Creating A Short Piece

Moving on from creating silent films, I helped co-operate in producing a 45 second movie using varied camera shots, such as close-ups, over the shoulder and overhead shots, etc.

My group and I decided to dedicate our film to the genre of mystery, and we came up with the idea of an interrogation scene. We made sure the camera was fully focused on the actors so we got clear and crisp detail, and we used a range of shots like over the shoulder, over head, close-ups and medium close-ups. This was to create certain effects, for instance, a close up was used for tension, a wide hot was used to establish the scene and we also attempted an over-head shot to create a sense of 'power', like the audience were also looking down on the 'criminal'. It also creates a CCTV effect.

One thing I realised we struggled with is with the positioning of the camera, as the characters both switch from being on the left and right side of the screen. This is confusing to the viewer and it doesn't 'flow' well, as it seems that they switch place constantly.

We decided to not put dialogue in the film, instead we all edited different music into our edited versions. For my edit, I used tense music that was continuous, only changing the volume at certain moments.

Overall, I think we did well and I'm fairly proud of the short piece I edited.

Monster Poster Design

 There's a lot of time and work put into designing movie posters - as I recently learned. There's factors that are so small - colour, type, etc - that have a huge impact on a poster. I was told to design a movie poster about a monster - whether it be a comedy or whatever genre.

I ended up choosing a horror genre, and designed concepts of what the poster would look like. I choose a design of inside a monsters mouth with the title 'The Conjawing' - pun intended. Happy my choice, I got started.

At first, I used the pen tool for the teeth and mouth and claw marks. I then filled it with black and red, because they were dark and usually associated with danger or blood - which suits my genre. I chose a simple typeface for the poster, but I wasn't overly happy with the outcome.

I decided to do another version of the same concept with variations.

Below, you can see both designs next to each other. In the second version, I took out the claw marks as I felt they were a bit distracting, and I used a darker red for the mouth to make it a bit more eerie. Finally, I changed the typeface from one I used from dafont.com and I think this is more successful than the first as it's more advanced looking.


I also touched up my preferred poster in Photoshop and added shadows to improve the overall look of the the poster and make it seem less cartoon-y.

Below is the final image.

Overall, I'm happy with the outcome of my movie poster and I think it looks professional. I like how the type stands out and then you notice the teeth and shadows around it. I also like the contrast of the smaller font and bigger font in the mouth, and I think it's really effective.

Serif and Sans-Serif

There's a distinct difference between Serif and Sans-Serif, but it's important to know the difference and which you should use for certain places.

Serif is the small decorations on the end of letters (like in my blog), and sans is french for 'without' (meaning without the serif).

SERIF





SANS-SERIF



The use of serif should be in printed work, such as articles and novels. This gives the text a more distinctive look, and mean we can recognise them easily.

Sans serif, however, should be used for online work - such as texts, online articles and blogs. This is because of the screens on our devices, and that with serif we usually can't recognise letters as distinctively as opposed to using san-serif online.

(Well, I better go edit my blog!)

Source:http://www.betterwritingskills.com/tip-w017.html

Reflection Post (analysing trailers)

Being an ex-photography and literature student, analysing texts and images played a big part in my studies. Moods, tones, target audience, language and themes were things I was all too familiar with, so writing about these things were practically a second nature to me. However, there were things that were new to me, such as codes, conventions, and shots. These were media related terms that I learned about last week, and this helped me to analyse a trailer (previous blog).

Analysis helps in a lot of ways, such as understanding certain pieces, whether it be art, film, a photo or a poem. It helps you grow an opinion of such things and you start seeing things in a whole new light. For example, if you watch a movie and there's a scene which is only lit with 'moonlight', you can question why the director wanted that effect and how it makes the whole scene good or bad.

In fact, it's not just analytical terms that are new to me; there are loads of terms in media that I come across and think 'what the...?'

To the left is a list I have made on my Google Docs which I can access on my phone or computer easily. The list has started to grow with only a couple of weeks, and I refer back to it a lot, and I'm sure it'll only grow more.

The Jungle Book Trailer

A trailer that I want to talk about in detail, is Disney's new live-action The Jungle Book trailer. I chose this one because there's a lot to mention, like the range of sounds, images and how Disney have used similar styles to the old version of this film.

Firstly, I'll start with the trailer itself. It starts off quite dark, with small snippets of this wonderful rainforest to introduce the set of the jungle itself. Then, it goes to introduce certain animals - some we recognise but some have been altered, such as the Jaguar and the Bear are key in this film and that shows already as those animals have the most interactions with the small boy. However, the monkey in the older version now is giant and a bit more scary looking, and this adds interest to the audience as it shows that it isn't just a re-make of an old film.

There's many sounds in this trailer, too. There's a quiet soundtrack that plays most of the way through, but - at the beginning - you can hear clear dialogue asking questions such as 'what are you doing so deep in the forest?' and 'I know what you are'. This sparks interest in viewers who may not be familiar with the plot, and shows links from the old version for those who know the plot. There are also lots of animals sounds, like a tiger roaring, a snake hissing, and on. The trailer begins to pick up pace with lots of action, such as animal fights, and this is when the sound starts to become more intense and has more pace. Also, at the end there is a scene of the boy sat on the bear's front and the 'Bear Necessities' tune is being whistled. This clearly links the two films (old and new) together whilst looking completely different.

There's a varied amount of lighting and colour in the trailer. The trailer has gloomy looking lighting where the boy is venturing in the forest and with the snake, and this could be because he doesn't really know what is happening now - like the audience during the trailer. This lighting also happens when we see the giant monkey, which could present how we don't recognise that character straightaway as they have exaggerated him. Also, there's fully lit scenes using daylight dying scenes such as the jaguar and tiger fight scene, and this could be so that our focus is entirely on what is going on. Finally, there are scenes that are fake and lit by fire and flames, giving a scary mood. For example, the tiger appears in front of the flame the boy is holding and his entire face is lit up, showing the audience he is not a nice tiger. In contrast to, there's a dark scene where it is only lit by the moon so it is a lot softer, and the boy is holding his hand out to the jaguar. This is the a lot more friendly and it shows that the jaguar isn't there to hurt the boy.

In the trailer that are typical codes and conventions used to show us that it isn't just a child's film anymore. For instance, in the original film, it was all animated with talking animals and bright and vibrant colours. That showed it was directed at children as it had stereo-typical features such as the ones I mentioned. However, in this trailer, there's running scenes, paced music, bursts of colour (including fire, etc) and hardly any dialogue used. This looks like more of a stereotypical action movie, and shows the clear contrast of the original and re-make, as the new one is directed at older audiences.

Finally, there are limited props and costumes, and this gives us the feel the boy is in the jungle and living off hardly anything. This means when the bear and jaguar appear and seem to be friendly, the audience wave off the 'logic' of wild animals helping a boy, because he needs all the help he can get. Also, it's a Disney movie.

Overall, it's an amazing trailer and I totally recommend you watch it.

A Font...or Typeface?

We've all heard of fonts before, and we used them constantly - whether you're texting someone, writing an essay or even as you're reading this. Fonts are used everywhere, but there's more to it than we know.

A typeface is actually a particular design of type, which makes font a certain size, weight and style of a typeface.

Confused, yet?

Let me explain.

A typeface is a design of type (like I said previously), which means that 'New Times Roman' and 'Arial' are typefaces.

The dropdown bar to the left is a selection of certain typefaces, but there are still many more.

Fonts are different to typefaces, but they are still linked, as it's when you vary a typeface it becomes a font. This is when you use tools such as bold, italics, bold italics, and normal; the list goes on. So a font is a type of typeface.

I feel like I've said type way too often now.

Sound In Films

Sound is a major part in movies, but we hardly notice it because it can sound so natural and flows with the scene well.

I decided to look at different scenes in some genres and see the difference in the sounds in those scenes. For instance, I firstly looked at this scene in the live action Hercules where there's a lot of chaos and drama. Here there's loads of detail in audio - such as marching, fire crackling, screaming, rocks breaking and even a dramatic soundtrack. I compared this to a comedy genre film, Grown Ups, and here there is still detail, like cheering and water splashes, but there is no soundtrack and a lot more dialogue.

A technique of sound production is foley, and this is where sound effects are recorded separately to the actual film. Here's a video on YouTube, showing you how Foley works:

The group I made a short silent film decided to record certain sounds over the top of the footage. Then, we did separate edits of our final piece using Abode Premier Pro. Below you can see a screenshot of the video in working progress, but we used sounds such as clapping, footsteps, banging, knocking and recorded them, and then placed them into the video.

We didn't do any dialogue in the film, and, unfortunately, I couldn't manage to add a soundtrack (and, if I'm honest, I had no clue what soundtrack to add anyway). But I'm happy with my first attempt at sound in films, and - I can only hope - I'll get way way way better.

Colour Harmonies

What is a colour harmony?

“Harmony can be defined as a pleasing arrangement of parts, whether it be music, poetry, colour, or even an ice cream sundae.”

When it comes to colour, however, there are different types of colour harmony.

1. Complementary
2. Analogous
3. Triad
4. Split-complementary
5. Rectangle
6. Square

Complementary

This type is when there are two colours in harmony that are opposite each other in the colour wheel, example: red and green.

These colours are best for when you want something to stand out, such as an advertisement. However, these colours aren’t great for text and they can only be used in smaller doses.

An interesting fact is that complementary colours are good at balancing each other, and this is used in many products. For example, in Lush Cosmetics, there is a shampoo that is purple from the violet leaf absolute inside, and this is great for balancing any brassy tones in blonde hair because they are complementary colours.

Analogous

This is a harmony where the colours are next to each other on the colour wheel. This can be very pleasing to the eye and this scheme is usually associated with nature.  

Usually, you choose a main colour which will dominate (e.g. primary green), another to support your main colour (e.g. cyan) and another as an accent (e.g. a lighter green).

Triad

In this colour scheme, you choose colours that are evenly spaced around the colour wheel, and this gives a vibrant effect even if you use a lighter hue of those colours.

For a successful triad scheme, you should choose one colour dominant (e.g. purple) and two evenly spaced out colours to accent (e.g. orange and green)

Split complementary

This colour harmony type is a slight variation from the complementary harmony type, given that instead of two colours, you have three.

All you do is choose two colours adjacent from the colour you want (e.g. purple and orange are adjacent from primary green), and this gives less ‘tension’ than the complementary colour scheme, and it’s really easy to use.

Rectangle

This scheme offers lots of opportunities for variations when choosing colours. It’s similar to complementary as you have two complementary pairs on the colour wheel, but you can still let one colour be more dominant and that tends to make this scheme more successful.

Square

This scheme is very similar to a rectangle harmony as you have two pairs of complementary pairs, and it works best if you choose one dominant colour.

However, it is different as the pairs are more evenly spread out around the colour wheel.

Keeping Organised

Keeping organised is key for any course, and I'm not the best at it. If motivated, I can do a job well, but motivation doesn't come often for me and I usually forget that I have certain tasks to do in the first place.

With that in mind, I've put together a spreadsheet online - which I can access at home or on my phone - to keep my assignments under control. I've also set up reminders on my phone so I can't forget to do it - hopefully.

The spreadsheet includes a colour key, so that with just a look I can see what I need to do, and I don't forget to blog about it. (Lucky you.)

Anyway, that's all for now. Ciao.

Silent Film

In a world of IMAX, 3D and HD filming, it seems movies have been around for centuries.

However, movies did start somewhere, or should I say some-when? In the late 19th century the first film was ever made, but, because of the lack of technical equipment and knowledge, these films were in black and white and - you guessed it - silent. 

But, in silent movies you can see that for what they lack in technology wise, they made up for in their acting skills. Having no sound makes it difficult to portray certain things across to the viewers, such as characters, relationships between characters, and what the movie is about. Actors are generally over-dramatic in silent movies, and it's because they can't tell the viewer what they're saying or doing verbally - so they do it through their body language.

Things such as falling over or being in pain can't be expressed through screaming, yelling or cussing, so the actor's faces are over dramatic and can be funny, also. It's the same with anything in those movies - fear is expressed through intense shaking or crying, happiness is expressed through big smiles and moving about a lot, the list goes on.

Technical skills are also used but they are minimised. So camera skills such as zooming and even just moving the camera around didn't exist then. The camera usually just stays in one place for most of the movie, only cutting to the next scene occasionally, when needed. Also, there is a lack of colour as the films are presented in black and white, and there is usually text added to the video to explain quickly where the film is set or who is in the scene. Check out this short silent film by Charlie Chaplin:

I made a silent film with a small group, where two students are trapped inside a classroom all night. We used melodramatic movements and facial expressions, however, we did use zoom and panned the camera. It's an alright video (at least for our first), but we could've made it better by keeping the camera still.

Ciao! 

Peer Publishing

A week into the media course, and I've written a couple of articles already about some peers in my class, but today I used the software Adobe InDesign to make a polished-looking (kind of) article.

It's not totally finished, but I'm happy with the result, especially as it's my first attempt. I'm looking forward to using more advanced tools in the software to make even better articles, however.

My First Blog

I'm going to warn you now: this is going to be a pretty awful blog.

But it's not like I have a choice, so let's do this.

I have never written a blog before, and I have no clue what this will be like, but I guess time will tell.

I'm Meg and I'm 17, and starting a media course at Bath College. So far, it's great and I'm trying loads of new things - like this blog.

Sorry it's short, but welcome to my blog and - for your own sake - I hope it gets better.