Sound can make or break a production!!!

Sound is crutial within a film. There are many different factors that can make or break a film and sound is one of these. There are three main types of sound that we will include in our short film, these are:

Ambient sound: formally known as sound included on camera, environmental sound. These can be sounds such as birds tweeting, trees swaying in the wind and airoplanes flying over. All these sounds help to add realism to the film but are not always wanted.

Non-digetic sound: These are sounds that are added on after filming such as a voice over commentary of the narrator or a charracter monologue. Mood music can also be added on afterwards to build tenshion or create and build an atmosphere wheather it be scary, romantic or sorrow. The use of mood sound can create many different atmospheres and can have a huge impact on the way a scene is portrayed to the audience. The use of no sound can also create different atmospheres such as secularisation aswell as this it can aslo build tension or heighten the intensity of a particular scene due to the sudden absence of sound or injection of it.

Digetic sound: These are sounds that are included on camera such as charrachter speech, music played through a charrachters radio and subtle sounds made by the charracters with props, such as the siliding of a chair from under a table, or the click of a gun. These sounds can also be known as incidental sounds.
These sounds are just a small number of the type of sounds films inlude but our short film is only 5minutes long so the main three types of sound that we will be using are the three above, especially focasing on charrachter monologues due to this being a recurring technique that we want to incorroporate.

Although we have a small budget we have assces to great video editing software: Imovie and sony vegas pro. This will enable us to include stock sound effects as well as recording our own. The main sound effect that we want to use would be a disticntived sound which the audience can relate to which then signifiers a transition in time becasue our main charracter is going to have multiple quick flashbacks throught the progression of the short film and a quick sound to signifier the change in location and time could act as a sound bridge which informs the audience of this disequlibrium in cronologicall order. Another main peice of sound that we want to include is a peice of mood music, which will be added on after filming and this sound track will heighten the impact of the content. We want to have the last minute of the film with minimul dialogue consequently making the soundtrack the main focus within the audience and we want to get an appropite soundtrack which will stike a very dark and sorrowfull mood within the audience.

Three inspirational films from our teachers extensive DVD collection

After pitching our film, our teacher had a better understanding about what we wanted to produce (suggesting the pitch went well!!) and she found us three films from her endless collection of DVD's to watch, which had some similar elements which we suggested in our pitch but as well as this, she gave us two films that are based around different cultures. One is Apocalypto, directed by Mel Gibson a very famous film director chooses to film Apocalypto in Yucatec Maya language which distances the audience from the film because you are clueless to what they are saying, yes you can add subtitles but the way that the film is professionally directed utilizing techniques which make the visual narrative stand out and tell the story more enables the audience to watch the film and follow the film easily but due to the language barrier the audience imagination becomes part of the viewing experience which both me and Blaine think is a very good way to get the audience involved and this is defiantly a technique that we will research further and try and incorporate within our short film.



The other is also directed by Mel GibsonThe passion of the christ, which both me and Blaine also watched and this film dramatizes the last 12 hours of Jesus' life and the visual experience becomes the dominant story teller for an audience such as ourselves due to the cultural differences.



These two films by Mel Gibson will act as great examples of were the visual story has to be excellent in order for the audience to follow the narrative and after watching these films myself and Blaine feel that we have gained good knowledge of this technique and how this could effect our short film if we chose to incorporate such techniques.
The last film that we were given to watch was Dead mans shoes, directed by Shane Medows and the reason for this film being relevant to our short film is the way the director can exhibit the most uncanny and bizarre events, within reality and realistic locations through the use of very well written dialogue and characterisation to make the audience think that that is normality.



Blaine Keneally has created a very analytical post on the films that we watched, follow the link bellow for a more depth deconstruction and extracts of the films:
http://blainekenneallya2media.blogspot.com/2010/10/directorial-techniques-to-consider.html

Whilst I was searching for a picture of the film Apocalyto I came across a review of the film and some views of a critic. They had very negative views of the film saying that the visual effects and cinematography were good but altogether the narrative just made him keep looking at his watched due to the fact he was bored.

"Here is a movie that immediately grabbed me almost from the word go. And then its grip loosened and loosened until I just didn't really find myself caring anymore"

After reading this I just couldn't disagree more with his views and that the man fighting to save his families life and unborn child offers a truly gripping narrative exploring the idols of selfishness and courage.
But this is my opinion and he is entitled to his.(even if it is wrong/I'm joking)

To view his views of the film follow the link bellow:
http://www.stomptokyo.com/reelopinions/2006/12/apocalypto.html

Initial ideas pitch to potential consumers

This is our first presentation giving you an insight into some of the ideas we want to incorporate into our short film. We did research on what a short film conventinally consists of, a bit of history about them, some typical genres and narratives as well as pitching to our class (the bottom end of our potential age bracket for consumers)what our interesting narrative would be aswell as some music that could be used.
We want to make a very psycological short film which explores the actions of others and how the very helpfull and selflisness citerzen can often go unoticed.
To view our 20 minute pitch (ironic that the pitch is longer than the final product) watch the video bellow kindly uploaded by my co-director. Blaine Kenneally

Project Pitch from Blaine Kenneally on Vimeo.

Inspiration for our short film

These are the video's that show some very good camera shots which I would like to incorporate into our short film, the first video is from 'Awaydays' its about a two young boys who join a football gange and basically kich the living day lights out of other football gangs the film was just like any other football factory film, a bit repetative but there is a shot right at the end of the film which grabbed my attention i think it is a very artistic shot and with the long periode that the shot stays the same the audience has time to stop and think which i like very much. The shot is between 00:57 - 1:07 eventhough the shot isnt that long the slow motion of it makes it seem longer aswell as this it also has a dramatic effect upon the audience due to the extreame close up of his face bleeding and his pain within. which I really liked when I was watching the film so myself and Blaine would like to put our own artistic twist on the shot and use it within our film.This secound video is an extract from the film 'Funny games' and this film is very unique with its filming style, their are many static shots within the film which regualy exeed 30 secounds but they were all framed shots with no movement, sometimes no-one is in the shot and only background noise can be heard and sometimes the shot stays the same whilst the actors moves around within the same shot. I couldnt get enough of it when you cannot see a convisation but you can hear it especially when their is blood in the shot and they are talking about how they just killed someone. This just gripped me to the screen as i was constantly guessing and trying to hear things that the killers would say but i couldnt turn round and look agt them and in my oppinion this was simulating the kidnapped hostages who cannot move but are always trying to find some information to give them the upper hand. This shot is from 8:29 - 9:15

Evaluation mark scheme

Level 3 12–15 marks

-There is proficient understanding of the forms and conventions used in the productions.
-There is proficient understanding of the role and use of new media in various stages of the production.
-There is proficient understanding of the combination of main product and ancillary texts.
-There is proficient understanding of the significance of audience feedback.
-There is proficient skill in choice of form in which to present the evaluation.
-There is proficient ability to communicate.
-There is proficient use of digital technology or ICT in the evaluation.

Level 4 16–20 marks

-There is excellent understanding of the forms and conventions used in the productions.
-There is excellent understanding of the role and use of new media in various stages of the production.
-There is excellent understanding of the combination of main product and ancillary texts.
-There is excellent understanding of the significance of audience feedback.
-There is excellent skill in choice of form in which to present the evaluation.
-There is excellent ability to communicate.
-There is excellent use of digital technology or ICT in the evaluation.

Because I now know what the examiners are looking for within my evaluation, throughout the completion of my short film and subsidary tasks I can write or film little evaluations for each task or peice of research I complete which would then consequently make my overall evaluation better and easier.

Marking criteria, for our short film and subsidary tasks

I have a great passion for media studies and want to carry on within this chosen field to try and develop a career, so I intend to go to university after completing the final year of my A-levels.
With this is mind I have copied the marking criteria over from the examiners website in order for me to constantly refer back to and make sure I am completing tasks to a high standard and to the requirements of the examiners.
I am aiming to get a B/A overall in the course so I am only interested within the requirements for the higher grade brackets and these are the technical skills that I have to demonstrate both practically and theoretically in order to enter these high grade brackets.

Level 3
The candidate is expected to demonstrate proficiency in the creative use of most of the following technical skills:

-holding a shot steady, where appropriate;
-Framing a shot, including and excluding elements as appropriate;
-Using a variety of shot distances as appropriate;
-Shooting material appropriate to the task set;
-Selecting mise-en-scène including colour, figure, lighting, objects and setting;
-Editing so that meaning is apparent to the viewer;
-Using varied shot transitions, captions and other effects selectively and appropriately for the task set;
-Using sound with images and editing appropriately for the task set.
-Where a candidate has worked in a group, a proficient contribution to construction is evident.

Level 4
The candidate is expected to demonstrate excellence in the creative use of most of the following technical skills:

-holding a shot steady, where appropriate;

-Framing a shot, including and excluding elements as appropriate;
-Using a variety of shot distances as appropriate;
-Shooting material appropriate to the task set;
-Selecting mise-en-scène including colour, figure, lighting, objects and setting;
-Editing so that meaning is apparent to the viewer;
-Using varied shot transitions, captions and other effects selectively and appropriately;
-using sound with images and editing appropriately for the task.
-Where a candidate has worked in a group, an excellent contribution to construction is evident.

The Final Decsion

We were given a choice of twelve different case studies to choose from to complete for our A2 practical section. Many of them did appeal to me and I managed to narrow the choices down to four which included:
- A promotional package for the release of an album, together with two of the subsidiary tasks.
- A promotional package for a new film, to include a teaser trailer, together with two of the subsidiary tasks.
- A promotional package for a new computer/video game, to include two TV advertisements, together with two of the three subsidiary tasks.
- A short film in its entirety, lasting approximately 5 minutes, which may be live action or animated or a combination of both together with two of the three subsidiary task.

After thinking about which option would best suit my interests I started to think of some good ideas for a short film, I came up with a great narrative found a good soundtrack and it was all coming together in my head. Our class hadn't discussed which case study everyone wanted to choose so in this lesson I found out that Blaine (who I worked with last year) also wanted to do a short film so we decided to join forces and put all our practical and theory knowledge together again to create a great product just like last year but even better due to both of us being more competent with cameras and editing, as well as discussing films in a lot more depth which will be made aware within our short film which we have some great ideas for.

My 1 Minute 'Weapon of choice' music video remake

Weapon of choice 1 minute remake from Tom palmer on Vimeo.

This task to re-create the first minute of our chosen music video was a tricky task, in order for it to include continuity a similar location had to be found in order to re-create the camera shots, angles and movements that were present in the original video. Although the original was filmed in a closed down Hilton hotel I managed to find a location, AKA my friends house/conservatory which included parts of the video that needed to be included for example a chair to sit down in but then enough room in front of it so then the dance routine could take place, another is the corridor Christopher Walken dances down and the double door he then jumps in front of and they simultaneously open. All these features had to be included within the video and after some research and asking around my friends house seem to fit the narrative of the music video very well.

When making the music video I had already made a short animatic so I was aware of the shots needed and the timing throughout the 1 minute extract.

When filming the video it went very smoothly the lighting looked good and the dancing after multiple takes and practice fit perfectly with the music and all was looking well.

Then was time to edit and make sure everything timed perfectly with the original, although this was a lengthy process I enjoyed it thoroughly but whilst editing there was some footage that didn't match the music so I had to substitute it for some re-worked footage that in the end looked quite good, although there is a mistake in the beginning of the video were there is one less jump-cut than in the original the video looks good and times well considering the rendering process made the soundtrack time ever so slightly different to the video in certain parts.

Overall for the first piece of live action for our A2 year, the summer continuity task went well and was defiantly a learning process.

A special thank you is in order to Blaine Kenneally who gave up his time and hospitality for me to film my music video and I wish him all the success in the future for his dancing carrier. Just stick to the cha cha slide yer.