Lone Ranger

The scene we devised took inspiration from many different films like The Lone Ranger and StageCoach (1986). The story to the short film is that Protagonist is looking for the antagonist, who is threatening to blow up the world, and finds him lurking in the canteen. After his fist attempt to spot the antagonist, The protagonist realizes that he has snuck up behind him in an attempt to surprise the protagonist. The protagonist realizes this turns to face him head on. The two continue to stare at each other as time passes around them and the tensions start to boil and they prepare to fight. Then the School bell rings and they are forced to leave the encounter as the place will soon fill with students. So they leave and both prepare for another encounter on another day.

 The location is very key to scene as it is the setup for the whole short film and provides the perfect setting. An empty canteen is great as it has a lot of places to be used for filming. one thing that was really key about the location was that its a place where loads of people flood into. So its makes story wise a lot of sense to use it. it creates the perfect excuse for the characters to leave due to the amount of students that would have descended during their stand off.

 The characters add something that it needed. something to focus on it. Honestly with out characters it would just be a lot of jumping shots of air, and frankly that would suck. But both characters help to add a lot of tension to the piece as they are the prime creators of  the tension.
 The choice for putting the camera where we did was based purely on the best way to create tension. So it features plenty of over the shoulder, extreme close ups and a move I like to call the twisting rotation. its a move that requires  the cameraman to move a semicircle around the actor as he turns around so the camera can see his face as he turns a full 180 degrees.

The impact of your extreme long shot and extreme close ups adds a lot of really good tension as it builds with the canteen scene. That is the aim of the shots to drive up the tension so that when the climax of video is reached and the fire bell goes off all the tension is released in one go.

Mise En Scene

In this scene I can see several different things that lead me to believe the woman in the foreground is cleaner of some variety. First on my list of reasons is what she is dressed in. It appears to be a jumpsuit, of an unknown color, which is commonly used by specific professions like cleaners, plumbers and general maintenance. The other thing that I see to make me believe shes a cleaner is the women sat in the chair through the door is making no attempt to acknowledge her and looks upper class compared to the woman in the foreground. 

In this photo what is evident to me is that the couple appear to be in an argument with each other. One thing that points me to this conclusion is the way they are staring at each other. The stare makes it evident that the couple are stressed at each other. The woman has appeared to taken to drinking most of the bottle of wine to help settle her nerves which in normal situations shows anxiety and stress. With the man its appears he was reading the newspaper at the start of the argument hence why its on the table in front of him. What I can see from this is that he might be attempting to find a job. Possibly to pay for the problem that needs fixing which  could be shown by the step ladder in the background.

For this particular picture I can see that she is love lorn and is staring at the place that either her lover was last at or someone very dear to her had passed away. This is evident to me by her expression and where she is staring. The bed is slightly disturbed and could be evidence for someone leaving during the night or that it hasn't been touched since the deceased was removed. Either of these reasons explain her expression and how she looks at it so I would like to believe that is correct.

This picture is certainly an interesting one as the simple choice for what I see is a she is a prostitute of some form. My reason for thinking this is because of how the man is dressed very professionally. He  likely has little time for relationships because of work and in those times a busy man would often turn to a prostitute in situations where they needed release.

Review of My 1st and 3rd person Films

Looking at both videos very simply story wise they are no different. Its just the shot that changes. For example below I have the same scene from 3rd person and 1st person.

(3rd person above.
1st person below.)

Apart from the change in color the scenes hold the same effect and purpose. The difference with the shots is the color which was done in the 1st person video to add the effect of it being viewed through the eye. The effect of the cold blue does add a very chilling and dark feel to the video. The 3rd person differs from this because I felt it didn't need to be as cold and harsh. I prefer the crisper and more realistic style I went with on the 3rd person video.

When producing both videos I had a great time directing and editing both as I felt I had great control over the creative process. Recording the video was great fun because working with Simon, Liam and Josh because they are very co-operative and can see the ideas I try to get across really well. Filming the shots were interesting because doing it in third person was so much easier then first person, with first person you have to have someone with a camera basic holding it in front of you while you walk. it can be a very uncomfortable process and highlights how much easier third person is.

Overall I really enjoyed making the video with my group and would gladly work with them again to make another video. Making videos like this are what I aim to make similar in the future so its great to experience the process now.

Script Work

  

“Mysterious button”

By

William Regan

Based On Tim Dickinson’s classic tale

The Mysterious Button And Joe

pan in from the left to a block of flats located in the Devonport part of plymouth, CORNWALL, at night.

Scene name: Adverage day.

From the exterior of the building you see that only one light of the flats is on and is rapidly pulsating with different colors, while various game noises are heard.

Swish Out

Swish In

Interior view from below the TV that TOM JONES is facing, a controller in hand and flashing colors on his face and body.

Tom jones

“Arghh YOU PIECE OF S**T! I’ll get you next time! God damn controller is faulty!”

TOM Proceeds to hit the controller repeatedly and throws it to the floor then turns off the TV.

Camera stays under TV and TOM proceeds to walk to his bed and climb in without care and bangs his head on the headboard.        

TOM JONES

“GOD FREAKING DAMN IT! I HATE THIS PLACE!”

TOM is shown in bed then the camera Pans to the window on the right as it Time lapses to the next morning and pans back to TOM who is still in bed and is awakening.

tOM jONES

“Urghh… screw…you…controller…bullshi…”

TOM mumbles groggily as he attempts to turn over and is greeted by a ray of sunshine directly onto his face. This wakes TOM abruptly.

Tom jones

“URGHH…sun…why you do this? Arghhh…whats the time?”

TOM looks to his old fashioned alarm clock to see it reads 9:42am. TOM just grunts and gets up and walks to the door.

SCENE NAME: IT ARRIVES

Camera is at an OTS position following TOM as he travels from the bathroom to the kitchen stopping to pick up a pair of shoes as he passes the door. As he walks into the kitchen the Camera leaves his shoulder and glides to the side opposite TOM and settles on the counter emphasizing the fact that the parcel is sat on the table. TOM is busy making a bowl of cereal (Crunchy Nut) when he realizes he saw the parcel on the table.

TOM JONES

“Huh…”

TOM puts down his cereal and then sits in front of the parcel contemplating what to do with it. He Checks for a name and doesn’t find one.

Tom jones

“A parcel…with no name or address…how did it get here?”

TOM shakes the box and hears a faint call Emanate from the center

Button master

“Unwrap us you fool!”

TOM drops the box abruptly but doesn’t move away. Just hovers his hand over the top. He leans to the box ear first.

TOM JONES

“Hel…hello? Is someone in there?”

TOMS cautiously puts his ear to the box and is greeted by a very loud shouting from within that causes the box to bounce around.

Button master

“YES I AM IN HERE! NOW OPEN ME UP PEASENT!”

TOM reacts by pushing the box away and taking a deep breath.

Tom Jones

“No… I’m not hearing things. I can’t be. Not again.”

TOM moves to stand up but is cut short in his actions by the box again.

Button Master

“YOU WILL SIT DOWN AND THEN YOU WILL OPEN THIS BOX THAT I AM TRAPPED IN!”

The voice that emanates from the box is very hypnotic and TOM sits down without thinking and then proceeds to open the box and places the object in the box in front of himself. It appears that the object is nothing but a simple button with no leads no battery holes. At this point it seems that TOM now has no control over what he does.

Button master

“Good. NOW PRESS ME!”

The world around the button and TOM starts to shake violently. The bowl shatters along with the glass in the kitchen. The Button then rises into the air above the table and emits a shining white light that blinds TOM and the camera.

Cut to black.

           “I am at long last… UNLEASHED!”

The End

The picture below is of my script to show how I set it out.

Story Boards, Risk Assessment and Equipment List and Story.

Storyboards 1-2-3

Risk Assessment

Shot List 1

Shot List 2

Story and  Equipment List

Self Review of My More Soon Tribute

Well my first shot was of me listening to music through headphones while nodding in the beat. My second shot is of me smiling really awkwardly and looking around the room then focusing on the camera. The emotion in the first clip I was conveying was joy at listening to music, which i normally feel when listening to music, and for my second clip I was conveying apprehension as i made it look like i didn't want to be there.

When it came to the editing of the video I really wanted it to sync mostly to the music so every solid beat it would change shot. This actually worked and on some of the clips the actions of the actors synced with some of the changes in the music. Over all to me this was an exercise to get better at editing but the stuff i was doing isn't new to me so its was just good practice.

To select the clips I used it  had to have a form of humor that you can see easily by watching them. When it came to some videos they just didn't cut it and seemed way to boring for the video. If i was going to put them in it would have had to been for about 2 seconds so not to bore the audience. Overall I think the ones I chose where the right ones too choose add they actually made it interesting and because of my choice I didn't use all of the clips because I fear it would have been too dull if I did.

Positioning some of the clips is definitely something that I considered and did. My most obvious one is the use of Liam at the beginning as his entrance onto the frame is both comical and a good way to start the video. Other example include using video of Axel on the bass when the solo is being played on the music and when the Skate board wheels are being turned to the sound of the beat.

By leah for the review below

Having watched someone else’s edit, what are over overall opinions of it? Both positive and/or negative.
I really enjoyed Will's edit. The way he timed it to the music made individual parts pop out of the video. Especially at the end when the music has died down to a basic beat, he placed a video of himself listening to music, which gave the effect of it all being inside his head, i have no idea if this was intentional but it is great part.

If i had to give one negative, i would say a couple of the clips lasted too long, compared to others and made the video tense, but that could be his desired effect.

Highlight a ‘best bit’ that you think was edited particularly well. (Either it was in the right

place, or worked well with the music, or simply has ‘impact’.) Explain why you chose this.

... at the very beginning the beat is building up and it hits its highest intro point when Liam appears moving from the bottom for the screen upwards, this creates a good start too the video, conveying disapproval at the beginning allows the audience to laugh more at funny parts as they are introduced with a stern clip, which makes people get ready for a darkbeat video.

Is there anything you would do differently, if you had edited it? Can you explain your reasons for
this?

I honestly don't think so. maybe including more funny clips, but that is only because the comedy factor of this project is too damn high. 

Review of Ratatat and Obsess by Carl Burgess

Lets get started with Ratatat. It is basically a music video that took inspiration from the many archive footage of actors smiling that are used in adverts. The video itself consists of multiple different actors posing and smiling either on their own or with others, at some points in the video the characters faces are actually modified to make the eyes and other facial features look smaller on the face by squishing them down on the face. Its a very well edited piece simply to say as the way it swaps to the next scene in time to the song is executed perfectly.

Two thing that helps the video to be just a little creepy is just the incessant smiling, its just so creepy which is really I think what he is going for in the video because that's his style as mentioned in the earlier post, and the smoke effect on the fringes of the video that creates a really dark thought in your mind. The smoke is almost invisible unless you spot it but it really just adds to the overall effect of a darker image behind that hides behind those incessant smiles.

While the music is not composed by Carl himself I want to make mention to how the music effects the  video on a deeper level then just the cutting between shots. The way the music effects the video is very odd because the music is way too rapid and is not really suited to the type of video because of its relatively . Yet with its use it works really well because of the synchronization to the video. To me I think the music effects it by again making the video look out of place. Everything about the video screams "help" and "I'm not meant to be here".

The way its was done is a great example of how weird and wacky Carl Burgess likes to make his work. None the less the video is a great example and as an overall rating from me it gets a 8/10 because of how his style is to weird you out and it hits the mark perfectly. As for the music it does strangely fit to the video and it just seems right. 

What and Who is "MoreSoon"?

(http://moresoon.org/kap-bambino.htm)

More Soon simply is the name of the production company set up by Carl Burgess the director. Carl is a UK based director, film maker and sculptor that specializes in making very stunning and visually crazy videos that amaze the viewers, as well as ones that are designed to weird you out much like his Ratatat Video (http://moresoon.org/ratatat-drugs.htm)

The Biography on his website mentions "His dark, simple aesthetic lends itself to creating new worlds out of the mundane, turning objects and perceptions on their head to make visually rich, slightly twisted work." He is a very skilled artist/sculptor and the work he does, as said above, is very twisted and in no way looks normal. one example I found featured a human head sculpture that has been warped. Like you would on picture editing. This effect makes the sculpture look completely different and makes it visually disturbing (to me anyway)

Simply Put for More Soon and Carl Burgess's style is just pure emotion and visually twisted. The main style i see for his art and photography is the way he can manipulate each and everything to look weird and mesmerizing. This is probably linked to how he wants the pictures to be easy to remember. The easiest way to do that is to create things that people haven't seen before and will likely never again. The weirder the more likely they are to remember it. Carl definitely has it perfected as his work is some of the weirdest and frankly creepiest I have ever seen. Like this example below.

I am still not sure what it is. My best guess is that its a disfigured and warped human face and skull. Its a perfect example of how he likes to warp simple and normal things to a level not before seen. His videos do not tend to be as bad as his sculptures are but they do hold a certain level of weird that makes it stand out to me. For his video Ratatat he organised a group of archive actors and made them perform a variety of different poses and emotions centered around the camera. This is to sort of show how weird they can be as they are often used for adverts. He also did a version called Obsess the was made specifically to show how stock actors and footage can be really creepy and just weird.

(video is a link)

Lev Kuleshov And His Effect On the Film Industry.

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Lev_Kuleshov.jpg)

First lets get an understanding of who Lev Kuleshov was. Lev Kuleshov was a Russian director who was born on the 1st of January 1899 in Tambov, Russia. He suffered from bouts of depression and a poor speaking ability, these problems were soon overcome by the fact that he had a strong will, persistence and determination in anything he did. Up till the age of 15 he was home taught by his father who had a degree from Moscow Art College. At 15 his father passed away which caused him and his mother to move to Moscow. When he arrived at Moscow for the next years of education he went to the prestigious Stroganov School where studied art and history. From there he went to the Moscow School of Painting, Architecture and Sculpture focusing on oil painting.


After this he got his first job in the film business as a set designer at the Moscow film studio of Aleksandr Khanzhonkov. During his time working at the studio he had decided that he wanted to work on being a director. His ambition was rewarded when he met Akhramovich-Ashmarin a successful director who introduced him to the American School of Film-Making.


Over the course of his life in the film industry he made many films. But his biggest impact on the world of film was the Kuleshov Effect. Very simply what this means is when a clip of someone is used with several different clips or images then it changes the meaning of the film.

To quote an account where this is used by Lev Kuleshov "one in which a jailed man is shown an open cell door, and one in which a starving man is shown a bowl of soup. Kuleshov switched the shots, so that the starving man saw the open door and the prisoner looked at soup, and there was no noticeable difference." (http://kubrickfilms.tripod.com/id21.html) This is an example where the effect of the films switching does not change the emotional state as they are both exhibiting the same emotion. An example of one that does work was done by Alfred Hitchcock called "Hitchcock love Bikinis" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCAE0t6KwJY) 

In this video he also explains how it works. To put an explanation here what it does is uses the recycled clip to show reaction to a certain stimulus. In the Video the first stimulus is a mother holding a baby. To which he smiles at which shows he is a "Kind old man". For the second stimulus he uses a women in a bikini. Because of how the clip still smiles the reaction is that he is a "dirty old man". This is the perfect example of how Kuleshovs Effect works. By changing certain stimuli to a characters expression you change how people perseve that character and his emotion.

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBwepkVurCI) This video by Charlie Brooker goes into significant detail on how reality tv shows are edited to show different responses. A really good example in the clip is where Charlie Brooker tells a really terrible joke to the other flatmates. With some quick editing you take a recording from elsewhere along the day and use that clip to add a fake reaction to the joke, where as the real one was terrible. Many shows like Big Brother (like the example he uses) do this to help people perseve characters in a certain way. They also use this with alot of audio clips too. For example in the clip he uses the audio from one of the interviews over the top of a scene to show you how they view a character.

Thats my detailed analyse of the Lev Kuleshov Effect. 

what is single camera technique?

Single camera technique is very simply a focus on filming a scene in multiple takes. This is what sets a lot of Tv and film apart.

Films are in general always single camera techniques purely because they have the time and the money to spend time redoing each shot and working on each take. Because of the way its done for films it means the scenes are often filled with a lot more in depth acting then those on TV reality shows or soaps. My favorite examples for single cameras are Films and TV shows like Zombieland, Teachers and Doctor Who which all use single camera technique to emphasize Comedy and Drama and Horror, in Zombielands case. When Filming with single camera movies and shows it basically in an action sequance to exactly the same thing again so different angles ca be filmed. Like in the shot below, from Zombieland, the characters spot the zombie and Jessie Eisenberg (Coloumbus) starts to run from the zombie with out sliding under Woody Harrelsons (Tallahasse) bat, so they cut to a new shot and film Jessie Eisenberg Sliding under. Its basicly continuing each scene after each cut again and again.

(http://www.aceshowbiz.com/images/still/zombieland03.jpg)

When it comes to  other TV shows it is only reality shows, soaps and competition shows like X Factor who use multi-camera as they have to produce an episode on a tight schedule like on a weekly basis. In my opinion this makes the acting seem less convincing and wooden. Many dramas on TV use single camera as it makes the acting look much more real as the actors have the chance to work for the camera and the emotion. Another place where multi-camera is used is in TV comedies like Friends and Big Bang Theory.

(http://simplifyingfabulous.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Sheldons-Apt-BigBangTheory-1024x682.jpg)

Overall the difference is about the actors quality and emotion really. As well as the way each scene is set up with the cameras. Without a doubt both types fill the role they are intended to fill really well.

Shynola Vs Gallagher

To really decide who has the best argument you have to look at both sides of the story. Because of the nature of the dispute i will look at the side who claims to have had their work stolen first, Gallagher.

Andy Gallagher's video is very well done. The use of chalk in his video is the biggest similarity to shynola's Strawberry swings. Some scenes in which the chalk is used can be seen as similar. Similar is as close as it gets. Dan Gallagher claims there are "striking similarities" between the two videos.(http://www.theguardian.com/music/2009/sep/22/coldplay-video)

Looking at these pictures side by side, yes they are similar, are they identical? no but the are clearly inspired by something in both cases.  

From Shynola's point of view they do also see the similarities " Looking back, it has enough similarities to Mr. Trevor's video itself."(http://www.shynola.com/originalityexplained.pdf). its nice to see them admit is is similar but they also explain that they did not see the video till it was mentioned " Having never seen Mr. Trevor's video before, we can categorically deny that his video was any influence on our video." (same place as above). The rest of the site has loads of pictures showing the similarities of the works but also shows how they got the inspiration for their piece without watching Gallaghers piece.

Looking at both videos its clear to see that they are similar to each other but i think personally its is wrong to criticise Shynola of stealing an idea when they are not identical. Yes in many situations people have claimed that because its similar its a direct breach of copyright. Both films have their own merits and in some appearances they do look similar. But that is the case for some very small clips in the whole films and not a huge percentage.

Evaluation Time- One Shot Music Video

 The review of the one shot homage to Metronomy's "she wants" that we made as a group in college. While I put forward as the main character and director but i was not voted in. Even though i didn't have the authority I still got involved with ideas. I managed to get the idea I wanted into the video which was the part where i was wearing my latex horse mask and brushing the fake hair on it.

Looking back at the video its clear that there is some faults in the video quality, but i remind myself that as a first group project for us it was still really good to watch and you do forgive some of the shortcomings. One of the main things i had an issue with when watching it was the focusing of the camera. We probably should have had someone with a focus puller to keep the video in focus but they might have made the video harder to shoot.

One of the the better things for the video was the organisation and positioning of the different pieces that were chosen by the directors. The sequences that followed were one of my favourites Ive seen in a video. My particular favourite was the zombies at the arcade games machine because of the effort put into looking the part and the way they stared intently at the camera like zombies have done in many films.

Working as a group was very crucial to this and I think the directors did manage to pull the large group together really well. The organisation and timing was to the credit of both of them as they had to plan the route and the setup of each act placed well enough that they flow really well from mini scenes to mini scene.

This being the first production team of this size the directors both did really well in keeping people ready and doing their jobs without being too bossy which I think is very admirable. The ease of the piece was probably down to the fact everyone was really excited to do this video and were happy to do what was necessary to make the video great. Including doing what you are told.

The great thing about doing this whole video was getting to practice my editing skills more the before on any other task. The time we had to work with on the music helps make a sense of urgency to the editing so you fit the video to the ending of the music.

In the event that all copies of the videos were lost I would pretty much do exactly the same if possible but have a focus puller for the camera and position some people in different places. On the stair case i would have have had the stampede running before the camera focuses on them instead of watching them start running. But other than that the video was done really well and it looks really good.

Critique Of Planes, Trains And Automobiles. "Going The Wrong Way" Scene.

 Planes, Trains And Automobiles is a classic comedy film staring John Candy and Steve Martin. The film was released to the public view in November the 25th 1987 and the scene where they drive between two lorries while going down the wrong side of the freeway is definitely one of my favorite scenes as a kid due to the comedy between the two characters facing a near death situation.

The scene starts of with several different medium close ups that quickly swap between John Candy and Steve Martin as they react to the couple in the car shouting at them from across the freeway. The couple also feature a different shot as they both have share multiple medium close ups and one medium long shot.

As the they begin to approach the lorries ahead of them, the camera switches to a long shot of the lorries hurtling towards them with only the lights visible. The camera is actually slightly lower then the characters would see the lorries. This technique in films is to make the target, either a person or object, look more menacing and dangerous. It is also used to convey a sense of fear and shock to the audience.

As the scene progresses so quickly the next shots also increase in pace as the shots become more rapid and varied to help convey the characters fear(as shown in the Gif. above). The shots being used in this rapid sequence of events are mainly close ups and extreme close ups to focus mainly on the faces as they convey the most emotion when scared and portray the horror of the situation better then a medium shot would. The shots work very well and do portray the emotion in a way that's clear and easy to understand.

The music here is a very key part of the scene as the tempo of the music increases to match the scene. speeding up to signal the impending crisis of the trucks reaching the car and then the music drops to allow for the sound of the metal scraping and John Candys manic screams then laughter to dominate the sounds-cape. This adds a real sense of slapstick horror to the characters as John Candy changes into the devil to show how dire the situation is.    

Critique of Lord Of The Rings The Return Of The King- Mt Doom

This scene is my second choice for a multiple reasons. not only is the camera work simple but effective, but its the depth of emotion in the actors that support the camera work. In this scene we see Frodo after walking across the whole of Middle Earth preparing to throw the ring into the lava from which the ring was made. This is all happening while the rest of the fellowship are fighting

Saurons army outside the black gate in a last ditch effort to distract them away from Frodo's mission.

Instantly when watching this scene you can see a variety of different camera shots. Some are CGI but they are done to mimic the real shots. But those that really stand out to me are the real ones that focus on the expressions of the characters and their struggles at this point in the film.

One of my favorite shots is the close up of Frodo as he contemplates keeping the ring. The close up brings together the turmoil between throwing and keeping it. Obviously its focused solely on Elijah Woods performance as Frodo but the camera captures the intricate details like the way his eyes gloss and focus on the ring forgetting almost everything else. Multiple different types of close up and medium shots are used solely on Elijah and the decision, because of its significance to the movie.

Very quickly after this scene Golem appears and successfully removes the ring from Frodo's invisible hand by biting his ring finger. The shots that are used for this scene is interesting as technically they are not done with only camera but also with CGI. While some of these scenes are CGI some are a mixture so i have decided to count it. The particular shot of Golem biting of Frodo's finger is a brilliant example as it combines CGI and real acting from Elijah Wood with a great panning close up shot that captures Frodo's emotion as his finger is bitten off at that very second. 

Watching the scene over and over the order of the shots have been specifically chosen to try and convey the struggle between the desire in Frodo to keep the ring and the choice to throw it away. 

The other key things that surround the scene is the sound effects that they are using. In several of the scenes its mostly the sound of bubbling lav, miniature lava explosions and gusting winds flowing in the volcano. These all add to the overall atmosphere of the scene and make it look and feel highly realistic. 

Critique Of Zombieland "Be A Hero" Scene

From watching and enjoying this film multiple times, this scene hold a particular place in my mind because of the style and the way the camera is used to add suspense and drama.This scene is the last climax of the film and it draws focus on Columbus (played by Jessie Eisenberg) as the main protagonist. The scene requires that he overcomes one final zombie to rescue the female protagonist Wichita (played by Emma Stone) who is stuck atop a ride in a dire situation where a zombie is about to bite her and her sister's, little rock(played by Abigail Breslin), legs.

I could easily write a review about the whole film but I've decided to focus on this scene in particular because it is built around overcoming your fears and the camera work fits and molds to emphasize the task that "Columbus" is faced with.

As mentioned earlier in the film, "I hate clowns"-Columbus, he has a particular hatred for clowns even before the zombie outbreak. This is beautifully shown in this scene by using a variety of shot like close ups,medium shots, crash zooms and long shots. The chosen shots are all linked to the suspense they are trying to convey between the zombie clown, and Columbus. The previous reference leads to this point as it is Columbus's personal climax of the film. The significance of this part to the story is shown by great the camera work.

 My personal favorite shot is when the crash zoom is used on Columbus, It really shows his contempt,anger and fear towards the zombie. It also shows that moment that he realizes that its time to break the rules and "be a hero". Other shots that catch my eye specifically is the close up of the clown zombie when its staring at Columbus. The shot plays perfectly on the expressions of Derek Graf. Due to the closeness of the shot you can see all the movements in the eyes, mouth, jaw and for the finale, the blood/pus falling from the mouth. The close up on that sets the darkness and terror that the zombie is instilling in both the audience and Columbus. When I look at the zombie I know that I would be terrified at this situation. To me that shows how effective the shot is.

The sounds that are used in this scene are designed to not only really heighten the sense of fear and terror that the zombie gives off, but to also show the change in heart from Columbus. For the zombie it was mainly centered around his grunts,growls and the sound of the blood pouring from his mouth. This is what drives the scariness of this zombie home. The combination of the shots and the sounds really show him as the absolute horror of the film. For Columbus's shots its the faint heartbeat and the sound of the rule being broken that shows his desire to overcome his fear and rescue Wichita.  

In order of release to the public eye.

1.The Way Things Go- 1987

2.Honda Cog- 2003

3.Ok Go-This Too Shall Pass- 2010

It is fairly clear when watching the 3 videos in age order that they are inspired by the previous. Its a fairly simple concept of chain reactions that lead to ever increasing contraptions. We cannot say that its plagiarism due to the fact they are not identical but a variation. They Mimic it but don't copy them. Its similar but not the same is what I am getting at in the last four sentences (sorry for that).

When it comes down to it i personally i think This Too Shall Pass was my favorite. I say that as its the most exciting out of the 3 too me. The combination of different things is what makes it my favorite. It always finds the way to be more interesting then the others, my choice to represent this one is having the TV sliding on the wire and then being hit by a sledgehammer. While i am not sure why it happens it keeps me intrigued and shocked me at first as the hammer is not visible before it falls. The way it ends is also a reason i enjoy it, the ending adds some slapstick comedy as the paint is fired at the four people who appeared throughout the piece. What sets this apart from The Way Things Go is speed. This Too Shall Pass is nice and snappy with each of the reactions and that draws me in.

When It comes to The Way Things Go. Its my least liked in all of the 3. It just doesn't draw me in like the others do. It just seems like a pointless thing with no real end. The main problem is that they made the reactions take 3 times as long as any in This Too Shall Pass. Its just too long to hold any form of interest for the length of the video. If it was as fast as the others it wouldn't have been too bad its just for the length. they always say "quality not quantity". if everything was as detailed as it is just shorter it would have been awesome to me. I say all this but i can see that a lot of effort went into the video and the quality of the movements because while long they are very precisely worked out and work very well.

Now to the Honda Cog Advert.This is what i would say is a good standard of these videos. I say this because its clear that its been really well thought out to include all the pieces that the car is built from. Including bolts,wheels and speakers. This appeals to me because i have a fascination with little details and noticing each of the pieces as the go along in the video is cool to me. Seeing the window wipers being used to rotate and hit the bucket is the sorta thing that grabs my attention. Using things abnormally to make a sequence grabs my attention.

Overall my opinion is that they all work well but some need to be a bit faster to keep attention. Other then that they are really cool and precisely executed.

Is Anything Truly Original?

Short and simple answer is no. Nothing is ever original due to the fact the our lives are influenced by what we hear,see and read. Its is the same for all of our creations. We are inspired by the things we enjoy and aspire to be similar but not the same. I experience this often when I try to draw my own comics and make animations. I try to choose a style that mimic those that I know are popular,and that I enjoy, without being too easy to criticize for being copying.

As a species we are born to adapt and survive. This applies to everything we do from the food we eat to the television and films we watch. Its all influenced by each other. Especially in films.
I could talk about this for a while but I know Tomska explains it better.(link is the picture)

Please don't see this as me trying to skip on the work but i know i cant explain it as-well as he does.

LOOKING BACK    Reflecting on your first assignment. List the most important things you have learnt?    How can this help you in future projects? 1.Team work is the foundation of every successful piece. By making sure that everyone is busy and working together closely.  2.Planning is the glue and the drive behind the pieces. By working out where,what and when  we are going to be working helps keep us working at maximum efficiency and this makes good pieces the best they can be. 3.Effort is key and having people who put in effort makes a good team. I say this with caution as I don’t wish to offend anyone. But what I say is true to me. If you have a group of people who are enthusiastic and want to work to make the best they can will generally work well together. But I know there are some people who do not like to try too hard and it drags a good group down. 1) With the overall assignment, identify what it is you are most pleased with and why? I am not going to lie. I am not particularly pleased with any of the work I have done so far. This stems probably from the way I always envision something much greater then I can create. But even then when I try to drive something towards being the best as possible it gets diluted by others input and ends up not looking like I initially envisioned, but that’s to be expected in group work without a set director which leads to an equal input.  2) What do you think you could do better if you had the chance to turn back time? Make my voice louder and push to be in a more directorial position. I know its harsh but I hate letting people add to an original idea without asking the original ideas creator first. All I really want is to do well and I feel that In the future I will have to be more forceful in my ideas and fall to peer pressure less times to keep ideas from diluting. 3) Look back at the work you have undertaken in this first assignment and think of three different occasions where you have hit a problem, and discuss how you overcame that problem.   1. Working in an equal group with no leader- Basically solving this problem at this point was to just go with the majority vote until I take a Decisive role and have the final say. 2.  Loss of group communication in the vertical pixilation work- When this happened our production slower by a large amount. This was overcome by basically gaining everyone’s attention and making sure they are communicating with each other and doing the work 3. Bringing together everyone and planning the piece for the vertical pixilation was a problem- Mainly what happened was we had half a group with a lot of interest and input, then half with some or no interest at all. These people spent most of the time talking only to each other and when specifically asked to help they acted like it was a chore. Really we can’t overcome this but we basically just managed to work through them and give them things to do. 4) Look back at your blog.  What do you think of it?  How does it tell the story of your first weeks of learning? Looking back at my blog I think it paints my first few weeks quite well. I think it looks great and the work is to a good standard. But it is up to you guys to decide that properly when you grade it.

My Vertical Pixillation- Was it Good Enough? You Decide!

I think on a group as large as us, with only 2 hours to work with, we did really well. The way we all worked together was alright. Not the best it could have been but we got it done and done well enough for it look good. What did go well for us was the moving of objects around the two actors. Objects like the podium and the fish had specific people that were in charge of making sure they moved each shot. Probably one of the most important things for the group was making that props that we needed for the shots look good. the center piece of the work was the Olympic torch that really looked great in the video.

As a group we could have done a few things better such as communicating better with each other. As the Director Of Photography I had to make sure that things were moving and people were not it shot. This is not easy when most people are talking to each other and not listening.  We probably only just managed to move past that and carry on. It might have been an organisation thing as some people were unsure what they were meant to be doing. If we had made sure people had something to do I think we would have moved faster and more effectively as a group.

Overall I was a little annoyed with some of the individuals in the group but as a whole we worked well and made the piece work look good and flow nicely. I may be quite critical of the group but I know that no production is ever smooth and that in a short space of time we did work really well.

Vertical Pixillation- My Thoughts and Findings.

This is a very simple explanation of Vertical Pixillation. Its normal Pixillation but from directly above and with the people laying on their sides. Its that simple on the surface but it can be made into a really complex and beautiful piece's of art and film in one. The moving of  all of the individual pieces is the key to the success of the piece and the more detailed in the movements you can be the better. Its a mark of quality when the frame rate can stay the same and the movement of the pieces looks clean and smooth.

Watching pieces Like Her Morning Elegance and Sorry I'm Late are really good examples of pieces of work that focus very much on the detailed movements. It shows in these two pieces due to the fact that all of the movement is executed with very little drops in frame rate, that shows that there was a lot of dedication to the precise movements of the actor and the props. The dedication is what makes these pieces look so good. The ideas behind it are fairly standard and nothing spectacular but its the way its executed. Any one could replicate this piece with some time and effort but its still a joy to watch because of the effort and clarity of the pieces.
Sorry Im Late by Tomas Manskovsky is a very interesting piece as I really don't understand its goal other than to look fun and interesting. I can only assume from the title that he is late to seeing someone important to him. Possibly his Girlfriend but it is not entirely clear. While I cannot comment on the story and its direction I can comment on the piece on a whole. Watching the piece itself is enjoyable. as mentioned before quality is the main aspect here but other then that the way the video progresses is what is enjoyable.

The props they are using are a great variety for the small animation. My personal favourite is the car that is used at the end. What I like about the car is how they use it. They were not afraid to have a hand showing moving the car. Because of this the piece still looks really nice and I just personally enjoy the effect.

Over all I really don't think much of the piece. Its great but it just doesn't draw me in like Her Morning Elegance does. But that has nothing to do with its superb quality just how I just don't really get it.

With Her Morning Elegance you can see that there is a story to the movements and the setting that it is based in. When looking at the piece you may not initially get this but if you look at the setting of the bed and the fact that she is asleep during it possibly shows that this is a physical manifestation of her dreaming. It's revolved around her traveling through many different places, the ocean and the sky included, and eventually ending with her curled up to an unknown male who then vanishes as she awakes. I interpret this as her longing to find the Ying to her Yang. As evidenced by the Ying and Yang symbol made from their bodies.

But because she is reaching out only in her dreams. As soon as she wakes her dream is shattered leaving her alone on the bed. The journey she takes in her dream symbolizes how she will search high and low to find that one man to be her other half. Its a very deep and meaningful story performed spectacularly and the style  of vertical pixilation was very key to its success.

Shutter Speed, What Is This Nonsense.

Shutter Speed very briefly is how long the shutter on a camera stays open to accepting light. On DSLR and SLR cameras this means the amount of light that reaches the film or image sensor is proportional to the length of time the shutter is open. Normally shutter speed is used in conjunction with the ISO, which changes the sensitivity to light, to capture either really long images that give a blurred effect or really fast images that give clear images of something in motion with no blur. Much like you see in sports news of footballers or runners.

Or in the case above a pin wheel in motion. The shutter speed above shows that the faster speeds make the image pinwheel look still. Where as at a longer speeds show that the pinwheel is in motion and blurs depending on the most prominent colours.

I know this as I studied Photography at callington for a year.

We Got Time by David Wilson-My Opinion

When watching We Got Time by David Wilson you can see that he has an immense range of skills as a director and an artist, seeing as he created and drew all the turntables himself over the course of the months they were planning it. As an example of turntable animation its probably one of the best and one of my favourites because of its creativeness and the way it challenges what is normally used on turntables.

Praxinoscopes are one of the pieces of equipment that David Wilson uses in the video. A Praxinoscope is simply the mirror atop the disc thats spinning that allows the image to be flipped an seen at an angle instead of always from above. It was adapted from the Zoetrope by animator Charles-Émile Reynaud.

From watching the "making of" David mentions that he discovered that you could make levels of Praxinoscopes and then combine separate discs with common images that give an extended version. like the one in the picture above, the leaf starts on the lowest one then raises up flowing into the two next mirrors almost seamlessly. This was developed from an earlier version that saw a deer running between different discs while shrinking and getting larger.

I think the multi-level one was developed from here and its a very good starting point as it shows off the skills of David very well. Watching the different discs spin shows how detailed they are. The discs themselves are spun on a recreation of the turntables used by DJ's at parties or discos. Hence why all the paper discs are designed like the vinyl ones that are normal used.  All thats required for the images to move  is that they are redrawn in the next segment in a different place or position. so that when the disc is spun at speed it will move and rotate.

My Initial Inspiration

Anyone that has been on Youtube should recognise this face. If not let me fill you in. This is Thomas Ridgewell or more well known as Tomska,to the Youtube Community anyway. He is an Animator,Musician,Actor, Director and one of my inspirations. He first started on his path with a friend from his Secondary school Edd Gould, who sadly died of cancer in early 2012, working on a series of animations called Eddsworld that mainly focused around Edd Gould, Thomas Ridgewell, Matt Hargreaves and in the earlier series Tord Larsson

(Blue-Tom. Red-Tord. Green-Edd. Green/Purple-Matt)

 These adventures were centred around Edds four friends mainly and their adventures outside of school. All of these Episodes, dubbed Eddisodes, Were all made using flash. Many of their adventures were just random things that Edd would dream up and animate with his friends. Tom mainly took the role of voice acting but also dabbled in directing a few episodes including the episode "movie-makers".

From his beginnings with Edd Gould, he Studied at The University Of Lincoln, which is where he met many of his friends that are featured in many of his early videos. Tomska's most popular series is called "ASDF movies" these Animations put Tomska on the map for millions of YouTubers. The first video of the ongoing series has amassed a view count of 44,706,759 on its own. He has so far gotten 2,123,857 subscribers on his main channel and 409,215,969 views altogether. He is by far My favourite YouTube up-loaders because of his consistency to provide new videos that always make me laugh and entertained over multiple time of viewing.

My reason for him being my inspiration is that he is not afraid to create his own humour and even if its complete gibberish take consolation that he has made one person happy. He has a lot of talent and has inspired a lot of people including myself.

tutorial questions

1.      Have you handed in all your qualifications?  If not, what is missing?

 I have handed in all of my results. i am in talks with my secondary school in getting my actual result for maths as it is currently at a C but before Christmas I took the last exam to increase my grade and I got a higher grade. I just don't have a formal slip with it on. 

2.      What were you doing before this course started, and why did you choose Plymouth College of Art?

I was at Callington Community College studying Drama,Photography and ICT. while studying these I performed the plays Hairspray and an adaptation of the Tinderbox. The later of the plays was performed at the royal hall for Cornwall in front of an audience of 1000 customers including other schools and the public.

3. Have you given us your Emergency contact details?   YES

4. Have you received feedback from your Preparation for Learning tests? YES

5. Do you have any long-term goals regarding what you might want to do after this course finishes, or regarding a career?

 I have two career idea's. Firstly from Here at Plymouth I am aiming to go to St Mary's Twickenham and Study Film Management. From There I will decide whether I either go into being a film director or choosing to be a Cameraman for BBC sports. These are my two choices but if any opportunity to work on sets as a cameraman turn up i will jump at the chance.

6. What do you need to achieve whilst on this course to progress your goals?

I want to achieve a Distinction or Distinction* as I want to be the best I can so that I can have my choice  of career paths.

7. Do you think you might need any support to achieve this? I only see some moral support and some guidance on how to get the best grade possible. 

Turntable Animation

Yesterday on Monday 16th 2013 we created our very own group turntable animation which includes my own piece involved in it.

It was a very big group work task and it showed off effectively how simple and fun turntable animation can be. I for one really enjoyed making mine and seeing mine turned into a video. Annoyingly I can only see mine as a bad example in this as my animation was not as smooth as most of the videos. Most of my video is lost to the speed of the frames per second and only about 6 frames out of all of them can be seen properly. But it was a learning experience and I know that I will do better if we do it again. 

Mobius- My Thoughts on the Piece

When watching Mobius my initial thoughts were a mixture of confused and astonished as I had no idea what to expect from the piece and how smooth the quality is. After watching the making of the video you can see that a lot of time and effort went into making sure that each of the various triangle shapes were positioned correctly and quickly. This was done to insure that the video disrupts the public for the least amount of time and keeps the quality of the video at its very highest. Its clear that a lot of dedication on the teams front made the video very smooth and enjoyable to watch.

Some really important factors the director had to consider while planning this shoot was the time of day and how long it will take to take the necessary amount of pictures for smooth quality. The location to insure that the public is not going to crowding around it and hindering the on site team in their efforts to get it done. 

Possibly the most important things to consider is the angle at which the camera is taking the images and weather. 

How they created this video was to very simply use a whole set of triangles the were designed to go from fully formed to almost a strip of green. this gives the effect, when strung together, of the triangles melting into the floor and then, when reversed, rising and rotating out of the ground.

From watching both how its made and the actual finished product I know that this is a very accomplished piece of animation and is worthy of being shown all over the world to aspiring stop motion animators and directors.