Film 201 Screencraft #2

At this point in time we had a full cast and working title, filming started smoothly with my role as Grip being really fun suprisingly. I went through a tour of what I need to control and oversee for example the lighting positions and angles as well as helping build the set for pre-production.

Our whole production time frame was within a week but we finished it on Friday within the weekdays leaving the sound engineers and director to deal with the editing stage, overall being a Grip was stressful at moments as often I’m going back and forth collecting equipment and having to move equipment precision perfectly but the role is enjoyable and a breath of fresh air giving me a great deal of responsibility from the outset. By far the most challenging task was simply just checking over all the equipment after shoots as the amount we had was numerous, it was time consuming and normally required more people to help anyway. During our shoot we had the opportunity to use an Arri Alexa camera fitted with a TV showing all the recording footage, we felt overyoyed looking over our footage as a crew seeing all the minute details shine through, the light drifts of smoke, reflections on sweat and lighting saturation all blend remarkably. Being a Grip was the biggest step away from what I would usually be, it is definitely an option I could take and feel comfortable working as in the industry.

Belfast 21 Micro Documentary

In this blog post I will discuss creative decisions and challenges I overcame and lost during the Negotiated Project.

However i’ll discuss my film briefly in order to destruct my creative decisions further on, “Belfast 21” wasnt my first idea for the project as initially I gathered footage from Newcastle over New years, I planned on editing all 60 clips together whilst in Belfast over the coming lockdown however when I arrived and thought to start my project all my clips were in AVI Format to which Premiere Pro proceedingly gave me non-stop errors. With conversion of the AVI files having no success I needed to refilm everything in Ireland and thus this is film I have.

For this film specifically I wanted to retry my hand in rotoscope, ultimately it wasnt as polished as it could’ve been with only the intro being rotoscoped over, the end product for the other rotoscoped clips were a mess of moving scribbles but I like the intro for what it is and I feel technically that I succeeded in rotoscope.

Of course the theme of Belfast 21 might be an unusuall choice, but after living here a short time in Northern Ireland its clear that there are still issues continuing from The Troubles, although The Troubles ended back in 1998 a large majority of citizens living here still feel that The Troubles are still ongoing with sectarian voilence and segregation being a normalised problem. This is where my decision to contrast footage of Belfast now from footage of Belfast during the troubles.

I dont think my film paints a clear picture of the troubles with it being mostly footage of riots, although this isn’t an unjust depiction of The Troubles there is a myriad of events that impacted Ireland that I cant fit in my film.

My progress on the module has been a struggle, My confussion over the module started very early and to me this project has highlighted my lack of creative thoughts in my recent works. Whilst im sure these problems are temporary it hasnt made this process any less harder but in the end I have a final product that I achived considering the lockdown restrictions as well.

Director’s First Films

09/05/20

When watching and analysing a director’s first film we need to ask ourselves three main questions

Did they pursue their ideas within limitations and maximise the use of available resources?, How inventive and unique were their ideas? and What were the methods to make their films a reality?.

When I think of a Director’s first film I looked to Quentin Tarantino’s first written and directed film “My Best Friends Birthday”

 

When Quentin Tarantino made the film in 1987 he stylised the film in a vintage 60’s black and white and filmed on a 16mm camera given to him by film director Fred Olen Ray. The film overall took 4 years to properly edit and film because it was originally shot on Super 8mm and on a budget of 5000 USD along with having 80 pages of script. At first, the original edit was around 70 minutes of film, however, as frequent edits took place only 36 minutes of footage remained with the other 40 minutes being lost and unusable.

The plot of the film follows radio DJ Stevo Polyi (Quentin Tarantino) trying to create a memorable birthday for his best friend and subsequently backfiring each time. Even in his first film, it retains his memorable features from his next films e.g. Branching storylines, Symbolic music, Infamous one-liners etc.

At The time I think Quentin Tarantino’s film was unique especially in 1987 where vintage 16mm film wasn’t being used as much as camera technology had progressed.

The film has some very glaring problems though and at points, I had to playback certain lines to understand what was being said as the music was way too loud to hear the dialogue this is a very prevalent issue and can make certain scenes incredibly hard to stay interested in.

Quentin Tarantino definitely made use of his available resources within the general themes of his film with the camera and music choices fitting to the aesthetic as well as costume design pertaining to the 60s  atmosphere the film portrays. The methods Quentin used to make his film a reality mainly circled around character development and how the story progressed around 2 narratives.

Although at points the film can feel a bit dragy and almost like it’s pulling you along, it’s quite difficult to stay interested and motivated to see the full outcome and even then the film ends on a bizzare note making what feels like a journey into a bore.  But it has it’s redeeming qualities, on top of being an insight into a very acclaimed director’s filming processes, it gives observations on charatcer development, story-telling and how to fit modern day resources into a prior time period that for a lot my collaeagues and friends is an unkwown. Watching the film was indeed unfullfilling at points however it had a type of charm to it much like a B-Movie or a “So bad its good” movie that made it enjoyable to view and anaylse.

Observation Writing Excercise

25/04/20

When researching for my script I wanted to take influence from a BBC Three documentary on Britain’s Teenage Drug Runners, and thus create a character with a developed scene.

After fully watching the documentary I decided to take notes from the runner known as “SK”. A 16-year-old teenager, running drugs in the British countryside for a local gang in London. His day to day life consists “blending in” and not attracting attention from the locals and police.

He travels through train journeys over a period of 2 to 3 weeks, if he doesn’t come back with a minimum of £500 profit, he’s got to explain why. He carries himself almost sheepishly through the streets in daytime and with more confidence as night falls.

 

He explains his means for his line of work as merely “making dough” for him and his family. With money troubles, crime and lack of opportunity in his area, money in the quantity he gets from dealing and running doesn’t give him a reason to get a job despite being robbed or taking heat from his bosses.

A striking part of the documentary is when one of the councillors tells the audience that he knew a teenager who brought his mother a flatscreen TV without asking “Where or how he got the TV” highlighting the blissful ignorance or lack of knowledge the parents have when it comes to their kid’s profits and lives. “SK” even mentions that his parents never call him or text him while he’s gone on a drug run for 3 weeks, never questioning him on his travels.

 

 

 

 

I made the script in Celtx however I found it difficult to format the script into images that were actually readable so instead, I downloaded the script in a “Txt” file but this also made it confusing to read. So as a compromise, I had to crop out the scene transitions and act transitions.

 

 

The script isn’t truly meant to show the reader Dante’s thoughts, more his attitude and reluctance to get help in the face of death and his distrust of the police. Even in the bare-bones nature of the script I also put an emphasis on the environment e.g “The old concrete ground” and “Dim glow of the street lamp” along with also describing the scenery like “a cobblestone street” and “Lying against the brick wall”. I believe creating a scene to accompany the script is valuable when filmmaking as it allows a cinematographer to picture how the scenes will play out and flow.

Film 101 Location Photography

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In today’s film module 101 lecture we were tasked with finding locations around Plymouth that have a theme in Film predominantly architecture. So I and my friend at first wandered a bit aimlessly thinking of spaces with unusual features when on our way to Union St we passed the disused ToysRUs car park and decided that this was our stop.

We got there and for what we could see it was incredible, from the roof it felt like we were looking from a high-rise absorbing a new perspective of Plymouth. We could see all the way from the Theatre Royal down to the bottom of Union St and including the Hoe, standing where we were I felt a sense of insignificance looking down on the people and viewing everything.  That’s the oxymoron of city living, In the city where the world is our oyster and free to do as we please we still get a hint of smallness everything feels bigger than us and out of our reach.

The camera we used was a Canon DSLR and the blue tint was a mix, both a menu setting we used as well as its own dark hue adding a natural gloomy, isolating sentiment. However, the images could’ve used a little colour enhancing the blues are very strong and maybe come across as quite overpowering.

After we were finished at the car park we continued on our path to Union St taking pictures of the abandoned Theatre and various shops and building until we reached the Abandoned pub The Pheonix it was distressed and horribly decrepit and the car park adjacent to it harbored broken cars and junk with the private parking sign saturated with rain and mold, a cold, depressing and somber image. It’s only a walk down the road from the well-kept and clean Uptown to the broken and discarded Downtown.

At the end of our task, we achieved in finding unusual and surreal architecture that feels like two different sides of the same coin. they’re the same place, same city but drastically contrasting in tone and notion

 

Contextual Study Lecture #1

08/10/19

In my first lecture being introduced to Contextual Study, I was perturbed by the fact that I wasn’t in the first lecture and was concerned I missed some crucial information and the title didn’t really seem to convey a sense of what the lectures were actually about.

It was only when I sat down with my classmates and took in the idea’s being spoken about that I came to understand what this lecture was entailing, I opened my notebook and wrote down some examples of contextual study specifically in film and also an example using a famous painting known as “Son Of Man” by Rene Magritte.

What does Contextual Study mean?

Contextual Study to me is the nature of outside influences forming the idea’s to art, it could be the backdrop to a scene or meaning of motion in photography, the actions of humans in a self-portrait, however in the application of terminology I believe it’s used in the process of analysing historical, political, cultural, or social constructs in media whether that be film, photography, fashion, animation etcetera.

Whilst in the lecture I jotted five quick examples that I understood after the fact

• The difference between masculinity and femininity in 1970’s society in the film Taxi Driver
• Understanding mental illness in Forest Gump
• Conflict of ideologies and class in Les Miserables
• The historical connotations behind Apocalypse Now and Full Metal Jacket
• The political and cultural dilemmas behind Pocahontas

The examples are short and more of something to be thought upon and analysed at a later date however I did want to add a different form of media that could be used in Contextual Study so I particularly chose the painting Son Of Man because of its surreal art aspect and non-sensical symbolic meaning this goes for most of Rene Magritte’s artwork including Golconda and The Lovers

Portfolio Of Professional and College work

This is a document detailing the professional, educational work I’ve done over the 2 years of being in college. 

Which includes the work I’ve done for the agency, the footage for Street Factory and the work I’ve done during my first and second year at college. 

 

I’ll be going into detail about the processes and developments that went into creating the work as well as the complications and strides that I encountered during the time creating them.

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Street Factory Professional Work

The Street Factory work was started in mid-July and involved me and two other students in a documentary style video aimed at promoting the up and coming renovation of their facility and getting to know the people in charge of the restorations.

Me and my colleagues made individual B-Roll footage for the documentary titled “Hip Hop Hope”. We compiled our own clips into a full video to use as evidence if wanted

“Hip Hop Hope” will be shown at the debut of the building after its completed renovations.

 

Overall Street Factory was a good first first step into professional filming as it wasn’t too challenging and allowed us to truly utilise our skills and knowledge that we’ve learnt during our time filming and learning. We filmed every Thursday for 8 weeks to gather the footage they wanted to use.

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Graphic’s Design Poster For the Agency

From mid-October to Christmas, me and 10 other students were hand selected to be involved in a college agency aimed to continue after many years of students have moved on, we are the first team of students associated with the college agency. Our first commission in the agency was to design a piece of media for Mt Tamar School, so I was in charge of creating a piece of digital graphic design, specifically a poster about the transition form school to later life.

So my project went through 3 major stages form the base idea to considerable progress and completing it with 5 different designs

In the end we went with the original edit I did first which was just evening haze poster, over the span of a week the poster was completed with information detailing to college and who to ask for help and as well to careers outside of institutions. After the media was completed it was sent off to Mt Tamar, Achieving our first paid commission. Once we finish our second year at college, the next second years will be controlling the commissions as the Agency. Years down the line as we’ve progressed in our lives we may be asked upon by the agency to do some activities and help with projects and commissions with the newest second years, I look forward the agency at its peak in the near future.

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My Show-reel of Videos

From Year 1 to Year 2, the compilation of clips of my favourite and most creative work.

Personally I wish I had better footage as their quite short and require a bit of context however they work to their effect and I know it shows the extent of what I can do.  The show-reel highlights 8 works of both individual and professional projects I created or was involved including class videos and graded assignments. They span from the second month of my first year to September of 2018 in my second year.

 

 

 

 

 

Overall Evaluation

I have produced a poster in the style of “minimalism” and “See America” as a commission for Mt Tamar Secondary School, “How Is It commercial ?” it is commercial as it is a product being commissioned in the aim of aiding Teenagers transition from school to adult life whether that be an apprenticeship, college etc.

“What Is The Target Audience ?”   The target demographic is teenagers aged from 13 to 16 with interests in advancing and furthering their education, we also Included a secondary audience aimed at parents with providing information about what institutes and businesses provide opportunities for teenagers.

“Does Your Work Communicate Effectively To Your Target Audience ?” After the Filming Team in the Agency made a video detailing the aspirations of teenagers after their school lives, we adapted the poster with aspects and references to what the students want in  order to give an idea into how to transition.

The poster communicates with the audience by giving information on institutes and websites that help teenagers transition into adulthood, the poster shows a warm colour pallet in the hopes of being more welcoming and eye-catching.

“How Has Your Research Influenced Your Work ?” The research I used greatly impacted the poster’s development as time went on, from creating a survey on poster styles to learning the history of posters made in 1920’s, the research has had high significance in fully combing two different poster styles to make the paramount poster for the commission.

“Has The Project Gone well ?” The project has gone very well, I’m incredibly pleased with my product as well as my own personal progression because I’ve overcame obstacles that would’ve otherwise stressed me out or even halted my momentum and being that this is my first professional use in graphic design its, in my eyes, an achievement to get this far, I’ve been given compliments, constructive criticism and praise on my development on the projects journey, the project has been an enjoyment and stride in my confidence. “What Has Specifically Gone Well ?” My use of Photoshop as I’ve become very adept in using the Program and creating mental techniques of what I did and how I can evolve certain aspects of designs, my confidence has been helped as my Tutors have given me feedback and ideas on what works well, what needs changing etc. People have shown praise to my design and have inadvertently helped me cope and overcome problems when they arose.

“How Could You Improve In The Future ?” I can improve my understanding of Photoshop in finding new techniques and tools to benefit my advance in the overall process of graphics design. In all honesty I cant really think of a stronger response as I feel I’ve really evolved well during this project both in tenacity and growth in my work, I’m pleasantly surprised in my  growth and experience during this project.

“How Will It Impact Future Projects ?” As of learning all these different tools, techniques, programs, strategies etc. I can say my experience will greatly benefit my future projects and goals in the future.

Poster Experiment’s

 

22/11/18

As of this post I’ve completed my poster for the agency so I’ve sent it to the illustration team so they can change aspects of the poster to what they think would work better as the actual paid commission.

Thus as I’m waiting for the Illustration team to complete the poster, I was creating experimental versions of the poster to show for personal progression on the blog and how gradually the poster has come to form.

Now after the versions are completed, I’m going to send them off to the illustration team as it may be easier choice for them to one of the experimental versions.

Main Poster Progress #2

15/11/18

So far I’m very happy and pleased with the progress of the poster, it is very near completion for the agency. Now I have to do some small tweaks and drawing in some minor details to fully complete the poster, After I’ve completed it I’ll have sent it to the Illustration team for redesigns and changes.

It took me a while to fully recreate some of the more pronounced edges and unfortunately I already created a completed design for the poster however it wasn’t saved properly to Google Drive so it didn’t appear after I completed it a day after, this was a frustration in itself  so I had to remember what I changed in the final version. Unsuccessfully I tried to redevelop some of the changes but it didn’t turn out the way I wanted and I preferred this version and other people also said the same, so I kept this version as the final design.