BFI Southbank

Today, I went to the BFI in Southbank with my Media class. I really enjoyed it and I found it really useful. Firstly, Pete spoke to us about how the day was going to run and he taught us the basics of our openings like atomosphere, characters, genre, narrative and setting. He also spoke to us about credits and title design.
Pete then introduced us to a few film openings that he found quite interesting. We were shown 5 and they were the openings of Napoleon Dynamite, Dawn of the Dead, Once Upon a time in the West, Scott Pilgrim vs the World and Catch Me If You Can. They all had very eye-catching, technical elements to them that could give us some ideas.
We then had a man come and talk to us who is and has been an effects producer for films such as The Kings Speech and Soloman Kane. He told us how much hard work is put into a film opening as well as a whole film and what really goes on behind all the effects and techniques that we see. We got shown clips of how a film opening is all put together using the visual elements in editing for example green screening.

In the second half of the event, an actor and upcoming director came to speak to us called Dexter Fletcher who has been in Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Misfits and Bugsy Malone etc. He mostly spoke about the film he has just recently finished directing called 'Wild Bill' which he describes as 'a western kind of film set in East London' which I am really looking forward to seeing once it comes out in March. He showed us his opening and then a short clip from the film. I loved how in the film, there are lots of establishing shots, close up's and tracking shots. His method's of directing really interested me because he said 'I like the music and imagery to relate to each other as well as the characters.' He also said that he added a lot of strong visual images into the film in terms of the purpose of the characters. This interested me because this is what me and my group are aiming to do by making the music reflect the imagery and making the character stand out as an individual.
Lastly, Pete shows us some film openings that have been done by students in the past and we had to give them all a certain level, the levels being levels 1, 2, 3 and 4. We got shown 3 film openings. Two of them were quite standard and one was fairly bad in my opinion but at the end of each opening, we were aloud to give our own view on what we thought of them which I thought was a fun exercise to do at the end.

All in all, I really enjoyed today and it has given me some ideas for my group's film opening and how we can make it better.

^ Dexter Fletcher!

Filming Day 1.

The day we filmed for our opening went really well.
We were allowed to go out and film during one of our Media lessons so we all gathered together and headed down towards our set location. When we got there, it looked perfect. There were leaves everywhere, it was a bit damp, and not too cold which was ideal because it was the first type of weather we used and it didn't matter if it rained or if the sun came out but thankfully, it stayed the same and a bit foggy. After getting the camera set up, we began filming. We did so many takes using our story board that we actually lost track of time. We started filming at 1 and finished at about half 4 which is when it began to get dark. There were so many cuts because certain things didn't look right which we would have to change like a position of the camera or Elisha's position on the bike. We tried to use as many of our shots from our story board as we could but some just didn't look right however, we thought of alternatives instead which helped us a lot so that we weren't stuck on what to do. The whole day was pretty consistent. We always came up with a solution if something wasn't working. There were thankfully no arguments, we all just contributed our own ideas and tried to incorporate them all. For our first day of filming properly, I think we did really well and I can't wait to do more. It just depends if the weather holds out for us. The video below shows our edited footage so far. It's not very long however outtakes will be coming soon to show how much we did behind this.

Filming preperation

Before we started to film properly for our film opening, we all had to story board. We spent this lesson coming up with ideas on what shots we could use and from what angles. This lesson was useful because it helped us plan out our day of filming. It saved us from being stuck on what to do. Using our ideas, we went straight into filming and it was a very productive day which you will see in my following post. The video below shows me and my group talking about our ideas and also getting feedback from our teacher.

Location idea.

So all week, me and my group have been discussing where we could film our opening. We have had lots of ideas from Whitewebbs to Forty Hall. Megan suggested this location however and filmed her dog walk giving a brief description of how we could use it, what it's like etc. It is a park just around the corner from her house. The leaves in the park symbolise the season of autumn and the sound of the leaves rustling would make it effective. Seeing as we are going to be representing nature in our film opening, we will be using this location in all different types of weather if we can e.g rain, wind, sun etc. On the other hand, we don't want to use this location the whole time. We want our opening to look diverse.

Song Ideas

So this half term, I met up with my group and we were browsing Youtube to try and find some songs that would be suitable for our film opening. Here are some we came across. I like them all but I personally love the first one the most.

Treatment discussion

Final treatments
1. 1960's themed bike ride that flashes back the main character's treacherous childhood she tries so desperately to forget.

2. The final separation of two close friends due to university ends in tragedy as a car crash determines their future relationship.

3.Things take a turn for the worst when a girl is given shocking news about her dad on the day of her 18th birthday.

What we have done so far in Media Studies.

Camera Shots, Angles, Movement and Composition

Camera Shots/Angles

Close Up (CU) - A close up shot is a very intimate shot. It allows the audience to be lead in. CU shots are normally focused on a character or a section of the mise en scene.

Wide Shot (WS) - This angle takes up a full frame just like a long shot.

Over The Shoulder Shot - Mainly allows the audience to focus on the person facing the camera however part of the other character is shown facing away from the camera which may be part of their head/shoulder.

Low Angle Shot - These are used to make the audience feel small or like they are being looked down on by a character. The background will normally be the sky or ceiling.

Movement

Pan - The camera turns slowly from it's fixed position horizontally.



Tilt - The camera moves from it's fixed position vetically.

Composition


Focus Pull - The process of adjusting the lens to get a sharper image.

Rule Of Thirds - A technique where the frame is divided into sections to create reference points.








Editing

Eyeline Match - An edit that cuts from the character to whatever the character is looking at e.g another character or object.


Shot Reverse Shot - Usually happens in conversations in which scenes are shown from on character's point of view, then the others and then back to the first character's.


Graphic Match - Making the final shot of one sequence similar to the first shot. This helps smooth the transition between them and link them.

Sound

Non-Diegetic Sound - Sound that cannot be heard in the action e.g music to create dramatic effect.

Finished Preliminary

So this is my group's finished preliminary. I am really happy with the way it all came together and that we stuck to the 180 degree rule. The filming part was pretty easy and surprisingly, so was the editing which I was really worried about at first but it's just one of those things you have to get used to. I got the hang of it after a while. This really gave me a taster of what we will be doing in the future and I am really looking forward to editing more.

Prelims

So in this weeks lessons we have been working on our prelims. It was actually easier then I expected. I thought the positioning of the tripod and getting the right camera angles would of been a lot more complicated and technical but from observing how the people behind the camera in my group handled things, it seemed to go okay. I also didn't realise how much time it can take just to film a piece that may only have to be 10 seconds long. It takes consistancy and a lot of effort however, I enjoyed it. After we had all shot our prelims, we uploaded them to the Mac's and started to edit them. This also takes a lot of time however I think editing is the best part of media rather than the actual filming. I can't wait to get started on our film openings!

Media Studies booklet

ECS as and A2 Media Studies Course Booklet

Shot Reverse Shot and Match On Action

Shot Reverse Shot is the film technique where one character is looking at another and the other character is shown looking back at the first one. This allows the viewer to assume that they are looking at eachother because they are all looking in different directions.

Match On Action means that when something happens in a scene then when there is a cut the same piece of action must be going on. This shows continuity and helps the audience understand what is going on.

I was just browsing Youtube looking at past AS Media Studies film openings that have been done and I came across this one only it's not an opening to a film, it's a trailer but it has given me some ideas for the film opening I will be creating in the future with my group. There are multiple reasons why I enjoyed this one. The first one is the transition at 0:07 which caught my eye right at the start and made me want to watch more. I like how the transition went straight into a slow motion effect. I also liked how the face-to-face technique is being zoomed out at 0:21. An extra long shot is used at 1:33 that shows the person in the background and their purpose for being there which could be useful for our own. Lastly, blackout's have been frequently used that cut the different shots taken to show depth. This trailer has really inspired me to create something of a similar level.

Film Openings

So in today's lesson, we looked at lots of different film openings to give us ideas for our own ones. We watched some from past AS Media students from our school and also some from a different school. I must say, I am a tad worried about my group's film opening not being at the same level previous ones were but I'm sure we can handle it. We had to concentrate on the different techniques that were used, different camera angles and also, things not to do when editing our film openings. Watching all the different film openings has made me open my eyes and allowed me to come to the conclusion that Media takes a lot, and I mean A LOT of hard work, confidence and willingness. However, I am always up for a challenge...

You learn something new everyday.

So I was just browsing the app store on my iPod when I found out that the store has Blogger! Now I can post from my phone AND my iPod! So at least if I come across something useful that relates to my Media Studies, I can just post whenever and wherever! This is good.

Just created my AS Media Studies blog!
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