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.