Friday 21st October 2016 Practical Screen Craft Andy James
Sound and Camera testing
Today like last week where I was given the task of creating a visual piece with a script, the roles within the group have been flipped around so this time I will be working on the sound but in a different way.
We worked on a three point lighting setup.
The set task was to create a 1 minute film, groups of four, no action within the film and it would have to be one shot - It would have to include sound and use a lighting setup.
Script idea that we came up with - One take - Light positioned behind the actor (using red acetate) First 10 seconds will be pitch black - Light turns on and floods the scene using green acetate, then we switch the light off for a few seconds and then turned the light on for a second time but on the flashing setting to give the feel that an army convoy are in the vicinity.
For this project we went all out by buying an army costume design which featured a helmet, dog tags and a balaclava. This costume design would blend in perfectly with the sound design of (sirens, bombs going off, heavy breathing, rumbling sounds, convoy which would all help to give the effect of war).
Setting Up
Costume designer getting the actor ready
Setting up the lighting for the shot
Framing the actor
Costume Design
Props laid out for the shoot (helmet, balaclava, dog tags, sand)
Choosing the frame for the scene (close up of face, mid shot for balaclava or wide angle for the concrete wall)
Reviewing the footage, selecting the appropriate clips for the edit, re-naming the files that we need
Sound: All helped out to achieve a high quality sounding piece
Sound Ideas - The sounds that we came up with would include a series of small bangs, the noise will gradually get louder and louder, followed by heavy breathing. After the black screen has finished, I thought that we could fade in the sound of a siren over the top of the flashing lights, given the impression that I have been spotted by an army patrol, linking back to the name of the piece as "Saving Private Luke".
Editing
Myself and Aidan edited the footage and sound recordings together to create our final piece "Saving Private Luke" I thoroughly enjoyed creating this piece, especially as it was all my idea, my group helped however to make it possible and we were very proud of what we had created.
Thursday 20th October 2016 Comparative Film Practices Dan Polantinio Bjork London Exhibition - 2016 Tate Art Gallery (all my own photos)
From the trip to London, I feel like I have generated an idea for my film with the super 16mm project where we have to create I believe a 3-5 minute film on Super 16mm. I would like to explore the idea of enhancing the ages of buildings around London centre by the colours of the super 16 film, also I would like to use the curvature as my main theme for the piece. I thought about filming statues around London but moving the camera with the shapes of the architecture of industrialised buildings.
Idea to replicate my still images, create a moving image.
Replicate the colour and aesthetics to the construction buildings and machinery
Mixture of elements that we recognise, used to symbolise a women's life in Africa
Jane Alexander - Reasons behind the art piece positioned above
Thursday 20th October 2016 Contexts of Practice 2 John Sealy/Lucy Leake
Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema - Laura (referenced below) Notes for the chapter read
Women are seen as phallic symbols, erotic objects - Pleasure as a radical weapon
Looking itself is seen as a source of pleasure - fulfilling your desire
Scopophilia - Freud's belief about taking other people as objects, subjecting them to a controlling and curious gaze - His particular examples centre around the voyeristic activities of children - they always want to look and find out about other peoples bodies, so we are looking as a form of erotic pleasure.
Mainstream film focuses its attention on the human form
Women are simultaneously looked at and portrayed, there appearance is coded for strong and visual impact.
A lady's visual presence can tend to work against the development for a storyline, freezing the flow of any action in movements of erotic contemplation.
Monday 17th October 2016 Practical Screencraft 2 Andy James
Testing and experimenting
We were split off into groups of six, the groups were split down the middle, 1 set of three would be in charge of the visuals, they would be given a script on a piece of paper where they would have to try and re-create the scene.
The other group would be given the role of creating the sound for the groups visuals, however they wouldnt be given a script as such, only an idea as to the message of the filming.
My group had been given the task of portraying a lifeless man on the ground in traffic,we would have to create a slider shot but we weren't able to use a slider. The set equipment that we were given for this task included;
1x Camera
1x Tripod
1x Light and stand
1x Blue Sweet Wrapper
1x Blanket
1x Pair of gloves
My group came up with the idea of setting the camera on tungsten to create a blue tone, we decided to create police lights by using someones phone torch and placing the blue sweet wrapper inside, we would then vigorously shake the phone to portray police lights across the actors face. We came up with the idea of using a table and the blanket to create the slider shot, once the camera was run along the blanket we would handhold the camera as one of us walked towards the actor who was laying on the table. We had a 1 point light set up where the light had been set on spotlight to outline one side of the actors face, making him look sinister. The lighting position also helped to darken out the background and allow the sweet wrapper shaking to show up across the subjects face. The best feature I feel for this shoot had to be the lighting, I moved up and down the room slowly with the light, superimposing car lights across the actors body, this was really effective and looked amazing on camera.
As the director for this piece I thought that the whole shoot went really well, everyone had carefully thought about all the elements towards the visuals as well as the sound team, we all used our initiative in order to create the slider shot and the police lights. I thought that the camera was a little shaky and I feel like we could have used the tripod to hand hold the camera, helping to stabilize the shake of the cameramans hands.
Thursday 13th October 2016 Contexts of Practice 2 John Sealy/ Lucy Leake
Session 2
Had a visual look at the start of the film. Attack the Block (2011) - Joe Cornish. (2011). Attack the Block. [Online Video]. 13 May 2011. Available from:http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1478964/. [Accessed: 13 October 2016].
Next we had a look at a conservative poster which dated back too the early 80's.
Conservative Poster (1983) - Labours Say He's Black, Tories Say He's British
Conservative. (1983). Labour says he's black. Tories say he's British. (1983). Available: https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=1983+CONSERVATIVE+POSTER&safe=strict&espv=2&biw=1389&bih=1199&tbm=isch&imgil=OIHnvBjookdkkM%253A%253B2heCYTqtkOPzOM%253Bhttp%25253A%25252F%25252Fconservativepartyarch. Last accessed 13th October 2016.
Analysis for poster
Use of a black man as the main focal point for the poster and its subject matter. It outlines "Labour say he's black, Tories say he's British, I feel like this is a campaign in which the conservatives are trying to raise awareness to grab the attention of the black community of Britain. After further research at more conservative posters, I feel like they use harsh details and pictures to there messages across, as well as bold words like Black and British.
He stands upright, looks like he has power, arms crossed symbolise he is relaxed, he is confident about the job/type of work that he is doing. Points I raised during discussion
What does it mean to be British?
Placement of everything on the poster? Why are they placed here, the size of the image against the text, the main bottom line is big in size, caught my attention as the first point of contact as well as the dominant image of the black man, with his arms crossed and wearing a suit.
Light and dark on the subjects face - made me think that perhaps the poster is being aimed at multiple cultures as we see different shades of black. The suit symbolises upper class, conservatives are using harsh details and text to represent but at the same time they are grabbing attention of the black community in Britain, whether they agree with the stereotype or have feelings against the subject matter, you would think they would vote to try and make a change.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Krept and Konan - Dunya (Music Video) - Krept and Konan. (2016). Krept & Konan - Dunya (BrOTHERHOOD Official Soundtrack). [Online Video]. 30 August 2016. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hn7OqnInzQE. [Accessed: 13 October 2016].
My chosen media representation is a song by Krept and Konan "Dunya" which has been used as one of the soundtracks for the recent release of "Brotherhood", directed by Noel Clarke.
Written Analysis for chosen Music Video
I have chosen to research about the Krept and Konan music video for "Dunya", the way the music video is put together I find really fascinating as its not your typical everyday grime video, in fact this song is used as one of the backing soundtracks for Noel Clarke's new edition "Brotherhood". I haven't seen this film yet so I thought I could really research about how this song would fit that type of genre, what kind of elements are similar and could be used to outline the kind of crime that we witness whilst watching Anuvahood, Kidulthood, Adulthood and Brotherhood. One of the artists is sat upstairs talking about getting a contract, whilst the other is downstairs watching the news on the tv, we slowly see that he is rebelling against what is happening in day to day life around America, which I linked back to the types of crime that happens within Brotherhood which takes place in London. However what I found interesting was that the same type of drama happens to the artists later on in there local living courter - reinforcing how often it takes place.
They then portray the same type of negative actions but flip the coin so we see the police as the victim which made me think about the riots that have gone on and how two communities come together and try to push each other out, like immigration, where hoards of cultures move from one country to another. Lastly we flip back to the first situation but it is portrayed in a positive way where the two respect one another back out on the street, however this situation doesn't get showed off unlike the others which links back to the way that in reality we don't see people respecting one another, always disagreeing, fighting, outbreaks everywhere - reminds me off the lyrics in the song "Its all crazy in the Dunya, its going crazy in the Dunya" Within the video itself, the artists are portrayed across wearing the clothes we associate with hip hop music, key to note that they are the same clothes that are worn by the actors within crime films like the ones I mentioned. We link hoodies and guns to that of a thug which can be reinforced by the type of language that they use when speaking to one another. Props They use a gun in the first two scenes which we associate with black people and crime, this is portrayed across in the sequel movies like Anuvahood, Kidulthood, Adulthood and Brotherhood, however in the films the actors are both white and black. The flashy car that we see in the music video is dark matte black, these types of cars are associated with grime music videos, other movies would have to be the franchise of "Fast and Furious".
Tuesday 12th October 2016 Moving Narratives 2 Kaz Rahman
Introduction to Moving Narratives 2
Reference
Title: Passion of Joan of Arc
Director: Carl Theodore Dreyer
Whilst watching the film I was constantly thinking about the way that the following bullet points were included in the film, the reasons behind their placement, ideas, context and how they all worked together
Stories
Visuals
Cinematography
Art Direction
Editing
Sound
Performance
Filmed around the end of "Silent Cinema"
The film was shot in order, I feel like this made the film a lot smoother.
German Expressionist Influence
Representing independence as she dresses in her own way.
Overacted, I feel like the judges were portrayed across using low-key lighting (high contrast), due to the lighting we were able to see how ugly the judges were, outlined there tears, wrinkles, warts, almost making them look sinister and casting shadows.
Dramatic performance, representation to painting - portrayed through close ups and low angles, were always looking up at the judges, made me feel like they were in dominance.
My overall experience from the film was haunting, through the performance, sound, editing and cinematography.
I felt like Joan knew she was going to die but she wanted to stay true to herself as a spiritual person, she shows great independence through her choice in clothes and the way she chooses to die.
We were given a short introduction into Foley, we watched a short film which was titled "The Secret Life of Foley" which I thought was fantastic, it opened my eyes up to the way that as a viewer we can perceive footage and we immediately feel like it has been recorded on set. This showed me just how much thought and effort goes into the sound production that we can hear on the screens in front of us as we watch a vast array of movies, documentaries which come into a lot of different genres.
For the first part of the session we were given a short 1 minute video clip that had been cut from the film "High-rise" we were given this as an MP4 file which contained no audio, the task at hand would be to try and re-create the audio using lots of different techniques. My chosen role for this task was to partake within my group as the sound engineer, I decided to take out a small range of equipment which I think benefited the types of sounds that I wanted to create i.e. doors slamming, loud ambience as well as a loud noise of glasses smashing.
Equipment taken out
XLR Lead
Zoom H4N recorder
Shotgun Mic MCE86
Small Mic SN56
Headphones
H4N Power Adaptor
For the second part of the session, each group was taken upstairs where we would have a set of equipment to re-create an image that had been shot using a camera, light, hammer, gloves and a self portrait image that was laid out in-front. I thoroughly enjoyed this project, especially when getting to view back at the still images that we had captured. I was constantly inventing new ways to shoot the subject, changing the camera set-up, the ISO, where the light was positioned, without casting any harsh shadows.
Photography Results
Main Image - Taken with Cannon 600D Mark 2
Setting the shot up - Adjusting Camera and Lights
At the end of the session we were split back into our original group and told to edit together the high-rise clip and any audio that we have recorded and put the two together, we need to be able to present this next week to the lecturers and our peers.
Set work - To re-create the foley for a scene taken from the movie "Highrise"
I don't own any of the original content, the footage has been given to us to use to re-create the sound for a particular series of action scenes in Highrise.
As the editor for this piece we recorded sounds of chains jangling for the glass smash as well as commotion within a class to give a background hum to the piece thats been created, almost as if you can hear the party from the outside of the room as you would in reality.
Music: Ultravox Vienna
Original Film: Highrise
Reference
Highrise. (2015). Practical Screencraft - Highrise clip (Creating Foley). [Online Video]. 14 October 2016. Available from: https://vimeo.com/187298876. [Accessed: 14 October 2016].
Thursday 6th October 2016 Contexts of Practice Lucy Leake
Introduction to Contexts of Practice
Split into groups and given a topic - My group was given Free Cinema (British) to research into.
Things I learnt
* Had a huge influence on British New Wave - Many of the films created within this period had been categorised as part of the kitchen sink dramas. Adaptions of novels or plays written by members of Britain's so-called "Angry Young Men". This group was made up of working and middle class playwrights and novelists who were prominent in the 1950's.
* British Free Cinema, usually down scaled aspects of melodrama in favour of focusing on real life situations and themes such as single motherhood and the corruption of the Rugby League business.
* The genre shows the clash between the working class and the upper middle class and also the rise of the youth culture of the late 50s.
* Aimed at the youth class up north
* The use of black and white fast stock film which gave a grainy look
* Filmed in particularly industrialise northern cities, used natural light
Wednesday 5th October 2016 Comparative Film Practices Dan Paolantinio
Introduction to Comparative Film Practices
After the first session for Comparative Film Practices, we were each given the task to get into groups of 2-3 where we would have to create a 2-3 minute film which was focused around colour for the main theme.
Myself and my partner Dinos had a few ideas in the pipeline, once we sat down and talked to each other, we were able to come up with a firm starting point, I thought about creating a film which portrayed an experiment that was going on, in this case I thought about re-creating the skittles experiment, of which we could use the time it takes for the colours to mix with the water as a way of time progressing.
We then started to think up a few lines of V.O. which could drive the message of what we were trying to portray across within the film to our audience. I then thought about creating a fast paced montage of clips which used all the same colours too that of the skittles, whatever colours leak out first, i.e. if it was blue we could show short clips/pictures of the sky, sea, water, ice, with the images starting slow and fading in. these images in turn would overlay the skittles experiment, making people think what is going on.
V.O. As cinematographers we are always thinking of news ways to give across messages in an abstract fashion, whether that is through visuals or demonstrations, we all interpret things in different ways, this leads to asking ourselves what is going on" Take Skittles, artificial and vibrant in colour, resemble the colours we see in everyday life, they stand out and catch the attention. These colours are all around us, if only we took time to look.
The message I wanted through this film was to make people aware of the vibrant colours around them! Man made - Artificial sources that we make which are nice to look at.
Here is the short film that myself and Dino's made for submission followed by some images behind the scenes.
