Thursday 23 October 2014
Stop Motion Filming
Stop Motion Filming- Creating Our Own
Within our lesson we learnt how to do stop motion, I worked with Kayla and we had to used play dough. Our idea was 2 people dancing. Our plan was to do famous dances, so we decided on the Michael Jackson moonwalk, the dirty dancing lift and moves, when we started it, the initial idea of moving the people, taking a photo, moving a little more and taking a picture was very tedious, but you got used to it after a while. we started to do simple walking with our play dough made people, which was simple but when it got the iconic dirty dancing lift, we didn't really think it through of how the person would be in the air and we take a photo. the puppets were not strong enough to hold them alone, so for a small while they would hold but not when the 'girl' was fully above the others head. As a bright idea we stuck a pencil in the back of the elevating person so we could control it, the outcome was pretty successful, overall, but maybe we should have planned before how we would execute this. Our filming wasn't perfect but we kept the camera straight at all times, and it was creative.
Behind Stop Motion Filming
Definition:
In animation, stop motion animation is a cinematic process, or technique used to makes static objects appear as if they were moving. This technique is commonly used in Claymation and puppet-based animation. The objects are brought to life by breaking up the figure's motion into increments and filming one frame of film per increment.
History:
Stop motion animation has a long history in film. It was often used to show objects moving as if by magic. The first instance of the stop motion technique can be credited to Albert E. Smith and J. Stuart Blackton for Vitagraph's The Humpty Dumpty Circus (1897), in which a toy circus of acrobats and animals comes to life. In 1902, the film Fun in a Bakery Shop used the stop trick technique in the "lightning sculpting" sequence. French trick film maestro Georges Méliès used stop motion animation once to produce moving title-card letters in one of his short films, and a number of his special effects are based on stop motion photography. Now Stop motion is a popular form of creating movies, and as technology is getting better each year, so it stop motion filming.
Examples of stop motion movies:
The Tale of the Fox
Wallace and Grommet
Coraline
Dougal and the Blue Cat
Lost Continent
The Maker
Alice
Within our lesson we learnt how to do stop motion, I worked with Kayla and we had to used play dough. Our idea was 2 people dancing. Our plan was to do famous dances, so we decided on the Michael Jackson moonwalk, the dirty dancing lift and moves, when we started it, the initial idea of moving the people, taking a photo, moving a little more and taking a picture was very tedious, but you got used to it after a while. we started to do simple walking with our play dough made people, which was simple but when it got the iconic dirty dancing lift, we didn't really think it through of how the person would be in the air and we take a photo. the puppets were not strong enough to hold them alone, so for a small while they would hold but not when the 'girl' was fully above the others head. As a bright idea we stuck a pencil in the back of the elevating person so we could control it, the outcome was pretty successful, overall, but maybe we should have planned before how we would execute this. Our filming wasn't perfect but we kept the camera straight at all times, and it was creative.
Behind Stop Motion Filming
Definition:
In animation, stop motion animation is a cinematic process, or technique used to makes static objects appear as if they were moving. This technique is commonly used in Claymation and puppet-based animation. The objects are brought to life by breaking up the figure's motion into increments and filming one frame of film per increment.
History:
Stop motion animation has a long history in film. It was often used to show objects moving as if by magic. The first instance of the stop motion technique can be credited to Albert E. Smith and J. Stuart Blackton for Vitagraph's The Humpty Dumpty Circus (1897), in which a toy circus of acrobats and animals comes to life. In 1902, the film Fun in a Bakery Shop used the stop trick technique in the "lightning sculpting" sequence. French trick film maestro Georges Méliès used stop motion animation once to produce moving title-card letters in one of his short films, and a number of his special effects are based on stop motion photography. Now Stop motion is a popular form of creating movies, and as technology is getting better each year, so it stop motion filming.
Examples of stop motion movies:
The Tale of the Fox
Wallace and Grommet
Coraline
Dougal and the Blue Cat
Lost Continent
The Maker
Alice
Wednesday 15 October 2014
Documentary- Chairboy Storyboard
We are creating a mockumentary about a boy- Jake who is in love with a chair since the age of 5, we filmed the character in his everyday life and struggles, and how his friends and family were coping with their boys strange antics. Dr Zachary was a psychiatrist trying to treat Jake with his unorthodox ways of which he met when he was young, but Jake thinks he is just an older friend, not a doctor. I am working in a group with Matt Pummell, Phil Davis and James Huxtable, before actually creating our Chairboy, there was a lot of background research needed to be done first.
We storyboarded the production of what is going to happen in it:
We storyboarded the production of what is going to happen in it:
But after actually creating it, the real filming turned out different because we storyboarded it early on and our ideas changed.
captain phillips review- sounds- mise-en-scene
Narrative Theories applied in Shrek
As we focused on the 3 main narrative Todorov, Barthes and Propp, i applied the narrative theories to a well known movie-Shrek,a fairlytale based cartoon comedy.
Todorov:
Equilibrium: Shrek lives in his swamp house alone, meets Donkey in the forest, Shrek has a quiet life with no worries.
Disequilibrium: Lord Farquard takes his swamp house away, Shreks determined to get it back, with the help of Donkey and Puss-in-boots, he meets Fionna and falls in love with her, when she is a Ogre and not. Prince Charming gets in the way of Shrek and Fionna's love story.
Equilibrium: Shrek and Fionna fall in love together and he gets his swamp back, they live Happily ever after.
Barthes:
Protagonist/hero: Shrek
Villan: Lord Farquad/Prince Charming
Heroine: Fionna
Father:Shrek
Helper: Donkey
Doner: Gingerbread man, 3 pigs, wolf
Mentor: Puss-in-Boots
Sunday 12 October 2014
Opening to My Week With Marilyn- 2011
Mise-en-Scene in My week with Marilyn
Colin Clark, an employee of Sir Laurence Olivier's, documents the tense interaction between Olivier and Marilyn Monroe during the production of The Prince and the Showgirl.
Setting:
Set in the 1950's and 60's, firstly in a theatre when Colin is watching Marilyn on the screen, there are other people in the theatre surrounding him, also enjoying watching a beautiful women on the screen.Then it goes to a beautiful home, in the English country side, there is lots of greenery around. Its like castle, you can tell the family are well off. Then it goes to busy London, the posh part, with cars, detached buildings which you can tell are higher class. You then go inside on of the buildings, which has alot of wood and posh finery.
Lighting:
At the start its a spotlight on Marilyn as Colin watches her on screen, the spotlight focuses on her beauty. Then when it switches to outdoors its natural lighting, and then when ever the scene is inside the lighting is indoor lighting.
Costume:
Very glamorous dresses that Marilyn wears, the men wear suits, everyone is smartly dresses, with fitted clothing, everyone is very well-dressed as they are upper class people.
Acting:
At the start there is mainly men in the audience, they are all enjoying being there as they are watching such a beautiful lady on screen. The actors are very well spoken, with clear Britsh accents.
Editing:
The credits are at the start, they are shown very elegantly like the movie is. It switches from the castle to the London streets then back to the rural landscape.
Camera Shots:
Panning out, to focus on the large house, then close up on peoples faces to show expression and the mood. When Colin is waiting for a job in films, he waits for hours, so keeps switching what he does, sitting, standing, looking around, each shot lasts for about 2-3 seconds, this is also part of the editing, as it is a wide shot but changes frequently.
Colin Clark, an employee of Sir Laurence Olivier's, documents the tense interaction between Olivier and Marilyn Monroe during the production of The Prince and the Showgirl.
Setting:
Set in the 1950's and 60's, firstly in a theatre when Colin is watching Marilyn on the screen, there are other people in the theatre surrounding him, also enjoying watching a beautiful women on the screen.Then it goes to a beautiful home, in the English country side, there is lots of greenery around. Its like castle, you can tell the family are well off. Then it goes to busy London, the posh part, with cars, detached buildings which you can tell are higher class. You then go inside on of the buildings, which has alot of wood and posh finery.
Lighting:
At the start its a spotlight on Marilyn as Colin watches her on screen, the spotlight focuses on her beauty. Then when it switches to outdoors its natural lighting, and then when ever the scene is inside the lighting is indoor lighting.
Costume:
Very glamorous dresses that Marilyn wears, the men wear suits, everyone is smartly dresses, with fitted clothing, everyone is very well-dressed as they are upper class people.
Acting:
At the start there is mainly men in the audience, they are all enjoying being there as they are watching such a beautiful lady on screen. The actors are very well spoken, with clear Britsh accents.
Editing:
The credits are at the start, they are shown very elegantly like the movie is. It switches from the castle to the London streets then back to the rural landscape.
Camera Shots:
Panning out, to focus on the large house, then close up on peoples faces to show expression and the mood. When Colin is waiting for a job in films, he waits for hours, so keeps switching what he does, sitting, standing, looking around, each shot lasts for about 2-3 seconds, this is also part of the editing, as it is a wide shot but changes frequently.
Opening to This is England-2006
A story about a troubled boy growing up in England, set in 1983. He comes across a few skinheads on his way home from school, after a fight. They become his new best friends even like family. Based on experiences of director Shane Meadows.
Setting:
Set in 1983-4, the opening with the credits is England during that time, a montage of the different events happening then. Then the actual movie starts with a young boy of about 11, in his bedroom, his room looks scruffy and messy, like a typical boys room, but there is not wallpaper, the room needs to be redone, its very run down. Then at a school, a shop and the under a bridge where he meets elders (aged 18-20)
Lighting:
Its old fashioned lighting, as if it was filmed on an 80's camera at the time, it gave the effect of real footage, to add to the effect of the decade.
Costume:
80's clothing, lots of denim, bomber jackets, flares, funky patterns. You had your own group style, you could tell who was part of which group.
Acting:
The young boy was picked from a large group of boys, the production team went to a school for a few days watching the boys trying to find out who would be best for the part.The one they chose had never done acting before, he has fitted into the role well. The language is appropriate for that time, he has to act alot older than he is, because that is how the main character in the opening is portrayed. In the first 5 minutes there is a fight between the main boy and a rivalled bully.
Editing:
At the very beginning of the movie there is a montage of the events happening in the 80's, the good, the bad and the ugly parts, and then the credits switch in and out.
Camera shots:
There are a variety of shots and angles, most of them are wide to show what is going on in each shot, some are closer up to show expression. But the majority of them are wide, long or medium shots.
Opening to the Graduate- 1967
Mise-en-scene in the opening to The Graduate
The Graduate is about a recent college graduate Benjamin Braddock, who is trapped into an affair with Mrs. Robinson who happens to be the wife of his father business partner and then finds himself falling in love with her daughter, Elaine. In Mr Cole's class we studied the opening to 5 different types of movies. I am picking 3 different ones to study, firstly The Graduate.
Setting:
Its firstly set on an aeroplane, to then it switches to the airport, then its mainly on a travelator, where there is limited movement.
Lighting:
There is no specific lighting, just indoor normal lighting.
Costume:
The main character who we focus on, is dressed formally in a suit, the background people are all dressed in normal everyday clothing.
Acting:
When Braddock is standing on the travelator the acting is very plain, but its extremely good and simple. Sometimes, in this case, minimal acting is most effective. While the passengers are all sitting on the aeroplane, they are all facing forward, some are up straight, others are slouching they look warn out and bored. Dustin Hoffman plays Benjamin Braddock.
Editing:
There is low editing apart from switching between the credits of who directed, produced etc, and who actual film opening. Also editing from the name of the movie,
Camera Shots:
In the first scene there is a 3 second close up on Benjamin Braddock's face then it zooms out to the interior of an aeroplane with passengers sitting around him. Then when he is in the airport you watch him get on the travelator where then the camera shots are panning along with him as he is moving. Then we focus on his suitcase in exactly the same way, following it along the travelator.
The Graduate is about a recent college graduate Benjamin Braddock, who is trapped into an affair with Mrs. Robinson who happens to be the wife of his father business partner and then finds himself falling in love with her daughter, Elaine. In Mr Cole's class we studied the opening to 5 different types of movies. I am picking 3 different ones to study, firstly The Graduate.
Setting:
Its firstly set on an aeroplane, to then it switches to the airport, then its mainly on a travelator, where there is limited movement.
Lighting:
There is no specific lighting, just indoor normal lighting.
Costume:
The main character who we focus on, is dressed formally in a suit, the background people are all dressed in normal everyday clothing.
Acting:
When Braddock is standing on the travelator the acting is very plain, but its extremely good and simple. Sometimes, in this case, minimal acting is most effective. While the passengers are all sitting on the aeroplane, they are all facing forward, some are up straight, others are slouching they look warn out and bored. Dustin Hoffman plays Benjamin Braddock.
There is low editing apart from switching between the credits of who directed, produced etc, and who actual film opening. Also editing from the name of the movie,
Camera Shots:
In the first scene there is a 3 second close up on Benjamin Braddock's face then it zooms out to the interior of an aeroplane with passengers sitting around him. Then when he is in the airport you watch him get on the travelator where then the camera shots are panning along with him as he is moving. Then we focus on his suitcase in exactly the same way, following it along the travelator.
Friday 3 October 2014
Narrative Theories
Narrative Theories
in Mrs O'Connor's media lesson we studied -
Todovor:
his study was of the 3 stages of a film,
the Equilibrium- which is the start of a story, when everything is good and normal.
the Disequilibrium- is the crisis in the story, e.g. a crash, accident, a bad wedding..
the New Equilibrium- when everything returns back to normal- it is resolved and everyone is happy.
Barthes:
sees everything as a code or a series of codes.
Technical code- camera angles, edit lengths, sound
Verbal code- what people say, the speech
Symbolic code- connotation-denotation e.g. red rose means romance and ragged clothes mean poverty.
Propp:
interested in the characters types and that each movie has:
Protagonist (Hero)- leads the narrative, is usually looking for something ( a quest) or trying to solve a mystery, does not have to be a male.
Antagonist (Villain)- gets in the protagonists way
Heroine- is usually some sort of reward for the hero, the heroine is usually a female but can be male.
Father- An authority figure who offers a reward to the hero for completely their quest. That reward might be a prince/princess or a cool new job.
Helper- Helps the hero- often acts as a sidekick.
Donor- Gives the hero something- a clue, a taliman, a special power- which helps them complete their quest.
Mentor- Teachers and guides the hero.
in Mrs O'Connor's media lesson we studied -
Todovor:
his study was of the 3 stages of a film,
the Equilibrium- which is the start of a story, when everything is good and normal.
the Disequilibrium- is the crisis in the story, e.g. a crash, accident, a bad wedding..
the New Equilibrium- when everything returns back to normal- it is resolved and everyone is happy.
Barthes:
sees everything as a code or a series of codes.
Technical code- camera angles, edit lengths, sound
Verbal code- what people say, the speech
Symbolic code- connotation-denotation e.g. red rose means romance and ragged clothes mean poverty.
Propp:
interested in the characters types and that each movie has:
Protagonist (Hero)- leads the narrative, is usually looking for something ( a quest) or trying to solve a mystery, does not have to be a male.
Antagonist (Villain)- gets in the protagonists way
Heroine- is usually some sort of reward for the hero, the heroine is usually a female but can be male.
Father- An authority figure who offers a reward to the hero for completely their quest. That reward might be a prince/princess or a cool new job.
Helper- Helps the hero- often acts as a sidekick.
Donor- Gives the hero something- a clue, a taliman, a special power- which helps them complete their quest.
Mentor- Teachers and guides the hero.
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