The Lone Ranger - Evaluation

In this production we learnt about the protagonist and his/her relationship with their environment. A protagonist can be either male or female. They are the main character and the one that you route for in the film, on a lot of occasions they are the hero/heroin.

In class the two we watched were A Fistful of Dollars and The Abandoned. A Fistful of Dollars starred Clint Eastwood there were a number of extreme close ups and one extreme long shot. The variety of shots used was important to show the setting but to also show that he was the protagonist. The way that we know that he is the protagonist is because right from the start he is seen as the hero. The Abandoned is a horror film and in this the protagonist is a women, this is unusual because usually a protagonist is a man. We know that the women is the protagonist because in nearly every shot they focus on her and in the ones where they don't focus on her, it comes from her point of view.

The scene we watched from A Fist Full of Dollars. 

In this project I worked with my colleagues Olivia Searle, Scott Friday, Jodi Smith and Lauren Walke. 

In our production I played the protagonist. Our production had to be 20 shots, so we thought up our production and wrote down what would happen in each of the shots then added the camera angle next to them. Finally in our planning process all of us drew five shots in the storyboard, this was to show that we knew everything that we were doing in the scene.

Our scene is a horror film, it's where I the protagonist gets chased by a white mask. The mask appears at the start and it's chasing me. I then manage to get away from the mask by running up the stairs and into a corridor, I then try and open three different doors until I finally open the correct one. I am then inside a black room where the mask is bashing on the door to which I run over slam the open shut and slide down against it only for the mask to appear in the final scene above me.

Our list of shots and storyboard. 

I think that the location for this shot was very important, the extreme long shot which we shot outside needed to have a long path which it did as I was running the width of it. It was also important that we shot somewhere which had a door handle therefore I could struggle to open the door. Finally we needed a corridor where there was a lot of rooms in a really compact space. Therefore we used one of the corridors which had a number of locked rooms in.

I think that the character adds an important element to the scene, I think that without the protagonist then this film would be pointless because there is nobody that you are routing for. In our production as the protagonist, the audience would be routing for me because I am the one that they want to succeed and in this case survive. In any horror or dramatic scene it is especially important for a main character but definitely in ours as we are following what the main character is doing.

I got rid of all the dialogue, this wasn't originally the plan but I felt as though the voices weren't as good as I wanted them to be therefore I found a voice over of a distressed girl crying and decided to use that. I also put in two horror tracks in the fact, these tracks create tension and build the scene up especially with the way that they are in time with the movements.

For a lot of the shots the camera was at an angle to me, we did this because we felt as though it looked more professional than having the camera straight on, this way you could get the side profile along with the front. I think that it was important to have the camera at different angle's to show the expression on the faces. In this production the most important aspect was having the protagonist connect with the environment that they're in and for this reason the camera wasn't always needed face on.

We begun the first scene with an extreme close up on my eyes, this is so that we knew who the protagonist was. It is always important to have the protagonist in the first shot so that you are able to identify them right from the start. Our last scene ended with the mask looking as though he was standing over me, this was because it looked as though he had killed me, which was the point in this video as it was a horror.

As the protagonist; she is feeling scared, worried and wanting to get away from the mask. I think that it was important in the scenes that this was shown. Some of the shots are in very enclosed spaces this way it shows the vulnerability of the protagonist. These shots were filmed to show that the mask was getting closer to her, as the camera was. It was filmed like this as it felt like she was being chased by the mask when it was actually the camera.

This is our video

The impact of the extreme close ups was to show the emotion and the panic on the protagonist face, this was to show the amount of pain she was in and the pain and torture that the mask was giving her. The impact of the extreme long shot was that she was running away from him, the camera stayed where it was as it was to make it look as though it was actually the mask. A couple of things changed as we went around this was because of the lack of space which we had, we also adapted some of our ideas to fit what we were doing a lot more than before.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZ_7br_3y54 - A Fist Full of Dollars - 21st October 2013

Evaluation - One Shot

This video was a homage to She Wants by Metronomy. This is where the whole video revolved around one character and would follow them around. Everyone else had the task of producing their own moment of magic to appear at some point. We had to elect a main character, directors, a camera-person and assistant and a floor manager. On the first day of the production we had to think of our moments of magic in our groups. I thought of the idea to have sunglasses on the back of the head to make it look as though the back of the head was the face. We would then have to walk down backwards down the stairs like this. I liked this idea because it was something simple but I think it would have been effective. We weren't sure of the location of the shot but we felt like it would be best done near some steps so we could walk down. I think that it was appropriate because in the original video for Metronomy they had something very similar to this. The only extra thing that we needed for this was a pair of sunglasses and a jacket that could be done up backwards.

Behind the scenes photographs.

Day two was our filming day we brought in all the things that we needed to shoot. The directors spoke to us and told us about the ideas and what was going to happen. The idea was that one of my colleagues Jade Popham would have just woken up from a dream and her dream involved all of these people. Some of the ideas got changed mine included, which didn't bother me. Two others had the same idea with the sunglasses, so I gave them my ideas and went with the idea that a couple others had which was to dress up as a skull. We had to face paint the skull faces onto our face. We then stood at the bottom of the steps and stood against the door and we were going to open the door with our backs and then Jade would walk past us and we would be behind her with two of my other colleagues Katie Patrick and Olivia Searle following behind again. We practiced this part multiple times to make sure that we had it right for the final production shot. We had a second moment of magic where all of us were together. At the start we were all in a semi circle in the ceramics room as Jade walked in and we would each turn to stare at the camera as it went around. Then after the camera had past us we would run into our positions in two parallel lines, in front and behind the table as Jade was sat at the end of the table, each of us then had confetti or balloons to let go and throw in the final scene. We ran through the one shot three times with the camera for the practice run before we did an final shoot on Tuesday afternoon. 

I think that a lot of things went well in this project but what I think worked well the most was every-bodies separate ideas, I think that this was because everybody had there own unique little thing which worked out really well. I liked the idea that every part of it was unique as it was fun to come up with the ideas of what to do. I also loved it at the end when we all came together and we had two parallel lines, this part worked out really well because there was so many people and it felt right only to all come together at the end. There wasn't much that didn't work well, I think that filming around college and finding the different locations was the most challenging part because wherever we went there was people which made it harder for us. Although I think that the floor manager did a good job of clearing everything out of the way so we didn't have many interruptions, this was especially important in our final run through. 

Our Video

I think that we worked really well as a team, I think that the directors were great and managed to give us a clear understanding of what we had to do. It was really important that everybody listened and took note as to what they were saying because the most important aspect of a one shot is the timing and if we didn't get the timing right then the whole video would fail because someone wasn't paying attention. I think that we all worked well together because everybody had there own individual sequence which meant that everybody had a focus and they knew what they were doing for their part. Therefore I think every-bodies part was effective in the process. Personally the only thing I think that I could do better next time is to come up with some new ideas this way I could have numerous ideas to play around with and change. 

As this was my first time in a production team I feel like it worked out really well this is because I felt like we weren't being bossed around we were just told to expand our ideas which I think was really important, this way it caused no arguments. I think that the production team was very successful and their main idea was really great fun and creative. I think that this assignment gave me a lot more confident with coming up with ideas, as to start with I did struggle for ideas that I could use. I also think that this was my strongest editing piece so far and therefore I think that because of this production my editing skills have improved a lot. 

I don't think that there is anything that we could do next time to make it better as I think it turned out really great and therefore I think that it would be pointless to change something which came out as good as it did. Although if I were to do it again I think that it would be important to come up with new ideas that we could play around with. 

Flip Teach - One Shot

In 1990 Martin Scorsese and Michael Ballhaus directed the 'Copa Sequence' in Goodfellas. It is my favourite one shot. I really like this shot because I like the way the camera follows them through in close proximity. This scene feels very intimate yet there is people around them and the camera is following them closely this is because of the location of the shot. I also like the way they go through a busy kitchen and the camera is following them and never draws away from them even in the hectic circumstances.

A lot of consideration went into this shot but the main problem was them being able to find out if they could actually shoot it where they wanted to. They came up with the location and then they looked to see if it was actually possible to shoot there. Although the actors had no clue as to what was happening, considering at this point that hardly anybody had even heard of a steady cam. The biggest problem of this was getting the actors right because the directors wanted to make sure that every single timing was perfect.

Shots from the hardest scene to shoot; the kitchen scene. 

I think that the most difficult part of this scene was when they were walking through the busy kitchen. This is because there was a lot of actors which could have caused some problems if one of them got in the way or if they got their timing off. It was important in all of the scene and especially this one that they got there timing right, therefore the actors had to pay extra attention to the directors in the shot to know when they had to come in. In this scene the camera is a bit further away from them than it would have been in the previous scene this is done so that if timings were a bit off it wouldn't affect them as much.

As a director the most important thing to worry about in a shot like this is whether the actors know when they need to come in. The director would have to speak to all of the actors involved and make sure that they knew when it was their cue. This shot would have been done a few times before in practice they would have used the camera some of the times to make sure that everything that needed to be in the scene fitted. The director would have also had to practice just to make sure everything was good with the actors. The thing that the directors would have to plan is the route the camera is going to take, this is because the route that they originally want to make might not be feasible due to the lack of space. This would have been especially important in this shot because of how enclosed the shot was. Therefore knowing the route and making sure the actors know their timings are the most important aspects of this shot.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBMKyNJvNV8 - 13th October 2013

‘She Wants’ by Metronomy

Metronomy as always are really creative when it comes to their music videos, they always make sure that they are standing out from the ordinary and trying to process new ideas. This video was made by Jul and Mat. I particularly like this video because it's something simple, it's at a house party but there are little moments of magic that make the video stand out from others like it.

She Wants by Metronomy.

The first thing I noticed was the feathers coming off her body, this would only be made possible if it was edited backwards. The next moment was when she got out of bed and a girl was standing there and she then pushed her onto the floor. The clock movement reflects on the beats of the music, it stops when it hits a heavier beat and then continues when the softer music kicks in again. While in the scene in the bar everything was considered normal apart from the women who had another pair of eyes on her forehead which is considered slightly abnormal. As she is walking through there is a girl with the tattoo 'You're Dreaming Deep Tonight' which is mirroring the lyrics of the song. They then again mirror the lyrics again with the word 'light' which is written on the floor with string. The editing is then backwards again with the Jenga cubes falling over as this would have been physically impossible to do in normal time, also at this part we see double of the two people playing Jenga. The next moment of magic is when all of the people fall over in the domino effect, I really like this part because of how accurate the timing had to be, it was pulled off very well. Finally in the last scene the girl who was pushed over in the first scene is back again and this time is doing the pushing. This entire scene is a polar opposite to the first scene with the girl landing back on the bed and having the feathers fall on her also the fan is the last thing we see. This is contrasting as it's also the first thing we see, this shows the pattern of the music video.

Jul & Mat are music video directors, the style that they like is through high impact light images, which is shown in 'She Wants' as there is a lot of whiteness throughout the video. They are also all about changing the simple things in videos; faces - so that they are slightly unordinary, animated toys, pieces of paper and changing clothes so that that fit the idea for the certain video. They also believe in using reality and post production which is seen a lot. In there videos they use a lot of people, so filming in big groups is showing the reality but adapting these ideas is the post production.

Along with She Wants they also produced On The Motorway for Metronomy. 

In the 'Making Of' video of this it shows just how much effort went into this video. There is a lot more behind the scenes work to be done than many can think. There was a lot of drawing, sewing and gluing to make this video look effective. I think that due to the vast number of people included in this that is the reason as to why it was so successful. I think that the Jul & Mat took full advantage of the creative freedom they had and worked with it. I think that from looking at the Making Of video it shows just how hard it would have been putting people in different positions and making sure that every shot was in the correct time. I think it was made through the ideas of many people with individuals coming up with little moves that they could do in order for it to be successful. 

I really like this video and I think that it's done really well. My favourite thing about this video is that everybody is doing something different, this is very unusual because a lot of the time a lot of the actors would be doing the same as the rest. I think that it would have taken a lot of time and effort to get this into one shot with planning being essential for this because without this people wouldn't of known when they would have to be in shot as there was only one time to get it right. I think that in this type of technique the actors have just as important role as the director because if their timing is off then there is nothing that the director is able to do. 

http://flavorwire.com/309086/10-amazing-unbroken-shots-in-film/3/ - 9th October

https://vimeo.com/19133341 - 9th October

http://www.juletmat.fr/about.html - 9th October

Reading and Analysis Test

Funky Skills

Following Texts http://www.steadishots.org/shots_detail.cfm?shotID=298 & http://www.artofthetitle.com/title/touch-of-evil/ and answer the questions.

1. Which emblematic scene will the film Atonement be remembered for? 

Dunkirk. 

2. How was the toughest shot of the film achieved?

It was rehearsed for many hours, with and without camera. They also followed every beat, twist & turn and followed the actors every moment. 

3. What was the main aim of the Dunkirk scene? 

The aim for the scene was that it would be a one-take Steadicam move. 

4. When was Touch of Evil released?

1958. 

5. What did Orson Welles want to include in the film? 

He wanted to include 6 minutes of film. 

6. Compare the purpose of each text?

Text 1 - Inform & evaluating - to an extent.

Text 2 - Review, inform & evaluate - personal views brought into it. 

7. What is the audience of each text? Are there any clues from the texts? 

Text 1 - Professionals in the media industry - language used and technical terms.

Text 2 - Less technical aimed at film enthusiasts. 

8. Compare form of texts 1 & 2? 

Text 1 - Subheadings in paragraphs helps breaks it up and tells you what's in each of the paragraphs are about. Links to other parts of the texts - for more information the summary in the text box - overview before you read the rest.

Text 2 -  Has a clip at the end, an image of the fun showing 1958 version, summarised information at the top - not as informative as not as many subheadings.  

Critique of a scene - Glee The Break Up

Glee is an American musical comedy drama television series which is written by Ryan Murphy, Ian Brennan and Brad Falchuk. In all of the scenes in Glee they use single camera techniques this is because of the location of their shoots. This scene is called the break up scene. In this scene Rachel played by Lea Michele breaks up with Finn who was played by Cory Monteith. Rachel breaks up with Finn after he is drafted into the army and goes missing for four months. In this scene they have an argument about Rachel living in New York and following her dreams of being on Broadway while Finn says that his life has no direction and is stuck living in Ohio. The reason for this is because he had been kicked out of the army and doesn't have a college to go to. Also in this scene they talk about how Rachel has a new boyfriend who is a Broadway star and is the complete opposite to Finn. This is one of my favourite scenes because of how intense it is, there is a lot of emotions in this scene and I think that the two actors do well in capturing them.

In this scene there isn't a lot of different camera angles this is because they are mostly close ups. But the camera does change it now and again to get a point of view shot this is so that we can see how that character feels in that particular moment. There is also an over the shoulder shot this just shows the back of Finn's back while Rachel is still talking to him, this is used as a way of showing his body language. There is an extreme wide angle this is used to show the positioning of the characters, this angle is used to show their body language which shows how mad each of the characters are. In this wide angle you see that they are in the dark auditorium. The colour that they are wearing matches with the scenery as everything in the scene is back, this suggests that this is going to be quite an emotional scene. The wide angle also shows Rachel walking closer to Finn. There is a panning shot where Rachel runs towards Finn and the camera, this shot is used along with her talking and body language it just shows how mad she is. It ends with an extreme close up of Rachel's face, then an extreme wide angle of them together. The wide angle is used to show how intimate the scene is and finally an over the shoulder shot where Rachel is walking off. 

Images from the scene

The sequence of this shot is very important because the camera switches between both of the characters, this is done to show how each of them is feeling, the camera focuses a lot more on Rachel than it does on Finn because she is doing most of the talking. It focuses on Finn when he is talking or Rachel is asking him a rhetorical question and is making him feel guilty. The sequence is important because at the start the shots are a lot faster because of the intensity of it but after they get into the scene and the argument calms down the shots are a lot slower this is to reflect the mood of the characters. 

The music in the scene is really soft and gentle this is because the voices are intense and there is a lot of screaming. Unless you listen carefully you will miss the sound of the music because of the calmness of it compared to the voices. The main focus in this scene is the dialogue this is because it is the most important part of this scene. The music stops in places when the conversation gets louder as the music would be too overpowering but when there is no talking the music gets louder, this is so that the actors don't have to speak throughout the scene. At the end the music gets louder as they stop talking, there is no special effects. 

Compared to the other scenes where the editing started off as slow in this scene the editing starts off as fast this is because of the emotion in this scene. In this scene there is mostly cut shots where they go straight back to the other actor to see their facial expressions. Although there is an L cut show at the end to cut back after they kiss, this is used to show everything behind them. 

This scene was incredibly hard for both of the actors to shoot because of how emotionally draining it was because of the amount of crying and screaming in the scene. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avk_MZ2Fi1Y - 13th October

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glee_(TV_series) -13th October

http://realitytvmagazine.sheknows.com/2012/10/22/lea-michele-dishes-on-rachel-finn-breakup/ - 13th October

Critique of a scene - Perks Of Being A Wallflower.

Perks of Being A Wallflower is a novel by Stephen Chbosky it was made into a film in Septemberr 2012. Stephen directed it and was produced by Russell Smith, Lianne Halfon and John Malkovich. In this film they use single camera techniques because most of their shoots are outside and not on location shots. In this scene Charlie played by Logan Lerman has a mental breakdown. It starts off with him walking to the place where he last was with his Aunt before she got killed. It then goes into a flashback of his last time with his aunt, he is then seen crying looking distressed as he walks closer to where he was with her at this time there is two of him. Then there is another flash back with his Aunt and then it goes back to real age Charlie walking forward but now there are three of him. He then walks into his house and has another flash back of his Aunt in the car crash, then again back to real time where we see photos of the family together. The scene speeds up with Charlie having an anxiety attack with him whispering as the photos are viewed. Then there is a flashback to when the family is told his Aunt is dead he then runs to his room where he is whispering and crying. Flashbacks are then show from when he was younger and recently. He then blacks out.

http://www.tubechop.com/watch/1533181

Charlie's Breakdown Scene. 

In this scene there is about 50 shots in total. There is a lot in this scene compared to the others because this is a longer scene as this scene is 1.43 minutes. The reason for this scene being so long is because it's the most important scene in the film because every other scene in the film builds up to this moment. The first angle is a extreme wide angle this is because Charlie isn't initially in the shot  however a few seconds later in the distance he appears. The majority of the flashbacks are medium close ups, with most of them being two shots this is because they are mostly of Charlie and his Aunt. This is so that you see it up close what is happening but you also see where they are. The location is very important in this scene because Charlie returns to where his flashback was. Charlie is seen walking to the camera in a long shot this is to show his whole body and the area. The camera is looking at him from a slight angle this is so he seems more in control than he actually is, the reason for this is because during this shot he is actually crying. There are a few long shots one where there is two of him and one where there is three of him this is to show that he is going crazy. In the last shot he seems in control of the scene but in the next shot he is seen as inferior because it's a birds eye view and he looks small and vulnerable. Yet again there is another flashback which is a close up on his Aunt in the car crash and then a panning shot to all of her photos which then transits into a close up. There is then a over the shoulder the shot where the police are talking to Charlie's mum, this shot is used to shown Charlie's feelings. Finally there is a series of flashbacks which are all medium close ups. The shots have a variety of lengths with at the start the shots last for about 5-6 seconds but at the end each shots speeds up as the adrenaline gets more intensive.

Some of the camera angles from the scene. 

The sequence of the shots in this scene is very important because each shot implies how the character is feeling. The slower shots are at the start because Charlie's feeling aren't that strong but as the scene goes on it speeds up as Charlie's breathing speeds up so does the sequences which starts with the flashbacks from the furthest time ago and then gets to the nearest ones.

The music is played throughout and it's very dramatic and tension building, at the start the music is very slow, with voices speaking over when the flashbacks happens. The majority of this scene is a mix of music and vocals. The only time that sound effects happen is when his Aunt get crashed into this is because the tension has built up for this event. After the car crash the music continues and once the door slams the music speeds up by getting more and more intensive as Charlie whispers above the music, the music gets quieter as he gets louder then the music reaching it's peak of intensity as the scene blacks out.

The editing of the shots differs from the beginning of the scene to the end of the scene. At the start the editing between the shots is done really slowly this is because by the end we can see how much faster the editing has gotten.There aren't that many cut shots, with the majority of the shots being straight cuts this is because they are going straight from one shot to another. Although there is a lot of contrast cuts from where the flashbacks have taken place as it goes from flashback to real life as he is imagining it. After the crash there is a wipe cut which shows the aftermath of the crash where it shows all of the photos. There is a couple of L cuts where the sounds appears before the actual shot this is mainly when Charlie is whispering but you cant actually see him in the scene because it is a series of flashbacks. Finally the last cut is a fade out as Charlie blacks out the scene ends.

This scene was incredibly have to shoot for the actors because of the amount of shots taken this is because in this scene the editing is the most important part because of the amount of flashbacks. This is because in this scene there is more flashbacks then real time film.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Film_transition - 6th October 2013