good elements what we could implement, again quick camera shots, lots of variety going between each character but also having both in the scene. We could realistically do shots like these.
If we want to have free running in our film. there are several groups in oxford who we could email (through youtube) and ask if they would help us out.
Planning For final task.
The group have been trying to come up with an idea for the final task for quite a while, but we are struggling to come up with a solid idea what will look good. The first 2 minutes of a film need to be exciting to keep the audience engaged. We have an initial idea of a chase scene, which I did last year but never evaluated. Maybe with the use of free runners. But the problem we are facing is how the chase could start without making it look basically ridiculous (thank you thesaurus.com) Also with a chase scene we may have problems with continuity, e.g random people walking, then change camera and there gone.
Another idea is an escape. But we have nothing concrete yet. But we want to do clever titles instead of just being placed there. I was going to do more research in this post, which would be more specific to our current ideas, but then I shall do it in another post.
Another idea is an escape. But we have nothing concrete yet. But we want to do clever titles instead of just being placed there. I was going to do more research in this post, which would be more specific to our current ideas, but then I shall do it in another post.
Monday, 8 March 2010
Prelim task Evaluation draft
When deciding our genre for our prelim we researched films, I started looking for films we could research using www.imdb.com What I found when using the top 250 films voted by the users, is that the most popular filmed all had the genres of Crime | Drama, this told me that this was the most popular genre. This couldn't go unnoticed and the group decided this genre could be done fairly effectively. Many of the crime | Drama film opening 2 minutes started with a gloomy, dark atmosphere e.g. the 'shawshank redemption’ where it is night time and the character in the car is kept mysterious for the 2 minutes giving the audience the question of what’s going he doing? Whys he there? Etc. From this research we could put these concepts into our own film fairly simply but effectively.
We did research around Oxford on where we could do our own filming, we were looking for like a back street, hidden, gloomy, worn down place, although we could have done this with effects, although it wouldn’t look as professional and effective. We were then given an opportunity to use an abandoned shop. We weren’t aware when giving the opportunity of its interior but we knew that it would still be helpful for us to film to avoid the problems of like change in weather, random people walking by which could cause lack of continuity between shots. It was only when checking out the shop that we realised it was perfect for our genre, wooden floors, hanging wires, deteriorating walls and creaking doors. Which from the idea from other media products, we believed the location was conventional for our type of genre.
We had decided to dress me (walker) up in a suit to make it look like a business type meeting, but we didn’t want to make me look like an official businessman one who works in banks, offices etc but to show that what he’s doing is behind the scenes and not completely legal whereas for Piyal we wanted him to be slightly more casual but also with a serious look to fit in with the genre.
In our media throughout we wanted to keep mystery, we felt this would be engaging and make the audience want to carry on watching to see what’s happening. We started the mystery by not revealing the guy in a suit for a while and just see what he’s wearing, the brief case and hear the footsteps of him, and we then carried on the mystery with the enigma of 'what’s in the brief case? The fact that it’s in a gloomy dull environment suggests to the audience that it’s something dodgy.
In our prelim task our characters we tried to represent criminal’s social groups we did this from what we understand from other media products what have achieved this it may not be accurate in real life but in terms of how the media portrays it, is what we tried to achieve. We tried to portray our characters as dodgy looking, hidden away from society and of few words. How we interpret the black market operates.
The group did research on our age group to find out what they liked in a film which we could implicate in to our film. We decided that our target audience is people who we can relate to as we will have similar views and opinions. We chose quite a large age range from 16 - 40 which young to middle adults, as this age range is the most significant contributor to IMDB. To attract this audience we wanted to create mystery and gloom which according to our research and the IMDB website was what the top 250 films had in them. On the basis of our prelim it’s hard to give it a target audience as not much happens, and no synopsis for a whole film.
Available to us was a handheld camera, a tripod and editing software, the very minimal needed to make a film. We found the camera which used mini DV tapes needs to be used with caution as it easily can record over previously recorded scenes, so if watching stuff just recorded, we had to be careful to make sure we had played until empty film, this is also relevant to fast forwarding and rewinding as it wasn’t easy to find specific parts of the film and had to be estimated. We also found when filming in a quiet location and playing back the film that white noise was produced within the scenes. Finally the camera battery on hand held cameras is very limited, 3hours maximum, and had to recharge. We found the Tripod to be useful for still shots, but juddery when panning and largely used steady hands for the majority of our shots. The editing software we used for editing the film was Imovie, this was new to the whole group but a little bit of trial and error we managed to do it all in around 2 hours, although it was basic skills. When editing we really noticed the change in lighting in the middle of the 'shot reverse shot' where it was fairly light to quite dark this was because of the time charging of the camera time. We were hoping to edit this to make it lighter but we found it didn’t work effectively so left it dark. We researched this to find out how we could deal with this issue next time and its all in the filming, using lighting and umbrellas to direct light effectively.
The institution which is mostly likely to distribute our preliminary task is 'Film4', which is part of channel 4 which has its only film production company, film4 productions. It is quoted on their website "The Company develops and co-finances film productions and is known for working with the most innovative talent in the UK, whether new or established." This would fit our criteria they also fund Projects, which we would need.
The aim of the task was to complete 3 objectives, going through a door, walking across a room and having a conversation. I believe we achieved this. We made it have more of a storyline than just the objectives, e.g. walking to the door, having a brief case. We used good variations on camera angles rather than the same over and over. The continuity of the shots was very precise and footsteps were timed and worked together but the shots also kept mystery to the audience. My only negatives of the film was the lighting change and the shot reverse shot sequence which had few shots, even though it was one of the criteria’s of the task.
We did research around Oxford on where we could do our own filming, we were looking for like a back street, hidden, gloomy, worn down place, although we could have done this with effects, although it wouldn’t look as professional and effective. We were then given an opportunity to use an abandoned shop. We weren’t aware when giving the opportunity of its interior but we knew that it would still be helpful for us to film to avoid the problems of like change in weather, random people walking by which could cause lack of continuity between shots. It was only when checking out the shop that we realised it was perfect for our genre, wooden floors, hanging wires, deteriorating walls and creaking doors. Which from the idea from other media products, we believed the location was conventional for our type of genre.
We had decided to dress me (walker) up in a suit to make it look like a business type meeting, but we didn’t want to make me look like an official businessman one who works in banks, offices etc but to show that what he’s doing is behind the scenes and not completely legal whereas for Piyal we wanted him to be slightly more casual but also with a serious look to fit in with the genre.
In our media throughout we wanted to keep mystery, we felt this would be engaging and make the audience want to carry on watching to see what’s happening. We started the mystery by not revealing the guy in a suit for a while and just see what he’s wearing, the brief case and hear the footsteps of him, and we then carried on the mystery with the enigma of 'what’s in the brief case? The fact that it’s in a gloomy dull environment suggests to the audience that it’s something dodgy.
In our prelim task our characters we tried to represent criminal’s social groups we did this from what we understand from other media products what have achieved this it may not be accurate in real life but in terms of how the media portrays it, is what we tried to achieve. We tried to portray our characters as dodgy looking, hidden away from society and of few words. How we interpret the black market operates.
The group did research on our age group to find out what they liked in a film which we could implicate in to our film. We decided that our target audience is people who we can relate to as we will have similar views and opinions. We chose quite a large age range from 16 - 40 which young to middle adults, as this age range is the most significant contributor to IMDB. To attract this audience we wanted to create mystery and gloom which according to our research and the IMDB website was what the top 250 films had in them. On the basis of our prelim it’s hard to give it a target audience as not much happens, and no synopsis for a whole film.
Available to us was a handheld camera, a tripod and editing software, the very minimal needed to make a film. We found the camera which used mini DV tapes needs to be used with caution as it easily can record over previously recorded scenes, so if watching stuff just recorded, we had to be careful to make sure we had played until empty film, this is also relevant to fast forwarding and rewinding as it wasn’t easy to find specific parts of the film and had to be estimated. We also found when filming in a quiet location and playing back the film that white noise was produced within the scenes. Finally the camera battery on hand held cameras is very limited, 3hours maximum, and had to recharge. We found the Tripod to be useful for still shots, but juddery when panning and largely used steady hands for the majority of our shots. The editing software we used for editing the film was Imovie, this was new to the whole group but a little bit of trial and error we managed to do it all in around 2 hours, although it was basic skills. When editing we really noticed the change in lighting in the middle of the 'shot reverse shot' where it was fairly light to quite dark this was because of the time charging of the camera time. We were hoping to edit this to make it lighter but we found it didn’t work effectively so left it dark. We researched this to find out how we could deal with this issue next time and its all in the filming, using lighting and umbrellas to direct light effectively.
The institution which is mostly likely to distribute our preliminary task is 'Film4', which is part of channel 4 which has its only film production company, film4 productions. It is quoted on their website "The Company develops and co-finances film productions and is known for working with the most innovative talent in the UK, whether new or established." This would fit our criteria they also fund Projects, which we would need.
The aim of the task was to complete 3 objectives, going through a door, walking across a room and having a conversation. I believe we achieved this. We made it have more of a storyline than just the objectives, e.g. walking to the door, having a brief case. We used good variations on camera angles rather than the same over and over. The continuity of the shots was very precise and footsteps were timed and worked together but the shots also kept mystery to the audience. My only negatives of the film was the lighting change and the shot reverse shot sequence which had few shots, even though it was one of the criteria’s of the task.
Thursday, 4 March 2010
RESEARCH! First 2 minutes of films
District B13
Director:Pierre Morel
Release Date:7 July 2006 (UK)
Genre:Action | Crime | Sci-Fi
Plot:Set in the ghettos of Paris in 2010, an undercover cop and ex-thug try to infiltrate a gang in order to defuse a neutron bomb.
I found this film by searching chase scene, after doing a chase sequence last year, I wanted to find how we could of improved on our film. Although something like this would be very hard for our group to do, It gives a good example of camera shots and durations for a fast paced scene which we could implement (quick fast shots)There is also a slight green tint, which enhances the sense of crime. Quick panning showing urgency. The music a continuous fast paced beat, adding to the effect, obviously classical music wouldn't suit the scene.
Se7en
Director: David Fincher
Release Date: 5 January 1996 (UK)
Genre: Crime | Drama | Mystery | Thriller
Plot: Police drama about two cops, one new and one about to retire, after a serial killer using the seven deadly sins as his MO
The opening 2 minutes in the film is just a montage of quick shots, with is the images of various things , what clearly this character is doing for the titles of the 'important' people to do with the film. although never seeing this film I would guess that this is going to be one of the main characters, the darkness represents to me criminal activity, along with what is my first impression of a scrap book, possibly a scrap book of his crimes which in turns could set up the rest of the film. The names of people are not just 'placed' on but flash and 'fidget' about.
The Shawshank Redemption
Director: Frank Darabont
Release Date: 17 February 1995 (UK)
Genre: Crime | Drama
Plot:Two imprisoned men bond over a number of years, finding solace and eventual redemption through acts of common decency.
The establishing shot is of a house, we hear what the audience to think at first is nondiagetic music, or slow singing, It only comes apparent that it is diagetic music of car radio, using the same camera shot it moves back on to the car and then turns on the driver this shot remains untill a close up of the mans hand on the glove department, to where he takes a suspicious looking bag out this is when a slow 'mystery' nondiagetic music is added to the radio, giving the bag a tension, whats in the bag? when we see its a gun, the audience realise that this is going to be a crime film, the nondiagetic sound carries on to the next scene which shows that the man in court is to do with the man in the car in someway, maybe it is the man, or it is the victim. Again as apparent in the above crime films lighting at the start is dim and gloomy.
Godfather 1
Director: Francis Ford Coppola
Release date: 24 March 1972 (USA)
Genre: Crime | Drama | Thriller
Plot: The aging patriarch of an organized crime dynasty transfers control of his clandestine empire to his reluctant son.
Music with titles ( production company etc) fit with film- Italian. Voice heard before picture, darkness - crime. Appears to be talking to the camera it is only then apparent a few mins in that its a conversation between 2 people- slow zoom out to show this.
The Hurtlocker
Director: Kathryn Bigelow
Release Date: 28 August 2009 (UK)
Genre: Action | Drama | Thriller | War
Plot: Iraq. Forced to play a dangerous game of cat-and-mouse in the chaos of war, an elite Army bomb squad unit must come together in a city where everyone is a potential enemy and every object could be a deadly bomb.
Director:Pierre Morel
Release Date:7 July 2006 (UK)
Genre:Action | Crime | Sci-Fi
Plot:Set in the ghettos of Paris in 2010, an undercover cop and ex-thug try to infiltrate a gang in order to defuse a neutron bomb.
I found this film by searching chase scene, after doing a chase sequence last year, I wanted to find how we could of improved on our film. Although something like this would be very hard for our group to do, It gives a good example of camera shots and durations for a fast paced scene which we could implement (quick fast shots)There is also a slight green tint, which enhances the sense of crime. Quick panning showing urgency. The music a continuous fast paced beat, adding to the effect, obviously classical music wouldn't suit the scene.
Se7en
Director: David Fincher
Release Date: 5 January 1996 (UK)
Genre: Crime | Drama | Mystery | Thriller
Plot: Police drama about two cops, one new and one about to retire, after a serial killer using the seven deadly sins as his MO
The opening 2 minutes in the film is just a montage of quick shots, with is the images of various things , what clearly this character is doing for the titles of the 'important' people to do with the film. although never seeing this film I would guess that this is going to be one of the main characters, the darkness represents to me criminal activity, along with what is my first impression of a scrap book, possibly a scrap book of his crimes which in turns could set up the rest of the film. The names of people are not just 'placed' on but flash and 'fidget' about.
The Shawshank Redemption
Director: Frank Darabont
Release Date: 17 February 1995 (UK)
Genre: Crime | Drama
Plot:Two imprisoned men bond over a number of years, finding solace and eventual redemption through acts of common decency.
The establishing shot is of a house, we hear what the audience to think at first is nondiagetic music, or slow singing, It only comes apparent that it is diagetic music of car radio, using the same camera shot it moves back on to the car and then turns on the driver this shot remains untill a close up of the mans hand on the glove department, to where he takes a suspicious looking bag out this is when a slow 'mystery' nondiagetic music is added to the radio, giving the bag a tension, whats in the bag? when we see its a gun, the audience realise that this is going to be a crime film, the nondiagetic sound carries on to the next scene which shows that the man in court is to do with the man in the car in someway, maybe it is the man, or it is the victim. Again as apparent in the above crime films lighting at the start is dim and gloomy.
Godfather 1
Director: Francis Ford Coppola
Release date: 24 March 1972 (USA)
Genre: Crime | Drama | Thriller
Plot: The aging patriarch of an organized crime dynasty transfers control of his clandestine empire to his reluctant son.
Music with titles ( production company etc) fit with film- Italian. Voice heard before picture, darkness - crime. Appears to be talking to the camera it is only then apparent a few mins in that its a conversation between 2 people- slow zoom out to show this.
The Hurtlocker
Director: Kathryn Bigelow
Release Date: 28 August 2009 (UK)
Genre: Action | Drama | Thriller | War
Plot: Iraq. Forced to play a dangerous game of cat-and-mouse in the chaos of war, an elite Army bomb squad unit must come together in a city where everyone is a potential enemy and every object could be a deadly bomb.
Wednesday, 3 March 2010
Prelim task video.
Here is our Preliminary video. It may not be the final one depending on if we decide music is needed in places..
Our main aim for this task was to give the basic outline of the task, a story to go with it. We wanted to keep mystery in the beginning and we managed to keep the 'man in the suit' anonymous for 35 seconds,it is only then when we can clearly see the identity.
Notes to make:
The editing of the stairs slightly makes the staircase looks longer than it is, maybe too long for the whole film, although it does use a good lot of extremely good camera shots (and there were many more variations but wouldn't of worked)and very precise editing, making the shots work well together.
Walking through the door, uses one of our favorite shots, the walking in of the door, following then an OTS of the boy sitting at the 'table' which to us seemed a professional piece of camera skills.
Walking in room: We were getting the idea when filming that we were using alot of quick medium shots and decided we needed a wide shot, to set the scene, to give the audience an idea of where this action was taking place.
shot reverse shot: this was one of the main outlines was to have a conversation, we only did 3 shots for this, I personally thought we could of done more, although the shots what went with it, which were clearly part of the same sequence, may of made up for this. In this shot we wanted to keep the brief case in shot, we also decided to keep the hands in shot to show 'nerves'
Opening the brief case - when editing we noticed that when opening the brief case, the lighting had significantly darkened since the last shot, we didnt notice this at the time of filming. This was due to the battery running out of battery before the last few shots and by the time we had finished the lighting from the window had reduced, this will need to be remembered for next time. We cleverly managed to use the brief case opening as a way to end the film and to add titles. It still kept mystery to the audience as the contents of the case isn't revealed, keeping the enigma going.
Boy in suit (me) You may of been thinking, " oh dear he didn't tuck himself in properly" but we had decided that we didnt want me to look like a formal smart businessman, but something isn't right and that 'illegal' activity like 'business in the back alleys'
A very successful few days of media.
Our main aim for this task was to give the basic outline of the task, a story to go with it. We wanted to keep mystery in the beginning and we managed to keep the 'man in the suit' anonymous for 35 seconds,it is only then when we can clearly see the identity.
Notes to make:
The editing of the stairs slightly makes the staircase looks longer than it is, maybe too long for the whole film, although it does use a good lot of extremely good camera shots (and there were many more variations but wouldn't of worked)and very precise editing, making the shots work well together.
Walking through the door, uses one of our favorite shots, the walking in of the door, following then an OTS of the boy sitting at the 'table' which to us seemed a professional piece of camera skills.
Walking in room: We were getting the idea when filming that we were using alot of quick medium shots and decided we needed a wide shot, to set the scene, to give the audience an idea of where this action was taking place.
shot reverse shot: this was one of the main outlines was to have a conversation, we only did 3 shots for this, I personally thought we could of done more, although the shots what went with it, which were clearly part of the same sequence, may of made up for this. In this shot we wanted to keep the brief case in shot, we also decided to keep the hands in shot to show 'nerves'
Opening the brief case - when editing we noticed that when opening the brief case, the lighting had significantly darkened since the last shot, we didnt notice this at the time of filming. This was due to the battery running out of battery before the last few shots and by the time we had finished the lighting from the window had reduced, this will need to be remembered for next time. We cleverly managed to use the brief case opening as a way to end the film and to add titles. It still kept mystery to the audience as the contents of the case isn't revealed, keeping the enigma going.
Boy in suit (me) You may of been thinking, " oh dear he didn't tuck himself in properly" but we had decided that we didnt want me to look like a formal smart businessman, but something isn't right and that 'illegal' activity like 'business in the back alleys'
A very successful few days of media.
Prelim Task Editing.
In Tuesdays 1 hour lesson, the group and I started editing our clips, we started by getting rid of the clips we were defiantly not going to keep, this is when it hit me why I ached so much after the filming, I must of went up the stairs 10's of times, not including practising, not on film and going back down them to do it all over again. Our editing was very basic, with just trimming and moving clips so didnt find any problems. Today (Wednesday) the group used our morning free to finish editing, the time was used to put the clips in right order and to fine tune the timings, this had to be done well, as the footsteps had to work with each other, and to make the change in shots more smoother. We also added our favorite bits, the out takes at the end to make the titles (names) more interesting. We finally finished editing which probably took just under 2 hours, this is when we came to our main problem it wouldn't seem to let us export the file to an external harddrive, we did finally manage this but only on to a memory stick, we may have to figure how to do it properly for next time.v
Our film currently doesnt have music as we cant figure out what will suit it, or if it even needs any.. we may look into this for tomorrows lesson.
I also took some time this evening to make some extra titles for the beginning of the film, like 'pixar' or 'dreamworks' to make it look slightly more proffesional, I did this on adobe after effects with help from tutorials from videocopilot.net.
Our film currently doesnt have music as we cant figure out what will suit it, or if it even needs any.. we may look into this for tomorrows lesson.
I also took some time this evening to make some extra titles for the beginning of the film, like 'pixar' or 'dreamworks' to make it look slightly more proffesional, I did this on adobe after effects with help from tutorials from videocopilot.net.
Monday, 1 March 2010
Prelim task filming.
Today Monday 1st March pur group, started and we believe to of finished all the shots needed for the prelim. It was a very long day and took longer than we expected, from 2pm (ish) to 6pm. We did all the filming in the empty shop we had permission to use. We tried to keep as much to the story board as we could but as we filmed in a different location to where we had created our storyboard, we had both more and less chance to do a complete shot, For example there was a hole in 2nd floor what looked over the turn in the stair case, we didnt have this on the storyboard but only being there gave us the idea we could use that. Although the task states we do the 3 things, we wanted to bulk it out a bit, give it a bit more of a story, with a good mise-en-scene.
Improvements needed for final task:
As the camera ran out of battery half way through although fully charged the night before, we were lucky enough to be in a suitable location to connect the wire up (although the sockets didnt actually work in the shop so just went and charge it up in a local shop for a bit, we need to take into consideration this might not be so convenient in our final piece, so we'll have to bare this in mind.
Script: We had roughly gone through what could be said, but hadnt really got a final decision until when we came to film it and even then with the battery on the low we rushed the conversation part with the shot reverse shot sequence and only had very few lines, if we are going to have a conversation in our final we may need to improve on that. We also spent alot of time on the extra bits like walking up stairs, we maybe should of filmed the priority bits first.
Lighting: We started filming at 2pm, on a bright sunny day and ended filming with lamp posts starting to light up. Luckily as we were inside and had managed for the majority of it to keep the natural light from the windows out of the shot. We had aimed to make it gloomy, and mysterious and from watching it on the camera screen we seemed to of managed that. But again we have to take into mind we might not have the luxury of avoiding several days of filming, where lighting and weather is different which could potentially ruining scenes.
Music: Before and even now we havent decided on music, we're hoping the final edit will help inspire us to find the right music or even if we need it. In the filming we largely used the sound of diagetic sound, mainly being the footsteps, and the sound of doors.
Improvements needed for final task:
As the camera ran out of battery half way through although fully charged the night before, we were lucky enough to be in a suitable location to connect the wire up (although the sockets didnt actually work in the shop so just went and charge it up in a local shop for a bit, we need to take into consideration this might not be so convenient in our final piece, so we'll have to bare this in mind.
Script: We had roughly gone through what could be said, but hadnt really got a final decision until when we came to film it and even then with the battery on the low we rushed the conversation part with the shot reverse shot sequence and only had very few lines, if we are going to have a conversation in our final we may need to improve on that. We also spent alot of time on the extra bits like walking up stairs, we maybe should of filmed the priority bits first.
Lighting: We started filming at 2pm, on a bright sunny day and ended filming with lamp posts starting to light up. Luckily as we were inside and had managed for the majority of it to keep the natural light from the windows out of the shot. We had aimed to make it gloomy, and mysterious and from watching it on the camera screen we seemed to of managed that. But again we have to take into mind we might not have the luxury of avoiding several days of filming, where lighting and weather is different which could potentially ruining scenes.
Music: Before and even now we havent decided on music, we're hoping the final edit will help inspire us to find the right music or even if we need it. In the filming we largely used the sound of diagetic sound, mainly being the footsteps, and the sound of doors.
Sunday, 28 February 2010
Possible location for prelim and final.
We have found a perfect location and have got permisson for filming in an abandoned shop. It has an old worn look to it, it has boarded up windows and doors, wooden floors, hanging wires, old furniture, a great creaking stair case, post piling up, it has dim light, old small windows. Also outside of the windows is a worn out 'back of shops' courtyard, which suits the genre. It looks like a 'suspicious' 'criminal' location, which has good size rooms, good filming spots, e.g a whole above the stairs, so we can film from above.
Prelim Storyboard
On Thursday lesson cover work was set along with the 'shot reverse shot' research, to start our storyboard for our prelim, on the conversation part of the task. We did this in the schools common room however when we had to complete the full story board on fridays lesson we had to redo, the shots as mise-en-scene was different. Whereas on Thursdays lesson we used the bag as the center of attention, the mystery of what was in that bag made the scene more intriguing. While on Friday we had to use a different location and did not have the bag with us, we then decided that a memory stick could be used in the same way to keep the sense of mystery.
I have linked the story boards to google docs, To view just click on the link (for better quality (download to adobe reader):
Shot reverse shot (Thursdays lesson):
https://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0B8Z0x_7LzVC5NTdmNTdjODQtZDM5NC00OGUwLTg2YmMtY2QyMmNkNDU3YTI4&hl=en
Prelim storyboard (fridays lesson)
https://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0B8Z0x_7LzVC5MDM5Zjk2ZGEtZmM5ZC00MGVjLTg0YmQtMDdlYjRjMmZiODEx&hl=en
we hope to have all prelim filming done by this Thursday then we will have the double lesson to edit the shots together. I would also like to express my opinion that compared to other classes we have been given a very minimal amount of time to do the planning, filming and evaluating for both tasks, it puts us under extreme pressure and stress to get it done when we have other subjects to consider as well, whereas the other class has had since November time, including the Christmas holidays and they still have this time to complete if they havent quite finished, we dont have this luxury. It may also put us off the theory we have learnt for the exam, so may need to be re taught it, I would suggest that the media department does not do it this way again!
I have linked the story boards to google docs, To view just click on the link (for better quality (download to adobe reader):
Shot reverse shot (Thursdays lesson):
https://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0B8Z0x_7LzVC5NTdmNTdjODQtZDM5NC00OGUwLTg2YmMtY2QyMmNkNDU3YTI4&hl=en
Prelim storyboard (fridays lesson)
https://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0B8Z0x_7LzVC5MDM5Zjk2ZGEtZmM5ZC00MGVjLTg0YmQtMDdlYjRjMmZiODEx&hl=en
we hope to have all prelim filming done by this Thursday then we will have the double lesson to edit the shots together. I would also like to express my opinion that compared to other classes we have been given a very minimal amount of time to do the planning, filming and evaluating for both tasks, it puts us under extreme pressure and stress to get it done when we have other subjects to consider as well, whereas the other class has had since November time, including the Christmas holidays and they still have this time to complete if they havent quite finished, we dont have this luxury. It may also put us off the theory we have learnt for the exam, so may need to be re taught it, I would suggest that the media department does not do it this way again!
Thursday, 25 February 2010
Thursday 25th Feb... Cover work for Ms Cate.
wherein one character is shown looking at another character (often off-screen), and then the other character is shown looking "back" at the first character. Since the characters are shown facing in opposite directions, the viewer assumes that they are looking at each other.
here is a great example I found on youtube what talks about it in detail.
here is a great example I found on youtube what talks about it in detail.
Saturday, 20 February 2010
Camera Movement ...
1. Pans
A movement which scans a scene horizontally. The camera is placed on a tripod, which operates as a stationary axis point as the camera is turned, often to follow a moving object which is kept in the middle of the frame.
2. Tilts
A movement which scans a scene vertically, otherwise similar to a pan.
3. Dolly Shots
Sometimes called TRUCKING or TRACKING shots. The camera is placed on a moving vehicle and moves alongside the action, generally following a moving figure or object. Complicated dolly shots will involve a track being laid on set for the camera to follow, hence the name. The camera might be mounted on a car, a plane, or even a shopping trolley (good method for independent film-makers looking to save a few dollars). A dolly shot may be a good way of portraying movement, the journey of a character for instance, or for moving from a long shot to a close-up, gradually focusing the audience on a particular object or character.
4. Hand-held shots
The hand-held movie camera first saw widespread use during World War II, when news reporters took their windup Arriflexes and Eyemos into the heat of battle, producing some of the most arresting footage of the twentieth century. After the war, it took a while for commercially produced movies to catch up, and documentary makers led the way, demanding the production of smaller, lighter cameras that could be moved in and out of a scene with speed, producing a "fly-on-the-wall" effect.This aesthetic took a while to catch on with mainstream Hollywood, as it gives a jerky, ragged effect, totally at odds with the organised smoothness of a dolly shot. The Steadicam (a heavy contraption which is attached a camera to an operator by a harness. The camera is stabilized so it moves independently) was debuted in Marathon Man (1976), bringing a new smoothness to hand held camera movement and has been used to great effect in movies and TV shows ever since. No "walk and talk" sequence would be complete without one. Hand held cameras denote a certain kind of gritty realism, and they can make the audience feel as though they are part of a scene, rather than viewing it from a detached, frozen position.
5. Crane Shots
Basically, dolly-shots-in-the-air. A crane (or jib), is a large, heavy piece of equipment, but is a useful way of moving a camera - it can move up, down, left, right, swooping in on action or moving diagonally out of it. The camera operator and camera are counter-balanced by a heavy weight, and trust their safety to a skilled crane/jib operator.
6. Zoom Lenses
A zoom lens contains a mechanism that changes the magnification of an image. On a still camera, this means that the photographer can get a 'close up' shot while still being some distance from the subject. A video zoom lens can change the position of the audience, either very quickly (a smash zoom) or slowly, without moving the camera an inch, thus saving a lot of time and trouble. The drawbacks to zoom use include the fact that while a dolly shot involves a steady movement similar to the focusing change in the human eye, the zoom lens tends to be jerky (unless used very slowly) and to distort an image, making objects appear closer together than they really are. Zoom lenses are also drastically over-used by many directors (including those holding palmcorders), who try to give the impression of movement and excitement in a scene where it does not exist. Use with caution - and a tripod!
7. The Aerial Shot
An exciting variation of a crane shot, usually taken from a helicopter. This is often used at the beginning of a film, in order to establish setting and movement. A helicopter is like a particularly flexible sort of crane - it can go anywhere, keep up with anything, move in and out of a scene, and convey real drama and exhilaration — so long as you don't need to get too close to your actors or use location sound with the shots.
Camera angles...
1. The Bird's-Eye view
This shows a scene from directly overhead, a very unnatural and strange angle. Familiar objects viewed from this angle might seem totally unrecognisable at first (umbrellas in a crowd, dancers' legs). This shot does, however, put the audience in a godlike position, looking down on the action. People can be made to look insignificant, ant-like, part of a wider scheme of things. Hitchcock (and his admirers, like Brian de Palma) is fond of this style of shot.
2. High Angle
Not so extreme as a bird's eye view. The camera is elevated above the action using a crane to give a general overview. High angles make the object photographed seem smaller, and less significant (or scary). The object or character often gets swallowed up by their setting - they become part of a wider picture.
3. Eye Level
A fairly neutral shot; the camera is positioned as though it is a human actually observing a scene, so that eg actors' heads are on a level with the focus. The camera will be placed approximately five to six feet from the ground.
4. Low Angle
These increase height (useful for short actors like Tom Cruise or James McAvoy) and give a sense of speeded motion. Low angles help give a sense of confusion to a viewer, of powerlessness within the action of a scene. The background of a low angle shot will tend to be just sky or ceiling, the lack of detail about the setting adding to the disorientation of the viewer. The added height of the object may make it inspire fear and insecurity in the viewer, who is psychologically dominated by the figure on the screen.
5. Oblique/Canted Angle
Sometimes the camera is tilted (ie is not placed horizontal to floor level), to suggest imbalance, transition and instability (very popular in horror movies). This technique is used to suggest POINT-OF-View shots (ie when the camera becomes the 'eyes' of one particular character,seeing what they see — a hand held camera is often used for this.
Framing...
I found this interesting and useful to look back on when doing filming...
from http://www.mediaknowall.com/camangles.html
1 . Extreme long shot
This can be taken from as much as a quarter of a mile away, and is generally used as a scene-setting, establishing shot. It normally shows an EXTERIOR, eg the outside of a building, or a landscape, and is often used to show scenes of thrilling action eg in a war film or disaster movie. There will be very little detail visible in the shot, it's meant to give a general impression rather than specific information.
The extreme long shot on the left is taken from a distance, but denotes a precise location - it might even connote all of the entertainment industry if used as the opening shot in a news story.
2. Long Shot
This is the most difficult to categorise precisely, but is generally one which shows the image as approximately "life" size ie corresponding to the real distance between the audience and the screen in a cinema (the figure of a man would appear as six feet tall). This category includes the FULL SHOT showing the entire human body, with the head near the top of the frame and the feet near the bottom. While the focus is on characters, plenty of background detail still emerges: we can tell the coffins on the right are in a Western-style setting, for instance.
3. Medium Shot
Contains a figure from the knees/waist up and is normally used for dialogue scenes, or to show some detail of action. Variations on this include the TWO SHOT (containing two figures from the waist up) and the THREE SHOT (contains 3 figures...). NB. Any more than three figures and the shot tends to become a long shot. Background detail is minimal, probably because location has been established earlier in the scene - the audience already know where they are and now want to focus on dialogue and character interaction. Another variation in this category is the OVER-THE-SHOULDER-SHOT, which positions the camera behind one figure, revealing the other figure, and part of the first figure's back, head and shoulder.
4. Close-Up
This shows very little background, and concentrates on either a face, or a specific detail of mise en scène. Everything else is just a blur in the background. This shot magnifies the object (think of how big it looks on a cinema screen) and shows the importance of things, be it words written on paper, or the expression on someone's face. The close-up takes us into the mind of a character. In reality, we only let people that we really trust get THAT close to our face - mothers, children and lovers, usually - so a close up of a face is a very intimate shot. A film-maker may use this to make us feel extra comfortable or extremely uncomfortable about a character, and usually uses a zoom lens in order to get the required framing.
5. Extreme Close-Up
As its name suggests, an extreme version of the close up, generally magnifying beyond what the human eye would experience in reality. An extreme close-up of a face, for instance, would show only the mouth or eyes, with no background detail whatsoever. This is a very artificial shot, and can be used for dramatic effect. The tight focus required means that extra care must be taken when setting up and lighting the shot - the slightest camera shake or error in focal length is very noticeable.
from http://www.mediaknowall.com/camangles.html
1 . Extreme long shot
This can be taken from as much as a quarter of a mile away, and is generally used as a scene-setting, establishing shot. It normally shows an EXTERIOR, eg the outside of a building, or a landscape, and is often used to show scenes of thrilling action eg in a war film or disaster movie. There will be very little detail visible in the shot, it's meant to give a general impression rather than specific information.
The extreme long shot on the left is taken from a distance, but denotes a precise location - it might even connote all of the entertainment industry if used as the opening shot in a news story.
2. Long Shot
This is the most difficult to categorise precisely, but is generally one which shows the image as approximately "life" size ie corresponding to the real distance between the audience and the screen in a cinema (the figure of a man would appear as six feet tall). This category includes the FULL SHOT showing the entire human body, with the head near the top of the frame and the feet near the bottom. While the focus is on characters, plenty of background detail still emerges: we can tell the coffins on the right are in a Western-style setting, for instance.
3. Medium Shot
Contains a figure from the knees/waist up and is normally used for dialogue scenes, or to show some detail of action. Variations on this include the TWO SHOT (containing two figures from the waist up) and the THREE SHOT (contains 3 figures...). NB. Any more than three figures and the shot tends to become a long shot. Background detail is minimal, probably because location has been established earlier in the scene - the audience already know where they are and now want to focus on dialogue and character interaction. Another variation in this category is the OVER-THE-SHOULDER-SHOT, which positions the camera behind one figure, revealing the other figure, and part of the first figure's back, head and shoulder.
4. Close-Up
This shows very little background, and concentrates on either a face, or a specific detail of mise en scène. Everything else is just a blur in the background. This shot magnifies the object (think of how big it looks on a cinema screen) and shows the importance of things, be it words written on paper, or the expression on someone's face. The close-up takes us into the mind of a character. In reality, we only let people that we really trust get THAT close to our face - mothers, children and lovers, usually - so a close up of a face is a very intimate shot. A film-maker may use this to make us feel extra comfortable or extremely uncomfortable about a character, and usually uses a zoom lens in order to get the required framing.
5. Extreme Close-Up
As its name suggests, an extreme version of the close up, generally magnifying beyond what the human eye would experience in reality. An extreme close-up of a face, for instance, would show only the mouth or eyes, with no background detail whatsoever. This is a very artificial shot, and can be used for dramatic effect. The tight focus required means that extra care must be taken when setting up and lighting the shot - the slightest camera shake or error in focal length is very noticeable.
Film Genres
Action Films
Action films usually include high energy, big-budget physical stunts and chases, possibly with rescues, battles, fights, escapes, destructive crises (floods, explosions, natural disasters, fires, etc.), non-stop motion, spectacular rhythm and pacing, and adventurous, often two-dimensional 'good-guy' heroes (or recently, heroines) battling 'bad guys' - all designed for pure audience escapism. Includes the James Bond 'fantasy' spy/espionage series, martial arts films, and so-called 'blaxploitation' films. A major sub-genre is the disaster film. See also Greatest Disaster and Crowd Film Scenes and Greatest Classic Chase Scenes in Films.
Adventure Films
Adventure films are usually exciting stories, with new experiences or exotic locales, very similar to or often paired with the action film genre. They can include traditional swashbucklers, serialized films, and historical spectacles (similar to the epics film genre), searches or expeditions for lost continents, "jungle" and "desert" epics, treasure hunts, disaster films, or searches for the unknown.
Comedy Films
Comedies are light-hearted plots consistently and deliberately designed to amuse and provoke laughter (with one-liners, jokes, etc.) by exaggerating the situation, the language, action, relationships and characters. This section describes various forms of comedy through cinematic history, including slapstick, screwball, spoofs and parodies, romantic comedies, black comedy (dark satirical comedy), and more. See this site's Funniest Film Moments and Scenes collection - illustrated, and also Premiere Magazine's 50 Greatest Comedies of All Time.
Crime & Gangster Films
Crime (gangster) films are developed around the sinister actions of criminals or mobsters, particularly bankrobbers, underworld figures, or ruthless hoodlums who operate outside the law, stealing and murdering their way through life. Criminal and gangster films are often categorized as film noir or detective-mystery films - because of underlying similarities between these cinematic forms. This category includes a description of various 'serial killer' films.
Drama Films
Dramas are serious, plot-driven presentations, portraying realistic characters, settings, life situations, and stories involving intense character development and interaction. Usually, they are not focused on special-effects, comedy, or action, Dramatic films are probably the largest film genre, with many subsets. See also the melodramas, epics (historical dramas), or romantic genres. Dramatic biographical films (or "biopics") are a major sub-genre, as are 'adult' films (with mature subject content).
Epics/Historical Films
Epics include costume dramas, historical dramas, war films, medieval romps, or 'period pictures' that often cover a large expanse of time set against a vast, panoramic backdrop. Epics often share elements of the elaborate adventure films genre. Epics take an historical or imagined event, mythic, legendary, or heroic figure, and add an extravagant setting and lavish costumes, accompanied by grandeur and spectacle, dramatic scope, high production values, and a sweeping musical score. Epics are often a more spectacular, lavish version of a biopic film. Some 'sword and sandal' films (Biblical epics or films occuring during antiquity) qualify as a sub-genre.
Horror Films
Horror films are designed to frighten and to invoke our hidden worst fears, often in a terrifying, shocking finale, while captivating and entertaining us at the same time in a cathartic experience. Horror films feature a wide range of styles, from the earliest silent Nosferatu classic, to today's CGI monsters and deranged humans. They are often combined with science fiction when the menace or monster is related to a corruption of technology, or when Earth is threatened by aliens. The fantasy and supernatural film genres are not usually synonymous with the horror genre. There are many sub-genres of horror: slasher, teen terror, serial killers, satanic, Dracula, Frankenstein, etc. See this site's Scariest Film Moments and Scenes collection - illustrated.
Musicals (Dance) Films
Musical/dance films are cinematic forms that emphasize full-scale scores or song and dance routines in a significant way (usually with a musical or dance performance integrated as part of the film narrative), or they are films that are centered on combinations of music, dance, song or choreography. Major subgenres include the musical comedy or the concert film. See this site's Greatest Musical Song/Dance Movie Moments and Scenes collection - illustrated.
Science Fiction Films
Sci-fi films are often quasi-scientific, visionary and imaginative - complete with heroes, aliens, distant planets, impossible quests, improbable settings, fantastic places, great dark and shadowy villains, futuristic technology, unknown and unknowable forces, and extraordinary monsters ('things or creatures from space'), either created by mad scientists or by nuclear havoc. They are sometimes an offshoot of fantasy films, or they share some similarities with action/adventure films. Science fiction often expresses the potential of technology to destroy humankind and easily overlaps with horror films, particularly when technology or alien life forms become malevolent, as in the "Atomic Age" of sci-fi films in the 1950s.
War (Anti-War) Films
War films acknowledge the horror and heartbreak of war, letting the actual combat fighting (against nations or humankind) on land, sea, or in the air provide the primary plot or background for the action of the film. War films are often paired with other genres, such as action, adventure, drama, romance, comedy (black), suspense, and even epics and westerns, and they often take a denunciatory approach toward warfare. They may include POW tales, stories of military operations, and training. See this site's Greatest War Movies (in five parts).
Westerns
Westerns are the major defining genre of the American film industry - a eulogy to the early days of the expansive American frontier. They are one of the oldest, most enduring genres with very recognizable plots, elements, and characters (six-guns, horses, dusty towns and trails, cowboys, Indians, etc.). Over time, westerns have been re-defined, re-invented and expanded, dismissed, re-discovered, and spoofed.
Action films usually include high energy, big-budget physical stunts and chases, possibly with rescues, battles, fights, escapes, destructive crises (floods, explosions, natural disasters, fires, etc.), non-stop motion, spectacular rhythm and pacing, and adventurous, often two-dimensional 'good-guy' heroes (or recently, heroines) battling 'bad guys' - all designed for pure audience escapism. Includes the James Bond 'fantasy' spy/espionage series, martial arts films, and so-called 'blaxploitation' films. A major sub-genre is the disaster film. See also Greatest Disaster and Crowd Film Scenes and Greatest Classic Chase Scenes in Films.
Adventure Films
Adventure films are usually exciting stories, with new experiences or exotic locales, very similar to or often paired with the action film genre. They can include traditional swashbucklers, serialized films, and historical spectacles (similar to the epics film genre), searches or expeditions for lost continents, "jungle" and "desert" epics, treasure hunts, disaster films, or searches for the unknown.
Comedy Films
Comedies are light-hearted plots consistently and deliberately designed to amuse and provoke laughter (with one-liners, jokes, etc.) by exaggerating the situation, the language, action, relationships and characters. This section describes various forms of comedy through cinematic history, including slapstick, screwball, spoofs and parodies, romantic comedies, black comedy (dark satirical comedy), and more. See this site's Funniest Film Moments and Scenes collection - illustrated, and also Premiere Magazine's 50 Greatest Comedies of All Time.
Crime & Gangster Films
Crime (gangster) films are developed around the sinister actions of criminals or mobsters, particularly bankrobbers, underworld figures, or ruthless hoodlums who operate outside the law, stealing and murdering their way through life. Criminal and gangster films are often categorized as film noir or detective-mystery films - because of underlying similarities between these cinematic forms. This category includes a description of various 'serial killer' films.
Drama Films
Dramas are serious, plot-driven presentations, portraying realistic characters, settings, life situations, and stories involving intense character development and interaction. Usually, they are not focused on special-effects, comedy, or action, Dramatic films are probably the largest film genre, with many subsets. See also the melodramas, epics (historical dramas), or romantic genres. Dramatic biographical films (or "biopics") are a major sub-genre, as are 'adult' films (with mature subject content).
Epics/Historical Films
Epics include costume dramas, historical dramas, war films, medieval romps, or 'period pictures' that often cover a large expanse of time set against a vast, panoramic backdrop. Epics often share elements of the elaborate adventure films genre. Epics take an historical or imagined event, mythic, legendary, or heroic figure, and add an extravagant setting and lavish costumes, accompanied by grandeur and spectacle, dramatic scope, high production values, and a sweeping musical score. Epics are often a more spectacular, lavish version of a biopic film. Some 'sword and sandal' films (Biblical epics or films occuring during antiquity) qualify as a sub-genre.
Horror Films
Horror films are designed to frighten and to invoke our hidden worst fears, often in a terrifying, shocking finale, while captivating and entertaining us at the same time in a cathartic experience. Horror films feature a wide range of styles, from the earliest silent Nosferatu classic, to today's CGI monsters and deranged humans. They are often combined with science fiction when the menace or monster is related to a corruption of technology, or when Earth is threatened by aliens. The fantasy and supernatural film genres are not usually synonymous with the horror genre. There are many sub-genres of horror: slasher, teen terror, serial killers, satanic, Dracula, Frankenstein, etc. See this site's Scariest Film Moments and Scenes collection - illustrated.
Musicals (Dance) Films
Musical/dance films are cinematic forms that emphasize full-scale scores or song and dance routines in a significant way (usually with a musical or dance performance integrated as part of the film narrative), or they are films that are centered on combinations of music, dance, song or choreography. Major subgenres include the musical comedy or the concert film. See this site's Greatest Musical Song/Dance Movie Moments and Scenes collection - illustrated.
Science Fiction Films
Sci-fi films are often quasi-scientific, visionary and imaginative - complete with heroes, aliens, distant planets, impossible quests, improbable settings, fantastic places, great dark and shadowy villains, futuristic technology, unknown and unknowable forces, and extraordinary monsters ('things or creatures from space'), either created by mad scientists or by nuclear havoc. They are sometimes an offshoot of fantasy films, or they share some similarities with action/adventure films. Science fiction often expresses the potential of technology to destroy humankind and easily overlaps with horror films, particularly when technology or alien life forms become malevolent, as in the "Atomic Age" of sci-fi films in the 1950s.
War (Anti-War) Films
War films acknowledge the horror and heartbreak of war, letting the actual combat fighting (against nations or humankind) on land, sea, or in the air provide the primary plot or background for the action of the film. War films are often paired with other genres, such as action, adventure, drama, romance, comedy (black), suspense, and even epics and westerns, and they often take a denunciatory approach toward warfare. They may include POW tales, stories of military operations, and training. See this site's Greatest War Movies (in five parts).
Westerns
Westerns are the major defining genre of the American film industry - a eulogy to the early days of the expansive American frontier. They are one of the oldest, most enduring genres with very recognizable plots, elements, and characters (six-guns, horses, dusty towns and trails, cowboys, Indians, etc.). Over time, westerns have been re-defined, re-invented and expanded, dismissed, re-discovered, and spoofed.
The Start of the practical.. First Planning session.
My group consisting of
- Patrick Greenberg ( http://cherwellmedia6094pgreenberg.blogspot.com/)
- Piyal Matilal ( http://pmstars.blogspot.com/ ) ?
During our meeting, after cafe Nero gave us our Hot chocolates, we made a mind map of genres, from these we decided which genres we could effectively use in 2 minutes. ( I may scan the document in or just write it up on the computer) Our remaining genres left were... Horror, action, Comedy, Romance, RomCom, Crime and Gangster and Drama.
We made notes on why we couldnt do some genres and why we could...
We then went on to come up with ideas for the genres.
Our favored genre was Action.
At one point we went slightly off topic, but it turned out to be a good bit of babbling, as we discussed the recent series of 'Hustle' we all loved the show, and this gave us the idea to do a similar thing.
Rough initial idea... The students at the school suspect the teachers are stealing money from the school and failing the students, a group of student gather to investigate this on finding out this is happening and no one will believe them they start to create a con to get the money back off the thieving teachers...Turning out harder to be than they first thought, that the teachers are a group of high level criminals and the school is just there hiding place, will the students succeed and get their marks.
In the 2 minutes we thought we could have a meeting infiltrated, with 'spy cameras', cutting between the teachers meeting and the students...
maybe like a student racing to get to school as uses good exciting cameras..
This is initial planning and lots of babbling on so... You dont need to read all of this, its just whats going on in my mind....
- Patrick Greenberg ( http://cherwellmedia6094pgreenberg.blogspot.com/)
- Piyal Matilal ( http://pmstars.blogspot.com/ ) ?
During our meeting, after cafe Nero gave us our Hot chocolates, we made a mind map of genres, from these we decided which genres we could effectively use in 2 minutes. ( I may scan the document in or just write it up on the computer) Our remaining genres left were... Horror, action, Comedy, Romance, RomCom, Crime and Gangster and Drama.
We made notes on why we couldnt do some genres and why we could...
We then went on to come up with ideas for the genres.
Our favored genre was Action.
At one point we went slightly off topic, but it turned out to be a good bit of babbling, as we discussed the recent series of 'Hustle' we all loved the show, and this gave us the idea to do a similar thing.
Rough initial idea... The students at the school suspect the teachers are stealing money from the school and failing the students, a group of student gather to investigate this on finding out this is happening and no one will believe them they start to create a con to get the money back off the thieving teachers...Turning out harder to be than they first thought, that the teachers are a group of high level criminals and the school is just there hiding place, will the students succeed and get their marks.
In the 2 minutes we thought we could have a meeting infiltrated, with 'spy cameras', cutting between the teachers meeting and the students...
maybe like a student racing to get to school as uses good exciting cameras..
This is initial planning and lots of babbling on so... You dont need to read all of this, its just whats going on in my mind....
Thursday, 4 February 2010
How are hospital staff represented in Bodies Essay
Bodies is set in a gynaecology surgical ward which deals with female patients reproductive organs, which in reality the majority of the surgery should be fairly minor as it's a common surgical procedure, but In Bodies all the patients the audience meets have some form of complications. Patient 1 a diabetic having a simple dye procedure to determine why she isn't managing to conceive. This was nearly put into jeopardy when she is moved on the surgical list by phone call from the trainee doctor, this showed incompetence and lack of experience, although the characteristics of this students is similar to those in reality, but its unconventional a list would be checked, lists would be checked thoroughly and shouldn't be left to a student, that notes should be checked with list before any operation, this shows lacks of professionalism throughout.
The doctors are represented as stressed busy employees who are always on their feet, they are also shown to lack emotional care, that it is just a job and that they rely on numbers. For example the old lady is given medicine by Rob Lake, she still clearly is in pain but he just leaves her to attend to another patient, the audience is then reminded for a while of the neglect seemingly shown with the diagetic sound of the agonising groaning from her, when they returned there, Authority was shown when a doctor demanded the nurse to give more medication, and not listening to her, which applies back to earlier when the nurse was not listened to when saying the old lady should not be on the ward, showing the hierarchy effect. When the old lady died no emotion was shown, Lake was seen to have no emotion, that the audience was led to believe he didn't care. This is also empathised with Hurley when patients are still in need and he's presenting at a conference.
The Nurses are shown to be more caring less about finance and figures, they are shown to have lower authority, Bodies shows this with high angle cams looking down on them, whereas low camera angles are used on doctors showing authority and power over the other staff member. Bodies also cleverly using positioning of characters to show this, when doing the rounds, going from patient to patient, a 3 shot is used, where the higher power was the front and more in focus with the least important at the back in less focus. But there are times to where the nurses are shown to lack emotional care as chocolates are gifted, all the nurses stop working and fight over them. Although authority is shown throughout with the doctors being represented as self obsessed selfish ignorant people, we have an emotional scene with the death of the lady who only started off with a bad throat, when in the situation of her failing to breathe, Lake didn't want to perform a life saving procedure because he had never carried it out before, It was only from the determination of the nurse that made him do it.
The student doctor is shown to be lacking in confidence, when the audience first meets her, she is reading a medical dictionary Bodies cleverly uses shaky hand held cameras representing nerves. She is also blamed for the list cock-up, though she's the easy one to blame because of her authority, but she is also shown to not care when she says 'Shit Happens'. The audience expects her to make up for this nearly catastrophic blunder, but instead she slacks off work to go on a date.
All the staff are represented to be under large amounts of stress, with the use of props, music and use of conversations. One of the doctors is shown smoking outside, although doctors know more than most about the risks of smoking this represents the extreme amount of stress, Lake also keeps on insisting to various parties to go to the pub, seemingly these are used to counter the stress. Loneliness also seems to be a common theme throughout, The set and the lighting were gloomy and realistic, when Lake was by himself in the corridor a wide shot expressed the wide open lonely place that the hospital can present. In the sex affair scene, it shows the comfort needed, the depression of the day's events getting at them.
The darkness and seriousness at times broken by comical sequences, the sticky tie, simply wouldn't not happen in reality but shows lacks of professionalism, a 'bad day at the office'. Also a sex questionnaire embeds in a serious conversation about a surgical procedure, Lake keeps a professional manner but in a light mood to keep the other patient at ease.
The doctors are represented as stressed busy employees who are always on their feet, they are also shown to lack emotional care, that it is just a job and that they rely on numbers. For example the old lady is given medicine by Rob Lake, she still clearly is in pain but he just leaves her to attend to another patient, the audience is then reminded for a while of the neglect seemingly shown with the diagetic sound of the agonising groaning from her, when they returned there, Authority was shown when a doctor demanded the nurse to give more medication, and not listening to her, which applies back to earlier when the nurse was not listened to when saying the old lady should not be on the ward, showing the hierarchy effect. When the old lady died no emotion was shown, Lake was seen to have no emotion, that the audience was led to believe he didn't care. This is also empathised with Hurley when patients are still in need and he's presenting at a conference.
The Nurses are shown to be more caring less about finance and figures, they are shown to have lower authority, Bodies shows this with high angle cams looking down on them, whereas low camera angles are used on doctors showing authority and power over the other staff member. Bodies also cleverly using positioning of characters to show this, when doing the rounds, going from patient to patient, a 3 shot is used, where the higher power was the front and more in focus with the least important at the back in less focus. But there are times to where the nurses are shown to lack emotional care as chocolates are gifted, all the nurses stop working and fight over them. Although authority is shown throughout with the doctors being represented as self obsessed selfish ignorant people, we have an emotional scene with the death of the lady who only started off with a bad throat, when in the situation of her failing to breathe, Lake didn't want to perform a life saving procedure because he had never carried it out before, It was only from the determination of the nurse that made him do it.
The student doctor is shown to be lacking in confidence, when the audience first meets her, she is reading a medical dictionary Bodies cleverly uses shaky hand held cameras representing nerves. She is also blamed for the list cock-up, though she's the easy one to blame because of her authority, but she is also shown to not care when she says 'Shit Happens'. The audience expects her to make up for this nearly catastrophic blunder, but instead she slacks off work to go on a date.
All the staff are represented to be under large amounts of stress, with the use of props, music and use of conversations. One of the doctors is shown smoking outside, although doctors know more than most about the risks of smoking this represents the extreme amount of stress, Lake also keeps on insisting to various parties to go to the pub, seemingly these are used to counter the stress. Loneliness also seems to be a common theme throughout, The set and the lighting were gloomy and realistic, when Lake was by himself in the corridor a wide shot expressed the wide open lonely place that the hospital can present. In the sex affair scene, it shows the comfort needed, the depression of the day's events getting at them.
The darkness and seriousness at times broken by comical sequences, the sticky tie, simply wouldn't not happen in reality but shows lacks of professionalism, a 'bad day at the office'. Also a sex questionnaire embeds in a serious conversation about a surgical procedure, Lake keeps a professional manner but in a light mood to keep the other patient at ease.
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