Monday 15 November 2010
Sunday 7 November 2010
Sir Alfred Hitchcock
Alfred Hitchcock is one of the most influential filmmakers, and one of the most intelligent yet
borderline-insane men of the 20th century. He used many different plot devises such as suspense, and some of his own like the 'McGuffin' where an apparently minor detail serving as a pivot upon which the narrative turns.
Hitchcock was indeed one quirky character, in most of his films he would even do a short cameo appearance, usually doing something quite absurd for his nature; struggling to load a double bass into van, walking dogs in the park.
Hitchcock also liked to include a distinct relationships for main characters, most included a abnormal relationship with their mother; the killer of women from 'Frenzy' has an incredible relationship with his mother and idolises her, Norman Bates has 'issues' with his mother.
'Heroines' from Hitchcock's films seems to have a type of hidden 'animal' or criminal mind, once triggered by certain events, as well as these heroines mostly having blond hair. Hitchcock said himself that 'Blonds make the best victims. They're like virgin snow that shows up the bloody footprints'.
Like Walt Disney, Alfred Hitchcock's contribution to cinema and television was highly substantial to today's medium, you could easily say his work was revolutionary for this business.
borderline-insane men of the 20th century. He used many different plot devises such as suspense, and some of his own like the 'McGuffin' where an apparently minor detail serving as a pivot upon which the narrative turns.
Hitchcock was indeed one quirky character, in most of his films he would even do a short cameo appearance, usually doing something quite absurd for his nature; struggling to load a double bass into van, walking dogs in the park.
Hitchcock also liked to include a distinct relationships for main characters, most included a abnormal relationship with their mother; the killer of women from 'Frenzy' has an incredible relationship with his mother and idolises her, Norman Bates has 'issues' with his mother.
'Heroines' from Hitchcock's films seems to have a type of hidden 'animal' or criminal mind, once triggered by certain events, as well as these heroines mostly having blond hair. Hitchcock said himself that 'Blonds make the best victims. They're like virgin snow that shows up the bloody footprints'.
Like Walt Disney, Alfred Hitchcock's contribution to cinema and television was highly substantial to today's medium, you could easily say his work was revolutionary for this business.
Sunday 31 October 2010
The Main Task - Planning/Ideas
After deciding on the Thriller genre, me and the other group members discussed what different things could add to a film belonging to the film genre.
Here is our thought shower:
We gradually listed which of these conventions we would like to use in our own film.
We finally decided that our film would be based around a suicide - yet with suspicious circumstances - we have decided to feature a young person, trying to get away from an invisible danger, though this only becomes fully apparent when the young person has finally committed suicide, the audience will see a sign of another presence in the room - a hand/shadow/silhouette.
Here are some images of different modes of suicide we may use:
Here is our thought shower:
We finally decided that our film would be based around a suicide - yet with suspicious circumstances - we have decided to feature a young person, trying to get away from an invisible danger, though this only becomes fully apparent when the young person has finally committed suicide, the audience will see a sign of another presence in the room - a hand/shadow/silhouette.
Here are some images of different modes of suicide we may use:
We will finalise our choice of weapon for the 'suicide' by availability.
We plan to shoot our short piece of film; in a deserted and isolated location; an upstairs room in an old house perhaps.
Our film will have no script needed in this section of film, as speech is not needed; although a short piece of narration may be used.
Sunday 10 October 2010
Brief And Research
Our original task was to create a short Preliminary Production, featuring some decent camera shots and things such as: Shot/Reverse Shot, Match On Action and the 180 Degree Rule.
We aimed of course to follow these rules and feature all the desired shots and elements on the movie.
We wanted a simplistic style film showing several camera shots and dialogue, which would give us an oppertunity to show our developing camera skills and editing skills, and to prepare us for the main task.
We wouldn't name any particular target audience for this film, as it is supposed to only be a simple production conveying our original skills in aspects of the media/filmmaking industry.
If we were to work with an institute to continue the portrayed story, I would use a reliable (due to their history) and general Film Production company such as DreamWorks or 21st Century Fox.
Planning Process Shown In Post Below!
We aimed of course to follow these rules and feature all the desired shots and elements on the movie.
We wanted a simplistic style film showing several camera shots and dialogue, which would give us an oppertunity to show our developing camera skills and editing skills, and to prepare us for the main task.
We wouldn't name any particular target audience for this film, as it is supposed to only be a simple production conveying our original skills in aspects of the media/filmmaking industry.
If we were to work with an institute to continue the portrayed story, I would use a reliable (due to their history) and general Film Production company such as DreamWorks or 21st Century Fox.
Planning Process Shown In Post Below!
The Preliminary Task: My Experiences!
For many years now, I have held a strong interest in the media and it's technology. Whether a simple hobby video made with friends, straight to YouTube, expressing our love for complete randomness or to the extent of working with a small group of amateur actors to create a small film, it has all fascinated me. I took Media Studies for GCSE and the things I have learnt through those two years seem endless, and this AS course will most likely introduce me to many different areas of pure genius.
An old fashioned parentage has always held high and thick boundaries around the possibilities of careers in the media or drama, so to be taught officially and to be shown a way into such a career is brilliant.
I began my course slightly later due to confusing reasons, but I was soon introduced into the Preliminary Task. The planning stage for the Preliminary Production went very smoothly, with the two other members having a good sense of initiative and desire to learn. We discussed what shots we would use and how we would fit them in, who we would need to be in it, where we would locate it, and of course what the actual narrative of the short production would be.
Planning
What technical equipment is involved?
A Camcorder, Tripod and Computer for editing.
What props/costumes do I need?
21st Century Period Dress - Formal Suit for Boss
Hoody for fired employee
How do I want to set the scene?
Once shots of the employee character making the journey to the boss's room, we would like a shot of the boss sat at his desk waiting and annoyed.
Who do I want to be involved?
Fellow Students, 2 on camera - Boss & Employee
What filming techniques will I need to use?
Shot/Reverse Shot
Match On Action
180 degree Rule
Draft of the dialogue: Rehearsed Improvisation
Employee: I was only borrowing it, I was going to put it back
Boss: You can't just put it back and expect it to be alright, You're Fired
Employee: Good, I didn't even want this stupid job anyway!
Define the following terms/phrases:-
Match on Action: This technique is used to give the viewer the illusion of one single movement across two separate shots.
Shot/Reverse Shot: This is where an original shot is taken and then repeated, only in reverse. For example a man walks through a door and then sits in a chair and then the second shot shows him in reverse, where he stands up from the chair and walks back through the door.
180 Degree Rule: A rule which maintains that the line of action should not be crossed, in the interests of fluid continuity. It therefore precludes a difference greater than 180 degrees between camera angles in consecutive shots.
When filming our plan mostly followed through, and the camera work was very easily done, and resulted in great clips. Apart from a few hiccups, such as the camera stands stiffness which caused multiple jumpy shots (with better editing software easily stabilized) which we re-shot with an improved tripod reducing the amount of jumpiness in tracking shots especially. Two shots also had an incorrect flow overall to the production, so these were re-filmed to create a better film overall.
Editing is now somewhat a breeze and a relaxation exercise for me, and I love to do it as precisely as possible due to a hint of OCD and my perfectionist mind seeping through. The editing for this particular production went very smoothly once the incorrect shots were corrected and imported into the production.
I truly believe there are not many things better than the satisfaction of a very well edited video, precisely flowing from one clip to the next, sure its time consuming, but so worth it in the end.
When we come to edit our final and official main task, I hope to use a much more advanced editing software, rather than Windows Movie Maker. While this software does the job for a family holiday DVD it does not cut it at all for a hopefully professional looking production from budding filmmakers, it only makes good quality camera work look amateur with its cheesy and tacky titles, credits and general effects.
In the end the finished production has a brilliant flow, displaying our hard work in an easy format. Some areas of this particular editing software makes the production look more amateur, which is an unfortunate outcome from using cheap editing software designed for amateur family videos and short clips to be uploaded straight to YouTube. For the Main Task I plan to use something more advanced: Adobe Premiere Pro, Apple Final Cut Express 4 (+ iMovie) Adobe After Effects.
All areas of the production creation was extremely fun and interesting especially when we got round to actually filming and editing the production, and finally seeing the finished film.
An old fashioned parentage has always held high and thick boundaries around the possibilities of careers in the media or drama, so to be taught officially and to be shown a way into such a career is brilliant.
I began my course slightly later due to confusing reasons, but I was soon introduced into the Preliminary Task. The planning stage for the Preliminary Production went very smoothly, with the two other members having a good sense of initiative and desire to learn. We discussed what shots we would use and how we would fit them in, who we would need to be in it, where we would locate it, and of course what the actual narrative of the short production would be.
Planning
What technical equipment is involved?
A Camcorder, Tripod and Computer for editing.
What props/costumes do I need?
21st Century Period Dress - Formal Suit for Boss
Hoody for fired employee
How do I want to set the scene?
Once shots of the employee character making the journey to the boss's room, we would like a shot of the boss sat at his desk waiting and annoyed.
Who do I want to be involved?
Fellow Students, 2 on camera - Boss & Employee
What filming techniques will I need to use?
Shot/Reverse Shot
Match On Action
180 degree Rule
Draft of the dialogue: Rehearsed Improvisation
Employee: I was only borrowing it, I was going to put it back
Boss: You can't just put it back and expect it to be alright, You're Fired
Employee: Good, I didn't even want this stupid job anyway!
Define the following terms/phrases:-
Match on Action: This technique is used to give the viewer the illusion of one single movement across two separate shots.
Shot/Reverse Shot: This is where an original shot is taken and then repeated, only in reverse. For example a man walks through a door and then sits in a chair and then the second shot shows him in reverse, where he stands up from the chair and walks back through the door.
180 Degree Rule: A rule which maintains that the line of action should not be crossed, in the interests of fluid continuity. It therefore precludes a difference greater than 180 degrees between camera angles in consecutive shots.
When filming our plan mostly followed through, and the camera work was very easily done, and resulted in great clips. Apart from a few hiccups, such as the camera stands stiffness which caused multiple jumpy shots (with better editing software easily stabilized) which we re-shot with an improved tripod reducing the amount of jumpiness in tracking shots especially. Two shots also had an incorrect flow overall to the production, so these were re-filmed to create a better film overall.
Editing is now somewhat a breeze and a relaxation exercise for me, and I love to do it as precisely as possible due to a hint of OCD and my perfectionist mind seeping through. The editing for this particular production went very smoothly once the incorrect shots were corrected and imported into the production.
I truly believe there are not many things better than the satisfaction of a very well edited video, precisely flowing from one clip to the next, sure its time consuming, but so worth it in the end.
When we come to edit our final and official main task, I hope to use a much more advanced editing software, rather than Windows Movie Maker. While this software does the job for a family holiday DVD it does not cut it at all for a hopefully professional looking production from budding filmmakers, it only makes good quality camera work look amateur with its cheesy and tacky titles, credits and general effects.
In the end the finished production has a brilliant flow, displaying our hard work in an easy format. Some areas of this particular editing software makes the production look more amateur, which is an unfortunate outcome from using cheap editing software designed for amateur family videos and short clips to be uploaded straight to YouTube. For the Main Task I plan to use something more advanced: Adobe Premiere Pro, Apple Final Cut Express 4 (+ iMovie) Adobe After Effects.
All areas of the production creation was extremely fun and interesting especially when we got round to actually filming and editing the production, and finally seeing the finished film.
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