Freedom & Liberty: Part 1

Trivial yet interesting fact that the 'Land of Free' doesn't have the system best representative of freedom within their constitution.

Another fact found - shocking considering slavery was supposedly abolished between 1863-1865. A true indication of a lack of true freedom and injustice which wasn't too long ago.

Interesting video detailiing solipsism and realism - and perceptions that rule our minds.

Another video - found relevant in light of the Steven Gough Naked Rambler first document,

Father recieves five year probation for a murder of his sons' molester.

Steven Gough in the new 'Naked Rambler' documentary - before his re-incarceration.

Documentary on artist Ai Wei Wei - heavily oppressed by the Chinese Government,

Absurd UK laws that I found amusing and useful within my research.

Another absurd law- I'm unsure how this would be enforced.

This law left me bemused, and again - wondering how it could possibly be enforced.

Interim Evaluation:

We have been briefed to respond within our field(s) on the topics of freedom and liberty, specifically around what freedom means to us personally, our friends and family and then what it means on a global scale. I am enjoying this brief as it involves many factors, philosophy being one of them, After a great deal of research I have had many ideas but none that particularly struck me emotionally. During the interim crit Andrew helped me by telling me to aim for something that I personally feel about. Upon my research I concluded that I am much more aware of the lack of freedom rather than freedom itself. I have since been planning and shrinking my ideas until I got to my one key idea. I am now developing and preparing to record my sounds. I am working alone with this particular project - happily, as I can work on my own schedule and have complete creative control.

Title Sequence: Part 2

Toggling clip speed for effective use. This clip was sped up to fit the rhythm emphasized by the soundtrack.

Choosing the right blue for tint. To use on all clips - fitted with the Heisenberg blue meth theme.

Clip with added blue tint. Adds a cold undertone to title sequence.

Test Export - trying to find best quality possible for playback.

Adding and positioning the credits appropriately - Breaking Bad Title Sequence.

Adding black and white tint to Memento footage in edit - using Adobe Premiere Pro CC - Adds reminsicent effect in perfect harmony with theme of the film.

Toggling through sounds and plugins trying to find the appropriate instruments for my Soundtrack.

Toggling the Philharmonik Audio Orchestral Plugin for Logic. Creating the soundtrack for Memento (Originally for Shawshank Redemption.)

Layering Strings for Memento soundtrack.

Assembling Props before filming.

Project Evaluation:

After the interim crit, Moses and I were pressed for time and had to get a move on things as quickly as possible. After I acquired the camera and equipment I was working on the soundtracks before we had started filming. This wasn't particularly difficult as Moses and I had already agreed on the theme  and mood of the audio to accompany the visuals. For Breaking Bad I used a tripod for some shots and hand held for some others, as the lens and environmental space didn't allow me to position a tripod in some areas. Although not ideal, it still turned out effectively and set up a series of POV shots for the audience to sink their teeth into. Using a 50mm manual lens was no easy feat but was achieved after all. In post production Moses and I made some important decisions on the certain items of emphasis and opted to create a blue tint and place it on all of the clips, creating a cold undertone and having another layer of meaning as it symbolises Heisenbergs' blue meth. I believe this title sequence was a success, especially with the amount of adversity we were faced with. During the crit, I recieved positive feedback, the only notable negative feedback being that Andrew thought the font at the end of the sequence was too large in comparison to the others. I will amend this as I agree with what he said upon further consideration. Memento was also well recieved despite the problems Moses and I faced from venue issues, eventually down to lack of props. I believe we showed true grit and determination to have this title sequence ready in time rather than turn up empty handed with an excuse. The feedback from the memento title sequence was that some of the letters/wording written on items were not entirely legible, and were not strong enough points of focus. I also concede this to be true and will amend this further to create a stronger title sequence. All sound included was non diegetic therefore pretty easy for me to deal with, but all the music/soundtracks were created completely in-house, no corners were cut within the creating and selection process.  This brief has helped me immensely as it forced me to become more familiar with editing visuals and also adding typography, of which I had no previous knowledge. This project also helped Moses and I to increase our levels of efficiency and organization, even when plan A fails. To improve in the future however I would still like to improve organization skills so the time constraint wouldn't be so strong and I am able to work in more comfort.

Title Sequence: Part 1

Stairs to be used for my title sequence. Recreation of Breaking Bad. Old and worn stairs perfect for scene.

Location used for filming.

Planning for Memento title sequence. Listed notions and phrases included in the film to enable as much cohesion as possible.

Another Breaking Bad title sequence. Animated typography is effective in green and glowing with the contrasted black background. The glow of the letters fits the chemical/scientific theme, however I don't know why it is green and not blue (Heisenberg signature meth) for instance.

Another Breaking Bad title sequence - basically a montage of old footage along with title credits. I found this a less effective title sequence as it contained many scenes that would be seen as 'spoilers' for the audience.

Initial Brainstorms for title sequence choices.

Idea generation for Shawshank redemption title sequence..

Idea generation and planning for One Hour Photo

Storyboard for One Hour Photo idea,

Storyboard for Memento Title Sequence.

Storyboard For Breaking Bad Title Sequence. Items included with Camera angles listed.

Interim Evaluation:

We were briefed to recreate title sequences from existing films/TV programmes for our project. After learning about title cards, we looked into the importance of type placement, and font choice, along with colour, contrast and theme when working with a relevant TV show/film. I believe we were given difficult choices to choose from, which brought everyone out of their comfort zones. The choice we had was Bollywood, Spaghetti Western, Thriller, TV drama and News Programmes. I opted to choose a Thriller and a TV drama. At this point in the project I was unsure on what Thriller I wanted to use, out of Shawshank Redemption (as suggested by my project partner Moses) Oldboy, One Hour Photo and Memento (which were personal favourites of mine), which I was excited to create a title sequence for as there isn't one in the actual film. Initially I found my idea generation extremely difficult, and forced myself to think visually rather than paying my main attention to sound. I was apprehensive at the prospect of creating and editing visuals, as my video editing knowledge wasn't particularly strong. However after a few days of idea generation, I had some strong ideas that were difficult to execute. After the interim crit I was given many ideas by peers within the crit and also helped by Andrew in terms of direction, idea development and visual referencing. The first week I found confusing but enjoyed this brief more than most we have been given.

Collaborative Project (Film) : Part 2

Editing the short film, with Paolo and Jason in the editing suite.

Establishing controlling ideas and what they mean.

Brainstorming for controlling ideas, as prompted by Seb.

Further idea development, possibilities of genre for our controlling idea.

Further editing of our controlling idea, revised many times before the final conclusion within our group.

An image of Madonna, heavily Photoshopped with the original alongside on the left. We used this image to show general members of the public how deceptive photographic manipulation can be.

Conversation with a friend and Stylist/fashion designer, asking her our devised set of questions.

 

 

 

Project Evaluation:

After initially planning on creating a documentary-style short film of peoples' opinions, ranging from practitioners, models and general members of public and also accompanied by statistics we aimed to create a no-nonsense and informative short film that shows the audience the effect that deception through digital enhancement of photographs can impact on a society, and the pressures they set for girls that feel they must live up to a standard that doesn't actually exist in reality. Creating the film was relatively painless and we spoke to a usefully vast array of people, which created a relevant and poignant insight into the average persons' mindset involving beauty. Unfortunately non of my exchanges with practitioners were on camera except one, as the others gave me their insight via email. Overall, we edited the film as a group and established location etc. I would credit the majority of the editing to Paolo. Myself an Paolo mainly developed our ideas and further revisions of our final controlling statement. I provided the camera and microphone for the group, and the sound was very clean and clear, enabling the audience to hear concise answers with no complication. Upon our crit, I was absent but was told that Seb was dissatisfied with our film, and it was seen as slap-dash and negligent for the fact that only two locations were used, and only a select few people were captured on camera compared to wide variety of people that were actually questioned on this issue. I enjoyed this process, mainly developing the idea and I always enjoy group editing, as I lack the knowledge and can articulate my wishes with someone more software-competent and ensure my input was used in the best way possible. Within this project I learned about controlling ideas and how important they are within many of the worlds' industries.

Collaborative Project (Film) : Part 1

Article I read during my research entitled 'The Truth About Size Zero' written by former Australian Vogue editor Kirstie Clements.

Another article on the Mailonline which was interesting and relevant to me, as they list the factor of girls aiming to emulate celebrity role model figures, which gives validation to our controlling statement,

Taken from a Pro Ana blog, showing a shockingly thin female torso, and the blog poster calling her figure 'beautiful'. I found this shocking and was unaware of the extent that this issue exists.

Another photograph of a worryingly-thing female torso, with the messgae ' don't eat' written on her stomach. Underneath is a caption written by the blog user, with what seems to be a mantra for aiming to stay thin.

Image of an anorexic body, with the caption of the blog user hoping to have a figure like this. I found this image disturbing.

A post aiming to gain support and motivation within the users' online community, which immediately sparks concern based on how detrimental this users' goals will prove for their body.

The post found above prompts me to think many sufferers of eating disorders are also carrying other psychological issues.

Another Pro Ana Blog - the user has posted their recent dietary habits, comprising of only vegetable juice and water, alongside a training regime,  a bad combination for ones' health.

Blog entitled 'The Pro Ana Lifestyle Forever" listing a 'Ana Playlist' - songs about anorexia compiled for other users of this website.

Grim photographs depicting young Grainne Binns' health deteriorating and also linking this with her obsession with 'Pro Ana' blogs.

Interim Evaluation:

After the pathway stage within the Foundation Media Production Course, all students that have aptly progressed have been placed onto the pathway stage. During the said pathway stage all students were required to complete a collaborative project together. Out of the many different projects listed, I chose the collaborative film project, as that was the only project I could choose that actually included sound ; my pickings were slim. My team for this project consists of Jason, Jolanta, Ollie, Paolo and myself. I was a late addition due to a misunderstanding with the registration process of the project. Within the first week of planning we were urged by Seb to gain an understanding on Controlling Ideas, how to create them and how to execute them within our short films. I at first found this a difficult concept to grasp, and it has been difficult for 5 people with rather vast differences to all agree on a particular subject in complete unison. This issue again highlights my preference for individual work as I see that as the area where I excel more. After week one we have established a controlling idea/statement and are now deliberating on how to film and who to film. After much deliberation and brainstorming we created the controlling statement: 'Many young girls develop a false idea of beauty when they see digitally enhanced bodies in fashion magazines." I was pleased with this controlling statement and was happy that the group could come together for an agreement. As well as understanding controlling statements/ideas we have also been researching, and during the interim crit were pointed to 'Pro Ana' blogs for research. Pro Ana blogs contain shocking posts and images of anorexia sufferers and have been blamed for their contribution to young girl Grainne Binns, as stated in an article on the Mailonline. As my research was in progress my passion for the subject intensified, shocked by many things I read/saw. We have decided to create a short film in documentary style to inform the audience, containing statistics of anorexia and bulimia sufferers. We intend to ask a range of practitioners within the fashion industry, models, and also members of the general public. We are aiming to ask all groups the same questions, therefore gaining an insight into each person individually.