Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Suggestion for opening sequence



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjc1aR-lElI
Sketches from The Others - the colour scheme reflects The Fray's album cover on the previous post.
The running order:
Meeting at Beatrice Webb at 9.00am until 3.00pm
9.30- food preparation
11.00-setting up equipment
12.00-lighting in room (controlled) props all to be set up.
1.00pm- filmming of opening eating scenes
1.30pm- filming close up's
2.30pm- tracking
3.00- people dying medium close up's

Returning to Hurtwood House to film in the old kitchen until 5.30pm:
3.30pm- setting up equipment
4.00pm- Lighting in room (controlled) props to be set up
4.30pm- filming tracking around hospital beds
5.00pm- close up's on dead people
5.30pm- packing away

Sketches




The layout and the text of 'The Frays' album cover i think would be suitable with our theme as the colours look old and authentic like the Edwardian Times. The sketchon the right hand side is a suggestion as to how we would approach the sketches of the grotesque people in our thriller.

Tim Burton


Sweeney Todd:



Edwardian Food



Edwardian food could be both elaborate and rich to the point of indigestibility. But until more modern ideas about food and nutrition came into general use in the 1920s, children had a fairly monotonous diet, which tended to be high in carbohydrates and low in fresh fruit and meat. 'Many people seem afraid to give any fruit to their children, but have not the least hesitation in dosing them with all kinds of drugs' wrote Ada Ballin in 1902 (From Cradle to School). Not for the average Edwardian child, then, the oyster patties, pressed duck, ratafia trifle or pineapple which some of the adults enjoyed: even in a wealthy family a typical child's main meal at this date would be a small portion of hot or cold meat with potatoes and gravy, and another vegetable such as cabbage; and steamed pudding and custard, or milk pudding and jam to follow - a heritage which 'school dinners' were still faithfully following some sixty years later. This is perhaps no accident, as they developed from the Provision of School Meals Act of 1906, which gave local authorities the discretion to organise free lunches for children from poorer families.

Edwardian Times

Guidelines

All food to be chewed until liquid, anything not liquefied to be spat out
Meals will be varied and generally the same as a typical middle/upper-class Edwardian diet
Food will be served in smaller quantities, as dieters will find it impossible to eat as much as normal
Dieters will be unable to eat large quantities of meat, so there will be no huge platters of meat, or enormous roasts. (Fletcher warns of the dangers of consuming too much animal protein.)
Fibrous vegetables will be hard to eat, requiring prolonged chewing
There should be a bowl of candy or sugar lumps in the middle of our Edwardian dining table. (Fletcher had a very sweet tooth and enjoyed cakes, candy and sugar lumps. He drank very over-sweetened coffee.)
Fletcher did not consider breakfast an essential meal. Dieters should eat just toast and fruit, or go without breakfast altogether. They must not eat the large cooked breakfast normal in Edwardian times.
Apart from breakfast, dieters can eat what they want, when they want, as long as they chew it properly
Oysters were very popular in the Edwardian era and should feature on our menus
Wine will be served, but must be swilled around the mouth
Fletcher believed that generally foods which dissolved quickly and thoroughly were of most value
Fletcher cut out of his diet those foods which tasted unpleasant
Fletcher was a big fan of cereals, which could be consumed with full cream milk and probably lots of sugar

Difficulties that our dieters will face

In the Edwardian era meat would have been considerably less tender than it is today – making it harder to chew fully
Given their texture, the oysters will be particularly unpleasant to chew
Wine will taste vinegary and so will be consumed only in very small sips

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Fargo 1996

The use of long takes, wide shots and dramatic metaphorical mise-en-scene.
Fargo openeing shots resemble isolatation and hardship due to weather conditions- Isolation is a psychological concept i.e. being lost in the snow,buried and dying of hypothermia etc.
The landscape is really important for Amercian culture as they have masses of land - important part of mise- en- scene.
There is a juxtaposition from a black to white background - always used in Thrillers.
The sleet creates an enigma because you can't see anything i.e. Who's driving the car?
The pace - use of a long take which creates tension and anticipation, with the slow driving and the particular music it gives the car real importance.

Fargo Part 1:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEYPIO8DlY4

Cape fear 1991:

Strong simple imagery .
The use of water / lake.
Shot with Chiarascuro lighting.
A dark lit lake - enigma.. drown/being drowned/ something lurking in it.
The choice of just shooting the water in the dark light unlocks lots of primal fears.
Instead of cutting to a location or to a character dissolves are used which makes people and objects very ominous.

Cape Fear Part 1:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KwhVBVcQfpE

Opening Sequence Research

The Brief:
  • Create an opening / title sequence to a thriller lasting 2-3minutes for an 18 year old audience.
  • Undertake Secondary research into real texts.
  • Undertake Primary research into real texts.
  • Undertake Primary / Secondary research of audiences for real texts.
  • Undertake Primary / Secondary research into real institutions.
  • Produce a production schedule.
  • Plan production.
  • Script idea.
  • Draw / Plan storyboard.
  • Source sounds.
  • Secure cast.
  • Secure locations.
  • Produce running order.
  • Produce shot list for shoot day.
  • Film production.
  • Edit production.

Friday, October 17, 2008

Preliminary Task


We’ve been looking at TV drama such as 'The chase' and 'Skins' and analysing the shots used and why. For example Tony's press up's and weights in the morning tells us he is a typical teenager who wants a nice body to impress the girls.























We have had a moving camera lesson and decided we are ready to practise some of our new found skills so ...our teacher set us the Preliminary task.
After learning all the camera functions, and how to use it, we used a storyboard that provided us with dialogue.. And out of this we had to create a situation. In our group, we decided that the suituation would be a the stereotypical idea that women should clear up, however me (playing the women) decided I would no longer conform to William Spooner bossing me around! Shooting from a storyboard made the process very quick, therefore we realised planning is essential if you want everything to run smoothly as you have guidelines. It was important in this task that we understood how a conversation between two people was shot and cut and the importance of continuity between shots and editing, and lastly not crossing the line (180 degree rule.)

Some groups edited their preliminary task very quickly, however some struggled. We managed to get the hang of the Final Cut pro very quickly and we managed to finish the editing after 2 lessons.

This is the final product:



This was the story board:

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Using A Digital Camera

Firstly we got put into groups, where we went off into the grounds of our school and took pictures of eachother in order to use them in our posters.
Matt and Vicky told us about the functions on the camera, here are a few:



  • On/Review button

  • Focus Lens

  • M=Manual

  • The control wheel - A= Aperture (the cameras eye, the pinhole lets in light).

  • Turning the wheel will change the shutter speed i.e. if you were taking a picture of the moon at night, you would need to let lots of light in (Aperture) but would also have to take the picture with a fast shutter speed, to avoid blurring the image.


After learning about the camera functions and how to use it, our class went out and took pictures inorder to create a poster using photoshop. This was the first time I had ever used photoshop, therefore i discovered how to play around with each layer i.e. brightening it, fading it out etc. In my case inserting the picture of Giovanni making him transparents however more bright so that he doesnt completely blend in with the background. I inserted the background in from google, however i made the contrast between the trees and church differ, inorder to make it spooky and to make the church look misty and scary. The text i inserted was the most difficult thing to get right in my opinion, as i needed the text to fit it perfectly. I still don't think its perfect, but it will do for my first try!

Introduction To My Media Blog

Hi And Welcome To My Blog!

I have no previous experience in Media Studies, I took it as i thought it would be interesting and something different. I am quite creative, therefore i thought media would be a good subject to take. It also fits in nicely with my other subjects (Theatre studies, Art and Sociology.) The fact that we will be making a music video was very appealing to me as i love to choreograph dances and work with other people etc so i thought it would be fun. To be honest im not sure what i want to do when i am older, but it will probably be something in the media field.