Juno Practice Edit

This is mine and Sam Bellman's Juno Practice Edit which we had around 3/4 lessons to plan, film and edit. Below is the evaluation:

You are editing your own footage, how did the filming go?
At first I thought that filming would be easier than it was, however that opinion changed when I actually had to do it as trying to get all the shots the same as the original video was hard. It was also difficult to stick the timings and work out how we would make a clip a specific length, for example the first shot when 'Juno' has to walk behind the tree, working out how far back Sam would have to stand to allow him to go behind the tree at the correct time. Without having the actual footage in front of you and only having a storyboard also makes the situation a lot more of a challenge as unless the drawings are extremely detailed, it is hard to imagine what each of the scenes need to actually look like. Overall, I don't think it went too badly for our first go and I am quite impressed with the outcome.

Was your storyboard accurate?

This is an example of one of the pages of my groups storyboard. As you can see we focused more on the writing than the drawings as we thought that would help us more. Most of it was accurate, for example, the lengths of the shots and if the camera should be stationary/moving. However some of the pictures are not detailed enough which made it hard when it came to actually filming and the storyboard was all we had. In addition, the fact that most of the notes were rushed made it harder for them to understand. I think I misunderstood how important the storyboard would be when it came to recording.


What were your strengths and weaknesses in the group?
I'm better at planning rather than carrying out the actual task and Sam can lose focus quite easily during this stage. However when it comes to the pratical stage of the task Sam is a lot better as I think he had previous experience with the editing programmes. Ultimately, this wasn't such a big issue as both our strengths and weaknesses balanced out when working together.

Did you get all the footage you wanted?
We got everything that was on the storyboard, however there are a couple of things I would have liked to redo such as the first scene and maybe make more of the scenes look like they do in the original clip. Something I especially would have liked to have done is go outside when there was a PE group so they could run past which would have made it look more similar to the original version. I think we got as much done as we could in the hour in which we were given to complete the filming part of the task.

What technical skills - camera and premiere - did you learn?
When Sam first handed me the camera I was virtually clueless as I have never owned a video camera, therefore everything was pretty much new to me about that. In addition, I am still reasonably new to Premiere and this made it a lot harder when it first came to editing. I eventually learnt how to use all of the effects by dragging them where on the clip you want them to go. Also, I learnt how to fade out at the end (both audio and video) which made the overall clip look a lot more professional. I learnt how to put titles as well.

How does it compare to the original?
We tried as hard as we could to get it as similar as possible to the original version but there were some obvious restrictions including the cartoon-like effect that is used throughout the clip. We also wanted to have the runners, similar to the original. however that wasn't possible as there were no PE groups available at the time. Some of the transitions were also not available on Premiere which meant that we had to use subsitutes instead, although we did try to find ones as similar to the original as we could. Things that were similar included the scene that has the guitar and the chair, we were both impressed with this particular part of our clip. Also, when 'Juno' is walking past a shop and the camera views her from sideways. As the clip went on, we tried to make it more similar to the original as possible, this is because we became more familiar with the camera and also had more time.

What went well? What I learnt? What will I take with me to the next production?
I think that me and Sam worked well together and that is something that made the whole thing work reasonably well. The editing went well as we could both say what we thought looked best rather than only having one opinion. We also managed to work effectively and get everything done within the timeframe we were given. I learnt that I need to put more emphasis on having a good storyboard as that makes the rest of the process a lot easier. Being organised and not wasting any time is something that I will take with me to the next production as that helped a lot, it meant that hardly any of it was rushed and therefore not as good as we could have done. Also, I will take with me the skills of being able to use a video camera and Premiere.

The Book Thief - Clip

I think the Mise en Scene in this clip is really powerful. Every element contributes to making it seem more realistic. The setting contains lots of Swastika's which is how it would have been at the time. It is in a typical German town/village also. The positioning of the characters (and the vast amount) also is powerful as it creates a sense of what they're doing must be important which is how it would have been. In addition, The costume is one of my favourite parts as they have been designed to look exactly how they would have been during the Nazi rule. It engages the audience more as it is a real insight as to how one of these 'book burning's' would have been. The facial expressions are all serious and everyone looks passionate about what they are saying/singing which reflects the extreme Nationalistic attitudes Germans had at the time. One of the most powerful parts is perhaps that most of the dialogue in this clip is in German which definitely adds to the realistic element.

Practice Edit

This is my practice edit that I made using Adobe Premiere Pro. At first I had no idea how to use the software but after playing around and experimenting with the tools I found it a lot easier to edit all the little clips. Our task was to at first, chose an audio clip and put it behind all these video clips of dancing animals and images of New York City. This was fun as I could experiment with speeding up the audio clip, resulting in a higher pitched voice. The second task was to create a James Bond clip which was also fun as I had to work out the best way and best songs/video clips to use to build suspense.
I think it will be easier when I have to edit my own footage as I will know from the beginning what I want the end result to look like.

Narrative

CLAUDE LEVI-STRAUSS:  Binary Opposition.
- He was less interested in the order of events in narratives and more interested on the themes underneath. He argued that narrative depended on binary opposites or conflicts between two terms, e.g. good and bad.

TORODOV devised a way of analysing narratives by the way they move through different stages.

Break down narrative into 5 stages:

Equilibrium: Setting is established.

Disruption: The story takes a particular direction.

Recognition of Disruption: Characters and events are interwoven.

Attempt to Repair Disruption: Try to solve the issue.

Reinstatement of Equilibrium: Matters are sorted out, problems are solved and questions answered.


VLADAMIR PROPP

Propp suggested that in any story there are only ever a limited amount of character types, each of whom has their own purpose in the narrative.

Hero: The main character around which the narrative is centred. Normally has some kind of mission or quest, e.g. Shrek.

Heroine/Princess: Acts as a reward for the Hero succeeding in his mission/quest, e.g. Princess Fiona.

Princesses Father: Hero must win approval from Father in order to win the Princess, e.g. Shrek, being an ogre, must prove to the King that he is right for his daughter.

Villain: Seeks to stop Hero from succeeding in his mission, e.g. Prince Charming.

Donor/Mentor: Gives hero important information or a magic item to help them, e.g. Puss In Boots.

Helper: Accompanies hero but cannot always complete question themselves, e.g. Donkey.


AN EXAMPLE OF NARRATIVE:


 The Equilibrium in The Lion King is Pride Rock and all the animals being in harmony with each other, we can tell this from the song 'The Circle of Life'. The disruption in the film is when Simba's curiosity leads him to go out of his kingdom and face his evil uncle Scar, however Scar's plan to kill Simba fails and he is left with the idea of killing the current king too, enabling Scar to become King. Scar is successful in killing the King but unsuccessful in killing Simba. The Recognition of disruption is when Simba runs away and this allows Scar to become King of Pride Rock. Simba attempts to repair the disruption by coming back as an adult lion to challenge scar and gain his rightful place as King. He manages to defeat Scar and restore Pride Rock to how it was before Simba's father was killed - this is the reinstatement of equilibrium.

Based on Propps Character idea:

Hero - Simba
Heroine/Princess - This could be seen as Nala, however in this case I would say that Pride Rock would be the prize for defeating Scar.
Villain: Scar (Simba's evil uncle)
Donor/Mentor: Rafikki
Helper: Timone and Pumba.

Film Pitch

The Toy Company from oliviaseymour

*ANOTHER ADVERTISING IDEA*
- As it is a children's film we thought it would be a good idea to have pictures of the film on balloons and then have people handing out the balloons in town centres/cities which excites the children because most children love balloons but also catches the adults attention and may make them research the film which will make people more likely to come and watch it.

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This is the film idea that me, Sam Bellman and Olivia Plumpton came up with. We were given a genre and two lessons to come up with a plot, character/cast list, BBFC certificate and marketing ideas. This task was challenging but also fun at the same time as we were able to be imaginative and think outside of the box. We presented the slideshow above to the class and received feedback, which was mostly positive. We received mostly 7/8/9's out of a possible 10 in all sections of the feedback sheet which I think is good. People liked our cast list and our marketing ideas, especially one that isn't mentioned on here but involves handing out balloons with the film poster on to children in popular cities/towns.
In the future I would definitely split up each section and allocate it to a certain member of the group and then put it all together at the end. This is because ideas can clash and this can slow down the process. Doing parts individually will also allow more thought to be put into each section and more time to be taken on it, rather than it being rushed. Ultimately, the end result should be better.
In conclusion, I think the film idea went relatively well and that our plot was good but I wish we had more time to spend on it/that our group allocated separate parts to individual people.

Insidious: Chapter 2 Analysis - DISTINCT

DISTINCT
Describe in detail...
Setting
Themes
Icons
Narrative
Characters
Textual Analysis

This film seems to be set mainly in a house, probably in the USA according to the characters accents. All of the shots are interior which suggests that it'll be this way for the most of the film. The main themes seem to be death, horror and supernatural events. The beginning of the film seems to be centred around the death of the woman who is shown at the beginning of the clip. The wife is trying to prove her husbands innocence, although it appears that she's not entirely sure it wasn't him. The woman seems to be distressed for the majority of the clip, this woman's death has obviously affected her in more ways than just one. This could suggest that there was some kind of relationship between the woman that has been killed and the man's wife. The couple seem to be the main characters although there may be other characters introduced later on in the film. Low-key lighting seems to be used mainly and this indicates that this film is a horror.

Guardians Of The Galaxy Analysis - DISTINCT

DISTINCT
Describe in detail...
Setting
Themes
Icons
Narrative
Characters
Textual Analysis

This film is set in space and seems to be slightly futuristic. The main themes seem to be vengeance, comedy and drama. It appears to be about protecting the galaxy, hence the title 'Guardians of the Galaxy', however it also contains comical elements. The main characters include Drax, Rocket, Gamora and Groot who all seem to be major criminals and then the protagonist appears to be an ordinary man, with a minor criminal record, who calls himself Starlord. 'Starlord' gets most of the camera shots which indicates that he is the main character in this film. The use of both high-key and low-key lighting highlights that this film is a hybroid - a mix of sci-fy and comedy. The high-key lighting is used for the comical scenes and the low-key lighting helps to build suspense. The music also doesn't seem particularly threatening like you would expect a sci-fy film to be which definitely adds to the use of comedy in this film.

The Vow Trailer Analysis - DISTINCT

DISTINCT
Describe in detail...
Setting
Themes
Icons
Narrative
Characters
Textual Analysis
This film seems to have equal interior and exterior shots and to be set in the USA. As the film seems to take place over a long period of time, there is no distinct season that it is set in, this could represent how long it will take for him to make her fall in love with him again and that love is everlasting. It seems to also be set in the present. The main themes include romance, tragedy and drama after the woman's car accident. The vows that they made on their wedding day seem to be of the greatest significance in the trailer, vows are something that are supposed to be eternal and this mans love for his wife is.
It seems to be about a man and woman's relationship and how it grows until she has a car accident which leaves her with memory loss, meaning she cannot remember her husband. He has to then embark on making her fall in love with him again. The main characters seem to be the married couple although minor characters such as doctors are present in the trailer. The use of high-key lighting shows that the film isn't aimed to scare and the music isn't scary but isn't completely cheery either, showing that the film contains an element of drama.

Mise En Scene

Mise en Scene is a French term meaning what's in the scene. Essentially it is the information in front of the camera for the audience to help them work out what is going on.

It is made up of 5 elements:

- Settings & Props
- Costume, Hair & Make Up
- Facial Expressions & Body Language
- Lighting & Colour
- Positioning of Characters

SETTINGS & PROPS
 - Settings and locations are not just 'backgrounds'. They play an important part in film-making.

TYPES OF LIGHTING
Low Key Lighting: Created by only using the key and back-lights. Produces dark contrasts of light and dark areas. Deep, distinct shadows/silhouettes are formed, e.g. horror films.
High Key Lighting: More filler lights are used. Lighting is natural and realistic to our eyes. Produces brightly lit sets or a sunny day, e.g. Rom-Coms

This is the example of Mise en Scene that we used in class:

The picture is set in London, an older part with older buildings. Old buildings have the connotations of importance and classical and Bond is supposed to be a classic and important character. The fact that Big Ben is placed in the background is a use of iconography.
Bond is wearing a dark jacket which has connotations of mystery and because we cannot see his face, this adds to the mystery element.
The use of high-key lighting over the buildings in London could show that the ordinary people below have no idea of what is really going on and think that everything is normal. However because Bond is dressed in black, this could illustrate how he knows the hidden and dark secrets that the city really holds. He is positioned above the city, which represents how he is protecting London from evil. 


Another Example of Mise en Scene:

The film seems to be set on a plane which contains a scary element as all these people are shut in this enclosed space from which they cannot escape. The use of the gun as a prop could indicate that the genre of this film is a thriller. Liam Neeson is dressed in black which again, shows that he may be mysterious or maybe even the villain. Neeson's facial expression looks serious but not frightened whereas the people behind look terrified and are obeying the orders of Neeson. High-key lighting is used which shows that this is meant to be an everyday situation. Neeson is positioned at the front which shows how he is the protagonist.

Genre

Genre: A style or category of film, art, music or literature. It aims to please the audience as there are certain things that people associate with certain genres and therefore this creates expectations. You can look at codes and conventions and know what genre you're watching. Genres feature a set of characteristics and conventions which are recognized by the audience. Different genres appeal to different people. If a film that is supposed to be a specific genre doesn't include these characteristics then the audience will be disappointed. Genres create a relationship between the producers and the audience.

Different types of genre include:
- Action/adventure
- Sci-Fy
- Comedy
- Historical
- Children
- Horror
- Thriller

A HYBRID is a mixture of genres.

In groups we had to walk around our school site and take pictures of things that were relevant to certain film genres. My groups pictures and explanations of them are shown below:

Romance

The idea behind this is to create the obvious idea of love with the heart. The wall in the background represents simplicity, and the idea that true love should, in theory, be simple. Audiences would know that this is supposed to be a romance film by the heart.
This could have gone better if we had a red brick wall, red representing love.

Horror

This is supposed to be an image representing horror. First of all the colours are black and white with a light focusing on one thing (low-key lighting) which indicates that it's going to be eerie. Around the eye is a sort of white mist which you would typically see in horrors. The eye looks like an ordinary eye looking into a dark, scary place which makes you feel worried for what the person may experience once inside. This horror film could be centred around hidden secrets/someone watching you.

I would have liked to make the eye look a bit more scary although I think the idea of it looking so normal and innocent adds to the horror factor.

Action

This is supposed to represent an action film as the skip is meant to make it seem like we shouldn't be in that specific area. We used the skip as our prop as it looks scratched and damaged with lots of rubbish it which has a bit of a eerie feel, I was aiming to make the picture seem like it was in some deserted place and the only thing we could take cover behind was this old skip. The pointing indicates that the thing that the two people are looking for are in that direction and because its behind a wall, it makes it look like the two girls are hiding.
This could have worked better if the school building wasn't in the background and we could have used a more empty area to take the pictures,

  Sci-Fy

This represents sci-fy as it is supposed to look like the girl is trapped. The girl looks quite ordinary which could mean that she has been trapped in some parallel universe where normal is a crime. She looks more confused than upset which could mean that she doesn't know how she has ended up there. The fact that my hands are on the panels of the gate could show that I want to escape but have given up hope trying.

If given more time and more facilities to work with this could have been better as I could have worked with costume and background more.

Comedy

The picture is supposed to represent comedy by just looking a bit silly. The girl under the piece of equipment which looks expensive and hard to operate clearly doesn't know how to use it and therefore this creates a comical element as she's doing the opposite to what she's supposed to. The other girl is attempting to spray her with something which, for all she knows, could be a dangerous chemical. It makes both of them look a bit ditsy and oblivious but also funny at the same time.

I found this one the most difficult as its hard to know what is classified as funny and what isn't. It could have worked better if we had more time as we could have found better facilities to use and thought about it more. Originally this was supposed to represent the Sci-Fy genre due to the space-looking equipment but as the picture looks more comical than serious, we decided to use to to represent comedy instead. Perhaps it could also be used as a comedy/Sci-Fy hybrid.

Film Poster - Semiotics

SEMIOTICS DEFINITION: The study of signs and also of anyhing which stands for something else. We read images and pictures in an attempt to decode them and make sense of what they mean to us.

DENOTATION: What we see when we look at an image (what it is)
CONNOTATION: Wht we undertstand from this image (what other meanings it has)


Colours Used
The colours used in this film poster such as the light blue in the background reflects a happy tone but also a feeling of loneliness perhaps. There are also streaks of white in the sky which signifies purity and innocence. The red of the mane implies power but also danger. The mane is a warm orange at the top showing that this lion is a warm and kind character but as you look further down the mane, the red gets darker which could suggest that there are hidden secrets. The golden colour of the lions suggests royalty, which reflects the title.

Positioning
The male lion is placed above all of the other characters which shows that he is the most powerful and in charge. It shows leadership and that this lion has responsibility. The faded lion in the sky could represent the idea that the male lion is being watched from above for how he leads and the decisions that he makes. The red-maned lion isn't looking at the figure in the sky which could imply that he is trying to avoid his responsibilities but doesn't want to face the consequences for doing so. The female lion just below is looking in the same direction as the male lion, showing that they have the same visions and dreams. On the rock we can see three other animals and even though they are small, the fact that they are standing on a rock which is evidently higher than the ground, shows that they are all important and significant to the story. The rock signifies leadership and authority and because they have all been placed on it, it must mean that they are important to a certain extent.

Gossip Girl Opening Scene

This video opens with a clip of a girl on a train, this immediately creates a sense of mystery as no explanation of where she's going is given. It is situated in a train station - Grand Central - which could suggest that this is going to be about why this girl has returned/arriving in New York. As all the clip is focused on this blonde haired girl, we can assume that she is the protagonist in this series which creates intrigue as the audience will want to know where she's coming from and why she left in the first place. We can also tell that technology will play a big part in this series as it shows a girl taking a picture of the blonde, the fact that she is taking a picture of her could suggest that she is supposed to be well known/famous in the series.
The normal, everyday clothes and the iconic setting of Grand Central Station along with the high-key lighting shows that this series could include romance, drama and teenage issues. The fact that it is set in Grand Central Station and that the blonde is placed on the balcony whilst she watches over below shows that she could be of a higher social positioning than most. However she looks anxious about returning and this could mean that her looking down could simply be her worry of what people will think.