special effects

over the christmas holidays i've been thinking of ways to improve my final product to the best of its ability. I already have perfect vision of the direction my product is heading in however, i wish to improve it in the best possible way to get the best outcome for my product. now, I am considering using special effects. The reason I will be using special effects is that if I will be able to pull off a special effect in my final product my grade will go up a fair amount also will make the film more realistic. However, in my final product there really is no need to use any special effects. Therefore, i'm trying to work out is it worth it. Because it could potentially ruin my product and make the outcome not look realistic.

production diary 4

Today was very disappointing. I have written a new script for my film which I genuinely thought was the right script to use. however, looking back over the footage i was quick to realise that it isn't what is needed to make my film flow perfectly. This is partly because of my awful acting but is mostly because the dialog is once again completely wrong. Now the last time I had filmed id recently had a hair cut. Now for a prefect flow, also to show that a lot of time hasn't past I will be having to get my hair cut again to make the film flow perfectly.

How I make my film

• To physically film my project I use the Canon 700D. This camera is perfect for me to film on my own because it has the flip out camera. therefore, when I film on my own I can see what the shot looks like without having any trouble.

• The Canon 700D will be sitting on top of a tripod. This is just an above average tripod, very easy to use. Has a level to make sure the shot is level at all times. extremely easy to tilt, rotate, rise or lower and also create a dutch angle shot.

• I have mentioned this is in a blog beforehand, however the software I used to edit my films is iMovie. This editing software is made by Apple and is very accessible for me because the computer I use is an Apple Macbook Pro.

production diary 3

Today I started editing part of my A2 final product. The editing software that I am using to complete my final project is Imovie. looking back at the rushes that i have filmed id noticed that it isn't good enough. however, the shots and angles I know I am going to use again. The only thing wrong with my film was the dialog. I am going to rewrite the scrip as I now know thats what I don't need in my film. I will be using the same setting which was a bedroom. however, I will be coming back to film this again as I know that it will improve my film drastically.

production diary 2

today I've filmed parts and different chunks of my main product. I filmed by myself only, I wanted to catch the best shots to describe my character.  id use different shots like birds eye view which meant balancing the tripod on different objects and tilting the tripod to give the effect of a birds eye view.

as seen here to your right, this is a scene where I wake up from a nightmare on the sofa. I used a birds eye view to show the the main character is part of the bigger picture. also to highlight that even though he has just woken up from a nightmare, he still is in one. The scene here in the front room took me around 30 mins to complete as I was on my own.

 Here, as seen to your left I also filmed some mirror shots.
this took along time because i wanted everything to be perfect. for example, sometimes you can see the reflection of the camera in the shower window reflecting on the mirror. thats why the shower window behind me is open because you can see the camera that i am using. therefor, this scene took me a tad over an hour to film, purely because I didn't want anything wrong with my film.

I just wanted my film to flow as smoothly as possible with no distractions.

Masculinity in crisis

in 1999, children now, a California-based organisation that examines the impact of the media on children and youth, released a report entitled boys to men : media messages about masculinity. the report argues that the media's portrayal of men tends to reinforce men's social dominance.

the report observes that:

• the majority of male characters in media are heterosexual

• male characters are more often associated with the public sphere of work, rather than the private sphere of the home, and issues and problems related to work are more significant than personal issues 

• non-white male characters are more likely to experience personal problems and are more likely to use physical aggression or violence to love those problems

children now conclude that these dominate trends in the media portrayal of men reinforce an support social attitudes that link masculinity to power, dominance and control.

the portrayal and acceptance of men by the media as socially powerful and physically violent serve to reinforce assumptions about how men and boys should act in society, how they should treat each other, as well as how they should treat women and children.

Title scene

 

For my title scene, I've decided too film the main character of the film putting down newspapers with the cast as the headline etc. It took me more than an hour on each paper as I had not much of an idea of what I was doing. I've currently made 3 newspaper articles. I will be making more, between 5-8newspapers. here are the 3 seen above. 

Fast girls

Fast girls is about a teenager called Shania Andrews from a rough area of London training to become an olympics spriter for team GB. Shania, belongs in a working/lower class family in a tower block of flats in London. She has many distractions because of her class. For example, Shania can't afford nice track running shoes, therefore she has to train in these tatty old normal running shoes. She also trains in a shutdown running track with a voluntary coach. At one point in the film Shania and her sister get kicked out her aunties house where she was orginally staying and Shania is forced to sleep in the freezing cold shed of the shutdown running track.

When Shania is picked for Team GB she is instantly being looked down upon by a middle class spriter called Lisa. Lisa has always had everything; the boots, the kit and the facilties to train at etc. This links in with Gramsci Theory. The middle class are the dominative class and have a more previlegded view than working/lower class. This is why Shania can't stand her, Because Lisa has also had things handed to her on a plate, she acts like she is the greatest and looks down at others.

Shania and Lisa aren't friends. Through out the film Lisa's father which has a huge amount in link with the sporting association dislikes shania too. This is because of her class. Lisa's father tries everything to kick her out the team because she's a 'disgrace'. When in actual fact, he doesn’t like her daughter mixing with lower classes than the middle class.

Production Diary 1

yesterday on the 5th Nov, I filmed my first scene. My brother and I went to a small forrest which is a 5 minute walk away from my house to film two scenes. The scenes were; one that will be shown on the TV and the other will be part of a dream.

As you can see here to your right, this is a screenshot of one of the brutal violent scenes.

My brother and I filmed this scene from around half past 3 until dark (5pm). We filmed many different angles and shots to create the perfect horror scene.

This part of the film actual has nothing to do with the film what so ever. Its just going to be a film that is shown on TV at the start of the film to throw the audience away in different directions to make them wonder what the film is actual about, because this scene here will be the first scene that the audience will be watching ( after the title sequence )

who is your audience

Target audience. A particular group at which a product such as a film is aimed at.

For my film which is about the future circumstances about humanity I think that my target audience is between the ages of 18-30 ( young adults ). however the film rating would overall be a 15.

the reasons why I would have have my target audience for this film between the ages of 18-30.

the reason why I've set my target audience for the ages of 18-30 is that because its quite an adult concept to understand. A complex future romance between a human and a computer is not going to be a children's favourite film.

the film is rated a 15 because the film will include some swearing and a short scene of brutal violence also the adult concept is not for younger children.

My Brother the Devil

In todays lesson we have finished watching the hoodie cinema film, "My Brother the Devil". This film is about Mo and Rashid "Rash"  are teenage brothers of Egyptian descent living with their parents in Hackney. the young characters of My Brother the Devil live I a world of perpetual violence, gang feuds and abuses both chemical and physical. Its a world where a legitimate road to success is all- but invisible. 

Rash finds out that faster than others that the road to success is impossible in the 'endz'. Rash wants to escape from the drugs and violence and wants a proper working life with no fear of another rival gang trying to kill you.  

it is even harder for Rash to escape the 'ends' because slightly over half way Rash finds his true sexuality. Rash falls in love with a French photographer. However, Rash needs to keep this hidden because as a muslim being gay is looked down upon. Rash keeps finding it harder to escape his group and leave the 'ends' for a proper job, not just dealing drugs.

What I can work on

In year 12 my class mate and I made the beginning to a film. our film called ' Short Time ' took longer than it should of to make. In the film we do use technical shots such as tracking shots. However, our film ended up being rushed to finish as we had to change ideas over a quick decision. Our sound. Our sound ended up being mixed and not put in the correct positions that we wanted it in, our sound could of been a lot better.

In my next idea that i am using for my A2 production which I currently do not have a title for, i will be using challenge shots that I did not use in my AS production. such as a birds eye view. I would love to use this perspective in my short film to make it seem like my main character isn't that signifcant and gets swallowed up by the surrounding - My main character will therefor be part of the wider picture.

Also for my main task it is going to be extremely hard to add my sound in. I'm going to have a conversation between a person within the film and a person outside the film. therefor in simply scenes will have a mixture of diegetic and non-diegetic sounds.

Short Time - Matt and Pads production

Story board

(box one) 'first scene, simon exercising using birdseye-view and different camera movements to show that he only focuses on himself  and no one else.

(box two) Simon gets rid of his old machine for the more updated version. S-TEC. simon starts talking. 

(box three) lonely simon goes though phases of dreaming a similarly dream to what he has seen on TV. S-TEC is so intelligent that he can see Simons dream.

(box four) After Simons normal exercise routine eat, Simon sees a romance on TV and later dreams about walking in a forest with a woman. later questioned by S-TEC. 

(Box five) Simon goes internet dating, starts talking to a woman and later agrees to meet.

(box six) simon gets to the women house only to realise that the women is another Robot (S-TEC) and that he has fell in love with a robot. 

Cohen Theory

The Cohen Theory

the effect of the moral panic is to reinforce hegemony by the media making it clear what values society do no accept. This shows that when youths try to express themselves in a way that adults have not seen before they try to stop it by showing a negative aspect.

Therefore this would effect the representation of the youth as it shows that they are not allowed to express themselves within a different way of society does not see as acceptable. Therefore this places a more negative effect on the youths as everything they do, out of the norm of society, is seen as bad.

by looking at this theory we are able to see that the media places blame onto the youths seeing them as easy target. This cause the moral panic cycle to happen in order to stamp down hard onto anything that the youths try to do that is out of the norm.

Giroux theory

The Giroux Theory

Giroux views show how the youth are mistreated within the media. describing them as an 'empty category' explains that adults do not really understand what it is like to be a youth in this generation. Therefor they just plonk their own ideas into this empty space of what they believe the representation of youth is.

Media involving just adults therefore greatly effects these representations. the adults do not want their generation to look bad therefore use teenagers as scapegoat to place the blame on.

by looking at this theory we are able to see the representation of youth is moulded together through what adults believe and think. this then leads to uprising of stereotypes through the media and also cause moral panics. when all of this has just been created through hegemony and the media raining down their ideas onto the adults.

HAL 9000

 
To get ideas for my interactive robot I started to watch the film '2001 space odyssey'. In this film there is interactive robot called ' Hal 9000'.  Stanley Kubrick the director of this brilliant film gave Hal 9000 a normal talking voice that was so calm when speaking that it was almost scary. It spoke with such calmness that it had no passion when talking.

 You can watch a short scene for the film here - HAL 9000

As my film is also set in the future, this gave me inspiration to make S-TEC ( my robot ) have a normal speaking voice rather than an electronic voice. However, I wish for S-TEC to have just a tittle bit more passion in voice when speaking. Rather than Hal 9000 which gives off a really dark vibe.

plot

I haven't thought of a title for my short film. however, I have made a plot that I would like tot follow.

In the year 2042, technology has gotten so advanced that you can speak fluently to a robot etc. The main character Simon recently buys the latest robot technology, S-TEC ( Sound Technology). with the rest of humanity, simon forgets about the essential things in life like love and passion. Simon stumbles across a romance on his TV. this sparks his imagination and later has a dream about meeting the women of his dreams. S-TEC forces simon to look on online. Simon starts talking to a women, they agree to meet at the women house.

Only to realise that the women is only another Robot ( S-TEC)

This is only my rough idea of the short film I would like to pursue. Overtime, when i have more ideas I will be adding more blogs to get the best possible outcome for my project.

AS Review

Looking back at my AS media product i wasn't as happy with it as i wanted it to be. As me and my media partner Patrick Ng had a rash decision to change the idea of our film quite late on in the year. As our first film was very ambitious we decided on sticking with the same genre but changing the idea.

I thought we used great tracking shots to show the lengths of what our main character is going though. However, i wasn't satisfied with the end result of our product. I feel what let us down is that we didn't have the same idea and as an end result it didn't come to plan how we originally thought of it up.

This year i will be working on my own to create my own product. I feel like it will be quite challenging filming as i won have anyone to help me capture shots and angles. On the other hand i feel like this is a positive thought. Now i know i am on my own i feel like i will be able to produce a fantastic product, hopefully.

Moral Panic

Moral Panic

Moral panic is a feeling of fear spread among a large number of people that some evil threatens the well being society. The media can exaggerate youth movement groups such as, 'chavs', mods, rockers etc. According to Stanley Cohen, the media play a huge role in enforcing moral panic. In Cohen's book ( Folks Devils and moral panic) it is suggested that moral panic occurs when a condition, episode, person or group emerges to become defined as a threat to society's values and interests. Moral panic sends society into mass hysteria over a particular issue or event that occurs. The public believe that whatever is reported upon is occuring everywhere.

Gramsci theory

 Gramsci theory.

The developed concept of cultural hegemony, that social class dominate society by: their life = normal, natural and common sense. Therefore other social groups accept these values and class these as a normal way of life. This meaning that low social classes will always be shown as negative as they are unable to have the same lifestyle as middle class people. This would effect representations as all representations of youth will always be contrasted with middle class youths. Thus meaning that if the lower class youths are not living up to the standard of the middle class youths then they will always be looked down upon within society. By looking at this theory we are able to see that the media always still within the hegemony of the higher classes as these are seen as more acceptable. Also that they do not take into consideration how other people live within society.