Today was the first day we tried to get stuck into editing, Melissa taking charge as editor. Of course we experienced a few problems, it's inevitable...
a bunch of our clips got deleted! apparently there wasn't enough disk space on the computer?
just when you thought macs could never let you down.
Sure enough we sorted out the issue by deleting some un-needed documents.
Because of this Melissa got delayed in the editing, and only really managed to do the majority of our dummy run -rehearsal.
Hopefully we can get a load of printscreens up as evidence to show the techniques used ect.
I'll post again when we actually get to editing our final piece.
The purpose of this assessment is to look back and refelct upon all the work we've completed as a group so far, how well we've worked together and what things have been sucessful and what have not... I think something we're quite efficient at is management and organisation and we regularly got together to allocate tasks and brief each other on our progress, however looking at our blogs they all seem very indivdual and singular to that person. As a group we need to focus on linking all our blogs together to remain unite. If we fail to post these links, certain tasks we have actually done as a group will not be shown.
Sections highlighted green are what I believe we have complete during the filming, ad what I think is already located on my blog. Yellow is in the progress of, Red is yet to do.
VIDEO This is the specification for - Level 4 48–60 marks A*/A High B I am aiming high as I want to achieve and do well, so I will try and meet all the criteria. There is evidence of excellence in the creative use of most of the following technical skills:
-holding a shot steady, where appropriate;
-framing a shot, including and excluding elements as appropriate;
-using a variety of shot distances as appropriate;
-shooting material appropriate to the task set;
-selecting mise-en-scène including colour, figure, lighting, objects and setting;
-editing so that meaning is apparent to the viewer;
-using varied shot transitions and other effects selectively and appropriately for the task set;
-using sound with images and editing appropriately for the task set;
-using titles appropriately.
Marking Criteria for the presentation of the RESEARCH AND PLANNING, specification for - Level 4 16–20 marks A*/A High B There is excellent research into similar products and a potential target audience.
There is excellent organisation of actors, locations, costumes or props.
There is excellent work on shotlists, layouts, drafting, scripting or storyboarding.
There is an excellent level of care in the presentation of the research and planning
I did a small experiment on lighting, as a cinematographer this is a key part of my role along with melissa who's also in charge of lighting, I want to ensure as a group we achieve the most effective results.
Ignoring the poor quality photograph and focusing on the effect of the lighting it is clear that lighting shining in from above makes the character seem in a chilling, frightening scenario.
This image of the light gleaming in from the right is rather strong, one side of his face being completely disguises one side of his face. When I look at this photograph I get the impression that he has two personalities to him, one good, one bad. I think this effect is useful if you want to reveal some of the character to the audience, show half of their expression, yet it's as thought the character will always have something to hide until his face is uncovered.
This straight on beam of light, hitting his face directly reveals everything, the characters emotions, it's impossible to hide. I think this technique should be used when showing a characters vulnerability, as they are completely exposed.
This experiment has aided me in realising the correct lighting techniques for differing situations, and which one is the correct one to use to express a particular feeling or mood.
I thought looking into models and designers of the 1940/50's would help me gain an understanding of the style at the time, and as a stylist I intend to convey these times accurately with a modern twist. Carmen Dell'Orifice This particular photograph was my inspiration behind the coffee house scene.
The model just seems so delicate, this is emphasised by the pouring of the tea, the china - it's all very ethereal. I love the strong contrast and pale skin, it seemed a classic feature of a femme fatale. This is why I specifically try to use an actor with this look. This is the perfect picture to represent the character of a femme fatale; mysterious and seductive. The clothing she's in is extremely melodramatic, however this was traditional of noir films. I want to bring across this exaggerated style, however it will be toned down and modernised, although the dramatic make-up will remain the same -Combined with the women's facial expression in this photograph it makes the perfect captivating look.
Lisa Fonssagrives I'm going to experiment with unnatural lighting as I would love to achieve a emphasised cheek as you can see on this photo. It makes the women look more appealing, and as I said for the image above I think a femme fatales facial expression is most important to represent her seductive character.
This photograph shows the change in womens fashion which Dior introduced - the cinched waist - flattering style. It's over the top, extravagant and appears alluring. These all being traits of a femme fatale.
Dior's New Look 1947 - A Post War Turning Point in Fashion History
In 1947 Christian Dior presented a fashion look with a fitted jacket with a nipped in waist and full calf length skirt. It was a dramatic change from wartime austerity styles. Femme Fatales clearly took advantage of this enticing style, they could now look feminine and desirable. Evening versions of the New Look were very glamorous and consisted of strapless boned tops with full skirts and were ultra feminine.Women usually wore just underwear beneath the buttoned up jacket, or filled in the neckline with a satin foulard head scarf, dickey or bib. All women were embracing this revolutionary style, they no longer had to conform to a military uniform and for once could radiate elegance. New Look and new approach to fashion was a major post war turning point in Fashion History.
I understand how simply costumes can define the role of our characters, this is why I wanted to research into this eras style. I can now, to a degree, dress our actor and actress in the traditional fashion.
I have came to the conclusion that even though we initially decided to stick the the conventions of Film Noir through the styling, we realised realistically with funding it was nearly impossible. Despite this I believe with the resources we have we can still assemble a look resembling the 1940s, late 1950s. With our chosen femme fatale I have ran through some specific outfits with her and I think I may have found the perfect one!
I have chosen not black, but a still dark coloured floaty dress as it looked perfect with the fur coat we did indeed manage to get hold of. I've paired this with a opaque pair of black tights and some vintage brown loafers - as you can see this is where we have included a modern twist. But of course this is acceptable, as we originally decided our OTS wasin the style of neo-noir. However I think my styling of the hair and make-up will bring it back into the reality of the film noir era, as my group member Ellen Lowe said in her costume ideas 'Make-up will be based around the classic red lip and smokey eyes' We've tested thick layers of eyeliner which appeared to represent the look we were going for, as long as it still remained classy, along with a red lipstick, although we also tried a dark plum colour which looked just as suitable.
This planning was beneficial as it has allowed us more time on the day - we'll be prepared. We can finally put all our practiced, developed ideas into action. The key was organization.
Collaboration of pictures I gained inspiration from; I added a modern twist to the style of our femme fatale, images like this have inspired me. I particularly love her hair, and the signature curved fringe.
This title is equivalent to director of photography DP. This role is designated to the chief of camera and lighting, and they are responsible for the artistic and technical decisions involving the overall image - in this case the image of the scene, however this is where it relates to photography, as my role will be deciding what makes the most excellent image, as though it was still. Considerations:
Camera technique Creativity Composition
Lighting
Centre of interest
A cinematographer is an expert in both the technical and artistic capabilities of a movie camera. I will work closely with the director during shooting in order to properly frame each shot according to the script and the director's personal vision. As well as this I will also be working closely with the camera operator CO (ellen) to capture the best image through the angels and shots controlled by the CO. However there is a clear difference between our roles -the director will often consult the DP for factors such as lighting and filtration whereas they will consult the operator for framing and lens choices. Although in order to achieve the best framing the CO will most likely still consult me, as I would also consult her for particular issues eg. lighting. The director will typically convey to the cinematographer what they want from a scene visually, and allow the cinematographer freedom in achieving that effect, however in some instances the director will allow the DP absolute independence, or even none - going as far as to specify aperture and shutter angle.
I believe I carry enough previous experience- 2 years media GCSE to fulfil these roles. I think I have a keen eye of basically what looks good and what doesn't, which is an explanation of why I would be designated both of these roles. I will closely work with my group, and take on board everyones vision for the final result in particular the directors to create the highest quality OTS. I do think I'm capable of performing the two vital functions of a DP, the technical aspect as well as the artistic aesthetics to support the director's vision of the story being told.
Great Cinematographer; Charles Rosher
Charles Rosher was a two-time Academy Award-winning cinematographer who worked from the early days of silent films through the 1950s. Born in London, he was the first cinematographer to receive an Academy Award, along with 1929 co-winner Karl Struss. Rosher studied photography in his youth but earned a reputation early as a newsreel cameraman. He later moved to the United States in 1909 and found work for David Horsley working in his production company, this made Rosher the first full-time cameraman in Hollywood. In the 1920s he was one of the most sought-after cinematographers in Hollywood, and a personal favorite of stars such as Mary Pickford. His work with Karl Struss on F.W. Murnau’s 1927 film Sunrise is viewed as a milestone in cinematography, revolutionary;
Notable films: Sunrise (1927), The Affairs of Cellini (1934), Little Lord Fauntleroy (1936), The Yearling (1946), Annie Get Your Gun (1950), Show Boat (1951)
Stylist: I don't think I'll find this role as challenging as the cinematographer as it's something that comes very natural to me, however I do think both roles are closely linked, and believe I'm the correct person to be chosen for them. As I said I have a keen eye of basically what looks good. My job is to collaborate an outfit for both characters which is suitable for the performance, era and character. A wardrobe stylist is distinct from an image consultant or a colour consultant, I will be making the decisions for both of these subjects which I find incredibly exciting!
Our Femme Fatale
This is a modern take on a classic femme fatale, photographed by by the talented Paolo Toversi. A collection of these femme fatale style photographs were featured in Vogue.
As you can see the style is supposed to be highly seductive, the look often includes -especially from these modern photographs - lingerie in order to appear alluring. Her clothes are typically black or fiery red and when she sits her slinky ankle length gown parts seductively revealing fabulous black stockinged legs.Femme Fatales are seductive, mysterious and tough. But don’t mess with their affections or you might get a bullet through the heart.
On the mean streets of Chicago or New York you’ll find her clothed in a long trench or fur coat which revels floating, figure-hugging gowns with gloves above the elbow, stockings, high heels, dark lips and smoky eyes. This is conventional at its best. We obviously cannot, and don't particularly want to style our femme fatale this way, so we're going for a much more refined, concealed outfit. Conforming to many conventions still; fur coat, floating dress, dark eyes and lips ect. She is a siren and a seducer, however also has this hidden vulnerability that females can relate to.
Our anti-heroHe will be wearing rugged casual clothing such as; jeans, denim or black, a white vest smeared with oil (he's a working class mechanic). Accompanied with messy, dishevelled hair, and oil marks on his face. It's a simplistic look, showing his lack of money for any extravagant clothing. Men in the audience will not be threatened by him and they may even feel as though they have a bond with him - example of how our OTS appeals the male gender.
This is an unexpected picture taken of me and melissa blogging - all thanks to our media teacher - We were looking into our roles in preparation for when we went out to film! this research was essential as we wanted to be fully aware of what was expected from us on the day. I was therefore researching into a cinematographer. I now have wider knowledge of this role, and you will see my post about it above!
Unlike our aged Hollywood drama from the 1940's to 50's our studio logo is very modern and fresh and also actually links into the genre of Film Noir itself - a finger print is usually associated with forensics which in turn is linked with crime and this is primarily what Noir films were based on. This explains to our main, which was to develop and adjust something old into being more contemporary, allowing this genre of film to have a wider target audience. The vibrant green colour is what makes the standard fingerprint have that edge which is the impression we wanted our company to have! As a group we decided this logo represented us perfectly.
It may seem quite late into the whole process to only now come up with a title, however we felt as though research and development would aid us into coming up with the perfect name.. and we think we're finally there!
I think taking our time was sensible, we wanted something to match our storyline, something to enhance the mystery.
Despite the fact 'fatal' suggests, possibly gives away the fact the story inevitably runs it course into a disaster ending, I do not think this would put of a viewer in the slightest, I actually believe it has the opposite affect. It's grabbing, hooks the audience. 'Infatuation' shows the passion, even obsession involved in our films OTS, this creates questions popping in the observers heads - who's infatuated? why are they? I particularly think this word defines the strong emotion our film contains between its characters, the devotion.
We now need to look into the typography which we've briefly spoke about. Our early thoughts wereto have large, bold writing something audacious, however we've also considered a more romantic, feminine font. This is entirely contrasting. My group needs to discuss more into this matter to see which direction we head in, what style and theme, possibly both..
I will keep you updated!
After deconstructing the opening to this I found i was rather fond the typography used for their title, and it's similar to the type I explained we were found of; bold and fearless, representing the action/dangerous side to our film.
These titles are both very clear however oppositely we may go for something slightly distorted, more romantic - this suggests the film is based around a female, the femme fatale, which in need ours is, for which case we would use a font such as this;
After reading and commenting on a post of Katharine Wood's I realised allocating roles is a vital issue we now need to consider. All the previous research we have completed we mostly did as a group, so we didnt feel the need to designate any roles - of course we each did different tasks. Commenting on other blogs from students in my media lesson is extremely insightful, and it allows me to praise them or offer constructive criticisms, and then hopefully receive some back! As a group we have now reached the point where we must begin to understand our personal role and position in the whole filming experience, as we will very soon be visiting our location, however to actually shoot our OTS. We came to this decision; Director - Kieron Sound - Kieron Camera Operator - Ellen Mis-en-scene - Ellen Editor - Melissa Lighting - Melissa
I will personally be performing the roles of - Cinematographer Stylist. In a separate post I will later perform more research into my assigned roles.
After broadcasting our questionnaire onto the social networking site Facebook, we recieved a vast amount of replies from our chosen target audience; 18-25.
We discovered - as presumed- that this age range would prefer a modern take on the classic film noir, resulting a neo-noir. We noe need to develop ideas and ways in which we can break the conventions to make something creative, complex and grabbing for our young viewers, which we had already discussed in our concept board.
We then asked the question of what genre appeals to them, the most poular being romance followed by action. This confirms our dramatic plot based on the yearning love two people have for eachother will hook our viewers. (The OTS only revealing hints about the events and issues torise in the whole film. We thought it was important to have an idea of the storyline for the whole film in order to produce the best OTS)
We also discovered which institution we would disperse our film through, which is going to one found online. We plan to make the film available for free, knowing the struggle for young adults, students ect. possessing a disposable income in which they can afford to visit the cinema - possibly seen as a luxury. As our results show, our audience only visits the cinema once or twice every few months. We therefore plan to recieve an income/profit through advertising. Furthermore we realised if we were to release this as a film featured in cinemas and continue to produce it on DVD, the majority of the people we questioned were unlikely to even purchase it, making it seem somewhat pointless and ineffective.
When asking which institution and method in which they would like to access this film we got mixed results between sent through a social networking site and a video sharing site. Our last question was whether our audience would enjoy slightly modernise music or prefer to stay classic and traditional. As forecasted, our target market being younger opted for the more contemporary music.
This was our final piece of market research and we're now using this as our framework to produce a brilliant film noir OTS, perfectly suited for our particular audience.
Me and my group were working our way through a series of ten research tasks, some we would do together and some we were individually responsible for, I personally had task two which was to answer the following questions;
Do audiences for most media texts come from 'all walks of life'? I believe this is not the case, and different kinds of programmes-different genres, definitely appeal to different characters/audience. Firstly I believe that your social background and the way you were brought up has a massive impact on what media texts would interest you. At the risk of being stereotypically, I think a more wealthy, middle class families are most likely to send their children to private schools where they allegedly receive a better education. As a result they perhaps develop to be more intelligent. In comparison to poorer, working class families who may bring their children up culturally deprived, meaning their educational achievement is less. It is said working class parents are less interested and enthusiastic towards their child's educational achievement, as a result they could grow up less aware and interested in the world around them, and trapped in an artificial one. This leads me to argue that the middle class are more likely to be interested in quality newspapers such as the guardian and tune into the news more often - awareness of current affairs. On the other hand, the working class may read newspapers simply for celebrity gossip eg. The Sun, and their main priority on the television are soaps or reality t.v, X-factor ect. This is obviously a stereotypical judgement, however I think it explains how Blumer's ideas about mass audiences; audiences of all distinguishable social strata interested in the same media texts, may be incorrect. However there is a reasonable argument as to why mass audiences may exist. When photography, film, radio and television were all invented, it allowed works of art and pieces of entertainment to be transmitted in the same form to an enormous number of people - people who may not have previously been restricted from such pleasures due to not being able to fit in an art gallery or afford to go to the theatre. How much of your media experience is when you're alone & how much when you're with others?
Ways you share your experience of media with others even if they aren't around you. You can experience media in many different forms, the number is so large that it's guaranteed every individual experiences the various forms on numerous occasions every single day. In the present day we as a society use a personal form of media in order to connect with its other members, this being Facebook. It allows us to presents our lives to the rest of the world, communicating with anyone and everyone - this is seen as a negative, and is a issue raised regularly, even by the news. Are we over exposing ourselves and our personal details to potentially dangerous human beings? The fact most people tend to sit on their Facebook alone doesn't necessarily mean its something you experience alone, after all it is a social networking site. Similarly, watching a film or going to the cinema brings a group of people closer together, however physically. It is providing a mean of entertainment through media as well as creating a sociable atmosphere. I would say I mostly use forms of media and devices alone, however it's main reason is in order to stay connected with the people around me; internet, mobile. The only form in which is entirely personal and experience alone is listening to an ipod ect. this is even a time when people reflect upon themselves. Although once again, music can create an electric atmosphere for a group of friends and family.
This applies to our own OTS because our aim was to have a wide target audience; of both working class and middle. We concentrated on our character selection in order to attract these two classes, resulting in our femme fatale being middle class and our anti hero being working. We represented these classes through their accents and language, as well as personal style. Conventionally noir films are targetted at males due to the violence and crime, along with the patriarchal structure; men seem to obtain more power and can be extremely sexist towards females. We plan to break this convention by making it appeal to both genders. We believe our storyline is what will attract females as we predict they will relate to her - both working and middle class. Our femme fatale is trapped in a sexy, promiscuous stereotype which she's unable to escape - we attempt to show this at the beginning of our OTS by having her in a vacant stare and in her own world - detached from anything her also middle class friend is trying to inform her of. Her attitude towards our anti-hero represents her class (she's quite standoffish) as well as her being well dressed and spoken. This in a way can make the middle class connect with her, as they're familiar with this sort of character. On the other hand our anti-hero is a lower class male who lusts for the femme fatale. His status is shown through his casual, rugged clothing and the cheeky, common manner he talks in. He appears quite confident as though he's trying to impress her, but we can clearly see he's had a long, hard manual day at work which reminds us of his class. We hope he makes a good impression to the audience and seems a affable guy in which the working class can relate to.
