Media language

Happy Christmas!!!

Today I am going to go over how the Media presents it's signals and messages in its very own language to the audience, some of it is very discrete however some of it is very obvious to the audience here are some examples.

Signs: Signs in the media can come in many different forms such as...
-Colour: Colour can be used as a sign to the audience by indicating certain characteristics about a character or setting for example the blonde hair colour indicates innocence within the character as it is very bright where as a character wearing all black and red would be considered evil as Black is very dark were as red signifies blood. 

Blonde hair usually is a sign/symbol for beauty

or innocence

Semiotics: Shows various signals and signs in media. A lot of people accuse it of propaganda with hidden messages in films. They are usually difficult to see and usually indicate the personality of the character involved or something that the audience can relate to.

For example in this scene of he film Avatar 

in the background you can quite clearly see the American

flag symbol on the window as if its a hidden message 

Risk assesment

In this risk assessment I am going to outline the various risks in this task and how we can avoid them.
A Risk assessment is important as it outlines the various dangers that could be faced during filming our film introduction. This can be related to the weather or location of filming

1. Camera/Microphone poking people in the eye
-We will need to be careful when operating the equipment and only move it when we need to.

2. Tripping over tripod legs
-Look where we are walking NO RUNNING around set. Make sure that when tripod is not in use that it is folded up and guarded by an individual so people ca see it easier so they are less likely to trip over the legs and injure themselves.

3. When filming around water electronic could be dropped into the water causing the breakage of the equipment and an electric shock.
-Avoid water altogether or if need be very careful around water. Equipment could be damaged by water even if not electrical as if metal gets int contact with water if its ferrous then t can rust or just clog up joints in a tripod leg for example.

4. When filming by the road dangerous Driving or a slip could cause a car accident.
-Be extremely careful when filming by the road, avoid filming when cars are driving by. We my even need to avoid filming near roads or footpaths as people could come into shot when they are not supposed to, this would distract the audience when watching the sequence as they may feel tht they need to look at them instead of Jack.

5. In bad weather (Heavy rain, high winds, lightning).
-Equipment must be protected well or not used at all to prevent any damage as equipment is expensive. We don't want any equipment that is electrical getting wet either.

Weather and Setting

For this task the conditions outside are very important.
As our character played by Jack is on his way to his first interview into the so called boring Office world. So the weather can be used to  display the characters emotions as a Semiotic or a sign. For example if it were raining then Jack would have to look sad as rain can symbolise tears as if the entire world around him is making him sad. If it were sunny however then Jack would be happy and lets face it probably dancing everywhere he goes. As the sun is very bright it represents a bright future and a happy day to the audience. So as our character will be very nervous and probably in a rush we will preferably need it to be overcast to show that the character is trapped or under pressure as the clouds could represent a natural roof over his head as if to force him down not able to climb in confidence.

 

For our actual setting we will start from inside Jacks Bedroom-around his house-down his driveway-along the road-and stops at the bus stop where the title of the film is displayed and the opening of the film ends. We will need to make sure that when we are inside that we get more close up images on jack and the objects around him that we will use to display the titles similar to the title sequences of Fresh Meat. Where as soon as we step outside we include Long shots and Extreme long shots to show where Jack is and where he is going. We will need to be careful that when we are fling for the opposite side of the road that not many cars come past in one shot or else we will not be able to see Jack for long and the image will become cluttered, confusing and will ruin the Mise En scene. 

Further costume ideas

Due to the change in our theme we have decided that for the sake of our Mise en Scene making sense in our film opening we have made some changes to our main characters costume.

We need to make the costume as plain as possible as it needs to just look normal like the average teenager would wear. So we were thinking along the lines of something as simple as a white T-shirt with black trousers to show how plain and boring life is for the some people as black and white are the blandest of colours. 




Here is a photo of Jack during some of the filming that we have begun of the chosen outfit

As you can see the costume is very bland to look at and allows the user to take in the scenery around Jack so that they can guess what kind of area he lives in. We also added a rucksack which would indicate that he goes to school and needs to carry his study...stuff. He is also using his headphones to listen to music which shows that he has an interest in music and we thought some background music (non-diegetic) sound could indicate what he is listening to.

Genre

For our 60% task the genre we are planning to follow is a Comedy Drama. It is important to have a Genre as it allows the audience to understand the point in a film for example if the genre of a film was a romance it wouldn't make sense if it suddenly switched into a action film sense unless the style of film was an action film. It also attracts a certain audience depending on the genre for example people might only go and see a film if they like that particular genre however if they don't know what the genre is then they might not go and see the film as they don't know what to expect. 

Examples of different Genre's

1. Action 



2.Romance  



3. Comedy


4. Drama


5. Documentary
 

As our film is a Comedy/Drama we need to make sure that the acting is good will high quality filming and camera angles (Lots of close ups to read the expression on actors face) however at the same time it is a comedy so we will need to see what the actor is doing and see the things that he is doing from a distance so there would be quite a few medium to long shots involved.

Music for Task

For our 60% task we were thinking of adding a backing track to help establish a rhythm in the sequence. In order to get the right piece of music we need to get into the mindset of when we wake up and get ready to work. We either wake up in a happy mood ready to get on with your day. So this piece of music we need it to be happy and fast to make it sound like the beat is encouraging the character out of the door. This would have to be in a major key so that the song makes the audience feel happy as it allows them to relate to the good (rare mornings) they have.  A good song that we could use here would be Mr Blue Sky as it is happy and upbeat, plus the term blue indicates a happy day because the weather is good. another good song would be "I feel good" as it is a happy song and the title expresses this. It is also well known so some people are more likely to enjoy it.

However we are more likely to have that kind of morning when you don't want to wake up and smash your alarm clock... so thats nearly every morning so we would need to have music in a minor key so the audience understand that the character is in a bad mood. It would also need to be slow to emphasise how the characters mind is moving slowly as they are tired or sad. A good song to use here for example would be any music that is slow with a piano in the background that is slow in a minor key as it represents how tired the mind is when you wake up in the morning.

     







We also need to link the music to what is actually going on in the film. So we need something that a teenager would listen to such as electronic, hip hop or rock. Something along those lines hat could link to his personality and how he is feeling. Its a good way of showing how the main character is feeling without him speaking.
When it came to actually choosing a song we originally went with "Sex-machine" by James Brown, we liked it as it was upbeat with a good consistent rhythm. However right as we juuuussstt finished editing all the clips in time with the music we realized that we had to and couldn't get copyright as the song was just to far well known. So we had to scrap that idea and look for a non copyright piece of music to prevent haste. In the end we were able to reedit this track into the clip in time with all the cuts in the editing.

Film maker Logo

For our media studies 60% task we were given the option to create a film production logo and we decided to go through with it.
The actual logo we realised had nothing to do with the story of the film so we figured that we were not really going to be restricted in what we did. So we decided to go with something a little weird, creative but simple for the audience to read. So here it is. The reason why we have a penguin is because... well I can draw penguins quite well and lets face it penguins are pretty awesome so that's what we went with. The Mise en Scene in the image shows the penguin stood up in front of a prison line up holding its name in front in the centre so people can read it. The hair and black eye also shows quite a reckless personality but it also shows the character to be quite a risk taker which is something as a group that we like to do so this fits in quite well. 
We also decided that our character should be a bird as in our preliminary task our Mise en scene was very poor and for some reason in some shots we could see a duck holding the door open which made no sense.
The company would not be independent and would be linked to a larger distributer e.g. Universal so that bigger funds can be used and more famous names in movies making them easier to promote and attract bigger audiences.

Mise en Scene for opening sequence

From our last task we learned that Mise en Scene is one of the most important things in a film and... well we really messed it up. For one my house was a mess, there was to much clutter in every shot like family photos or clothes this created confusion for the audience as they didn't know where to look. This time round we need to be really careful with what is in every shot and how much "clutter" we have in every shot to make the environment seem believable to the audience because we don't want to just film in an empty room or else the film will not make sense.
So what we need to do is lay everything out in an organise easy to read fashion without distracting the audience from the film so this would mean only having a few things on sideboards that don't distract the viewer like a toothbrush or a clock of sorts.

Costume ideas for main character

For our main character we need to show his personality through what he wears in order to communicate to the audience. So our main character is a young man of our age right now (so that's around the 16-17yrs of age) This is around the time when people get there first jobs and go for interviews. Of course this is a big moment in all of our lives and we want to demonstrate this event honestly with a little bit of comedy involved as well, similar to Simon Pegg's work.
So we are going to need to combine the organised smart business man that this boy is likely to become and the reckless clumsy stereotype that he his today.
We would therefore need a smart suit to represent the characters organised smart side but with a few noticeable imperfections like a partly untucked shirt or a dodgy tie.

Smart suit

Baggy badly done up tie 

 

We would be looking for something inbetween these two examples as we want to show that he has tried to do well with his appearance but he still needs to learn how to do some things.

Class feedback for pitch idea

So today we gave our pitch of our idea to the class for some feedback on what we could include in our 60% task.
With our idea of the titles appearing behind objects and following people in the film, we were immediately linked to the opening of fresh meat which featured titles appearing on every day objects like TV's or Book Shelves or even your speaker display as shown below.

We were also linked with the Mr Bean opening titles as they seem to swoop in as the character is walking along which is something similar to what we want to. But we must be careful not to copy Mr Beans style as we are going for more of a Simon Pegg sort of film.

Our Pitch consisted of us talking about the general idea of our film and then showing our 25 word pitch and story boards all in one Power point.  







Updated Storyboards

Due a recent change of decision with the subject of our 60% task we have had to update the storyboards with our new idea which consists of a young man rushing to work early in the morning.

Storyboards are very important as they allow the Director to continuously go back to there original ideas to see if anything needs changing. It also gives a direct order I what order each shot/scene is in so different scenes can be filmed at different times.

Timeline of openings

We have now devised our roles for our 60% task as of below.
I am in charge of Directing so that means helping put everything together without everyone falling apart (like last time), sound as we will need good audio when filming outside where wind is an issue and I should also be acting.
Jack will be in charge of editing as he is the best at it and we want to get the best marks and he should also be acting.
Chris will be in charge of the camera work so that would be camera angles and shot lengths.  And as he is the best actor shall also be taking part on the other side of the camera.

Me: Director/Sound/Acting
Jack: Acting/Editing
Chris: Camera/Acting

Codes and conventions of film openings

Today I will be analysing Codes and Conventions of film openings and explain what the terms mean.
The Codes and Conventions of film openings are what film makers use in order to create the perfect opening sequence in order to set the scene of a movie. A Code or Convention could be to make sure that you show the setting in the sequence so that the audience knows where they are when the film starts, it could also be
-Establishing a main character
-Including a plot or just an introduction to show the characteristics of the film
-Genre of the film
-Titles  
When it comes down to titles we will see things like the distributer e.g. Warner Bros who help to market and distribute the film around the world. Then we your Producers who handle finances and marketing with your Directors who actually watch over the film and make sure that everything is being done correctly.


Here are a couple film openings in which I have deconstructed

1. Spectre (James Bond) 

This opening I watched very recently and it is by far and away on of the best opening sequences to film I have ever seen. For almost 5 minutes the first shot comes from what looks to be one camera filmed by a drone flying over a festival and following a character into a building. This must of taken so long to do as everything had to perfect for 5 minutes straight, that's lighting, sound, actors, Mise en scene and camera work this all needed to be perfect for it even to be counted as a take the only point at which the camera editing changes is when James Bond points his gun at a building. The lighting and sound was all diegetic this means it was all natural and makes it all look and sound like you are there in this "Day of the Dead festival" The skeletons in this opening sequence could be a reference to earlier bond movies such as Live and let die which also featured this unique festival. It could also represent death that is bound to come in this film as it has an action genre.

Here we have a still of the long opening sequence in which James is approaching his target you can see that the rule of thirds has been used in order to direct the audiences attention to James in the foreground with the festival and buildings in the background.
However there are not any titles through this sequence so that the audiences attention can be directed straight to the sequence and also because James Bond has that signature music scene when the bond song is played and we get an idea of what will happen in the movie. The festival opening is there to show to the audience who this main character is and what he does.
 

2. Hot Fuzz (Simon Pegg and Nick Frost)

I thought it would only be appropriate to include an opening of a Simon Pegg and Nick frost film. Despite this film being a parody the opening sequence is very good for its "Played Genre"
The first shot we get lasts for around 10-15 seconds ad it involves a man walking toward he camera. The lighting here is very good as from a distance we can only see the persons outline as he is a silhouette. This hides them from the audience giving them a scene of mystery as they don't know anything about this man yet. The sound diegetic so all you hear is the sound of the mans footsteps this is very atmospheric as it is very simple and helps the user immerse themselves in the film. The camera shot starts out as an extreme long shot however as the character gets closer and the camera slowly zooms in it digresses to  a long shot to a medium long shot to  a medium shot to  a close up shot, technically that's a lot of depth covered in one shot. This helps to create suspension plus the serious face adds to this effect. The rest of thee sequence is fast paced with quick editing and non diegetic of the narration. 

Ok thanks for reading hope this deconstruction on the Codes and Conventions helps along with the examples.

Analysis of a Film director: Simon Pegg and Nick Frost

Hello again!!! 

Today I'm going to analyse film Director Simon Pegg and actor Nick frost with their movies that they collaborated together to create. As our theme for our main task is under the genre of comedy we thought that it would be appropriate to see why famous comedy producers such as this duo are successful. Most of their work consists of parody's of famous movies or TV series'. A good example of this would be Shaun of the Dead which was a parody of the walking Dead which is an American TV series based on zombies with over the top gore and drama. The way that Simon and Nick made this funny though was by adding in the "British Version". So as you can imagine in America as guns are legal so everyone had a gun but in the UK we would have to be very creative and have to use other things such as a Cricket bat, part of a stair well and in one case a mans arm that had been ripped apart. What the essentially did `was take the piss out of themselves and the British public in a way that no one could get offended as it was true and quite hilarious. 


Another famous parody they released was "Hot Fuzz" which was a parody on the British police force (service sorry). In your usual Cop film you would usually expect big tough robbers with guns stealing money from a bank whilst the "cops" try to stop them. Instead as its England it takes place in a village with what it seems harmless pensioner vs. Two police officers One who is a good police officer the other is just hilarious and as it turns out the pensioners are criminal masterminds with guns and artillery which is the last thing that you would expect, this is why it is funny as well as references to American Cop films like Breaking Point and Bad Boys 2. So for our task film references might be a good idea to use.

Film editing workshop (Title sequences)

So recently we were visited by an EX-student of the Kings School called Sion Roe. He right now is a professional photographer based in Exeter and he came into our lesson to help us out with editing film opening sequences specifically the titles.

 In this image we can see a still from our finished title sequence experiment that we did ONLY FOR THE LESSON not for our task even though we may use some of the techniques that Sion taught us.
We went through fading, opacity, colour, layers and artwork in order for us to have all the tools we needed for our title sequences.
In the image you can see that the title is surrounded by the main recording whilst another recording is playing within the faded letters which really added up for a great effect and is certainly something that we can use in the future.

In order for us to gain this style of title we had to select a style from the tool bar called "Track matte Key" this allowed us to put the title in without any boarders or text boxes blocking our view.

In this image we can see the opacity settings that allowed the title to fade in and out and expand in and out. This was a very nice effect as it could open up various ideas about how we could combine various ideas from the film into the title sequence so that they could work together.
We can also see the time line at the bottom which allows us to show when we want the title sequence to start and the layers of video that we used.
The workshop was very useful however I found it very difficult and I think premier pro will take some getting use to it. 
It REALLY helped me with sound though as I now am familiar with the sound effects and transitions. So hopefully the sound/audio should be amazing in our actual task.

Media studies story boards for 60% task

He we have our 60 marker story boards which we will plan to base our short film opening on. This will tell us as we are filming our chosen camera angles and motion of objects /characters. They will also allow us to put our task together in a structured way so that it makes sense to the audience without diverting away from the subject. 

Pinterst moodboard

Quantitative and Qualitative research

Quantitative research is when information is gathered by large companies gather large amounts of information. This means getting information from many audiences to get their opinion on their product. In doing this they can get a wide range of opinions on how to improve or how to target a particular audience. They would usually do his with surveys and questionnaires done over the phone or Internet questionnaires that appear as pop ups.

Qualitative research is when the companies interview there individual customers to find out their opinion and feeling for their product and also how they would talk about it to their friends. It is a very direct and personal opinion compared to quantitative research. Its about getting inside your customers head and seeing how you could improve your product. It produces accurate and local results so that the company can tailor that product to a tighter audience instead of a wider one.

Audience Profile

This is Fred. Fred is in his 2nd year of university. He enjoys spending times at the zoo and travelling to savannah's in Africa in his spare time as he likes to get away from the constant life of studying and research for his chosen subjects. when he's not at the zoo or Uni he enjoys watching films. Especially indie style films. When he listens to music he likes the Hard Rock genre.

Fred is a prime example of my target audience. As he likes indie movies he isn't particularly bothered with big name actors or directors only the story of the film and the moral only matters to him. 
With sources such as IMDB and BBFC he has access to lots of indie films that he might want to watch with other people reviews and opinions. This will heavily influence him on what films he will want to watch. This means the film industry's can find out why people like certain films and how they can implement these ideas into there own films which for me as a film maker is very useful.
If Fred was to see a film at the cinema he may bring friends/ family with him acting as a secondary audience.

Analysis of natural sound from opening scene of a film

The opening scene that I shall be analysing is from the film Hancock.

The sound in the first ten seconds or so is mainly implemented with the sound of guns, sirens and racing cars along a freeway this is all non diegetic sound as it has been planted into the footage to make it more exiting and absorbing for the audience. What I really like about this scene though is that you go straight from dramatic loud and violent to quiet calm and laid back, as the scene immediately diverts to Hancock (Will Smith) lying on a street bench with the natural sound of your typical suburbia in the background i.e. distant cars and people talking. This is added with the faded sound of the news broadcast and the conversation the audience has been directed to follow between Hancock and the child in front of him.

Research into a film opening #2

2. Casino Royale 



The into to Casino Royale is your classic Bond opening sequence with the barrel over Bond with him turning around and firing his gun (Walther PPK) at the audience. However this particular opening sequence is quite different to the other Bond movies in the past. Instead of your classic Bond  opener with hints at the storyline and the sexual appeal with the girls that you would normally see instead we get this violent kind of cartoon fight scene in a casino. This is very unique and very iconic in Bond as this is the first Star of Daniel Craig the 6th Bond. This shows his "different" style on Bond in this violent adrenaline ride which  we were not really used to so this would definitely would be a full on action movie. The story of the opening sequence all takes place in a Casino style set with your cards and roulette tables in nearly every shot. This implies that money and gambling will be a big part of this film not just for wealth but gambling for your life. The camera angles are always moving around the subjects to magnify the explosive action of the fighting so we get close ups, High to low angle shots and plenty of establishing shots. These are used to help the audience keep up with the sequence and not get confused. 
As for the titles we get the classic bond one beginning with the author of the books Ian Fleming with the main character James Bond followed by the title Casino Royale. This immediately sets the atmosphere and the audience now feel familiar with what they are watching.
Then we get the cast list beginning with Eva Green then Mads Mikkelsen, Giancarlo Giannini these are the main characters set aside from Bond the rest after this are all grouped together to show that they play of a smaller significance to the main characters so they were put in groups to save time, then we get the name of the stuntman (Free running), this is mentioned very early on as it is very important as in an action movie you need a stuntman to do the dangerous stuff the actor themselves cannot do (even though Daniel Craig does most of his own stunts). Then weirdly we get a main cast member Judi Dench as M this is a big name and a big role so this was in this order to catch the audience out. Then we get a list of nearly everyone behind the scene with the names of the producers, camera operators, assistant directors, script supervisor, Publicity and marketing, promotions, and other people like wardrobe supervisors and photographer etc. Then we get some bigger roles like the editors, production designers, musicians with the name of the bond song and who it was written by as this is a big part of the Bond franchise with the theme song. Then we get the names of the main Producers and the name of the director. The reason why the titles are in this order are so that the audience can find out who stars in the movie however as the sequence progresses the writing gets smaller when we get to the backstage crew as if to draw attention away from it towards the amazing animation. The writing only gets bigger when we see more important names flash up towards the end when the scene slows down to draw the viewers attention as the names are seen to be "more important".   
To watch the opening sequence of Casino Royale click the link below
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1AMUmkj-ck

Research into a film opening

1. Lord of war

The Lord of war opening sequence is truly unique when it comes to camera work and editing. The sequence all takes place from a bullets perspective right from when it was made to the moment it was fired. The genre of the movie would come under a Crime, Drama, Thriller as the audience are shown action from the criminals point of view we also feel for those involved and in some cases an emotional bond like the child for example as children usually represent innocence and when we see him die we immediately think "Oh no that child was probably harmless with his whole life ahead of him how cruel" the story of the opening sequence shows the life of a bullet. As the sole subject is a bullet it creates a powerful message as the bullet from a gun is technically what kills the individual and so it represents death on a much longer journey than we imagine which is from the barrel to the target instead we see that is much longer. The locations vary from a factory where the bullet is made to the gun it is fired from to a basket in which it is knocked out from to the back of a truck riding through a tropical landscape. The first camera shot is taken from behind a factory worker as an establishing shot however it soon zooms in to  a extreme close up on to the manufacture process of the bullet itself. From there on the camera is always behind the target as if to show that the bullet is always heading forward to its final destination.
The first title that we receive is a well known actor as in Nicholas Cage so immediately the audience can relate to the film as they probably know the actor from other films. The second title is the film title Lord of War just as the bullet takes shape as this is what the movie represents... war.
Then we get the name of the actors including Jared Leto, Bridget Moynahan, Ian Holm, Eamonn Walker, Sammi Rotibi and many others then we get the caster which is Mindy Marin C.S.A which appears when the bullet enters another room to indicate the change in jobs. Then we get the Musician (who wrote the music) Antonio Pinto as the music is very important in this film as it creates the atmosphere so his name I one of the first when it comes the behind the scenes. Then we get the costume designer Elisabetta  Beraldo this again is mentioned earlier in the sequence as it is very important in the Mise En Scene of the film and makes it look authentic. Then we get the editors name followed by production designer, the  director of photography, followed by various executive producers and then at the very end we get the directors role as if to conclude the introduction with the most important role.  
This helps me understand the film industry in how important each role is e.g. a film could survive with a missing camera man or two but it needs its Director so the directors name is usually shown on its own to show its significance. THE REASON WHY THE INDUSTRY DOES THIS IS SO THAT THEY CAN PROMOTE BIG NAMES TO ATTRACT AN AUDIENCE THAT WILL BE INTRESTED THIS ALLOWS THEM TO MAKE MORE MONEY.
To watch the opening sequence of Lord of war click the link below.
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8LUEiKs2UAo

Evaluaton of Peliminary task

When we started to brainstorm our main ideas to each other our first idea was an interrogation sort of style scene with one person already sat down and one standing to show the difference in dominance over the sequence. However after this we began to experiment with other ideas with the idea of a mental therapy session in someones home as if the therapists had bee called over on short notice.
Jack, Chris and I then began to develop on this idea and we gradually began to come up with a story line. However in doing this we realised that we had over complicated the whole story as we had added in to many factors that were difficult to understand from the audiences perspective. So we had to go back to the basics which wasted an entire days filming. However once had come up with an easier storyline to read we got filming again and it was much easier from then on.
When it came down to lighting the kitchen lights in my house did the job of illuminating the subjects face without it looking like we had installed some advanced lighting equipment.
However when it came to sound the large room made speech echo quite a bit, this didn't make the speech difficult to understand in fact it was quite clear... it was just that it was an imperfection that you do notice. We also had the problem of a mirror in the background which in some shots we noticed that we could see the camera and those operating the camera in some cases so we need to look out for this next time. Plus at one point with one shot we did break the 180 degree rule which was really quite a stupid thing to do especially considering that we didn't notice it until we finished editing it.
Our mise en sine was used to create the atmosphere of someone calling over a group of therapists on short notice with a sense of urgency, so we made some mess on the counters in the background and I had a lot of family photo's which helped create this homely environment, however there was to much going on in the background which drew the viewers attention so the viewer instead of looking at the characters was drawn to the images in the background and would struggle to keep up. In terms of costumes the two therapists dressed quite smartly in white shirts and waist coats. Where as the patient wore a Black hoodie with dirty jeans to show that he hadn't made much preparation for the others arrival, this helped to represent the patient in a negative way but the therapists in a positive way. However there is also a sense of mystery about the patient as he continually has flashbacks that are short and snappy as if he has tried to forget them or if he doesn't remember them that well anyway but that is for the audience to figure out for themselves.

 

Here is a photo of the preliminary video showing the entire task.

As you can see the Mise en scene terrible as we didn't prepare for the actual filming. So we still had family photos and furniture lying around which didn't exactly make sense for a mentally deranged patients home.  

Finished Video

Here is the link to the finished video enjoy!
 <(^v^)>

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7DnJykWmPc#action=share

Peliminary Task Bloopers

So this is our preliminary tasks "moments gone wrong"
This short video will show you all of the things that went wrong whilst filming the video over the course of 3 DAYS!!!!  
It was fun making the bloopers video as it reminds us on the challenges that we faced in making the film. It also allows an insight to the audience in what filming the film was like behind the scenes.
Hope you enjoy it
just click the link below to watch on Youtube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWRNgtrHns0

School lighting class

Earlier today our Media studies class was lucky to get hands on experience with some high quality lighting equipment and receive some quality advice and techniques when it came to how to create the perfect effect when it came to setting the mood.  Here we were experimenting with lighting to one side of the model in this case Felix. This effect allows us to light up one side of the subjects face and shadow the other side. This can be used in low light areas to give off a sense of mystery to the character as we cannot see all of his face.

 

We also did a little bit of work with small amounts of light that would illuminate only one part of the body In dark conditions. This is usually used on the face for extreme close ups as it only shows the face. However in such low light your average camera will struggle to pick up any light. So here in this image you can just about see the subjects face and nothing else.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Skins Comparison to Bad Education

Skins:

Skins is a British program based on youths in an area of Bristol. It was written by a father and son who based it on events that had actually gone on in the area. The show mainly focuses on your typical stereotypes of teenagers as being disruptive rude and always getting into trouble with the law or school. The Mise En Scene was in less developed run down areas of the city so as the viewer we get a sense of a lack of wealth in an area however some areas like the college and some of the richer students houses show the other side of that society and so it represents the characters as being quite ungrateful as teenagers are in your stereotypical society.
However some of the characters seem to escape this judgement. However each character seems to escape this typical view in each episode as we get to know them individually. The show is aimed at an audience of around 16+ of years.





Bad education:

Bad education is also based on stereotypes which is what makes it funny. It is much more of a comedy than Skins and aimed at a younger audience as it is more immature. Again all together we look at all the characters and see them as quite disruptive in school as we think however similar to skins as we get to know all the characters we get to like them and how they all represent different things for example the typical bully and nerd. However some characters could be seen as represented as different more complicated matters like the Gay character could be seen as represented how free you are to come out these days compared to 20yrs ago as back then being gay was seen as quite a bad thing and It wouldn't be seen in a school that often at that time either.

Story Boards for Preliminary task

For our preliminary task we had to create story boards to represent how we planned our short films to go e.g camera angles and lighting. These story boards (drawn by myself) show how we plan to film the entrance and scene conducted by the characters and we show the planned use of props.

Character enters room to meet another character

Lines are exchanged, use of props is incorporated 

Reverse shots and over the shoulder shots added