< Interactive Narrative >

< The Set Up >

This is another single shot film i have produced. This video was part of my independent study.

< 2.11 In Progress >

As part of my independent study i have produced this single shot film. This video was done with Karl and Anthony.

< Evaluation - The Debt >

The black and white effect worked well in the video because it makes it look like film noir. The black and white effect works well with the three point lighting we set up for the video. Without the black and white effect the video wouldn’t look as good because from our research we conducted we found that film noir uses harsh lighting and shadows a lot and we have tried this in our video and without the effect the lighting wouldn’t suite the video.

The music that is used also works well with the film because it sets the mood of the narrative and people can get a sense of what the film will be about because we have used dramatic intense music. The music also sets the tone of the film.

Another thing i tought worked well in the film was the use of props and costume becuase it made the film look and feel more realistic and makes it more believable to the audience.

The speech in the film didn’t work well in the film. It could have been more fluent. Its seems like I am wondering about what to say by stopping and starting. To improve this I think the script should have been rehearsed more.

Another thing that didn’t work well in the film was you can sometimes see the backlight when I moves to take a drink, this can be avoided by either setting the camera somewhere else, moving the back light to a different location or by moving the props.

The film could be improved with more fluid speech. This will help with the pace and flow of the film which is important as it can help keep the audiences attention. I would change the location of the film to a bar or restaurant so they was more going on in the frame than just the character. The focus would be taken off the character and would allow interaction with the environment e.g. with people around him.

< Cleaning My Room >

To help me understand and learn more about stop motion animation i have done this video. It has been part of my independent study. I took just over 400 pictures to make this video and i am really pleased with the way it turned out.

< The Debt >

This is the edited version of my single shot film. I have added music to make the scene more atmospheric and make the video more intense. I have also made the video black and white effect to make the film look likes its film noir.

< Uncut Footage >

Here is the uncut footage of our single shot film.

< Production of One Shot Film >

These images are of the studio where we filmed and pictures of how we set up the studio for our single shot film.

Here is an image of the studio when we first arrived, this was the space we had to film our one shot film.



We used the black gel because the light was too bright on Abduls face and too much exposure reflecting on the camera.

Here they are discussing the script and position on the camera.

Here abdul is in costume and the lights are all set out ready for filming.


Here Gemma is filming.



Pictures from From Katie Owens Blog.

< Single Shot Film Planning >

Story:

The story is going to be about a gangster who is in a spot of bother when he is involved in illegal drug dealing. He owes money to one of the biggest mafia bosses in the city and his life is at stake. The gangster tells the story from his point of view.

Scene style:

This film is going to be in black and white with a smoky atmosphere. In the scene its going to have a small coffee table with a whiskey bottle and ashtray, the gangster is going to be sat down next to the coffee table. There is going to be horizontal blinds placed in front of one of the lights, this style is taken from ‘Film Noir’. This style is used in a lot of gangster type films and it will also set the mood. The character is going to telling the story and drowning his sorrows in whiskey.

Roles:

Abdul – Camera man
Gemma – Sound and scripting
Katie – Lighting
Otis – Character ’Gangsta’
We have all researched in to different films and brought different ideas together to create the final image of our film.

Communication:

I will communicate with my group by email, phone and meetings. I have all my groups’ phone numbers so we can arrange meeting times to complete this task set.
The work is organised by the group researching into gangster style films and bring ideas together to create our own film. We have also separate roles and contributions to this film so we have all had an input to the story.

Script:

“Frank owned a lot of people money”

“Now he’s dead I’m next in line to pay his debt, I know there not gonna foget”

(Pause, drinks some whisky)

“Four guys in long black leather jackets strode up like they owned the city. It was impossible to tell if they where cops or gangsters.”

“The coppers are as bent as us these days you know.”

I t was fancies biggest job yet, this would be the job of all jobs. The cash would pay his debts off, all off!”

(short pause)

“He snapped open the suitcase, revealing five half, kilo bags of uncut heroine in clear plastic bags”

“Frankie asked the to see the cash”

“They just sniggered, what cash? Their faces said it all.”

“The tallest of them all pulled out a gun, pointing it right at Frankie’s head.”

“I knew straight away, he was a dead man”

“Frankie had always been wheeling and dealing. Ever since we was kids”

“The empty bar was silent, a middle aged msn mopping up glanced up at Frankie and exited at the back door, even he know”

“I’ll never know why they didn’t kill me”

(Smokes on cig)

“Here I am, he may be dead. But is debts are left with me.”

“I’ve got a week to get the cash, just a week”

“I think they knew if they killed me too, his debt would be unpaid, down to me”

< Health & Safety of Lighting >

In the lighting seminar we learnt about 3 point lighting technique and using the proper health and safety procedures. Learning how to use the lighting correctly and safety is will reduce the risk of something going wrong and learning the 3 point technique will help enhance your video.

We were put into little groups to practice what we had just been taught. There are different names for each of the three lights and they all have their own jobs they do:

The Key light:

The key light is the main light to the setup, usually being the most strongest. This is the main light, this light casts the shadows on the wall.

The Fill Light:

This light sits on the opposite side to the key light, filling in all of the shadows created by the key light. This light removes the shadows that are cause by the key light.

Backlight:

This light is set behind the subject, lighting it up from the back This separates the person from the background, it creates a halo glow effect around the person to give a 3d effect.

When using Lighting the points you need to consider:

1. Always wear gloves when handling lights to avoid burns.

2. Always check the gloves for holes. If there are any then throw the gloves away.

3. Check for holes.

4. Don't leave wires wound up.

5. Wires should be stuck down or covered with rubber mats.

6. Don't touch lights is on without wearing gloves.

7. All lights should have a circuit breaker.

8. The light wire should hang from the rear of the light .

9. Wire should hang to the floor, rather than being stretched to plug socket.

10. Let lights cool down after use.

Picture from http://www.bhphotovideo.com/images/3point.gif

< Feedback on Pixilation >

After watching my pixilation video with members of my tutorial group I have gained feedback about my work and any changes that can be made to make the video better. Generally the feedback was positive and people liked it. The structure of the video was good and many people liked that about the video as well as the choose of music used which they taught really matched the pace and flow of the video.

The use of camera movement in the video was considered excellent and “showed that we taught ahead of time of how we should take each picture”.

The negative feedback I got from Jules was the narrative of the video which wasn’t clear and he told me to make the following changes to the video so it will appear a little more clear to the audience:

· Change the title of the video to match what is going on in the video.

· Put sound effects were they are needed.

· Slow the video down a bit so the audience can see what movements are taking place in the video.

Other general points for future reference was , “try using different locations” as well.

So enough talking he it is with the changes made to it:

< Visual Aesthetics of “The Nintendo Wii” >

Last week for our tutorial task we were set the task of “look at an object and discuss it in terms of its visual aesthetics." I have chosen to do mine on the Nintendo Wii.

It's easy to admire the visual aesthetics of the Nintendo Wii because it has the look and feel of an Apple product. I think this because it elegantly shines like an apple product. This is empathized in the blue glow of the disc drive and continues to the trend of Appleness. The Wii is small and stylish which gives it a modern look that appeals to many people. Its white finish is subtle and will appeal to everyone because it of the colours neutrality.

With big chucky buttons on the front makes it look like the product is built to last and can cater for different types of fingers whether they be big or small and also limiting the buttons to 3 makes the console look simpler. Which shows that the product is looking for a wide range of target demographics.

< Practice Makes Perfect >

For last weeks seminar we got a little practice for the one shot film by doing one in the seminar. I was put into a group that consisted of Gemma, Otis, Katie and Cliff. I had never worked with these people so it was really interesting to find out what their thoughts and ideas were. The task we were asked to do was, choose a title from “Irritation” or “The meeting” and come up with a 20 seconds narrative for that title. Our group choose ‘The meeting’ and came up with the story for it which was a silent movie about a man wanting to get back with his ex girlfriend but when they meet he finds out she doesn’t want to be with him any more and chucks the flowers he gives her on the floor and walking away.

The feedback we got on the film was, their was unnecessary space in the frame and instead of zooming out at the end of the film we should have zoomed in to emphasis the mans loneliness. The group was praised for the good use of a consistent zoom. Yey!

< In My Element >

We have been given a another good project that i can get my teeth stuck into. All tough im from a film making background, this project is a little different to what im used to. The whole idea of shooting a two minute movie using only one take is faciating becuase you have give a lot of thought to the frame and what will be included in it as well as showing a clear narrative to the audince. This should be really intresting!

< A Bit of Reading >

Most of the book deals with giving the audience an outlining the purposes and aesthetics of sound in film and television. He involves everything to do with “audiovisual technologies” such as widescreen, multi-track sound, and Dolby stereo. He also gives explanations and examples of how sound is affected by space and time, as well as contemporary forms of audio-vision in music videos, video art, and commercial television.

The bit I read specifically had to do with Sound in Animation(Page 120). I choose this section because I felt that it will help with any other animation projects I will do myself as well as during the course.

I found some good information on using a technique called “Mickymousing”. Which is putting sound to actions. For example if u see a drop hitting the ground you put in sound to match what is being shown on screen.

I found the book easy to understand because they explained everything clearly but the words they used to describe where difficult because they used a lot of big world.
The book was easy to dive in because in each chapter there’s subsection on topics which makes it easy to just read the bit your interested in.

< Reflection>

Now I’ve had time to settle in and got one project under my belt i feel that there’s nowhere but up. I’ve managed to pack a lot in the last few weeks which by the way has been so much fun. After the lecture from Jules about reflection, I thought id give it a try so here goes!!!

The stop motion animation project was really good I felt for my first attempt at stop motion animation our group gave a descent effort. The video was simple but effective because it was classic stop motion animation (from my limited knowledge and what I saw on YouTube). We never tried to go overboard and complicated because no one really knew what they were doing but after some planning and idea assessments everything came together. With the knowledge and experience I got from that project doing another one will be beneficial. Plus Jules said that doing work in your own time is only a good thing. Jules does give some good advice. LOL.

The lectures and seminars during these past weeks have been really interesting and informative and I have learnt a lot from them. For example I had never used Adobe Premier. The skills I’ve learnt will also help me when I come to do my own stop motion animation because I’ve gained the experience and know how in the seminars.

I have found the tutorials a great source of help to me as they offer something different to lectures and seminars because they are more intimate. I find them to be more enjoyable and focused on particular topics. For example doing a book report where we had to read a section of a book from the library and explain how it will help us during the course as well what the book was about. The purpose of the exercise was good because it made me learn how to use the library while understanding a topic from the book I had not known about. The book id had chosen was Audio Visual. I’m still in the process of putting that on my blog so look out for that in the next few days.

< Sleep Walking >

We were set as our first task to do a stop motion animation video, using a digital still camera. We had to capture a sequence of photos to make a 30 second animation. This ment we had to take a minium of 360 shots. We were put in groups for this project and my group consisted of Donna, Guvy, Jason, Karl and Hayley.

Below is the finished product we have produced:

< Narrative Module >

To help improve my skills in Adobe Photoshop I have started to play around with the program as well as finding useful online tutorials on how to create different effects. This will be useful in the Narrative module project we are doing right now.

http://www.tutorialized.com/tutorials/Photoshop/11s/Photoshop/11

I started with learning how to touch up photos and glamorize them. Below is an example of how it came out:

Starting off:

Resulting in:

Right now I am learning another technique which I think will really make our own project were doing look good is “Turning a Photo into a Movie Scene”.

http://tutorialfire.com/?p=96

< What I Want Outta Uni >

I don’t know what I want to get out of university. I know the answer I should say is “hopefully a good education and a good job after as well as gaining the skills that are necessary for that” but the truth is right now I haven’t got a clue. I’m still thinking about which party I should go to next week.

< What I Got Up 2 In The First Week >

Don’t get me started about what I did on the first week because ill be here for hours trying to explain it. Ill just give you the footnotes.

Changing my course I would say took most of my week up as I was unhappy with the one I was originally on. Doing Media with specialist pathways for just 3 days left me felling uninspired, Which made me change my course.

I was really disappointed to hear the kinds of things that multimedia students were doing during the first week. While I was learning about my boring media course, multimedia students were getting stuck in with exciting Pinhole Camera experiments and white board animations. But at least I’m on the course now.The best time of my first week was meeting new and exciting people and going to every party and club I could.