Final Task- Location

After we had completed our animatics and completed our plan we realised and knew which locations we would like to film in, we were given the chance to go out and take photographs of these specific locations. Our scnes are based in a park area and in a forest as these seem malicious and chilling places at night, we have edited the photos below, giving them a desaturated look which adds to the horror.

Final Task- Storyboard

We modified and developed our ideas and storyboard a large amount before settling on a final series of varying shots that would most effectively represent the films theme and genre of horror. Here is the storyboard the group decided on in the end:




Art by Luke Jamieson

Storyboard with Annotations

This is the animatic section of our planning for the clip we will be creating, as you can see from the document there is a thorough explaination of the actions we want to happen in our scene. There are a few descritions of initial camera angles and movements we would like in our clip as well as the locations we will be taking each scene in. Some of the proprs that we will be using are includeds in the descriptions below.

Final Task- Script

We origionally had an idea of what we wanted to do for our film, you can see this on our first draft of the script, this will probably not be the final script as we know it needs more attention to detail, modification and development however it is a step in the right direction towards our final piece. 

We have now produced a second draft which is below. We have taken into consideration things such as the difficulty of filming in a car and how our storyline would fit better if the main protagonist was to be walking not driving. We have also changed the main characters around, as we think the storyline would fit in better with the genre this way.

Genre box office results 2012

Our chosen Genre: Horror

Here is a mind map/ diagram to represent the genres and subgenres in Horror. We decided to go with this genre because you can execute a scene very well using great lighting and musical tones. My favourite sub- genre is the paranormal genre, which include movies such as paranormal activity, insidious, and I also think the rest of the group enjoy these movies as well, which gives us some background info and ideas for our own video.

Final Task - Mood board

Furthermore once we had come up with the name, the genre we have produced a mood board so that we personally could grasp the true idea of what our 2 minute film would consist of, it gives us exact locations where we would like to film and displays images of mise en scene we want to capture in our film. Moreover we have created numerous titles for our team to pick from in the future.

Final Task- Ideas

Now we have completed our preliminary task, we have to produce a final product of a two minute clip in the format of an opening scene or even sequence, we will have to work in a team once again; we will all have to work together. Our team have decided to produce a horror scene as we believe this has the most dramatic content. I believe that the genre horror is best suited for this task and we hope to follow in James Watkins footsteps. There are numerous techniques our group can use which involves more than the mise en scene, for example in the preliminary task one of my improvements was to introduce a lighting technique and we are able to do this here as horrors are notorious for low key lighting and desaturation. Before we start the filming prospect we have to derive a plan of action this will start with the production of a mind map which entails the main themes which we think our important to our horror film. This is the group work that I have participated in, we used an app called Simple Mind+ to ensure all of our ideas where set out neatly and where easily accessible.


These are some of the thoughts we have about horror movies and how they relate to our movie :
We begin with some basic headings of what we thought had to be in our horror movie:

We then began to divulge into more greater aspects of the film.

Know that we have a general idea of what we want to achieve in the film we need to pick a name therefore we all put our ideas together and began to brainstorm. Horrors can "make it or break" just on their name for example: the most financially successful horror movie is “Friday the 13th," you can tell that this film will be enthralling as it is old folk law that something malicious happens on Friday the thirteenth. More over "Saw" is ranked the most successful horror movie franchise of all time. On the other hand some horrors have flopped just due to their names for example "house of Wax."

We have chosen the name: The Woods Have Ears. This has a familiarity to it as it sounds similar to the horror film: The Hills Have Eyes. We all like this name as it fits perfectly with our horror genre and most of our action takes place in the woods. With out giving to much away, our protagonist cannot escape the daunting whispers in the wind.

Final Task- Roles

After we were quite happy with the outcome of our preliminary task, We decided that would stick to the same roles as we liked Ben's style of acting, my style of shooting and patrick and likes style of editing, Luke will also be responsible for the application of any make up/blood used on set.

Me (Liam Edwards)- Director and cameraman

Ben Sherlock & Kirsty Brennan- Actors 

Luke- Make-up and editing

Patrick - Editing

Make up Practice

Today we experimented with make up. We used molding clay and some gel to blend in the clay to the skin. We used blood coloured dye to give the colour of skin. We could improve our outcomes by using fake blood and a more three dimensional aspect. Our outcomes are shown exclusivley modelled by ben below

Review of Timeline

We have some ideas put forward and are already planning our final task, we are up to the point where was planned for today : To have some ideas and planning. Excited for filming after we have completed the animatics, storyboard and further planning.

A Fouch of Frost: Disability Essay

In the episode of ‘ A touch of frost’ we are introduced to a character named ‘Billy’, who suffers from down syndrome. In media disability is often seen as an awkward matter and the person seen to be vulnerable. We feel this at the moment when Billy is being chased and also interrogated by Mr. Frost, who we get the idea of being some sort of detective. In the scene it seems as if the detective thinks Billy knows something about where Trisha is as he was with her earlier in the day. The beginning shot is dark and gloomy which often in media is foreshadowing a negative event to come. The use of make up on Billy such as the cut on his face suggests hes been in an incident and has ended up in some sort of danger.  When we have a close up shot of Billy we feel sorry for him and the audience may begin to build up a relationship with Billy in this clip. The audience are made to feel sorry for Billy as he is being interrogated for as he puts it, doing ‘nothing wrong’. The setting of the scene is in a woods and then inside of a house. He is on his own outside which is significant because the fact something such as this has happened could represent him being unable to be on his own, whereas in the house we see Billy’s parents still caring for him when there is a guest in the house making sure Billy is ‘cleaned up’ before being questioned.

              In the beginning scene in the woods Billy is in complete darkness but his face is completely lit up Asif he was under some sort of spotlight, which, turns out to be the policemen’s spotlights, and Billys surrounded which could symbolise the fact that people with disabilities may always be surrounded by people and are sometimes presented as dependant or ‘trapped’ in their disability. In the house there is use of low key lighting which could represent Billys fear as it seems completely abnormal for him and his family to be going through a process such as this. The audience still sympathise for Billy as he is still cut and bruised whilst being questioned, with the effective use of fake blood and make-up.

When the father and Mr. Frost are having a conversation it seems quite private which could make the audience feel as if they are involved and shouldn’t be listening to the conversation with the use of a high angle shot the audience may feel as if they are sneaking in. The way in which the men are discussing Billy could represent how Billy may be less able to communicate and speak about the situation. The father wants to make clear what is appropriate to discuss, correcting Mr. Frost on his addressing of Billy as ‘mentally subnormal’, which could link well to the common awkwardness of disabilities in media where people may think they cannot openly discuss.

                  As mentioned before the mother wants to ‘clean Billy up’. This also represents Billy as a dependant person and presents him to be child-like, which is common in media to see the disabled as vulnerable, and the audience seem to grow a strong relationship with Billy’s innocent and naïve personality. Along with this the dialogue of Mr. Frost seems as if he is speaking to Billy in a simple or childlike manner which could be offensively interrogating as it is presenting Billy as less knowledgeable and less able to communicate simply because he has a disability.

                 As Mr.Frost is interrogating and questioning Billy we see numerous shots for example over shoulder shots were Billy’s father is present in the background. This makes it seem to the audience that Billy is incapable of having an independent conversation and the father may be needed to answer some questions for Billy or may be there for support expressing how disabilities may make someone less independent. Through the scene there is lots of examples of shot reverse shot which causes tension in the questioning scene and produces sympathy from the audience towards Billy.

             
                 Diegetic sound is mostly present in this extract which adds to the realism and severity of the situation. As it is a secretive what seems murder case it connects the audience thinking they know ‘everything’ about the scene and there is nothing that the characters know that we don’t know, unless its about the disappearance of Trisha. What I thought was significant is how Billy seems to be lower down than all the other characters in his armchair. This could be symbolic for disabled people seeming less capable or dependant.

A Time Line Displaying the Actions We Want To Have Completed In The Next Five Months

This is an overdraft of the time our team will be putting in to complete our final task, the dates display the deadline we expect the following tasks below to be completed by:

Completed By November 30th 2014

• Initial ideas for the two minute clip
• Story Boards
• Mood Board

Completed By December 16th 2014

• Location Scouting
• Actors Chosen
• Choose A Date For Filming
• Name Chosen

Completed By December 31st 2014

• Script Complete
• Costume and prop scouting

Completed By January 16th

• Filming begins
• Most of the filming complete

Completed By January 31st 2015

• All Filming Complete
• All media uploaded to a laptop
• Clip placement and organisation
• Editing process Begins

Completed By February 28th 2015

• Editing Complete
• Sound inputted on film
• 2 minute clip exported
• Clip embedded onto Blogger.com

Roland Barthes: Biography

Roland Barthes was born in Cherbough, Manche. His father died in a naval battle in Barthes' infancy, forcing his mother to move to Bayonne. Barthes spent his early childhood there, until they moved to Paris in 1924 where he attended the Lycée Montagne, followed by studies at the Lycée Louis-le-Grand from 1930-34. Life became difficult for them when Barthes mother had an illegitimate child, for their grandparents refused to give her financial aid, and so she took work as a bookbinder. Barthes was able to continue his studies at the Sorbonne, in classical letters, grammar and philology (receiving a degrees in 1939 and 1943 respectively), and Greek tragedy.

Barthes' doctoral studies were hampered by ill health. He suffered from tuberculosis, spending time in sanatoriums in the years 1934-5 and 1942-46, during the occupation. He continued to read and write, established a theatrical group, and in spite of his condition, managed to teach at lycées in Biarritz (1939), Bayonne (1939-40), Paris (1942-46), at the French Institute, Bucharest, Romania (1948-49), University of Alexandria, Egypt (1949-50), and Direction Générale des Affaires Culturelles (1950-52). His teaching career expanded: research positions with the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (1952-59), a directorship of studies at the École Practique des Hautes Étude (1960-76), a teacher at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore (1967-68), and a chair of literary semiology at Collège de France (1976 to 1980). At this time he was considered a leading critic of his generation, his book, A Lover's Discourse (1977), sold more than 60,000 copies in France. His work became known in popular culture in Europe and America, securing the translation of many of his books since his death at the age of sixty-four. Such works include: Writing Degree Zero (1953), Mythologies (1957), Criticism and Truth (1966), S/Z (1972), The Pleasure of the Text (1973), and The Rustle of Language (1984).

In his early work, Barthes was a structuralist and semiotician, influenced by the writings of Ferdinand de Saussure's study of signs and signification. He preferred not to classify his thought, evident in the range of subject-matter for analysis in his works, often to provoke the bourgeoisie. He wrote on popular phenomena from soap-ads to wrestling, articles that originally appeared in Le Monde, which perhaps inspired him to conflate elements of what had been perceived as high or low culture. His interest in popular media and events was due in part to what he saw as an abuse in such phenomena of ideology. Barthes believed that the starting point for such works did not lay in the author's intentions of traditional value judgments, but by the texts produced, as systems unto themselves whose underlying structures form the "meaning of the work as a whole." His works had a diversity, applying semiotic theory and/or literary critique, looking to disrupt the French literary establishment, while other essays focused on more personal issues such as the text, music, love and photography.

For full biography click here

Complete Analysis of a Fairy-Tale In The Context Of Todarovs Theory

Analyse the represententation of Age in 'Waterloo Road'

         Age in this clip is represented in a number of interesting ways. Waterloo road is a very popular British TV Drama which follows the lives of students and teachers in a high school. We become a part of the characters personal lives and school life, which to me builds relationships between the viewer and the characters, which usually helps the programs run smoothly and keeps the viewers interested. In this essay I will analyse the representation of age in terms of mise en scene, sound, lighting, camera movements, camera angles and editing.

 In terms of mise en scene we see the use of common general age related stereotypes throughout the clip. The props and setting of the scene are highly effective, with the use of very well known layouts such as corridors, and classic teaching room set outs which all add to the realism of the clip. Straight away we can tell this series will be quite dramatic as school dramas commonly are, including such things as rebellion e.g vandalism, arguments, fights and bullies. When the characters are introduced we see clear differences between the characters costumes in each age range. Speaker 1 and speaker 2 are two young boys in their teens who look quite scruffy, with their top buttons undone and their ties loose. This is a common relation between stereotypes of youths being quite rebellious, hormonal, rude and lazy. The third speaker Grantly is an older teacher. As soon as he enters the scene we feel a sense of authority and wiseness which fits in well with older people being quite well educated, keen, experienced and quite important/authoritative. Grantly doesn’t seem to be that smartly dressed, in the common tweed jacket, casual pants and cosy jumper, he doesn't seem to care that much about his appearance which is a common stereotype of being old aged. When Mrs. Chowdry enters the scene we begin to see more colourful costume which is common in media as it relates to young professionals being smart, well dressed, concerned about how they look and being highly organised, she stands out in the scene at this point which could to the audience be a false sense as her presences and her personality as soon as she is visible seems to be quite egotistical, organised and confident until Grantly counteracts that with the fact she hadn’t taken the insurance out, which then strengthens the audiences view of Grantly being an older aged stereotypical professional who tends  to tease and make fun out of younger peoples inexperience. In terms of the use of make up, as always, young teenage females have stereotypes for caring huge amounts about their appearance and are known for putting on large amounts of make up to achieve their desired look. The use of eccentric make-up for the younger characters adds well to the realism of the scene and the natural tones used for the middle aged teachers also goes well as it gives them a professional look.

                   In terms of sound we see both diegetic and non diegetic sounds in this extract. Firstly we hear the footsteps of Grantly , this is commonly used signifying importance, interrogation and has predatorial connotations which links well into stereotypes of elder people being patronising and quite wise. The students use slang words such as ‘chill out man’ which fits in well with the realism of the characters and stereotypes of teenagers being quite lazy, rude and rebellious. All through the extract we can hear background sound like chairs moving, students talking in the corridor, its never really completley silent, just like a real school, this then obviously adds to the realism of the series and connotates well to stereotypes of younger people being loud and distruptive. Grantly seems quite sarcastic and patronising when he talks which is quite humorous to the viewers when he sort of makes fun of Mrs. Chowdry’s mistakes as older more experienced professionals are known for doing this. The non diegetic sound in this clip is a sort of hip hop, heavy beat music extract. When conflict begins to outbreak between Amy and Stewart as soon as Amy comes into shot the music hits off, disturbing the natural sound of the scene, linking quite well into how teenagers are stereotypically quite disruptive and  hormonal. The music is bridged over shot, which tells the audience that this is happening at the same time and gives a sense of continuity. As the action increased we see more instruments being added such as drums to represent high amounts of tension and action. I think it works well as it engages the audience into what is going to happen next.

              The cinematography in this clip is effective. We start with the close up of grantly’s feet walking which automatically engages the audience that something interesting is going to happen. As Mrs Chowdry enters we get a close up of her as she seems quite confident and professional. This suddenly changes as the shot goes on with Grantly being patronising, her facial expressions change and we begin to feel like shes quite worried and unstable in this situation. Slight low angle shots are used for Grantly which goes well with the authoritative and predatorial sense we get from Grantly’s entrance. Low shots are used to make someone or something look important and this is achieved by  using them in this scene. Close ups are also used for Grantly which show him looking quite smug and amused about how he has patronised Mrs.Chowdry. We also see the use of Close ups in the shot where the recently announced student mother and her boyfriend are discussing in front of the class whether they are happy about the baby. This is stereotypical because teenagers are known for being very socially influenced and gossipy. The girl says ‘ of course i am ‘ whilst in close up showing quite concerning and anxious facial expressions, whilst also having eye contact with the male student in-front . This is effective as it leaves the viewer with many questions circulating about what will happen next time we see these characters. When Amy and Stewart are in the store room arguing, the shot reverse shot and fast camera shots/movements create tension. Stewart looks to be quite scared and quite short on breath. The constant fast camera shots could symbolise his discomfort in being in that situation. This could link well to stereotypes of teenagers yet again being hormonal and insecure.

             In terms of editing, We see high amounts of continuity editing and se get the sense of how it is all running one after another, and there is successful bridging between shots aswell which allows the scene to run smoothly. We can see that match on action is being used in the scene of Amy and stewart as it goes from the corridor to the store room. The continuity shows relationships in areas such as classrooms, corridors where we see the two friends gossiping and also between teachers. We can see the students walking in groups or pairs in the shots which links well into teenagers being in friendship groups and also teachers being friends aswell, and in this series it seems that elder teachers such as Grantly may not bother as much with the younger teachers. The continuity of the scene is disrupted as Amy enters and then shots become more fast changing and short, creating a sense of tension. This is a common link to teenagers being disruptive. To me shots with adults in such as the teacher in the boyfriend and girlfriend being pregnant scene and Grantly and Mrs. Chowdry scene seem to change shots a lot slower, and run more smoothly, which is quite clever as it shows how older aged are more mature and have a certain degree of control and understanding about situations, whereas the younger characters seem to create high amounts of tension which leads to camera shots being changed a lot, disrupting the smoothness of the scene.

      Throughout the 5 minute clip we see high amounts of stereotypes being used for different age groups such as: eldery professionals, young professionals and young students which makes the series very interesting to their target audience.

Preliminary Task: The Disappearance Of Tabitha

This video is the final version of our preliminary task, this en-tales all the footage that me and my group were involved in filming done by myself, acting done by patrick and ben and editing. We edited the clips together providing a dive and suggestions on which clips we should keep, crop and include. We thought it would be a disadvantage to the final video to put any filter effects onto the clips as this would decrease the realism and feel of gritty realism, which was the theme we were going for, we thought adding effects and filters would not go well with our scene. We have heightened bits of speech and sound that were quiet so that the viewers can hear everything the actors say. As a group we spent a lot of time analysing and choosing between the different angles and shots we had and in the final video you can see i filmed using a wide range of shots such as wide sides, tracking shots, over the shoulder shots and many more (present on story board and camera angle, shot and direction plan in previous post). I believe that we have kept to the theme we began our task with; if you look at the story board and original script there are a few differentiations and adaptions however we believe that the final piece is a success. We know that it can obviously be improved if we had better editing and filming techniques and a longer time period to finalise and spend time on the smaller details by adding in maybe more shots and more transitions. We have managed to embed sound into the background, this adds to the intensity of the scene as the beat runs smoothly with the action of the scene. We have used some sound effects but only a few because we didn't want to overcrowd the tense and serious scene with uncharacteristic sounds.

              (Note: the resolution isn't that brilliant, your best viewing will be on small screen)




Evaluation




Mid-Fade

What worked well

 

•  Our editing on final cut pro worked very well with the fades it allows our video to run smoothly.           
•  The sound effects and soundtracks creates the desired effect and tension throughout the video.
• The planning of our video worked very well and we worked well as a group to produce a story board, script, action and dialogue sheet and a clear plan of camera movements and angle.
• Direction was brilliant.

Lighting could be improved

What didn't work as well

• The lighting in the room could of been improved.
• Acting styles and techniques but outcome was generally good.
• How clear the speech was to understand.

What we would improve

• The credits could be more evenly distributed
• Have clearer speech maybe with more pauses between lines and shot changes.
• Lighting could be better in some shots.