Editing Catch Up Session - SOFT Trailer 2nd Attempt

Today we had some free time to edit and catch up with things we hadn't got around to yet. Whilst I had already done everything I needed to I wanted to re-edit my SOFT trailer as I thought I could do better than my first attempt. I wanted to get slightly more fitting music for this second trailer and also I needed to edit it a little bit more. I thought my first attempt was good in terms of editing, but I forgot to edit the audio and the music was too loud. I wanted to make sure you primarily heard the music but also got their speech in some of the scenes. I think this second edit is much better than the first.

Contextual Studies - Making A Murderer DOCUMENTARY.

10 part US documentary series - Took 10 years to film and they had 700 hours footage.
Won 4 Emmys

Documentary vs Dramatic film.

Documentary: Unscripted/ Employs real people/ Typically shot hand held/ Does not follow hollywood mise en scene

Dramatic film: Narrative and Dialogue (script driven)/ Performance led by actors/ Hollywood camera techniques/ Uses formal hollywood mise en scene.

Documentary is basically filming observation, you are filming to inform rather than necessary entertain "document reality"

Documentary was coined by John Grierson. He described documentaries as " The creative treatment of actuality"

Documentary formats:
FORMAL:
Observational/Not scripted/Not set up
Current affairs and factual (Making a murderer is an example of this)
Polemic - Putting a particular point or observation across.

HYBRID:
Reality - Much more in depth and setting up scenes for the characters
Scripted reality - Scripted a lot Like TOWIE
Drama Documentary - Dramatic reenactments of what has happened.

Narrative documentary Modes:
Most likely a documentary won't specifically fit into one group, it will go across 2 or more.
Expository - Emphasises rhetoric and information The classic voice of god documentary
Observational - Classic fly on the wall. Typically no voice over.
Participatory - onscreen relationship between the subject and interviewer.
Reflective - Makes the viewer aware of the filmmaking process Seeks to challenge our assumptions
Poetic - Artistic montage based.
Performative - filmmaker going on a journey, taking in personal experience

Making a murder is very evident in using supporting evidence (Court documents - Interviews - Papers)
Translating the facts -  reconstruction of the scene before the sexual assault - POV shot of what the women would have possibly be seeing. Use of the music advocates as emotional manipulation.

Black and white photographs to show the altercation between him and his sister when he pointed a gun at her. They had to make sure they didn't blur the lines between what's real and what's not (these black and white pictures are not real)

Critical approaches to Documentaries:
Realism - Handheld - Natural light - No music. As little artificial parts as possible to keep it "authentic". Real life as it happens.

What we see is no objective, but the filmmakers version of events. What has been mediated so we see what we see. In making a murderer the Averys are made out to be outsiders to the community

Reception Theory - How the audience sees the text on screen, that might influence our opinion. You can say it has no meaning in itself, instead the meaning is created as the viewer watches the film. Other ways that you could be influenced but what you see is maybe who and where you are with. You are possibly more likely to laugh at a cinema than at home because of other people being there. You can also be influenced if you are seeing it on a phone instead of a Computer, maybe on a TV you are less immersed because you could be easily distracted by a text for example.

Ideology - Common sets of beliefs and values that relate us to the rest of the world. Could have political bias in certain documentaries. With the BBC they can't take sides, have to see both version of events and make sure it is impartial. However you can still question what point of view they are trying to take. However other stations could have a different ethos and they particularly go down a certain route to prove a certain point. Possibly motivated by owners or leaders.

The context in making a murderer is generally the realistic approach. real locations, using graphic montages and also some music is used to emphasise points.
conventional representations of who and what is in the scene. However it can be questioned why certain things are put into certain scenes.
The filmmakers aren't including their own personal opinions and leaving it as much up to the viewer as possible. However some people are left out of the documentary, you have to question if that is for a particular reason or that the other people did not want to be in the film or where unavailable.

In making a murder they say that the people that are not included are not there for any particular reason, they feel that their documentary is true, fair and unbiased.

First Draft of my Screenplay - Updates

Today I finished my first draft of my screenplay. Personally I thought I was going to enjoy this part of the course a lot less than I did. I have actually enjoyed it and I still feel my script can be improved but I am happy of how it has turned out for a first draft.

Further development.
I have thought about my script since I have finished it and I have had a few ideas since. I don't want to go too hard with changed before it's been checked in case there could be a fundamental problem (I hope not!)

1) I need to develop why they want Nelson dead. I have said that he is a troublemaker but not really expanded on anything further. I think that Nelson could have done something very personal to one of the head police officers and that is the reason why they want him dead. I'm not sure exactly what yet. Hopefully Simon or Steve could give me a little input on all these ideas to expand them.

2) Who is Ricky? I did put a single line in the script as a subtle hint but it probably needs to be expanded. I want Ricky to be the son of one of the characters, specifically the "Unidentified character" that we never actually see. And I want him to be involved as it could be something personal to his family.

3) Why do they want to frame Adrian? Once again it needs to be expanded as there is no real reason to this one. I suspect a reason could be that Adrian and Ricky has left on bad terms when they left school/ stopped being friends.

I also spoke to my Dad about what he thought about and he read the script and said it might make more sense if the main characters where a few years older (22/23) so there is evidence that Adrian has started to forge a successful career.

Editing Workshop - Drag Racing Interview and First Date

First we started using new tools including the slip tool to change the action in the clip and also we used tools like the cmd and alt tool to swap clip around in the timeline. Here is my final edited version of the drag race and interviews. I really liked how it turned out, with the music and the interviews and I think it worked well.

After we had to use the ripple tool to make sure the audio worked in the first date clip.

Next We used Adobe Audition to remove the bang. It is still slightly noticeable due to the line being exactly on the bang but it is slightly better.

Next we had to try and remove the generator in the back of one of the shots. This was once again in Adobe Audition but I couldn't really get it right. We did make the generator less noticeable but it's still not great.

Contextual Studies - Sound

You can have sound without picture, but it is a lot easier to have a picture without sound.

Films with sound and no video: Derek Jarman's Blue and Chris Marker's La jetee

Even silent movies generally have some sort of audio - music or sound effects.

La jetee has pictures (not moving) which tells the story but we focus on the sound and it has interesting use of sound effects, including the plane whiring, as if it was over us.

Functions of sound

- Aural Sound (Dialogue/voiceover)

- Sonic ambience ( mood/atmosphere/sound effects) 

- Emotional or intellectual resonance or dissonance (music)

Key elements

- Speech (Dialogue or narration)

- Ambient or natural

- Sound effects

- Musical score or soundtrack

You will definitely use at least one of these - but possibly all of them. 

Use of sound effects

To heighten the drama but abstract or enhanced effects to affect the audiences emotions or perception.

Also to simulate reality, to reinforce what we may expect, for example traffic noise or chatter.

Aesthetic uses of sound

Impressionistically - harmonious use of sound that affects your mood

Expressionistically - Evoking abstract and a dark version of what you may expect

Asynchronous - When the sound and the visuals are mis-matched to slightly confuse the viewer

Diegetic - Any sound that is in the film scene -  What would have been picked up by a microphone 

Nondiegetic  - Any sound added after. Could be commentary, Music and sound effects.

Music is very important for the scenes because it dictates what your emotion is in via a scene. You can immediately tell from the start of a scene what it will be like due to the music that is being used.

Music as a narrative device

Music underscores or accentuates visual narrative, emotion or drama

Can create emotional or intellectual resonance or dissonance

Use of leitmotifs - A short, recurring musical phrase with a particular idea (Imperial march in star wars - we know that something to do with vader will be happening, the music tell us that)

 Pop songs as commentary/ dramatic device " When words fail, music speaks"

Music can change depending on the audience. For example in some scenes of "Legend" the music is different for the UK and US versions on the film because the distributors did not think certain audiences would like the original music. 

You can use music to step out of the narrative to comment on the action. It is an alienation technique that contrasts the grim reality to their romantic aspirations. An example is Pennies from heaven. It's breaking the fourth wall between us and what is on the screen.

Modernism vs postmodernism.

Modernism -  an aesthetic and cultural reaction to classicism relying on innovation to create new modes of rational and progressive expression and representation. (Soviet montage)

Postmodernism -  Reaction to failure of modernisms objective rationalism. Deconstructs form and fusing disparate elements of high and low culture (The simpsons)

Use of narration "First person subjective" "Voice of god" "Conventions of male vs female voices"

Soft Trailer Attempt

Here is my first attempt at a trailer for "Soft". It was a project to be completed out of class. I edited in in Final cut, I didn't do many big edits, simply cutting it down to the main parts of the film and also finding music I thought fitted. I definitely think that I can do better and hopefully I'll remember to come back to do a more highly edited version.

Story Telling, Shot types and trailers.

In the morning we had a talk with the kent film office, followed by a workshop with the cameras which I will upload when it is edited.

Story boards.
They focus the key frames that make up a particular scene or sequence.

Raiders of the lost arc has incredibly detailed story boards. Definitely more complex than anything  I have ever done!

Conception - used to convey new ideas which is cheaper than a test shoot or run through.

Pre production - This is where they are used the most, enables planning of the entire production. All departments will look at the story board to figure out what they need to do to make the sequence look good.

They are used in production guide themselves through the sequence.

A story board doesnt mean you have to do it, whilst on set be adaptable and if you see something you really like you can just it. It's a guideline to help but not set in sand.

Types of story board styles:

GRAPHIC

DIAGRAMMATICAL

PLAN VIEW

SHOT TYPES:

Birds-eye-view/ angel's perspective.

-Extreme long shot (ELS)

-Long Shot (LS)/ Wide Shot (WS)

-Medium Shot (MS)

-Close-up shot (CU)

-Extreme Close-up (ECU)

Camera movement:

-Tilt shot- Tripod/ handheld from a fixed position.

-Crane shot- Fixed position, moving from a height.

-Pan shot-Left to right/ vice-versa.

-Tracking shot.

-Dolly shot.

Camera position:

-Two shot- two characters appearing in the same frame.

-Low angle

-High angle shot

-Over-the-shoulder shot (OTS)

Trailers:

Very old trailers where very different to how they are today!

In all honesty I really like this trailer, its funny, tells us about the film and also walks us through the scene which we don't see too much, especially in trailers!

Questions to ask when you are doing a trailer?

What is the story - When is it coming - Who is it aimed at.

Final Draft Notes

Some notes from learning Final Draft with Steve.

"elements"
scene heading
action
character
parenthetical
dialogue
transition
it will be one of these in your script

remember to hit spelling a few times throughout because it will correct grammar, wording, spelling etc.

"reports" will give you useful information for each character, scene, cast etc so that you can understand what is actually going in on your script.

Editing Workshop - Fairly Legal show Edit.

Here is my first edit of "Fairly Legal" Our editing task for 4th October.

We had to edit from 10 clips, of which most had the full scene. We had to decide which was the best take and then edit it into the timeline like a radio edit. I'm starting to get used to premier pro now, I am editing outside of lessons as well so hopefully that will improve the rate at which I am learning the software. Some of the audio was very tight to edit, pretty much a frame or two between two lines of audio so getting the audio right as well as the video looking right was tough but i enjoyed the challenge.

Colour correction.
We had a very bright clip in out sequence and this is how I have colour corrected it.

BEFORE














AFTER












Not that much different between the two but without really knowing what I am doing I think I have improved it slightly.

After a little more colour correcting I have a new film with all shots that needed it

I think that it is slightly better that the first version which is very blue in the window scene. However after making a preset I made sure all of the window clip where the same. I think it is better (The colour correction) But I feel if I knew how to really colour correct it could be a lot better.

I have colour corrected and white balanced etc in the past on Sony Vegas, so getting used to Premier pro is a lot of fun and I think once i get use to it a little more I will be using premier pro outside uni as well.

Contextual Studies - Camerawork and Editing

CAMERAWORK
How the camera is used in TV and Film to tell a story, character and action.
The art of cinematography

Basic Elements:
The shot: Affects our emotional and psychological relationship with character and setting through composition and speed.
Movement: Affects our emotional and psychological relationship.

Why do we use shots?
Basic  building blocks of visual grammar
Visual equivalent of sentence structure
If shots are words mise en scene is meaning and editing narrative structure

Basic shots: Wide shot -Medium shot - Close up - Extreme close up

Wide shot: covey a sense of context, character relationship to the surroundings. Establishing shot
Mid shot: Focus attention on one or more principal characters.
Close up: Conveys intimacy and emotion
Extreme close up: Highlighted emotion, dramatic tension or a reveal

In a documentary interview or conversation the person who is being interview doesnt look at the camera, trying to give the idea that the camera isnt there and the conversation isn't directed at you.

Rule of the third:

"The rule of thirds is applied by aligning a subject with the guide lines and their intersection points, placing the horizon on the top or bottom line, or allowing linear features in the image to flow from section to section."

Angels and speed. 

High angle shot: Objective and alienating, diminishes a character

Low angle shot: emphasises a character, they probably are powerful or have dominance

Dutch/Tilt angle: disorientating, creates psychological tension. 

Expressionism presents subjective perspective, distorting it radically for emotional effect to evoke a certain mood or idea. Emotional experience rather than physical reality

Motion and emotion:

Why do we move the camera? 

To heighten action or emotion. Michael Bay likes to move the camera for no reason - It's not particularly helping us understand what is going on

To convey objective or subjective viewpoints 

Refocus the audiences attention within a scene

Explore or change the environment or setting

The only 4 reasons we should really be moving a camera.

Hitchcocks Frenzy - Use of the camera movement to emotionally distance audience from action. 

The moving camera shows isolation, the women in the scene has no chance to escape the serial killer.

One of the reason why its so creepy is the how the camera is placed. Its always placed in a way that you are looking through the killers eyes.

Alienation - The use of a reverse crane shot is an example of alienation effect.

Alienation is the extent to which you maintain a critical distance from a cultural production. It's often associated with passively experience the media. The audience remains removed from the media, critically considering the signs, narrative and so on. 

The use of the camera in Halloween (1978) is incredible because it was the first time ever that a steady cam was used, it was also all in one shot from a particular viewpoint (Michael Myres) 

We dont think this whole view is of a child until it is revealed to us later on in the scene. Then in a brief moment we are removed from the point of view of Michael to looking down on him holding a knife with who would guess are his parents.

Elements of visual style:

Denotive: directing attention

Expressive: Bringing out or magnifying feelingful qualities

Decorative: independent or semi independent of narrative design

Symbolic functions: invoking abstract concepts.

Use of handheld in documentary:

Heightens action and emotion

Dynamics of transition

Places character in context

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EDITING

"The assembling of visual material into sequences"
Constructs a narrative
Used to manipulate time (condense, lengthen, flashback and flash forward)
Juxtaposes ideas an concept (visual and intellectual)

Long take examples. ROPE (1948) By Alfred Hitchcock has 10minute takes with hidden edits to join up the whole action. The way to make it look like there is no edits is for example someone moving that fills up the screen or zooming right into something so that when you go to cut back with a new camera it doesn't look like there is any edits.
RUSSIAN ARK (2002) 87 minute continuos shot using a steadicam

Mise en scene and cinematography create implicit meaning WITHIN shots. What editing creates is an implicit meaning between shots.

The shot by itself doesn't mean anything but in the context of what is happening in the scene you know what happens.

4 Key elements of editing.
Spatial: relationship between different spaces and editors manipulation of them
Temporal: manipulation of time within the film in relation to order, duration and frequency eg: montage
Rhythmic: manipulation of duration shots; accents, beats and jumps and the tempo eg: action and suspense scene.
Graphic: A relationship between pictorial qualities of shots or scene eg: graphic match cut

Editing is important because it creates a visual narrative from simple script descriptions or unedited rushes. It's also the most creative aspect of filmmaking.
A good editor can make bad shots work, a bad editor can ruin a good shot.

Two schools of editing theory:
Continuity Editing: Gives the viewer the impression that the action unfolds with spatiotemporal consistency. In most films, logical coherence is achieved by cutting to continuity, which emphasizes smooth transition of time and space.

Soviet montage is where a formal theory and technique where editing serves an ideological place.
Soviet filmmakers showed that film could serve a political education purpose for the betterment of society.
Eisenstien said that montage, especially intellectual montage is an alternative to continuity editing.
Montage is conflict - where new ideas emerge from collisions within the montage sequence.

5 principles of soviet montage:
Metric: Editing which follows a specific tempo, cutting the next shot no matter of action
Rhythmic: similar to metric but allowing for visual continuity from edit to edit
Tonal: uses the emotional meaning of the shot eg: sleeping babies denote peace
Overtone/Associative: a fusion of metric, rhythmic and tonal montage
Intellectual: editing together shots which when combined convey a intellectual or metaphorical meaning

Modern documentary editing:
Evidentiary: Meaning of edits is reinforced by narration or dialogue. shots are often illustrative and usually maintain some visual continuity.
Dynamic editing: In dynamic editing, concepts of matching and continuity rarely apply. Shots are ordered by meaning but not necessarily by their relationship to each other in time or space. A documentary filmmaker photographing a leopard taking down a gazelle can’t ask for a re-take or another angle. Generally, he only gets one shot at one angle. Because of this he will need to string together discontinuous shots to create meaning and tell his story.

180 Degree Rule - Crossing The Line

Today we had a camera workshop on crossing the line in groups of 4. Our group of 4 for my scene was Gemma and Dre acting, I was on the camera whilst Andrew was doing the sound.
After we had correctly formatted the camera we got to work and I did have a few ideas for shots before stating but was open to changing them when we got to filming. We had to make sure we only used 4-5 shots for this scene which at first seemed like it would be hard not to do more, however once we got to filming it was actually hard to do that many without crossing the line!

I really enjoyed this workshop as it is what I want to do as a career (Video editing or Camera operator) so it was nice once again to get hands on with the camera and get used to the equipment again.

Story Telling With Pictures - Monday 10th October

180 Degree Rule:

Where you position the camera in a scene is where you place the audience in the scene.

If you keep within the rule you will always keep the character on the same side of the screen.
Screen left or screen right. The character will always be on the same side.

The characters will always be looking at each other (looking left to right) for example for the whole scene.

When it is done it doesn't throw off the audience at all. However when you do it wrong and break the rule will make the viewer confused.

If you want to move to the other side of the line, you have to show the camera has moved across the line so we haven't broken the rule. The audience won't be confused if you physically show the camera crossing the line.

Breaking the 180 degree rule: If you want to purposely break the rule you can to confuse the viewer.
It will throw of the viewer and purposely confuse them.
A good example of breaking the rule: http://imgur.com/gallery/iIV4S

 The character appears on the opposite sides in the same scene to slightly confuse the viewer.



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Keep filtering my story - keep coming up wth new ideas and if it works or not.

"who what when where why" question all of these for your story.

Theme/Characters/Goal

Shooting plans - Trailer or First 2 minutes
FIND CAST
FIND LOCATION
FIND CREW
PLAN YOUR SHOOT: Shot list/production design/ Schedule and testing
RISK ASSESSMENT

Beginning, Middle and End & 3 Moments with Steve Coombes - Monday 10th October

Plot: What happens
Story: Significance of what happens

Story is throwing it up in the air and catching it.

"But" or "therefore" instead of "and then"
Characters should have two or more layers - a Doctor "but" a drug dealer. It instantly makes it a much more exciting character.

Coming to a point that has significance. You will have at least 3 moments "Beginning, Middle and end"

Moments when choices have to be made to set the story going.

Most of the time we think we know ourselves best, but sometimes people that know us can know us better than we know us.

If the audience can see whats coming in the tory thats ironic. However it can be surprising to switch it on its head and do something unexpected.

Get your audiences attention as quickly as possible.

The irony is in "Tin men" they crash into each other at the start of the film and then they end up realising that they are in the same industry. Throughout the film they end up smashing up each others cars more and more as they realise that is how they impress their customers.

The film was flipped on its head in the middle when he thought he had ultimate revenge it turns out it might have been what he wanted and the ultimate revenge was actually good.

An opening needs to be impressive and have a "but" to get the audiences attention.
The middle of the story has to be changed, the story that the audience thinks is following is flipped on its head so the audience is possibly slightly confused on what will happen next.

Toy Story starts with an argument and they get left behind and the whole story is about them getting back home and befriending each other a long the way to try and get back to normality.

The middle of the film changes the film. Turns out the film is not what you originally thought it would be.

The ending is bringing everything together. The end of Toy Story 3 has a wrinkle of Andy having to give up Woody. Once he does he finally grows up. The whole story pretty much starts again for the girl that he gives the toy too.

Lots of dramatic ironies at the end of lord of the rings makes it a very good ending. The characters have lots of buts. the bad guy who can do good and visa versa. The more ironies you can show in the ending the better.

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Golden Rule for Scripts:
Count your moments - what are your moments - can you fit any more in?

Include moments that are memorable - Need to be able to point out your moments
Include something that people can point out and talk about. If you don't have anything people can talk about, it won't be any good.

Audience doesn't care about the plot/story/character - they wan't it to be invisible and want to focus on the moments. If the audience knows the plot it shows you probably haven't been paying attention to it yourself.

Editing Workshop "Coffee Making" - Friday 7th October

Today we had an editing workshop using clips about making coffee. It was only my 2nd time using premier pro and I am starting to get use to it. 

Personally I have used Sony Vegas for 5-6 years so I'm pretty competent on that but I want to learn premier pro as well as I know Vegas. It was a lot about making sure the audio and the video matched. 

We had more video footage than we actually needed so we needed to choose what was best. In the video  I was not 100% sure if the audio narration is in the right order, but I guess this is upto interpretation.  

It was split into 4 or 5 different pieces so it was hard to tell exactly what order it was suppose to be in. After showing Ferg he seemed to like it in general. 

He told me I did slightly overdo it with the fading and transitions but it's a good platform to learn from. I am pretty happy with how it turned out. We only had about 90 minutes to really learn new tools and then put it into practice. However I did feel I did a decent job with the footage and time given but if I had more time I would edit a few things. 

I would probably keep going over the audio to see if it worked better in a different order and I might adjust how the introduction starts and ends as it goes on for a bit too long for mine and fergs liking.

Overall I really enjoyed this workshop as it is what I have come into this course to get better at. It is one of my main interests as I start so learning a new piece of software is a lot of fun for me.

Updates on My Story - Thursday 6th October

As our Contextual studies lesson with Louis was cancelled today I wanted to look into my story a little more and see how I can develop it.

Title: Lost And Found
I still feel like this is the best title I have thought of. I think it states what the film is about quite well, Lost (The Body - Relatives wondering where they are) Found (Two friends finding each other)

Genre: I still an a little undecided, I feel this can work well as both a comedy and a drama. I think I will see how the script goes and maybe a little more feedback from others in the group.

Updates on ideas: I think my opening shot can be the body laying on the ground with some eerie music in the background. I think it would be good to then suddenly cut to the two people walking towards each other. That we know right away that the body has some influence on the film.
After the two friends bump into each other I feel they should go somewhere together to catch up over a meal or a drink. Drink is probably more realistic... I would like it to be set that they are probably walking a long the beach and then they spot the washed up body. However I'm not sure how this would work as I'm not sure how realistic it is for two people to catch up then suddenly walk along the beach. Then again, if its a comedy I'd say it doesn't have to be really realistic.


Possible endings: I have a few ideas on how it could end. Possibly we find out it was one of the characters relatives who killed this mystery person. Another idea would be that one of the characters was actually involved in the murder of this person. It could also end with the body not actually being dead (This would work best in the comedy genre) I think I need to think about all options properly for the ending before i work out what will be before it. I have a lot of good ideas for the middle but I need the ending to be sorted before I decide which parts I can put in the middle.

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Expanding on my inspiration for the parts of this story.

Meeting an old friend after a long time comes from personal experience. I met an old friend at a job I had just started. Simon said when I mentioned this whether this was awkward. For me personally it wasn't but maybe thats a twist I could add to my story that it was really awkward. Maybe I could have a little story that they stopped being friends for a certain reason that gets brought up in their conversation.

Washed up body? If i do stick with this idea there was no proper inspiration. You see it a lot in documentaries and dramas on TV so I probably just saw one of those on the day of my original plans.

Overall I am getting there with the story, I will talk with other people in the group about my idea and the possibility that others may have some cool ideas to make my story better. Personally I have found it interesting how this story has come together. I didn't think i'd really be making a story like this when I first heard the brief.

Camera Workshop Calming Chair - Wednesday 5th October

Today I was ill but Andrew let me use his edited clip of what he did today. A short video about a chair.

Dialogue, Characters With Steve Coombes - Monday 3rd October

Dialogue, What not to do.
- Don't state the obvious (Even if t might be good)
- Dont make it on the nose
- Too formal dialogue (I dunno -NOT- I don't know!)
- Different people speak in different ways. (Dont have them speaking the same way) Want to have characters having their own traits.
- Unspeakable dialogue
- Don't be too grammatical
- Long speeches
- Giving too much information via dialogue- need to know basis! show not tell!
-

Not everything has to be dialogue, things can be shown by reactions, interactions or expressions.

Dialogue that has a contradiction to it is great dialogue (Facial expressions?)

Greed is Good (Wall Street 1987 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVxYOQS6ggk)
- Greed isn't good and it wakes up the audience
- The fact he can get up and say that slightly disturbs the audience
- No facial expressions but yet is still a powerful speech that we will listen to.

The things that are most important to you are going to be the hardest things to say - For example "I'm not sorry" probably means that you are sorry. Denial is one of the most useful things in dialogue.

Dialogue should not be what it appears to be about.

Using words they are unlikely to use might make it more funny. Old person swearing in a certain way would be much funnier to the audience than a normal person saying the same thing.

Different characters have different expletives, and different traits in their language.

People speak in rhythm and certain accents say certain things in certain ways. Something that might be funny in Birmingham might not be funny in South London.

Anger is particularly good of being expressed by words.

Characters:
You should know the characters in your scripts as well as your friends and also in the same sort of way.
Most characters end in failure - If you're not sure how your character will fail, you probably don't have a character.
A film where all is done is good is boring.
"Tells" are characters giving themselves away but without them realising it.

Backstory: It describes the character externally.
In film characters can develop,within the first 20 pages something extraordinary has happened to them. How they deal this is how they have changed through the film
You can't do this in TV because if a character changed in the first episode it means there is very little that can happen there on. Your character is not what you CAN talk about it'd what you CAN'T talk about.

Paradox - A doctor but he has cancer, A police officer who robs banks.
The only stupid question is the one you didn't ask.
Characters have big "BUTS" its dramatic irony - The undertaker that has to bury himself.
Characters - Their flaws and what they struggle to talk about.
Does the audience know more about the character than the character does himself.

Feedback from the Group for my 25 word pitch - Friday 30th September

Notes and feedback from the 25 word pitch presentation:

The dumped body seems to be tagged on the end - maybe doesn’t need to be in the film?

Why where they not friends still - was one of them going out of control, possibly a parent or relative was involved?

What do they do when they find the body? phone the police or investigate? phoning the police doesn’t make for a great story.

Does it have to be a drama? Could be a comedy, just a dumped body randomly and it could be a funny piece

Maybe it could be one leading somebody to the body on purpose to get involved with the murder.

Washed up body at a lake or old dockyard? Most likely place for someone not to have realised the body before hand.

Maybe the dead body could not actually be dead. Comedy twist?

---------------------------------------------

Straight away I feel finding a random body in the high street isn't very plausible, so if I was to go down the drama route, having a washed up body is much more plausible and that would change the setting to a beach town or on the beach?

I feel it could work very well as a comedy after hearing everyone feedback. Possibly play on the fact that there is a random body dumped. 

Possibly the two main characters could be drunk and that is why they dont phone the police straight away. It could have been a bit of time between them meeting and then finding the body. I'm thinking we could see them at a pub and then possibly walking along the beach?

I think a funny way to end it, if its a drama or comedy would be at the end the body bag or whatever the body is stored in to open up and the character would walk out. I think this would be a funny ending whatever the genre.

Opening shot could be the dead body, then right away we know what the main story is. Then it could cut back to the main characters.

Before I decide on the start i need to make sure I know the ending and i can plan it towards that.

Story Telling unit - 25 word pitch Draft

TITLE:  Lost And Found

25 WORD PITCH: Two friends who have not seen each other since primary school bump into each other. Whilst catching up they discover a dumped body. (23)

THE GENRE: Drama

THE MAIN CHARACTERS: 
James: A tall blonde haired teenager who enjoys sports, he plays for the local football team and has a big passion for cars.

Ryan: A short black haired teenager who is very quiet, he keeps himself to himself and his main interest is reading novels.

LOCATION: A small town high street, not much activity but local residents who are going to the corner shop, but that is really it.

SOURCE MATERIAL: 

The idea of meeting a friend after many years of not seeing them actually originates from personal experience. (I had not seen a friend since primary school but we ended up working at the same shop) In terms of discovering a dumped body I have seen a few shows where lost bodies are involved including BBC's Line of Duty. The idea of location is just what is most suitable, nothing too far fetched and that I could possibly film near home or in Maidstone.

THE STORY:

Two people are walking down the street towards each other, both looking down at their phones, they bump into each other. They then recognize each other and start a conversation. Whilst catching up and walking along they spot a body dumped, and they start to investigate. (Not sure how I will end it currently, It might just end up in a police investigation which they dont have any influence in. But more likely they are involved in finding out what happened.)

Mise En Scene, Contextual Studies - Thursday 29th September

Mise en Scene

Objectives:
Introduction the concept.
How we use it.
Understanding and interpreting it (Semiotics).

Mise en scene is defined as "what is in the scene"



The phrase originated in theatre and is used in TV as it has as much relevance.

4 Key elements of mise en scene:
1) Costume/Makeup - What the visual look of the characters convey.
2) Location/Setting - The environment that a story takes place.
3) Props - What the character is surrounded by
4) Lighting - How it affects the character

Star Wars 1977
Setting - Sci Fi futuristic genre
Costume - Militaristic, classic archetypes (Black vs white)
Lighting - Classic high key, dramatic
Staging - Dark and dramatic



Semiotics: the study of signs and their meaning
Denotation - The sign
Connotation/Signified - The concept meaning or association the sign refers to.

Context in mise en scene:
Something could appear different to what you expect, bad guys could wear white and good guys in black. Whilst it might throw you off from a still of the movie, but if you watch the movie you will know who is the good guy and who is the bad guy. It might be different to what we associate, but we will get to know good from bad very quickly.

Game of thrones castle scene - mise en scene:
Setting - Warm, rich and exotic.
Costume/Makeup - Luxurious and the contrasts.
Lighting - Soft, natural, fill light.
Staging - Dominant female



Game of thrones barrack scene - mise en scene:
Setting: Cold, austere and masculine
Costume/Makeup: Uniformity
Lighting: Dark,Cold blue and key light
Staging: Status and rank

How can mise en scene help us?
Useful visual shorthand show not tell. It can help define the characters. Defining relationships between characters.






TOWIE - SCRIPTED REALITY
Setting: Hyperrealism, Stage set?(Is it real or not?)
Costume/Makeup: Glamour, Aspirational?(Do we really want to be like them?)
Lighting: High key and dramatic
Staging: Imitates the conventions of a drama.

OBSERVATIONAL DOCUMENTARY - Dispatches - C4

Setting: Authentic locations

Costume/Makeup: Defines social class?

Lighting: Natural lighting, most things are dark.

Staging: Contextual, suggesting social isolation

Realism in mise en scene - the presentation of of art as a simulacrum of a world as exists. Used to convey notions of authenticity, truth and representation.
Classicism is the presentation of art as a continuity with past, especially with formal notions of aesthetics, form, design and content.

Philip Defranco
Constructed to emulate a normal bedroom and we can tell his interests from what is hanging up in the back of his shot.
His clothing in his videos signifies that he is blue collar "normal" and not showing off like some multi-millionaires could do. However he sees that this could push away a lot of viewers.

MISE EN SCENE IN DRAMA:

Setting: Film/TV classically used studio sets

Costume/ Makeup: Designed as character specific 

Lighting: High key, trying to emulate natural lighting but maybe a little more extreme

Staging: Dramatic

MISE EN SCENE IN DOCUMENTARY:

Setting: Classically uses real locations

Costume/Makeup: Authentic but can be directed

Lighting: Traditionally natural but often artificially designed

Staging: Natural but definitely director specific 

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SAS Embassy Siege - First time they were seen in public.

Mise en scene for this scene.
Getting the picture owners permission to use their picture.
Interviews to get a personal view of what was happening
Possible interviews with someone involved, who may now have retired.

This newspaper front page is important because it is an authentic image, not a reconstruction. However a reconstruction of what might have happened inside would be important to any viewer as they can understand much better what actually happened on that day.

If you wanted to get an idea of the SAS, it would be interesting to look at the barracks. However as they are a secret service it makes it very hard to get any proper access to the site.

Camera Workshop 1 with Fergus - Wednesday 28th September

Today we had a 3 hour workshop with Fergus and Dan about setting up cameras and a general introduction on what to do with them.

After a short presentation we had to get into groups of three and get to know the cameras. As we had never used the kit before we did have problems with the tripod but Sam showed how to get it level and setup much better than we had attempted, including the stabiliser which would make it a lot easier to use the tripod correctly.

We then got to work with the cameras and trying to play around with the focus. With Oli and Andrew we tried different shots, including standing still in and out of focus as well as moving focus, whilst keeping the person in the correct shot.

We also tried out sound and we used the big boom mics attached to the cameras. Whilst you don't notice too much sound quality difference inside I can really see how it would make a massive difference outside with a lot more wind and background noise.

We learnt a lot about how the cameras work in a very short amount of time. As I start the course this is what most interests me about TV (video operations) alongside video editing so this really did help me get a good feel for the industry I want to work in.

We also had a look at white balancing, holding up a piece of paper to determine what was "white" and that would mean would have realistic skin tones. Whilst it was a lot of information all at once I did feel I took most of it in, but no doubt I will have to double check next time to make sure I am getting it right!

Short Film SOFT By Simon Ellis - Monday 26th September

Soft by Simon Ellis https://vimeo.com/19705053

Incredible piece that makes you think about many different things. Anger towards the Dad? Anger at the gang for what they are doing?

This story could have had many potential sources:

TV? Newspaper? Personal Experience? Seeing the act in place?

In fact simon ellis witnessed a kid being bullied and his father (who was a bus driver) saw his child being bullied and didn’t stop to help.

Coming up with pitches:

You want to tell the audience the best parts about the film but without telling the whole story. 

In the pitch you don’t have to tell the whole story, just the part that will make the viewer want to watch.\

Soft: Its main features. 

Genre: Drama / Social realism.

Setting: Urban - Average town community 

Characters - Father / Son / Youths (Gang)

Conflict: Violence / Boredom / Father and son domestic / Internal and emotional

Theme: Do what you think is right / Fatherhood - what you think you should do, but then actually doing it / Fear / Masculinity / Growing Up

25 Word pitch for Soft: 

“Social realist film set in an urban village, where both the father and son handle the same situation in very different ways, despite internal conflict.”

We saw the imdb listed the description as “A father rediscovers his fear of confrontation at the worst possible time.” We didn’t want to copy it, but took the idea of confrontation to include the “internal conflict” in our pitch.

Our pitch could have been shorter as we didn’t need to double up on “social realist” and “urban” as its a given it would be in an urban environment. 

Analysing Soft

The only thing that really dates it is the phone camera, which is really bad quality, when nowadays it would be basically as good as the other footage.

The father perfects the park, we then can tell he has just come home from work. We can tell this from his clothes so we don’t need to be told, we can also tell what time of day it is possibly (5-6pm) because thats the time we expect somebody to be home.

This shot is mirrored later on, bookending the film more or less.

The shot inside the house, shows right away there is conflict in the household. We expect it to be a bad relationship between the two. First sight of the cricket bag, which will be important later.

The phone camera defines the youths, we know its them from the beating up scene. At the moment the one camera dines the youths and the high quality defines the father. As of yet the two haven’t crossed paths.

The father walking into the local shop tells us a lot about him, he is not very sociable and the ship keeper doesn’t really have a friendly relationship with the father.

The body dance shows the thug has achieved what he wanted, its the sign of his mission being complete? 

Looking at the thugs from behind “bars” blinds. That makes you think of being trapped and danger.

The phone footage shows us that it is related to the fight right at the start of the film, father and son both experiencing the same situation. 

The cricket bat was implanted in the viewers mind so it is no surprise when he picks it up and hits it.

Back to the same high shot of the house and in a short amount of time a lot has changed and this bookends the film.

Introduction to Story Telling First With Steve Coombes - Monday 26th September

Introduction to Story Telling First With Steve Coombes

Steve started off by saying that we only have a really limited amount of words to tell our story so we have to make sure we make the most of it. It's best not to use adjectives because we can be shown that and we don't have to listen to it. On the other hands its best to use as many verbs as possible to make it a good script.

Logline - Summary in a sentence what is in the script.

Bible - Overview of the character

Steve says you used to be able to make a good living off of screen writing but it is much harder now because of piracy meaning it's much harder to make money off the shows to pay the writers.

THE 5 RULES OF SCREEN WRITING.

1) The need to know: Only tell the audience what the really need to know, telling about other things may distract them from the main point which means the audience may not find the whole thing interesting.

2) SHOW DONT TELL: Instead off mass information being piled on you, it is better to let the audience see what is happening. For example using a news report mid film to give you loads of information is a pretty lazy way of telling the story.

3) Structure it as a joke: You set up the story, Include a distraction and then hit them with the punchline. It keeps the viewers interested and involved in what is happening.

4) Know your ending: You need to know the end before you can start, This is because you now have a point to aim to.

5) make sure you have moments: Moments are why people will watch your drama, having that moment you come out of the cinema talking about. It's what most people will recognise your film for.

The most likely reason that a show you are watching is bad is that it has bad structure.

People find it hard to understand screenplay.

- People don't understand the screen direction

- Hard to picture the stage directions

- The find it hard to understand the different accents in place in the screenplay.

Your screenplay can't survive a bad actor. Make sure that your actors bring the magic to the show (Gladiator)

Flashbacks mean that it is only a footnote . Flashbacks will never have you on the edge of your seat. The only exception is if you are waiting for what is coming next or why it was of relevance.

Billy Wilder - The audience is a genius. " An audience is never wrong. An individual member of it may be an imbecile, but a thousand imbeciles together in the dark - that is critical genius."

Contextual studies Introduction - Texts, Contexts and Culture. Thursday 22th September

Contextual studies Introduction - Texts, Contexts and Culture.

“The shock of the new”

• New students, exposed to new ideas and themes. Finding new ways of thinking and seeing.
• New Course, First ones to experience the course. Learning experience for all.
• New tutor

Group A Seminar Group.

Introduction to Louis Heaton: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0372780/

-Studied Drama and film at Manchester University.

-Student Filmmaker using cameras, doing editing and directing.

-National film and TV school

-Film critic and arts reviewer

-Documentary producer and director for BBC and C4

-Series producer and executive producer

-Independent film producer

-Special editions producer, Criterion DVD

Birth of cinema - 1895 (Train arriving at a station by The Lumière brothers)

TV shape our culture, what we do and what we talk about. TV is a way for people to get into conversation and what has happened in the latest shows.

Tv has a massive impact on our lives because of what it can show to us, realistic or maybe showing things we would never be able to do.

What is TV texts and contexts? 

Exploring film and television through analysis of visual grammar and genre codes.. Also including conventions and critical theories and how these shape our understandings and interpretations of the visual media.

Our Key lessons in term 1:

• Mise en scene
• Cinematography
• Editing
• Sound
• Documentary

In our group presentation we had to select a TV show for analysis. It must be 10 minutes long and clips may not be any longer than 3 minutes of the presentation.

The presentations will be on the 10th and 17th

500 word essay for December 9th on a TV Show

Useful resources 

Film Art Bordwell and Thompson - key for mine en scene, cinematography, editing and sounds.

Understanding the main genres.

• The sitcom: screening and discussion of BBC comedy pilot Vodka Diaries
• The soap opera: screening and discussion of pilot episode of BBC’s longest running soap, Eastenders.
• Crime drama - screening and discussion of episode of ITV police series, The Bill

Understanding the key critical theories

• Alienation
• classicism
• expressionism
• feminism/gender/race
• gaze theory
• ideology
• modernism and post modernism
• realism
• semiotics
• surrealism
• the other
• the uncanny
• psychoanalysis

Louis advice on how to be a good filmmaker

• Read A LOT!
• Watch A LOT!
• View As much as possible (Looking at things with a critical eye)

25 Word Challenge - Wednesday 21st September

We had to write a 25 word story line for three titles set to us by Simon.

We had our own material in terms of newspapers to help prompt some stories. I had brought in a newspaper whilst Andrew, who I was working with, had an article and also used the internet to try and transform our set titles into an interesting story , mostly using ideas found in these articles.

The first task was “Big budget hollywood thriller with a big star”

We found an article in my newspaper about Daniel Craig so straight away we had our big star. Later on in the same paper we had an article about somebody helping children at risk of slavery, so this was our main topic. We then made up the rest of our story from ideas we had, so the final story was “Daniel Craig attempts to save children at risk of slavery, but gangs kidnap his wife forcing Craig to choose between the two. (22 words)

The second task was “A British comedy series for late night channel 4”

Tony Blair happened to be on the page we had open in the newspaper so he was going ton be apart of our story right away. Richard E grant was in the tv section, so we had our actor/comedian. The rest was made up around what would make into a comedy, so we came up with a title “God bless Blair” and a story of “Tony Blair portrayed by Richard E Grant, explains why he was a good prime minister, told through sketches based upon his time in office” We thought that this may not be a normal comedy, but thats why it’s on late night channel 4, because it is alternative. (23 words)

The final task was “Low budget short film based in a council estate” The only thing from the newspaper we got for this story was refugees being in some sort of trouble. The rest was made up to fit around the story given “Chaos in Clifton” and the story was “Refugees flock to clifton council estate but cause havoc for the locals causing unrest and unease. “(16 words)

I felt this task was a really good way of making us think about possibly story lines in a short space of time and also with inspiration from real life stories. Listening to everyones ideas, it shows you can come up with such a great story in a short space of time and also with such a limited amount of words.

Story Telling Short Project - Wednesday 21st September

Title: Abduction

Characters:

Single Mum (Allison)

Mid 20’s , has a strong personality and its currently unemployed. She lives in a council house with her son.

Escaped Convict (Dan)

Mid 20’s and its prison for an apparent abusive relationship with his partner Allison. He is the father of Allison’s child. He wants to see his son that he has not seen in years.

Son (Tim)

6 years old, very shy and is bullied for what happened between his parents. He doesn’t really understand what is going on between them.

Settings:

Birmingham 

Council House

Playing field

It is lunchtime and is busy.

Reason for meeting:

The reason for the meeting is he is trying to find his son that he has not seen in a long time, it is not by chance, he is purposely trying to find him.

Goal:

The goal is to escape from prison and abduct his son to have a happy life away from his ex-partner.

What is different?

The son finds out that the mother was having an affair and she purposely got bruises and scars to get her ex partner (Dan) in prison as she did not like him and has bad feelings for her. Dan wants to find his son to explain what really happened and he is not the person his mother Allison is making him out to be.

What have we learnt?

The father is not who he is made out to be.

Brief Outline of the story:

Allison, a single mother living in a council house in Birmingham struggles to make ends meet after her former abusive husband Dan was convicted to prison a little over a year ago. When she takes her son Tim to school she believes it will be just another day in the ordinary but things today will change. Dan has escaped from prison after longing to see his son and approaches the nearby playground where his son is attending. He recognises Tim and calls him over. Teachers unaware of whats happening he manages to lift his son over the gate and take him.


When the Lunch time has finished the children go back inside and a register is taken. Tim is nowhere to be seen and the teachers ring Allison to see if he has walked to his home. When Allison questions why they are asking this her heart suddenly drops and rushes to the school. The police have been rang and inform both the teacher and Allison that her husband has managed to escape from prison and are on the look out for him. To Alison’s despair she panics and drives around in her car looking for the boy but he is no where to be seen.


Dan is with Tim in an abandoned house and explains to his son that he wants to be in his life and does not deserve the outcome that he was given. It is then revealed that he was not abusive towards Allison but was framed by her as she was having an affair and wanted him out the picture.