MacGuffin and Forest Gump

Firstly we were shown three objects: a cricket ball, chewing gum and a Buzz Light Year toy. We were then asked to write down what came into our mind when thinking about the 3 objects.

Cricket Ball

• sport
• bounce
• Australia
• Ashes
• summer  

Buzz Light Year toy

• Childhood
• Fun
• joy
• toy story
• space
• infinity
• Astronauts 

Chewing Gum

• sticky
• fresh
• minty
• tables
• school 

All these are connotations for these objects. Connotations: The non Literal meaning we interpret of something e.g. a box can connotate  feelings of excitement,, suspense and anticipation 

We then looked at the connotations of a feather, these are some of the ideas I came up with:

Feather 

• float
• light
• pure
• flight
• freedom
• peaceful
• beauty

After looking at the connotations a feather might have, we then looked at the opening 2 minutes of Forest Gump (1994). Here we see a feather falling from the sky and landing next to someones feet

Next we looked at MacGuffin, and I put the definition into my own words. MacGuffin : in fiction, a MacGuffin is a plot devise in the form of goal or desired object that moves the narrative along and also informs the audience what the film is about.

After this we looked at the feather connotations again and linked this to the film. we originally said that the feather is pure and peaceful, we know  from watching the film that Forrest Gump is also pure and peaceful and therefore we can see that the director has shown us the character of Forrest Gump through the use of a feather. We also can see from the clip that the feather goes on a sort of journey to get to the character of Forrest Gumps feet. we know from watching the film that Forrest too goes on a journey. This also creates enigma for the audience as we want to know what the journey is and how he got to the place that he is in now.

'Inglorious Basterds' film opening analysis

The Film opening we analysed was 'Inglorious Basterds' by Quentin Tarantino. The film is an action thriller with elements of black comedy that is a essentially a parody of war films.

After we had watched the opening of the film we deconstructed it into visuals and sound which can be seen in the photo below

In the first 0-0:30 seconds the universal logo comes onto the screen, this logo is in a old fashioned design suggesting the time in which the film is set in. At 0:36 seconds Quentin Tarantino's name appears on the screen and then 4 seconds later at 0:40 seconds the title of the film come on to the screen. The font that it is in stands out and makes the audience realize that this is the name of the film.

The soundtrack starts at 0:20 seconds and runs all the way through the opening title sequence until it starts to fade out at 2:00 minutes. The main cast all have their own names on the screen individually and other cast members have their names on shared screens expect for guest stars who are featured in the film who, like the main actor in the play, have their name individually on a screen Brad Pitt's name is the first to be seen on the screen at 0:40 seconds then comes other members of  the cast.

Editing

Editing refers to how shots are put together into sequences to make up media text

Three Areas

When analyzing editing you must break it down into three areas to help the quality of the analysis

• Transition- how one shot Moves to the other 
• Continuity- how one shot Merges into another
• Shot Duration- how Long a shot is

Transition

Different transitions can create slightly different meanings for the audience

• The Cut- The point where two shots come together
• Dissolve- The blending of two shots to communicate a passage of time and /or location
• Wipes- When shots change across the screen
• Cross Zooms- When it starts small and gets bigger on screen
• Flash Frames
• Jump Shots- Normally to do with props or objects.

When Creating  a short film The Cut and Dissolve are the best to use.

• Fade down ( of sound)- Gradual diminution of sound level
• Fade in (of Pictures)- Gradual appearance of the image
• Fade to black- gradual disappearance of image into black screen

Shot Duration

The duration of a shot will usually reflect the narrative context

• Short shot duration- conveys urgency
• Long shot duration- conveys detail and intimacy with narrative 

Continuity 

• 180 Degree rule- A rule which maintains that the line of action should not be crossed in the interest of fluid continuity. You can cross the 180 degree line, but you must show that you have moved. you can not just cut to the other side as you will confuse your audience
• Cross Cutting- Also known as parallel editing. alternation between two or more different  scene which are (usually) developed simultaneously
• Cut Away- a brief shot that momentarily interrupts continuity action by briefly inserting another related shot.
• Eye Line Match- a common convention to maintain continuity is a character looks at something and in the next shot we see what they are looking at.

Cinematic time-  The time a sequence takes to play on screen as opposed to 'real time'. In film time can be expanded and shrunk.

•  When you see Match on action in a film this is cinematic time and therefore real time.

During editing you can:

• Shrink time- Through a series of fast paced cuts we can see things that would take a long time in just a few seconds on the screen. Instead of watching a character get in a car and drive for 20 minutes we see then get in and get out, letting us assume that the journey has taken place.
• Expand time- The editor can expand time by adding additional details. For example, someone is sitting in a chair waiting for the phone to ring. in real time this might only last half a minute, but the editor can build up tension by including shots of the person's eyes, tapping fingers (to show impatience) etc, drawing the scene out to a minute or more. here we are looking at Film time not 'Real Time'.
• Finding Rhythm- Editing sets the rhythm or pace of a scene. this could be dictated by either the music used behind a scene or the mood that the editor is trying to create and the pace that you edit. To build up tension in a scene you might cut from one shot to another very quickly. however, in a relaxed scene the editing will progress at a much slower pace, dwelling longer on each shot.

Sound

We started the lesson by listening to 5 different theme tunes to well known TV programs and then had to answer two questions on them. the questions asked were how does it make you feel? and what type of TV program are you expecting to watch?

The Fresh Prince Of Bel Air:






How does it make you feel ?

• Happy
• Up Beat

What type of program are you expecting to watch?

• Family program
• younger audience 
• Young character - rapping 
• West Philadelphia 
• Bel Air - posh place
• America 

The A Team:

How does it make you feel?

• Up Beat
• Happy

What type of program are you expecting to watch?

• Dramatic
• Action
• Army/Military 

Doctor Who:

How does it make you feel?

• excited
• Happy

What type of program are you expecting to watch?

• Science -Fiction
• Alien's

Eastenders

How does it make you feel?

• Excited
• relaxed

What Type of program are you expecting to watch?

• Family show
• Drama

Hollyoaks

How does  it make you feel?

• Happy
• Up Beat

What type of program are you expecting to watch?

• Family Show
• Drama

Technical Vocabulary 

Diagetic sounds

• Ambient Sounds
• Dialogue 
• Sound Effects

Non- Diagetic Sounds

• Sound Track
• Theme music/ tune
• Sound Bridge
• Parallel Sounds
• Contrapuntal Sounds

Depends

• Direct Address

Why is Sound used in Television Programs?

Sound is used in TV programs to communicate feelings/emotions through the use of voice overs, music etc. It can create tension/ happiness for the audience and sometimes characters.

Depth and Focus

Depth

How far the camera is away from the background and the subject

Focus

How Sharp or soft (blurry) the focus is, which allows the audience interpret the scene.

Shot movement

Pan: When the camera moves side to side on a fixed point/ axis Tilt :When the camera moves up and down from a fixed point/axis Zoom: When the camera lens moves in and out from a fixed point Track: When the camera follows a subject and is unattached from a fixed point

Framing/ Shot aspects and Composition

Framing 

Framing is what you want in your frame. You can chose what you want to include inside it and can edit out anything you don't want / need .

Composition

Composition is everything you need in your scene, anything that is is important that you need in your scene to make sure it makes sense.



Task :

once we had learnt the shot types and the different camera movements we were told that we had a task . Our task was to re-create still images from 4 different films making sure we got the right camera angles, the right depth and shot type,as these were still images no camera movement was needed.
The four films included: Indiana Jones,Shawshank Redemption, Taxi Driver and Pulp Fiction.
Here are our attempts at the four stills:

Indiana Jones :

Taxi Driver :

Pulp Fiction:

Shawshank Redemption:

The best aspect's of our recreation was our focus on each still and how we made sure that it matched the real still. To improve we need to look close at the depth of the subject toward the camera, especially with our Indiana Jones still, it wasn't quiet there with the depth of the camera and the subject.

overall this task helped me improve my understanding of the different aspects of focus, depth and shot types as a whole

Shot Types

EWS- extra/extreme wide shot : landscape- can see the landscape (100% zoomed out)

VWS-  very wide shot - can see character in landscape but not as much as WS/LS/FS  (90% zoomed out)

WS/LS/FS- wide shot/ Long shot/ full shot- can see the whole character in the setting (50% zoomed out)

MS- Mid shot- can see half the character's body (40% zoomed out)

MCU- Medium/ mid close up- can see neck and head of character (30% zoomed out)

CU- close up- can see head of of character (20% zoomed out)

ECU- extreme clsoe up- can only see eyes and nose of character 

CI- Cut in- can see a different body part of subject/character (10% zoomed out)

CA- Cut away- can see a shot of something other than character/subject e.g. children playing 

2 Shot- can see 2 people in the shot

OSS- over the shoulder shot- can see shoulder of one character/subject to see other character/subject's face

Noddy shot- this is an interviewers point of view, can hear the character speaking but cant see them only see the the subject answering the question.

Point of view shot- shows a view from the subject/character prospective 

Weather Shot- the subject is the weather. can be used for other purpose e.g. background for graphics.

each shot type creates different feeling for the audience. For example you would use close up to show emotion on the character and this would get empathy from the audience.

Preliminary Task

Making The Preliminary Task 

The brief we were given : A character opens a door, crosses a room and sits down in a chair opposite another character, with whom she/he the exchanges a couple of lines of dialogue

After seeing the brief we were given, my initial thoughts were what genre we want this to be, what is the character going to say and how am I going to show this using the camera . We came up with the idea of a police interview and that someone had been killed,  we first started with our story board and how we were going to portray our ideas onto the paper.After this, we decided to chose our location, we decided to use the drama studio in our school as it is a enclosed space and had black walls to keep our genre dark and thrilling . Next we wrote a script which included stage directions so we each knew what we were doing. we decided to film our task after school as we knew this would give us plenty of time to get ready, set up our camera and  mark each position we decided to have it in, and to read through our scripts  to understand our charters.

When writing our story board we decided to use a range of different camera shots such as close up, wide shots and more. When filming and deciding what costumes to wear, we decided that the main character should wear a red top to show danger and death, the voices were wearing black to show that they are dark and not really there. we didn't use any props except chairs when filming.

once we were in the editing process, our brief was changed slightly. We were told that Match on action should be in our piece, therefore we made extra sure that our film had it throughout, we did this by making sure each footer of a shot matched to the header of the next. After making sure that we had Match on action we finally thought our piece was ready, however, again our brief was changed. This time we had to make sure Shot Reverse Shot was included as well. we found little bits of the shots had this but not enough to flow and make a scene work.

Reflection 
When editing our piece of film we realised that looked like a drama piece that had been filmed form different angles. and once we finished we weren't happy with how it looked.

 Fist preliminary task :





Therefore we decided to change our whole story  and re film the whole thing again keeping it simple with just some friends talking together.

To do this, we story boarded again, making sure that we had a range of different shots, such as over the shoulder and wide shots. We wrote our script again keeping it simple and easy to relate to. Also when filming we made sure we had match on action and shot reverse shot to make it easy in the editing process.

When editing we found it much easier to  put together and because we made sure we had everything the brief included  when filming it made it so much easier to edit together.

Second and Final Preliminary Task :

Match On Action

As a class we divided in to two groups. We then went and carried out a practical piece of work, where we had to film, using the iPad, two people throwing and catching a ball, we had to have a least four different shots from different angles. Once we had done that we edited using imovie, a piece of editing software on the iPad, making sure that it flowed and that we had Match On Action. We then watched each groups and spotted the Match On Action mistakes in each.

 Then as class we came up with a definition of 'Match On Action'. we decided that Match On Action is the sequence of events in chronological order to maintain continuity so the narrative can be followed. This is by matching the movement from one footer of one scene to the header of the next .

After this, we came up with a set of rules/steps that you should take when making a film to make sure that you had no Match On Action mistakes

Match On Action video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HmOzQG8teCA

Shot Reverse Shot

Firstly we got shown 2 picture form the opening scene of Pulp Fiction this showed us who was in the scene and where it took place, we took some notes from each picture we were then asked to re-an- act  the scene using the iPad to film.

Picture 1 
male young  in his  20's
in a cafe / diner
White american/ British
not well dressed (shirt and a t-shirt on) working class
sunny outside suggesting warm county not Britain, clothing he is wearing also suggest this (Hawaiian shirt)

Picture 2
Diner / cafe - sitting in a booth, waitress pouring coffee
Woman white American/British
Plain clothes suggesting not upper class or not working class
short hair
cant tell how old she is, might be young or might be old

we got given a script from the opening scene of Pulp Fiction with a story board and a shot list.
We decided to do our story boarding first then add in our shots to each scene making sure that they looked good and the narrative flowed throughout.

We then had to choose our location. At first we thought of our school canteen as it look most like a cafe/dinner where the scene was set, however it didn't have the right feel to it so we re thought of a new location. We then decided our common room as there were people in there and the seats were easy enough to set up a booth with a table, also in the comment room we have plates and cups, this would add to the feel of the scene making it look more realistic and look as if we were in a dinner/cafe

We then filmed each shot using different camera angles we have learnt such as over the shoulder and wide shots. we then imported them into imovie and edited it making sure we had continuity and match on action.through each scene, we achieved this by staying in the same position when the camera shot moved to another place and started our lines again.

Although we weren't told at the beginning, this task was about Shot Reverse Shot which is when 'you switch the camera from facing one person to facing the other person opposite which is behind the camera, usually used for dialogue.' We then watched our groups and then the other groups version and then the original. we found that even though we hadnt known about the aim of the task we still had  Shot Reverse Shot in some of our film.
                                                         

Pulp Fiction opening scene re- make :








Pulp Fiction actual opening scene :

The film making process

As a class we were asked to explain what we think the the film making process is in order.

This was my response :

1) The idea of the film/ concept of the film

2) development of the idea with producers, script writers etc

3) Pre- Production e.g. Casting and screen test with actors

4) Production of the film - this will take a series of weeks/months to film

5) Post-Production- Editing every shot taken form production making sure that the narrative flows and is easy to understand. cutting scene that are unnecessary or too long.

6) Marketing- Public campaigns e.g. posters, teaser trailers, interviews with cast, magazine/newspaper  articles, press interviews.

7) Release- often a premier of  film on red carpet. Also a chance for fans to meet cast and for interviewers to ask questions.

This would take a long time, maybe even years for the idea of the film to be imagined to actually filming it.

Questions

What I have learnt over the last 2 weeks working on the preliminary task

Firstly we brainstormed what we have learnt over the last 2 weeks, we then brainstormed any more questions we had .we then categorized these ideas into three group: Technology, Theory and questions.

These are things we came up with for Questions that might still have:

How to colour grade a video/movie using Final Cut Pro?

How do you make a voice over using Final Cut Pro?

How do you add music onto Final Cut Pro?

How do you get special effects on Final Cut Pro ?

How do you get a split screen effect on Final Cut Pro?

Theory

What I have learnt over the last 2 weeks working on the preliminary task

Firstly we brainstormed what we have learnt over the last 2 weeks, we then brainstormed any more questions we had .We then categorized these ideas into three group: Technology, Theory and questions.

These are things we came up with for theory.

Making Fake blood: To make our piece look more realistic we decided to make fake blood. Following a simple tutorial from the internet we made realistic looking blood, made from honey and red food coloring. we splatted this over the main charterer to make t look like they had killed someone. When it came to filming our piece, the camera picked up the fake blood and it looked real.

Script writing: two of our groups members wrote the script incorporating all the stage directions for others to see what was happening. we then learned the script ready for filming.

Story boarding: firstly we story boarded our scenes and our shot types to make sure that when it came to filming we already had everything covered. to do this we did rough sketches of each scene and how they would look through the camera lens, we also listed shot types we were going to use and matched them to each scene thinking which one would go where and how it would look in the final product.

Choosing right location: As we wanted it to be like a interview room we decided to use a confined space. We used our schools drama studio as we knew that it was a confined space and had the resources we needed such as chairs,desks and the  lighting board. The walls are also black giving the scene's a tense feeling..

Interpret text into a film: We ran through the script several  times to map out where we were going to stand and how we were going to deliver each line. We then did the each shot 3 times to make sure that we got it exactly where we wanted it to be, then we moved on to the next shot and did that 3 times and so on.

Using free time effectively: we decided to do our filming after school as we knew then we would have more time to get everything ready and take our time with each shot. This was very effective as we manged to get most of our shots. The shots we didn't get were the shortest ones and we knew that we could do them at a lunch time when there was less time.

To conclude i think we used our time effectively to make our preliminary task a success. We organised  our time well to story board, write the script and film our product to a good standard and then edited it in Final Cut Pro.

Technology

Technology

What I have learnt over the last 2 weeks working on the preliminary task

Firstly we brainstormed what we have learnt over the last 2 weeks, we then brainstormed any more questions we had .we then categorized these ideas into three group: Technology, Theory and questions.

These are things we came up with for technology.

Technology

Camera shots: firstly we researched different types of camera shots and how to use them. We took these into account when filming our short film piece. We used a range of different shots including an establishing shot which we link back to many times, close ups on the face of the main character , over the shoulder shots and wide shots. We used these shots to make the piece look more realistic and more like a film instead of just having one shot all the time. We mostly used the establishing shot and cut in different shots  such as over the shoulder at different times, making sure it matched exactly

Final Cut pro- Changing raw footage into pro res, how to edit using final cut pro, how to reverse the clip, credits (how to render them) and fluidity.  As this was my first time using Final cut pro, I was excited to use it as I have seen many people use it before. Firstly, after importing our raw footage to the Apple Mac computer we had to convert it into Apple res pro as Final cut pro does not recognise the format of the raw footage and it would take a long time for it to process. To do this we opened a piece of software called MPEG stream clip and converted our raw footage into Apple pro res which final cut pro can process. We also learnt how to edit using final cut pro with the cutter tool.

Continuity: To make sure that we had no continuity errors while editing we tried to keep everything the same when filming. An example of this is lighting, props and costumes. However we found this hard to do, as when we were filming our lighting changed. This is one of the errors in which we hope not to make again the next time we film a piece, as we hope to keep our lighting them same, so when it comes to editing it doesn’t have any continuity mistakes.

Use of apple software: This was also the first time I had used an Apple computer properly and using it helped me develop my skills in using the software like MPEG stream clip and final cut pro

Importing video into final cut pro: this was quite easy to do as it was like an normal computer and I already knew how to import.

Linking header and footer to each shot. We needed to make sure that each shot that ended linked to the start of the next to make sure it was exactly right in the film otherwise it would look messy and the narrative would not flow.

Match on action: This is when the sequence is told in chronological order to maintain the continuity so that the narrative can be followed , this is done by matching the header and footer of each shot to make a scene.

Linking different shots: We used the establishing shot which was a wide shot to link in different shots such as over the shoulder and close ups

Effective lighting. We filmed our piece in a drama space as it has lighting  that are used for plays, however we found when editing that our lighting changes at times and this is a continuity mistake. Also it makes our piece look like a play, so this is something to think about changing when filming our next piece

Using resources such as YouTube to find instructions: we used resources such as YouTube to find instructions on how to add credits in final cut pro after we tried finding it for ourselves. This gave us the answer in a quick and simple tutorial.

To conclude, we used theses different aspects of technology to create our film. I have learnt many different skills on how to use the Apple computers and Final Cut Pro throughout the 2 weeks that we have been working on this task.

Creativity

My initial thoughts of creativity is when someone creates unique and ‘outside of the box ideas’ from resources given to them to a standard of originality, however looking further into the meaning of creativity has changed my ideas slightly. In the industry of film and media it’s so difficult to be ‘original’ as so many people have already done ideas that you may have thought of, I am not sure if there are any truly ‘original’ ideas in this industry anymore as these thoughts and ideas are constantly being reused and recycled, even if it’s just simple ideas that have been adapted by yourself or by others, you are almost guaranteed that it has been done before.

As a group discussion we came up with a definition for creativity: An aim to explore expression and external influences (e.g. upbringing, surroundings, environment and existing products) that don’t necessarily need to be original. To do with something you don’t see every day that provokes a reaction and solves and existing problem. Creativity is making.

We got the idea for ‘creativity is making’ from the word create itself. Create is in the word creativity, this makes me think of making things whether that be art, a role play performance or media piece. Furthermore we used the word ‘environment’ as we thought that things surrounding us can influence our work creatively and inspire our imagination which I think is key for creating and creativity combined. We added ‘don’t necessarily need to be original’ as we talked about the meaning of originality and how other films or types of media influence each other continuously.

We discussed theses four questions as a class and came to a simple conclusion for each.

What is your inspiration? Where does it come from?

·         Inspiration can be influenced by people, surroundings, media, film and music.

How can you develop your creativity?

·         Creativity can be developed by building on what you have done already, becoming inspired and collaborating with other people. This can also be done when thinking differently.

Is creativity a skill? Can it be developed?

·         Yes, creativity is a skill and can be developed through creative ideas and using imagination. Everyone has the ability to be creative in their own way.

When are you most creative?

·         You are most creative when listening to music, also emotions can affect your creative e.g. happy, sad, anger, hate. These can all inspire you for a creative media piece.

When creating our twenty second short film ‘Panic’ we thought about the following ideas and where the inspiration comes from:

Location/ setting

We decided to use the stairs for our location as we thought it would be good for a chase scene. We got this inspiration from other films/media pieces. The stairs created tension as the sound became disoriented and amplified from the footstep sounds above from the chaser and the victim themself.

Camera shot/type

We used the POV camera shot as it made it look as though the audience was the person running away, this creates empathy for the audience towards the victim. Again we got our inspiration from other media/films such as ‘The Blair witch Project’ and ‘Chronicle’

Mise en scene

We compared shoes in the group to find suitable footwear for the chaser in the scene for our short film ‘panic’. The combat shoes were voted the most appropriate, as they bring a negative connotation or danger and signify strength and power. This created tension for both the victim in the scene but also the audience as it ended on a cliff-hanger, leaving the film suspended and hanging for the audience to make up their own mind about what happens to the victim. Again we got our inspiration for the shoes from other films where the murderer wears big heavy combat style boots.

Heavy breathing

The heavy breathing is the only sound other than footsteps that the audience hears. This makes the audience feel as though they have cut into the chase scene and are unaware of what has happened previously. This created tension for the audience as they haven’t seen what has happened before hand and doesn’t know why the victim is running away or what they are running away from. Again this is often used in media pieces to create tension for the audience,  an example of this technique used in a film would be ‘The Blaire Witch Project’. ‘Paranormal Activity series’

In the beginning I thought creativity was being original, unique and thinking outside of the box, but by doing this activity’s and exercises I have seen how hard it is to create something original. I now think that creativity doesn’t have to be original, it can be influenced by other media pieces and films as well as using your own imagination and adapting ideas to make them unique in their own way.

Short film Panic!