Se7en

Watching this film creates many, many questions, yet having seen this film before watching in class, it proves to me all too well the amount of questions it brings up just by me listening around me. The great group of actors and actress involved makes the film entirely (not forgetting the amazing plot), Morgan freeman, Brad Pitt, Gwyneth Paltrow and my favourite of the film, Kevin Spacey, who fails not to portray his character with every bit of intelligence and wit he can muster, especially madness. The plot of the story begins confusing, yet when the first word of Gluttony appears the seven deadly sins seems to be the perfect excuse. The torturous and vile murders are very gory, they portray a picture of how much the murderer through the certain murders wants the police to know e.g. clues like the word Gluttony inscribed in fat/grease behind the fridge. Also by going against the conventions of a thriller, or police/villain on the loose plot, of the murderer handing himself in, is a major twist as throughout the whole plot you side with the police (preffered reading) yet when the murderer gives his view you start to believe him (oppositional reading). The ending is twisted, yet shocking, as pieces bind together and the seven deadly sins are all played out.

This is England '88

Having been a super fan of the film and the last series, I was very excited to see the new three part series of This is England '88. Having experienced watching the This is England 'trilogy' if you like, I knew all to well what to expect due to  Shane Medows' chilling twist to the era of the 1980's. The fact that the series is semi-improvisational shows true depth to what the characters are saying, as the spontaneous language and actions make whats happening look even more real. The lack of sharp cuts of the shots and minimal editing gives the audience a running view of the events, like they are incorporated into scene, making the serious and quite taboo events extremely chilling and not for the faint hearted. For instance the scene where Lol gets her stomach pumped whilst conscious as she tried to commit suicide shows the reality of the 1980's, yet it still send shivers down your spine whilst thinking about it. Combined with amazing acting and even better use of camera angles, the 'trilogy' exceeds itself every series, and if you haven't watched it, you just cant put into words how the programme makes you feel.

Filming

Last Wednesday, me and Megan decided to film. Although the weather was very similar to previous shots and we were missing two members of our group (meaning we couldn't even attempt at doing any tracking shots with a dolly) difficulties arose, yet we pressed on and our filming went quite well. We used a gorilla pod so that we could attach the camera to the bike and myself giving a POV angle and cantered moving shots. Due to the depth of focus being shallow, the view of the focused bike, yet the blurred moving background gave a superb effect, adding to our many different shots. We also realised that our aerial  shot would have to be the ending to our opening, yet the sharp cutting of the different shots didn't look right as the ending, so we took the opportunity to shoot some footage of the path beyond the trees (where the aerial shot took place). This turned out to be successful and we now know a great final shot to use, that signifies ending to the opening, yet more to come of the film.

Here is Megan using the camera on our latest filming last Wednesday.

Even though this was a good close up shot, it was too shaky when we uploaded the footage so we scraped that idea, i'm definitely not complaining!

 

Let The Right One In

Today we watched the let the right one in. Considering it was a horror and considerably gory, I thought it was a deeply meaningful film which incorporated love, murder and fantasy beautifully. The seamless transition into each shot and the use of lighting whether low key or high key created a sense of purity between the two youngest characters even though one of them was a blood sucking vampire. The way they incorporated the horror into the film looked effortless as the audience was more scared then humoured as many horror films can make the error of seeming cliche and stupid.

I can surely say that this film excelled expectations, discarding the use of horror, the relationship between the youngest characters was so beautifully done that a tear may have been shed. Most probably just hay fever though.

Age representation within the media

We created a short film about how age is represented within the media, especially television programmes. We based ours upon Family Guy and Eastenders.

Production logo ideas

I was away on a geography trip when my group decided to work upon the production logo. I think they have come up with some brilliant ideas and cant wait for them to be put into practice.

Joely's Comment

We received a comment from Joely, a year 13 Media student who praised us on our first draft of filming. We really appreciate this and has made us even more determined to make a brilliant film opening!

Glossary

This is a glossary of all the words, phrases and theorists I am learning throughout this course.


Marxist theory - Stuart hall 
-Preferred reading - when the audience views the programme in the way that was intended.

-Oppositional reading - when the audience goes against the intention of what the programme is showing

 -Negotiated reading - when the audience reads the programme in their own way, taking in preferred and negotiated readings into consideration.


Binary oppositions

When for one social/age group has a stereotype, the opposite group automatically has the opposite stereotype.


Verisimilitude

Reality.


Ann Gould - 6 key stereotypes

-Rebellious

-Artificial tribe 

-Sexual

-Nihilistic (rejection of all moral values)

- Violent

-Self - destructive


Juxtaposition

A figure of speech using contradictory terms e.g. bitter sweet


Hegemonic values

Higher class influences the ideology, therefore shaping popularity within the media.


Gramsci

He developed the idea that social class affects society.  

Glossary powerpoint

When I was searching on the internet for preferred, oppositional and negotiated reading and I came across this powerpoint which contains many words which we have come across yet not necessarily understood. This powerpoint clearly defines these words and great for revision.Media Glossary

View more presentations from Rob McMinn

Marxist theory

Preferred reading 

Producers of a media text design it with a certain meaning in mind. They hope that audiences will decode their text in a certain way - particularly if the text is an advertisement. Preferred readings are those which tie in with hegemonic beliefs.

Oppositional reading

Where the intended meaning of the text is totally opposed by the reader.

Negotiated reading

A reading of a text which assumes that no absolute meaning exists and that meaning is generated and negotiated by what the reader brings to the text in terms of attitudes, values, beliefs and experience.

This is from the Marxist theory.

Photos from our first day of filming

This is the bike we used, we thought it was great due to the indie and antique look giving the opening a querky feel, being the main focus of our film.

This is Alyce and Megan discussing the shot as I ride in at the start, trying to get the frame and setting perfect.

This is the extreme close up of the bell on the bike. the bell was in the foreground and in focus and the backgroud was the leaves and out of focus, this gave a really good effect as the quality of the camera showed the rust of the bell. I flick the belll with my thumb which shall change colour to the beat of the song.

This is when  I was pressing play on the ipod and Megan was getting a close up shot of it over my shoulder.

This was when I was riding through. Megan stood on a bench and panned as I rode round the corner. 

This is my outfit and the bike.

This was when Megan was in the trolley tracking me from behind as i rode down the hill. By the photo im sure you can tell it was very funny, but worked as a treat as we got the perfect shot.

To get an aerial shot Megan climbed up a tree. It doesnt look that high from the photo, but it really was and the shot was brilliant in the end ! 

Film draft 1

This is our first draft of our opening to our film. This is only a first draft and room for a lot of improvement but it gives us a basis on what we are looking for in our opening and gives us a faint outline of the structure. Obviously there will be other seasons that will be inserted to give effect and to make the auience want to see more.

The Jury - Representation of age

The Jury - Representation of age

First day of filming!

First day of filming opened our eyes a lot to the amount of effort we need to put into this film opening and boy did we work hard! We took numerous amounts of takes to get the shot perfect as I try to put on my best acting face came at some price. We used a Sainsbury's shopping trolley as a dolly, Megan climbed a tree to get an aerial shot and sat in the trolley with Sophie and Alyce pushing frantically to catch up with me and keep the tracking smooth, not forgetting getting told to go back and ride again the most uncomfortable bike ever... in a dress... in winter.

Talking about our storyboards

Date decided

We have decided on our first date for filming, which is the Thursday 10th November which we have got the whole afternoon and after school to get our first season. Having looked at the weather forecast and it going to be white cloud we can either make it sunny or autumn using the contrast and brightness change on  imovie.

Storyboards attempt 1

Setting decided! Part 2

Courtesy of Megan we have a running commentary of our setting which shows exactly what we are thinking of doing.

Essay on Gender representations

00:07:00 - 00:11:00



Representations of Gender Essay

Collage on age representations within the media

Collage on Age representations

Setting decided!

We have finally made a step in the right direction as we have decided on our setting. Below is a photo which Megan took of the park, the leaves are great for our bike ride to signify autumn and the bends in the pavement means that our camera shots can be taken from many different angles.

Glossary for the representation of age

Representation of Age Glossary

Music Dilemma

We want the use of non-diegetic sound as we already have songs in mind that suits the character and the theme perfectly, yet due to it being copyrighted we are going to show the character listening to it on vintage headphones, yet we need permission for this to be done.

Our finalised story line

Our first plan

Abandoning synopsis' 2 and 3, and mostly 1, we created a new story line for our opening using the basis of synopsis 1 yet withdrawing the use of flash-backs and the 1960's theme. We liked the use of a vintage bike ride through a country lane and abandoned all possibilities of the genre being a thriller and now have stuck to it being quirky, colouful and a happy theme. The girl on the bike will have a quirky, indie dress sense, yet look very innocent with a continuous smile throughout the monotonous frames (which to my utter dislike has been decided that I, myself suit this persona). With the use of extreme close ups, close ups, tracking the bike ride, wide angles and many more camera angles, shots and movements, the story line of the opening is perfect for adding many shots due to the basic idea. There will be many different costume changes and looks the actress will have to adopt, yet the mise-en-scene and setting will not change and the use of repetition of the shots will show how the girl makes the same bike ride everyday.

Synopsis discussion

Our three synopsis/treatments at the moment (considering we need to speak to Megan about the third)

1) The final separation of two close friends due to University ends in tragedy as a car crash determines their future relationship.
2) 1960's themed bike ride that flashes back the main character's treacherous childhood she tries so desperately to forget.
3)Things take a turn for the worst when a girl is given shocking news about her dad on the day of her 18th birthday

Facebook Discussions

Print Screens of Facebook Discussion

Here I have print screened some of the discussions me and my group have had regarding openings and synopsis.

Happy- Go- Lucky

My group and I liked the idea of opening with a bike ride very much like the opening to Happy- Go- Lucky, yet we like the idea of concealing the characters identity with a variety of close-up shots and out of focus shots, also the theme of 1960's. We are also thinking of adding sinister flash backs of the characters childhood throughout the bike ride, which will contrast drastically as the journey on the bike will be brightly coloured costumes (very 1960's), whereas the flash backs will be dull, out of focus and in slow motion.

Possible Film Openings

After lengthy discussions with my group, a couple of petty disagreements and a lot of sighing we have completely decided on the NOT using the genre of horror or thriller, as many groups have indeed chosen. I know we are considering the theme of 1960's, as one of our ideas was a journey on a vintage bike, yet the main part of an actual story line is missing.

We have set up a facebook group chat so we can easily access each other and we can share our ideas online which is really handy as it is hard to meet up all the time.

First attempt at using the equipment

This is the video my group and I produced when we were first given our flip and video camera. As you can see we had some fun, but we focused on putting as many camera movements, angles and shots in as possible to not only start to get used to the equipment, but to see how a couple of simple ideas could be produced to give a fun atmosphere, especially with the use of imovie on the Macs. With a funky song, some smooth transitions and the change of colour and speed, we showed our handy work, yet we still have more to offer, and if we can produce this at the start we are hoping to be able to increase our game and make an opening with an even more exhilarating atmosphere.

The Usual Suspects

Due to my 'Vlog' and my mention of possibly using the end of the film as the opening, many thoughts arose about different films who have used this technique, The usual Suspects being one of them. The simple start of what seems a simple story line yet switched to cause questions, is something my group and I have been discussing quite religiously, yet to put our thoughts to fruition is something we really need to plan and in the process at the moment. 

What I have done so far

Here I am talking about what I have done so far within Media Studies.
(^ excuse the face)

Preliminary

This is our final edited Preliminary.

Glossary of Terms

Editing, Camera Shots, Angles, Movement and Composition on Prezi

This is a prezi I created conveying some of the different terms needed for this course using visual aid (videos and photos) and also text explaining a bit about each term.

Gender Representation

Gender Representation

Me and Megan decided to base our homework of gender representation on Doctor Who. We decided to go against the convential stereotypes 'emotional woman' and 'dominent male' by proving that even though it is hard to see, females are shown in a superior way (sometimes) and men are a tad bit emotional. As I said it was difficult as it is the norm in the media to embrace stereotypes, but looking through heaps of youtube clips, we did finally find some great still shots of Dr Who being a bit rebellious against the conventions of the media (hence a man crying as a woman comforts him, how bizzare).

Shooting of Preliminary

Previous lesson me and my new group were assigned a brief on our preliminary which was for someone to walk though a door, sit down and exchange a few lines with another person. We learnt about the 180 degree rule, which we expanded and instead of taking the usual three shots along the 180 degree line, we used close-ups and mid-shots. Having done our first peice of filming (which I must say was quite exciting to have our hands on the flip cameras) we set to work expirementing and learning the basics of editing on the Apple Macs. We have recently finished our editing of our preliminary (took some time getting used to the track pad, but after a while all seemed to fall into place), now to do the outtakes, very ammusing when the lines are lyrics from the song Swagger Jagger.

Definitions

Whilst looking for definitions for Shot- reverse shot and Match on action, I found this useful presentation clearly explaining both techniques.

Shot Reverse Shot And Match On Action Media

View more presentations from leviwigglesworth

Film Opening - The Fall

This opening to a film is just outstanding, it is clear that by far the effort that has gone into producing such a wonderful peice of filming. Even though it is a proffessional peice of work with more than triple the amount of cameras we have on offer, there is no reason why I cant take this as an inspiration and still make the audience feel in awe and tranced just like this opening.

The complete slow motion leaves us tranced as every tiny emotion is not only witnessed by the audience but  felt as it seems to capture us so intently. The way the movement of hat is used to make the title disappear into the mist just as the character emerges, creates this unbelievable start of confusion and wonder. As more characters start to appear and objects in the river are shown, confusion as to what is happening is the best emotion you can give your audience, because you know they are intrigued and want to find out more, hence why the opening has to be so capturing and to why I feel this opening is so influential  to what I want  to produce.

The most intriguing part of the opening is when there is black and white smoke from the train, this shows confliction possibly, a big difference that will become aparent when continuing to watch.

But most of all the strong emotion when watching is what I want my audience to feel, I want to produce something that will make my audience WANT to watch more.

ECS as and A2 Media Studies Course Booklet

This is our Media Studies Course Booklet, in other words...

 My Bible

I have to learn all these shots and angles.

Easy...

Interesting camera angle

I was just mindlessly watching a TV drama 'The Killing' when a really cool camera angle was used. There were two characters conversing using medium shots but one character was in a shadow and a computer screen was used to shine light on the other. This gave the effect of the unknown as the character had a bold outline yet no features were seen. I found it really quite scary and useful if my motives for my opening was the genre of horror.

Latymer 'Exceptional'

This opening is very interesting as the animation and shots are very impressive, yet the downfall is the storyline. One word to describe it, CLICHÉ! It has every sort of overused idea for a film: super powers, bullies and the girl he will never (but most probably will in some miraculous twist of fate)be able to get. Not to mention that the mise en scene is the school, very inventive.

Without a doubt there are some really awful choices made, but to give them credit the animation and shots like the ghost shot and over the shoulder, ticked all the examiners boxes, just sad that the film has already been made 100 times before.

Today's Lesson

The main objective of today's lesson was to view other school's (as well as ours) openings to a film. Being very critical it was clear to see the difference between the good, the bad and the ugly. It gave me increased knowledge to what and how to produce an effect opening and definitely made me more aware of schoolboy errors. Whilst admiring inventive and complex storylines, I absorbed the many techniques used that made the opening even more proffessional, like the smooth panning and the extreme close ups.

Blogger App

Test post from the iPod blogger app.

Representation

Whilst doing my homework on positive and negative representations of different ages within the media and TV dramas, it has become clear the stereotypes the media produce and in many ways encourage. The youth seem to all be murderers and smoke drugs to their hearts content, whilst going on drunken all-nighters which seem to always have a sticky ending. Whilst the older generation are angels in that they stay inside and do nothing (not forgetting increasing the ratings of countdown). In some context many would agree, but the closed-mindedness of older generations has encorgaged this to be over exaggerated, not forgetting the backing of tv dramas like Waterloo road when there is always a youth skipping lessons or stealing cars.

In all it has become clearer to me that stereotypes and the medias's representations have been amplified vastly, therefore not depicting reality at all.

Test Post

This is a test post.