“the conventions of each genre shift, new genres and sub-genres emerge and others are 'discontinued' (Chandler)
a) Have you stuck closely to genre conventions in your production work? Yes, i felt that when making the production work my projects would be much better if i stuck closely to the genre conventions. It also made it easier for me as i had an idea of what i would be including in my projects.
b) Have you created a hybrid piece? No i did not create a hybrid piece. When making my thriller film it turned out to be a sun genre which was a psychological thriller.
c) Have you used intertextual references? I did not use intertextual refereneces in either of my projects as i thought if i did this i may confuse the audience.
'one could... argue that no set of necessary and sufficient conditions can mark off genres from other sorts of groupings in ways that all experts or ordinary film-goers would find acceptable' (Bordwell 1989, 147).
a) Do you think it is hard to agree on a set of ‘rules’ to follow when making a product? I do not think it is hard to agree on a set of rules as when the rules are set they are there to help make a project. I found it helpful that i had rules there.
b) How far have you followed any set of ‘rules’? I followed the rules but when it came to the creativity i added onto the rules to help my project be better.
c) To what extent did you break ‘rules’? I did not brake any rules just added to some as i thought it may make my projects better.
d) Did you make any rules of your own? No.
Conventions give the producers a framework to work with- a set of guidelines (McQuail)
a) Was it helpful to work within a set of guidelines? I think it was helpful to work in a set of guidelines as it made it easier when planning. It also made it more understandable for me as i knew what should be included and what shouldn't.
b) Did you feel more secure knowing what the guidelines were? I did feel more secure knowing what the guidelines were.
c) Were you happier breaking the conventions once you knew what they were? I did not brake any conventions when it came to making my projects.
“Sometimes, working within constraints produces the most interesting work” (Branston and Strafford)
a) Do you think you produced better work because you stuck to the conventions of the genre? Yes i do, i felt this because it made it easier for me to understand what conventions went with what genre. I think if i didn't stick to the conventions it would have made it a lot harder for me, and my projects could have turned out badly.
b) Would you have produced more creative work if you had not known what the guidelines were? I think i would have created more work if i knew what the guidelines were because it would have made my projects more interesting.
Monday, 14 February 2011
Monday, 7 February 2011
Answer to exam question
“The post-production process can be the most important part of the filming process”. How important has the post-production stage been in your foundation and advanced portfolios and how have your skills developed over these two years?
In AS we made a thriller film and in A2 we made a music video, both of these projects expanded my skills when it came to post production. I agree with the statement above because if there was no post production process a music video would be boring through out, I found that when making my music video and thriller film when using post production it gave a much more unique feel to our projects because we could edit them in different ways that we wanted. The postproduction stage involved loading up our footage and sorting out what shots went where, we then added effects to our footage, this would include things such as transitions and colourisation. These effects were used because it made our thriller opening and music video our own. A theorist called Eisenstein believed that editing was the foundation of art and film. In this essay I will explain to you the ways I used postproduction in my projects.
In my thriller opening I used a slow motion shot of someone walking towards a door, this represented the eeriness that may be present with this character. They way I did this was using iMovie and on the options adjusted the speed to how ever slow I wanted it to be. This editing effect was used as the protagonist was walking towards an unknown house; it also included jump shots to a person inside the house, which was not slowed down. I feel that using this type of editing effect made the thriller opening feel scarier and made the person inside the house look more vulnerable. In my music video the editing effect of slow motion was used frequently this was because the beat of the song was quite slow and we felt that turning the speed down would match the genre of music. In one shot our artist has leaves falling on her, we used slow motion in this shot and also used a reverse effect to show the leaves going in the opposite direction. I feel that the progression is clear as when making the thriller film we only used slow motion to change people’s feelings but in the music video we used slow motion to match genres.
In our AS project (thriller film) we used some colourisation, on one shot we had flashbacks occurring and thought it would be a good idea if we showed the flashbacks in black and white. We did this by using iMovie and changing the settings on colourisation to black and
white, we also increased the brightness of the black and white so it made it look like it was flashbacks in someone’s mind. In A2 (music video) we used colourisation quite a lot, because of some lighting issues we would change the brightness of a shot so it made it look clear. We also matched lyrics to visual, in one of our lyrics it says “in your world everything’s rosy” when this lyric was said that shot used with it was a fast cut montage of our artists lips, we added a pink note to the colourisation. We also used lots of different clip adjustments where you could add colourisation that was already uploaded on iMovie we used this effect when our artist was lip-syncing. Overall it is clear that my skills have developed an awful lot from AS to A2, instead of just using black and white as an effect of colourisation in AS, in A2 I have used colourisation in a way that theorists suggest such as Goodwin as one of his characteristics of a music video is matching lyrics to visuals.
In AS we used some transitions when cutting from one shot to another, we used an effect at the beginning of the opening where the protagonist looks through a key hole, in this shot we used a transition called fish eye, where a circle is made around the shot and is zoomed in, this is what it would look like if you were to look through a key hole, other than this transition the others were just simple shots like a transition called cross dissolve. In A2 I used a varied amount of transitions. I didn’t want to use too many that it made the music video look over edited. I used transitions to cut in-between shots and make them join in together. I used transitions that corresponded with the music, when a piano was playing we used a ripple effect, I think this made the visuals of the music video look very good. Overall I feel that it is proven that my skills have developed from AS to A2.
In AS we made a thriller film and in A2 we made a music video, both of these projects expanded my skills when it came to post production. I agree with the statement above because if there was no post production process a music video would be boring through out, I found that when making my music video and thriller film when using post production it gave a much more unique feel to our projects because we could edit them in different ways that we wanted. The postproduction stage involved loading up our footage and sorting out what shots went where, we then added effects to our footage, this would include things such as transitions and colourisation. These effects were used because it made our thriller opening and music video our own. A theorist called Eisenstein believed that editing was the foundation of art and film. In this essay I will explain to you the ways I used postproduction in my projects.
In my thriller opening I used a slow motion shot of someone walking towards a door, this represented the eeriness that may be present with this character. They way I did this was using iMovie and on the options adjusted the speed to how ever slow I wanted it to be. This editing effect was used as the protagonist was walking towards an unknown house; it also included jump shots to a person inside the house, which was not slowed down. I feel that using this type of editing effect made the thriller opening feel scarier and made the person inside the house look more vulnerable. In my music video the editing effect of slow motion was used frequently this was because the beat of the song was quite slow and we felt that turning the speed down would match the genre of music. In one shot our artist has leaves falling on her, we used slow motion in this shot and also used a reverse effect to show the leaves going in the opposite direction. I feel that the progression is clear as when making the thriller film we only used slow motion to change people’s feelings but in the music video we used slow motion to match genres.
In our AS project (thriller film) we used some colourisation, on one shot we had flashbacks occurring and thought it would be a good idea if we showed the flashbacks in black and white. We did this by using iMovie and changing the settings on colourisation to black and
white, we also increased the brightness of the black and white so it made it look like it was flashbacks in someone’s mind. In A2 (music video) we used colourisation quite a lot, because of some lighting issues we would change the brightness of a shot so it made it look clear. We also matched lyrics to visual, in one of our lyrics it says “in your world everything’s rosy” when this lyric was said that shot used with it was a fast cut montage of our artists lips, we added a pink note to the colourisation. We also used lots of different clip adjustments where you could add colourisation that was already uploaded on iMovie we used this effect when our artist was lip-syncing. Overall it is clear that my skills have developed an awful lot from AS to A2, instead of just using black and white as an effect of colourisation in AS, in A2 I have used colourisation in a way that theorists suggest such as Goodwin as one of his characteristics of a music video is matching lyrics to visuals.
In AS we used some transitions when cutting from one shot to another, we used an effect at the beginning of the opening where the protagonist looks through a key hole, in this shot we used a transition called fish eye, where a circle is made around the shot and is zoomed in, this is what it would look like if you were to look through a key hole, other than this transition the others were just simple shots like a transition called cross dissolve. In A2 I used a varied amount of transitions. I didn’t want to use too many that it made the music video look over edited. I used transitions to cut in-between shots and make them join in together. I used transitions that corresponded with the music, when a piano was playing we used a ripple effect, I think this made the visuals of the music video look very good. Overall I feel that it is proven that my skills have developed from AS to A2.
Conventions of a Thriller Opening and Music Video
Thriller Conventions
•A build up to the action
•Creation of fear / apprehension / anticipation / unsettling feeling / confusion / doubt over a character
•Dark, shadowy atmosphere (use of light and dark images)
•Establishing mood and atmosphere throughout the film
•Delay in showing the face of a significant character, or the action of an important event by first showing the hand of the character for instance or a reaction of someone watching the event
•Creation of suspense using soundtrack music –eerie innocent music?
•Morally ambiguous central character – film noir (Seven)
•Murder encouraging a suspecting audience
•Realistic settings to create a sense of ‘the unusual’ occurring within a normal setting
•Flashbacks
•Hero(ine) in situation of threat or struggle
•Red Herrings (Hitchcock movies)
•Twists and unexpected turns (The Usual Suspects)
•Making and keeping the audience tense and on the edge of our seats.
•The thriller relies on an intricate plot in order to create fear and apprehension in the viewer.
•The hero(ine) of the thriller is seen in situations of threat/peril before the film's narrative is resolved.
•The female characters in a thriller are often objectified through a series of gazes.
•The thriller narrative contains a build up of suspense
•The thriller is often located within an ordinary situation where extraordinary things happen.
•The killer ensnares the victim in a set of intricate moves.
•The thriller narrative is usually centred on a crime (usually a murder).
•The hero(ine) of a thriller is fallible.
•The audience are often positioned as voyeurs.
•The thriller often includes themes of identity (mistaken identity / loss).
•There is often a theme of mirroring involved in a thriller.
•Labyrinths and mazes are often motifs; they may be actual or psychological.
Music Video Conventions
. The video will either be one of the following types or will be a hybrid of:
•- performance
•- narrative (lyrics)
•- a concept or idea
2.There will be some reference to the ‘notion of looking.’
3.There will be a relationship between music and visuals.
4.There will be close-ups of the artist and/or star image motifs.
5.There will be intertextual references within the video
6.The video will contain clear genre characteristics
•A build up to the action
•Creation of fear / apprehension / anticipation / unsettling feeling / confusion / doubt over a character
•Dark, shadowy atmosphere (use of light and dark images)
•Establishing mood and atmosphere throughout the film
•Delay in showing the face of a significant character, or the action of an important event by first showing the hand of the character for instance or a reaction of someone watching the event
•Creation of suspense using soundtrack music –eerie innocent music?
•Morally ambiguous central character – film noir (Seven)
•Murder encouraging a suspecting audience
•Realistic settings to create a sense of ‘the unusual’ occurring within a normal setting
•Flashbacks
•Hero(ine) in situation of threat or struggle
•Red Herrings (Hitchcock movies)
•Twists and unexpected turns (The Usual Suspects)
•Making and keeping the audience tense and on the edge of our seats.
•The thriller relies on an intricate plot in order to create fear and apprehension in the viewer.
•The hero(ine) of the thriller is seen in situations of threat/peril before the film's narrative is resolved.
•The female characters in a thriller are often objectified through a series of gazes.
•The thriller narrative contains a build up of suspense
•The thriller is often located within an ordinary situation where extraordinary things happen.
•The killer ensnares the victim in a set of intricate moves.
•The thriller narrative is usually centred on a crime (usually a murder).
•The hero(ine) of a thriller is fallible.
•The audience are often positioned as voyeurs.
•The thriller often includes themes of identity (mistaken identity / loss).
•There is often a theme of mirroring involved in a thriller.
•Labyrinths and mazes are often motifs; they may be actual or psychological.
Music Video Conventions
. The video will either be one of the following types or will be a hybrid of:
•- performance
•- narrative (lyrics)
•- a concept or idea
2.There will be some reference to the ‘notion of looking.’
3.There will be a relationship between music and visuals.
4.There will be close-ups of the artist and/or star image motifs.
5.There will be intertextual references within the video
6.The video will contain clear genre characteristics
Tuesday, 25 January 2011
Planning
The organisation of time and equipment
For our thriller film there was 3 of us in our group, we wanted to be able to all go out and film at the same time and be able to edit as a group, fortunately we had the same free periods as each other, we also spent a lot of time filming after school as we found this time of day suitable for the ambiance of our thriller film. When in school we would sort out what lessons we would shoot in using a shooting schedule, this helped us a lot because it made us manage our time a lot better. When using the shooting schedule we would work out what shots needed to be filmed in the same day meaning the mise-en-scene would be the same. We would book out all the equipment that we needed on the day, this normally consisted of a video camera and a tripod for steady shots. We worked well as a group and could all pitch in idea's that we had, this made it easier when coming to filming as it made things run more smoothly and didn't take a long time. We encountered some problems when it came to the equipment we used, some days we found that the video camera would run out of battery half way through filming a shot, which would be time consuming as some of our shots were outside, this meant we had to wait for the camera to charge until we could film again. We also found that when using one of the tripods the camera did not stay still on it as it had a fault, this meant some of our shots could have been better than they were, but i don't think it affected our overall outcome. When filming our music video we used the same concept of a shooting schedule as we did in our thriller film. Also the person i was working with had the same free lessons as me meaning we had plenty of time to plan. We were not able to film in lesson time which meant we had to use our free lessons to film which didn't turn out much of a problem as we had 10 hours a week free.
The efficient choice and organisation of actors, setting and props
In our thriller film we decided that it would be easy to use people from our group as actors as we knew exactly what we wanted. I think this worked out well because we worked well as a group and didn't come across any problems when it came to acting. For the setting we wanted our thriller to be based on the unordinary happening in the ordinary, we achieved this by using one of our houses as a location. In our film we used a typewriter, this gave a deeper meaning to our film, leaving the audience wondering what the typewriter was there for. In our music video we decided to use our artist as the actor as well as she would have a connection to the song as its her own, it also made it easier when it came to the editing stage as we wanted to use lip syncing and this was made easier with the artist. When planning for our music video we knew we wanted to film outdoors, as it could give us a good use of shots, we chose a local woods called 'Hitch wood' for our location as it was easily accessible and fitted what we were looking for.
Scripting and/or Storyboarding
When it came to story boarding our thriller film it took us a few times to get the story board right, as going through it we would come up with new ideas, this was good as it made us realise what we could do to improve it. I feel that the story board helped us when planning but when it actually came to filming we got a better understanding of what would look good and ended up changing a few things. It helped in the way of what shots we could use and what frames needed filming on what day.
For our music video we storyboarded what we thought would look good but again, when we were filming we decided to change a few things because we thought that it would look better, when changing these idea's it meant that we had a lot of things to talk about when it came to the evaluating stage. Again it helped us with what frames to film when and what shots would look good.
Initial target audience feedback
For our thriller film we wanted the target audience to be the same age as us 16-17, as we felt because it would be shown to friends and people in our class it would make it easier to get feedback, plus we have a better understanding of what that age group wants. We watch films such as Se7en and Face off to get some research about thriller films. We also gave out questionnaires to our target audience to get a deeper understanding of what they would like to see in our thriller film. I found that this research and feedback helped a lot when it came to planning our thriller film because we had initial ideas but from the feedback we could make the film much better.
For our music video we watched a lot of different video's before deciding what type of video we wanted to make, we watched video's that were narrative, performance and concept based. In the end we chose to use the narrative base because it would fit with our genre of music, we also used some performance of our artist lip-sycning. We realised when researching about this type of music video that it would appeal to people around the same age as us, about 18-24 year olds, and also that it would attract more girls than boys because of the genre. Taking this on board we made the video fit the target audience as much as we could.
Existing media practice/products
When planning our thriller film we researched the conventions of a thriller film and chose what we would like to use in our thriller film, for example we decided to use the idea of the unordinary happening in the ordinary setting. We also watch openings to other thriller films to see how they introduce characters and situations. I feel this helped a lot when it came to making our thriller because we knew what would look good and what wouldn't.
When planning our music video we watched lots of different music video's, we also researched about theories and conventions of music video's and found out about Goodwin's theory. He said that 6 conventions always come up in a music video, we looked at these principles and made sure our music video consisted of them.
For our thriller film there was 3 of us in our group, we wanted to be able to all go out and film at the same time and be able to edit as a group, fortunately we had the same free periods as each other, we also spent a lot of time filming after school as we found this time of day suitable for the ambiance of our thriller film. When in school we would sort out what lessons we would shoot in using a shooting schedule, this helped us a lot because it made us manage our time a lot better. When using the shooting schedule we would work out what shots needed to be filmed in the same day meaning the mise-en-scene would be the same. We would book out all the equipment that we needed on the day, this normally consisted of a video camera and a tripod for steady shots. We worked well as a group and could all pitch in idea's that we had, this made it easier when coming to filming as it made things run more smoothly and didn't take a long time. We encountered some problems when it came to the equipment we used, some days we found that the video camera would run out of battery half way through filming a shot, which would be time consuming as some of our shots were outside, this meant we had to wait for the camera to charge until we could film again. We also found that when using one of the tripods the camera did not stay still on it as it had a fault, this meant some of our shots could have been better than they were, but i don't think it affected our overall outcome. When filming our music video we used the same concept of a shooting schedule as we did in our thriller film. Also the person i was working with had the same free lessons as me meaning we had plenty of time to plan. We were not able to film in lesson time which meant we had to use our free lessons to film which didn't turn out much of a problem as we had 10 hours a week free.
The efficient choice and organisation of actors, setting and props
In our thriller film we decided that it would be easy to use people from our group as actors as we knew exactly what we wanted. I think this worked out well because we worked well as a group and didn't come across any problems when it came to acting. For the setting we wanted our thriller to be based on the unordinary happening in the ordinary, we achieved this by using one of our houses as a location. In our film we used a typewriter, this gave a deeper meaning to our film, leaving the audience wondering what the typewriter was there for. In our music video we decided to use our artist as the actor as well as she would have a connection to the song as its her own, it also made it easier when it came to the editing stage as we wanted to use lip syncing and this was made easier with the artist. When planning for our music video we knew we wanted to film outdoors, as it could give us a good use of shots, we chose a local woods called 'Hitch wood' for our location as it was easily accessible and fitted what we were looking for.
Scripting and/or Storyboarding
When it came to story boarding our thriller film it took us a few times to get the story board right, as going through it we would come up with new ideas, this was good as it made us realise what we could do to improve it. I feel that the story board helped us when planning but when it actually came to filming we got a better understanding of what would look good and ended up changing a few things. It helped in the way of what shots we could use and what frames needed filming on what day.
For our music video we storyboarded what we thought would look good but again, when we were filming we decided to change a few things because we thought that it would look better, when changing these idea's it meant that we had a lot of things to talk about when it came to the evaluating stage. Again it helped us with what frames to film when and what shots would look good.
Initial target audience feedback
For our thriller film we wanted the target audience to be the same age as us 16-17, as we felt because it would be shown to friends and people in our class it would make it easier to get feedback, plus we have a better understanding of what that age group wants. We watch films such as Se7en and Face off to get some research about thriller films. We also gave out questionnaires to our target audience to get a deeper understanding of what they would like to see in our thriller film. I found that this research and feedback helped a lot when it came to planning our thriller film because we had initial ideas but from the feedback we could make the film much better.
For our music video we watched a lot of different video's before deciding what type of video we wanted to make, we watched video's that were narrative, performance and concept based. In the end we chose to use the narrative base because it would fit with our genre of music, we also used some performance of our artist lip-sycning. We realised when researching about this type of music video that it would appeal to people around the same age as us, about 18-24 year olds, and also that it would attract more girls than boys because of the genre. Taking this on board we made the video fit the target audience as much as we could.
Existing media practice/products
When planning our thriller film we researched the conventions of a thriller film and chose what we would like to use in our thriller film, for example we decided to use the idea of the unordinary happening in the ordinary setting. We also watch openings to other thriller films to see how they introduce characters and situations. I feel this helped a lot when it came to making our thriller because we knew what would look good and what wouldn't.
When planning our music video we watched lots of different music video's, we also researched about theories and conventions of music video's and found out about Goodwin's theory. He said that 6 conventions always come up in a music video, we looked at these principles and made sure our music video consisted of them.
Monday, 24 January 2011
Creativity
Novel (new) associations which are useful
(Isaken and Treffinger, 1993)
Creating is making new links to what the conventions are, in my music video I made links to different conventions that were normally seen in a music video, for example I used some conventions of Goodwins theory. This included using Genre characteristics, the relationship between lyrics and visuals, the relationship between music and visuals, voyeurism and Star motifs. Goodwin said that in every music video these conventions would appear.
The making of the new and the rearranging of the old
(Bentley, 1997)
A different way of looking at creativity is taking inspiration of something and making it your own. For example when planning our music video, we looked at some music videos that matched our genre. The artist that we chose would best suit a narrative based video. We used the idea of a story emerging behind the video, which we had seen in other narrative based video’s we then decided that if we added some performance in the music video would make it more interesting.
Rule breaking/boundary testing
When using creativity you can break rules deliberately for it to be your own. When making my music video I tried using different editing effects that would not be stereotypical to a narrative based video. This is because I wanted the video to stand out, and make it look different to everything else. I think the use of different transitions still make the music video look soft and magical but with some of the editing techniques that I used I made it look different.
(Isaken and Treffinger, 1993)
Creating is making new links to what the conventions are, in my music video I made links to different conventions that were normally seen in a music video, for example I used some conventions of Goodwins theory. This included using Genre characteristics, the relationship between lyrics and visuals, the relationship between music and visuals, voyeurism and Star motifs. Goodwin said that in every music video these conventions would appear.
The making of the new and the rearranging of the old
(Bentley, 1997)
A different way of looking at creativity is taking inspiration of something and making it your own. For example when planning our music video, we looked at some music videos that matched our genre. The artist that we chose would best suit a narrative based video. We used the idea of a story emerging behind the video, which we had seen in other narrative based video’s we then decided that if we added some performance in the music video would make it more interesting.
Rule breaking/boundary testing
When using creativity you can break rules deliberately for it to be your own. When making my music video I tried using different editing effects that would not be stereotypical to a narrative based video. This is because I wanted the video to stand out, and make it look different to everything else. I think the use of different transitions still make the music video look soft and magical but with some of the editing techniques that I used I made it look different.
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