Prezi Evaluation Link

Evaluation on Prezi

Final Video link

Sadly due to vimeo having limits to the file size avaliable we had to use youtube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtMPKWqd0cg&feature=player_embedded

continuity task mini review

The continuity task me, Joe and Katherine did worked really well in the way of shots and technique involved. However, the plot line was a little hazy but wasn't too interfering with the main story. The match on action shot with the gate opening worked really well and was smoothly carried out. The flow of the film was overall smooth and sleek. Each shot flowed steadily with one an another. The lighting was slightly controlled due to my handheld torch but it wasn't exactly what we wanted for the job. It however, did give a great effect with the overall feel of the footage.

A New video

We have now a video uploaded to youtube as viemo couldn't allow the size of the file for a free account. here's the video. However, youtube has a annoying cutoff and so the ending of the video isn't available at this time. iI will however work on the issue and try to sort this out soon.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPXWxfkw6J4

Sam High's latest post

Sam has put up the results of the questionair we set to our focus group

what we need to do to finally finish the film

its just a simple step of getting voice actors for the film. We were going to do it on the thursday but a certain few people didn't turn up and so we were unable to complete the film

Update on the team's work

Sam's done work on the target audience of the film, who it's aimed at ect; you can find it here
http://mediastudiessamhigh.blogspot.com/2011/02/our-target-audience.htm
Also he's been working on our sound for the film. he recently put an update on his blog which can be found here;
http://mediastudiessamhigh.blogspot.com/2011/02/sound-problems.html
Sam's also done a post about Lip syncing and foleying which can be found here'
http://mediastudiessamhigh.blogspot.com/2011/02/lip-syncing-foleying.html

Lee's been doing Semiotics in film noir which can be found here;
http://asmediastudiesleecooper.blogspot.com/2011/02/semiotics-in-film-noir.html
lee's been updated about the animation as well which can be found here;
http://asmediastudiesleecooper.blogspot.com/2011/02/animation-problems.html
and here;
http://asmediastudiesleecooper.blogspot.com/2011/01/animation-progress.html

expect to see soon a video on lee's blog of a focus group session we held to get feedback on our film

Update

Here is the film footage on the second black and white edit, with a few frame edits. we had to redo the black and white again due to iMovie making the quality of the film rubbish. So here's the viemo version of the film.
asdasdasdasdasd from Matt Armes on Vimeo.

Deconstruction of a Neo-Noir

Red Riding: 1974
In Red Riding: 1974 the start of the OTS was of a sky shot with a stormy sound track. The sky behind the cloud was green-ish in colour. The shot then faded to black and then faded into a panning/tilting shot of roots, feathers and then finally to a girl with angel wings. The contrast between the darkness of the ground and the background to the sudden whiteness of the angel wings is quite striking and focuses the attention of viewer to the girl lying still on the floor (Charascuro:- contrast between dark and light) . The screen then fades to black and then a new shot ,of a slightly out of focus man, pans up a character then focuses into the man's face with cuts upon him. That panning shot and the focus pull creates a enigma for any viewer who hasn't previously seen the series, it makes the view ask who he is and did he have any connection to the girl from the previous section. Enigmas are very common in film noirs and so this has at least one of the main conventions of a film noir nailed. The next shot is a mid close up of a man in a car smoking a cigarette. The shot then carries to a shot of the car, the man is in, travelling down a road with a heavy rain shower occurring (the heavy rain induces a effect called pathetic fallacy) . The country side of that the car is travelling past isn't very film noir style but however, it does have a feel of a dystopia like most film noirs have, so another convention nailed. However, with that shot there is travelling country guitar playing in the background which is out of convention in a film noir due to most of the songs are jazzy orchestral music. Also another thing to point out is the colouring of the film, it has a very desaturated look and most of the colours are shades of browns (the reasoning for browns is due to the time setting of the film itself). The colours seem to blend into each other denying anything striking out brightly colourful to appear fitting to a dystopia effect.  The next shot is of a man in what seems to be a police statement about a girl who has gone missing, this makes us think if that girl is the one from the first shot, once again all the colours are browns and partly desaturated but however, the man from earlier is shown to be the main character via focus pulls and framed shots. The is a very large sense of atmosphere and mood within the OTS mainly from the framed shots, desaturated colours and also the drone music that accompanies the majority of the shots. This film seems to bind to most of the conventions but not all of them, the effect that brings is incredible and creates enormous atmosphere and mood.
Blade Runner:
The opening of blade runner is a panning sweep shot of a futuristic city which seems to be a heavily industrialized place with large smoke stacks spitting fire. This looks to be a dystopian city fitting to the conventions of film noir. The colour of the film is very bleak and almost completly desaturated very similar to how most film noirs are. The shot then features flying cars and other futuristic things which makes the timeline convention of film noirs incorrect to this film. However, the next shot does show lots of film noir aspects. So the next shot is of a integration room with light filtering down from a fan thats slowly spinning. The room seems to have a dusty air to it, this creates a moody atmosphere and mystery to what the room is and who the people are in the room. The following speech that the scene entails is quite minimal to some extent with heightened speech when who seems to be the person who's being tested/interrogated. The test subject seems to be a criminal of sorts due to his attire and how his body language is. He tries to deny questions and hide from answers. The climax of the scene is when the test subject finishes a second test done by the tester, who we think seems to be the anti hero of the film, the test subject makes a quick statement and then shoots the tester with a very powerful gun as it flings the tester out of the room and through a wall. This sudden change of scene shocks the viewer and is then mystified by what just happened and so is drawn to the plot of the film. The Opening title sequence leaves the audience asking questions to what happened and whats going to happen. It hooks the audience very similar to conventional film noirs. From the outset Blade Runner seems to have most of the film noir features however, it doesn't fit all of them and so is more Neo-Noir than normal Noir films.
Mulholland Drive:
The starting shots of the OTS to Mulholland Drive are of a party with a girl as the main focus. However, the actual shot it self is kind of hard to determine what happens because it seems to look like a drug fulled night with animation shots and weird angles for the camera. It also has people float in and out of focus which disorientates the audience. Those scenes are very unnatural for a film noir. However, it does add mystery but perhaps for the wrong reasons. The next shot is of a long winding road sequence of a woman who seems to be very powerful in comparison to the childish nature of the previous women in the dance/party sequence. She is looking over the window and not much is said for a long time as the camera pans, follows, tracks and travels with the car for a long period of time. There isn't really a sense of dystopia and the colours aren't desaturated so it doesn't feel like a film noir style film. The only aspect shown is the feme fatal. The action starts to happen when the camera cuts to a shot of two other cars racing up a road very similar to the one the feme fatal is shown on, the camera cuts backwards and forwards until the Feme fatal's car stops in the road, the Feme fatal obviously surprised at the car stopping asks in a semi-demanding voice and then the driver pulls a gun at her and asks here to step out side. At that point the other cars crash into her causing all of the characters to be knocked out and diffuses (although violently) the situation with the feme fatal. The next shot is of the feme fatal walking out of the car and through the road to look upon the view. The entire clip has a massive enigma to who the characters are and what's their story/purpose which is a key film noir convention. The film doesn't commit to all of the conventions of a film noir but has some very key features in it making it a Neo-Noir.
on a personal note i didn't understand what was going on in the OTS to Mulholland Drive but it did sort of make me want to watch more of it so i understood the film.

Vlog

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xa3FuZiM2Fw

Having troubles with embedding this into my blog but ill work on the solution soon

Film Age Classification

After checking out the target market research we did in our group.(Sam's putting a post on his blog use on the side bar) I then looked on the BBFC website for the age guidelines on films and we decided that if we were to market our film professionally it would be a '15' for a few reasons; firstly due to our target group of 18-40 males who need a bit more excitement in their lives, we thought that 18-40 year old males wouldn't want to see a '12a' film or anything lower for fear it might be childish and tame. Also if we filmed more than a OTS we would have features in the film that would qualify it as a '15' rather than a '12a'. Such as sustained violence, adult themes, swearing and slight nudity.

’15′

Suitable only for 15 years and over

No one younger than 15 may see a ‘15’ film in a cinema. No one younger than 15 may rent or buy a ‘15’ rated video work.

Discrimination

The work as a whole must not endorse discriminatory language or behaviour.

Drugs

Drug taking may be shown but the film as a whole must not promote or encourage drug misuse. The misuse of easily accessible and highly dangerous substances (for example, aerosols or solvents) is unlikely to be acceptable.

Horror

Strong threat and menace are permitted unless sadistic or sexualised.

Imitable behaviour

Dangerous behaviour (for example, hanging, suicide and self-harming) should not dwell on detail which could be copied. Easily accessible weapons should not be glamorised.

Language

There may be frequent use of strong language (for example, ‘fuck’). The strongest  terms (for example, ‘cunt’) may be acceptable if justified by the context. Aggressive or repeated use of the strongest language is unlikely to be acceptable.

Nudity

Nudity may be allowed in a sexual context but without strong detail. There are no constraints on nudity in a non-sexual or educational context.

Sex

Sexual activity may be portrayed without strong detail. There may be strong verbal references to sexual behaviour, but the strongest references are unlikely  to be acceptable unless justified by context. Works whose primary purpose is sexual arousal or stimulation are unlikely to be acceptable.

Theme

No theme is prohibited, provided the treatment is appropriate for 15 year olds.

Violence

Violence may be strong but should not dwell on the infliction of pain or injury. The strongest gory images are unlikely to be acceptable. Strong sadistic or sexualised violence is also unlikely to be acceptable. There may be detailed verbal references to sexual violence but any portrayal of sexual violence must be discreet and have a strong contextual justification.

(from http://www.bbfc.co.uk/classification/guidelines/15-2  )

Lighting

A few shots of the lights we were able to use

A few shots of me and Sam posing while lee moves the light sources around us 

(apologies for the bad quality my camera i used for these photos wasn't very good)

Though out our little experiment session within the studio the school has we tried light from many different angles. We were able to make the models look powerful or weak or mysterious as well as a variety of other different ways. We can't be too picky about the lighting within the pub we choose as we can't gain direct control of the light within the pub we'll have to make do with the light the pub offers us 

Poll

I made a poll on facebook and i've sent it out to my friends and hopefully i'll get a lot of responses back from it

Mid Term Self Assesment

A little assesment for the past term on the blogs

Firstly a list of what i've done

• Continuity task
• Concept board
• Part research into Film Noir films
• OTS research
• Filmed the footage for the Film
• recoreded several vlogs with the group about the tasks
• Edited a Demo real of the footage
• Analytical task (partly)

What needs to be finished or done

• Break down of Film noir genre
• Edit final footage of film with sound and animation
• Edit the vlogs of the group talking
• Add speaking narration to the Analytical task
• Media booklet tasks about auidence research

I have a few other things to do and add to the blog and complete. I will update this as i continue by highlighting certain areas in green

Images

On Lee's blog we have some still frames of us working in our media lessons and also a print screen of the facebook group. http://asmediastudiesleecooper.blogspot.com/

Filming, Editing and so forth

The filming night was a complete success, apart from one of our actors having to be subbed for brett as the actor couldn't make it. I've done a demo real of the film and all it needs now is for Sam and Lee to review it and we can make any changes we need for the film, also we need our actors to voice act over the spoken parts due to the bar's natural sounds causing continuity errors. The score also needs to be finalized and rerecorded by Sam and a drummer friend of ours. As soon as thats done we'll have the footage, animation and sound all done :D

Update post

We've recorded segments of the drum loop for the soundtrack. Sam's blog has a post on it regarding the soundtrack and how we recorded it. Lee's animation is almost complete, and also the live action cross over of the cards being thrown has been recorded. For me the editing practice needs to be completed, i still need to finish my vlog entry about a mind-map for the task sheet and also the vlog meeting about our film with the group needs to be edited. The only problem i have with it is that due to it was 1 long continuous take on the vlogs (on both times) it will take a long time to pick out the information that isn't ramblings or off topic discussion. I however, will set out a couple of Yorkshire tea fueled editing nights where i spend from when i get back at 4 till about 9 working on the editing. I will ask sam to go onto mumble (a voip application) and make sure i stay on track throughout the editing evenings. Tips for thursday. Make sure we record in segments not 1 long continuous take.
So, things to do:
Editing
Editing
Editing
and
more
Editing
oh and on wednesday go to Primemark Premoushé and buy any spare props/clothes.


In the words of Gordon Ramsay "Done"

Facebook event group

http://www.facebook.com/?ref=logo#!/home.php?sk=group_177728288915725&notif_t=group_activity
this is the event page for the film, im unsure its an open group but this is a easier way of talking to cast and crew

Productivity

The blog has become a little dusty recently but that's not due to me not doing work, behind the blog i've been editing 2 videos on Song Vegas Pro. The first of the videos is on of a video mind-map which i've come to realise that it will be much better to take videos in small takes rather than one long take. Simply due to the fact that i've spent about 4 hours on the video editing out the rubbish, change sections around and also making it look professional. The second video is a Voxcast i did with my team about the specific aspects of the film. This practice is essential for the final piece editing but it seems that i may have to abandon Sony Vegas Pro and take Final cut due to the unlikely chance of my PC crashing and loosing footage of the film.
So to sum up: 2 videos are being editied via Sony Vegas
                      I need to update the blog with more posts
                      I need to think about the job i have for the film
                      I also need to add a link of the facebook page containing the event date and details of the filming night
                      I also need to comment on 4 people's blog's who im not within the same team as them

Criteria for Research and Evaluation

Video

Level 3 36–47 marks

There is evidence of proficiency in the creative use of many of the following technical skills:

• holding a shot steady, where appropriate;
• framing a shot, including and excluding elements as appropriate;
• using a variety of shot distances as appropriate;
• shooting material appropriate to the task set;
• selecting mise-en-scène including colour, figure, lighting, objects and setting;
• editing so that meaning is apparent to the viewer;
• using varied shot transitions and other effects selectively and appropriately for the task set;
• using sound with images and editing appropriately for the task set;
• using titles appropriately.

Level 4 48–60 marks

There is evidence of excellence in the creative use of most of the following technical skills:

• holding a shot steady, where appropriate;
• framing a shot, including and excluding elements as appropriate;
• using a variety of shot distances as appropriate;
• shooting material appropriate to the task set;
• selecting mise-en-scène including colour, figure, lighting, objects and setting;
• editing so that meaning is apparent to the viewer;
• using varied shot transitions and other effects selectively and appropriately for the task set;
• using sound with images and editing appropriately for the task set;
• using titles appropriately.

Video Blog of mindmap and starting to video blog

I recently recorded a 30min plus video and i'm currently about half way though editing out the bad stuff so its all good and not bad. I've had to use a few tuts for it but its good practice