Task 1
The first task of unit 3 is to explore different audio, visual and interactive productions to give me a clear understanding of the factors i need to consider in order to complete this project. The group began by mind-mapping the things that we need to know we need to consider such as, editing in the post-production stage, the type of equipment we need, the location we could possibly be filming in, the genre of the short film and the script.
For the editing, we discussed the special effects, transitions, the image replacing the green screen, speeding the footage up or down an putting the footage into a linear order. The equipment we felt we may use is things such as, a 50 frame per second camera as well as a regular camera, lighting, internal and external cameras, microphones (boom microphone, handheld and wireless), and the green screen. Locations we briefly discussed were places such as, on the college site, town/public places (outside college), and the radio studio. One thing that is certain, is the fact we have to include dialogue, therefore we cannot create a short silent film as audio is one of the three main parts we need to include. We can also include other sound such as, ambient noise and sound effects. Then finally, we discussed and wrote down the genres that worked best to fit the short film.
My thought on this project are, I think it allows me to be creative as I can make a script, possibly direct and edit etc. therefore I am excited to get started. I think it could be a struggle to come up with the basic plot and start creating the script at first, but once our ideas come together I believe we'll be much more confident. I am aware that we need to incorporate the audio, visual and interactive elements that are required.
I personally believe that the green screen would be a great option, but I don't want to force the green screen in just because it's a resource the college has.
Examples of Short Films:
This is the first short film I have watched in my research and I found it exceptionally unique, smart and fascinating. I struggled to grasp an opinion on it once I watched it as it left me speechless and confused. I don't quite know how to categorise this short film in a genre but after giving it some thought and carrying some research, I believe it's definitely a hybrid genre of fantasy, magical realism, and artistic.
I personally have never heard of the genre 'magical realism' and after I looked it up I found that it is 'an unexpected alteration of reality' and it's also explained as a type of magic that is unexplainable and unfathomable to the audience. I can only describe it in the form of a magic realism painting and I feel that this was idea Griffiths may have had when he created 'Room 8'. When magic realism in used in regular films as well as short films it makes the audience feel slightly hallucinogenic (drug effect), because it is like the magic realism paints are being brought to life. Fantasy is another genre I picked up from the short film, 'Room 8' and this genre in films usually include simplistic narratives, a 'make-believe' world, supernatural elements or characters, peculiar and highly visionary creations. Weapons and strange objects are also seen quite often in fantasy films; e.g. books, crate and boxes. the lighting in fantasy films tend to be quite dark and saturated to give the audience the feel of mystery.
2. Jet by Jordan Chesney
I think the plot for this short film was very good and it goes over themes and situations that unfortunately happen to much in real life. The first theme we see is mental illness as the male in car pulls out a gun at puts it to his head, until he sees a white van pull up next to a little girl on the street and puts her in the van and speeds away. He puts the gun down and follows the van in his car to a house, so he can attempt to save the little girl. This short film was very intense and as the audience anticipates every moment as they want this man to save this poor girl.
The genre of this short film is thriller and the main point of the thriller genre (as I learnt from my research of Alfred Hitchcock) is to shock the audience. I can also see that the genre is a thriller as it is set in suburban areas and in busy streets and the narrative is revolving around a certain enigma, possibly a chase of some sort between the protagonist and antagonist. The person who usually solves the enigma is the hero; in this case it's the male, even though he shoots two men, it is to find and save the girl who has been abducted. Violence and the use of weapons, e.g. guns, is also another genre convention of the thriller genre as these elements are what make up the genre, I personally believe. When researching about the personal characteristics of stock characters, I found that the main character is stereotypically an outsider and they tend to isolate themselves from everything and everybody else, however they're right-minded and principled. The thriller genre has been very popular amongst audiences in cinema and I believe it's because thrillers are very entertaining and audiences enjoy escaping into a different, exciting and thrilling world.
After analysing these short
films I have taken quite a lot of inspiration and the element I would like to
carry on while creative my short film is to use the genre of thriller or
mystery as I feel so much can be done with the genres, that could allow me to
create an exciting short film.
Examples of DVD Menus:
The DVD menus below are fairly different, and the DVD menu is all dependent on the genre of the film. From the menu for 'Cars', I can decipher that the genre of the film is a animation and a family film through the use of bright colours (blue, red and gold), the animated character to the right hand side of the menu and the golden cup on the far left. The user of the DVD menu can choose from a number of options such as, 'Play Movie', 'Mater & the Ghost Light', 'One Man Band', 'Bonus Features', 'Scene Selection' and 'Set Up'. The 'Play Movie' option is the most important option as this allows the audience to play the film itself.However the DVD menu for 'Sin City' would be more suitable for an audience with an age range of 15+ and I'm aware of this through the use of guns, low lighting and the colour red.
The elements I will take inspiration or use from these DVD menus are the common options seen (play, scene selection, bonus features and set up). I may also include the characters that will be in the short film, on the DVD menu. Looking at the DVD menus, I have taken in that I need to position the characters effectively, the the correct colours and use fonts appropriately.
http://mcardwellnnc.blogspot.co.uk/2016/11/comparing-film-theories-and-conventions.html
http://mcardwellnnc.blogspot.co.uk/2016/11/notes-on-macro-micro-features-task-1.html
Experimenting with Green Screens:
http://mcardwellnnc.blogspot.co.uk/2016/10/using-green-screens.html
Beforehand, we have gone to experiment with the green screen and recording footage and then editing it on premiere pro.
The group then looked at some audio work and carried out practical work, took photographs and wrote down some notes. There was three microphones we looked at; boom mic, wireless mic and the handheld mic. When using a boom mic, a microphone stick is usually recommended so you can wrap the XLR cable around it, because if the cable if being moved around and distressed, it can affect the sound and cause it to sound distorted and crackled.
The first step was connecting the XLR cable to the boom mic, then connecting the other end of the XLR cable to input 1 in the side of the camera. As this is a boom mic we're connecting to the camera, we need to change the settings to 'mic'.
Channel 2 and input 2 need to be turned off as they are not in use. However, channel 1 and input 1 need to be turned on as we have connected a boom mic to input on the other side of the camera.
At the bottom of the flip screen, there is a audio input level that tracks how much sound is being detected. The sound input can reach the white line in the middle but once it goes past that line and hits the red line, this can distort the sound.
The wireless mic requires two AA batteries for it. Once the batteries are in, press the on/off button to turn it on.
One of the wireless microphones will be attached to the camera, and the other will be handed to the subject who is speaking. The small mic is clipped securely onto a piece of their clothing, and the mic can either be held or placed in their pocket.
It is recommended that you delete any unwanted footage from the handheld voice recorder and to do this, the steps you need to take are:1. Select menu 4. Quick Format
2. Others 5. Execute
3. System 6. Yes
The check the audio, press record and then press either + or - to change the audio if necessary.
The image to the left is the college radio studio with sound cancelling walls. The image to the right is the plug socket; in which controls everything in the room, from the speakers to the monitors.
This is what the person will see if they're sat in the presenter seat. They'll have two interconnected monitors, a presenter mic, a sound board, a keyboard and a box to the right which allows you to insert CDs.
The program visible on the monitors in the image to the left is called 'Genesys'. And in order to record a new piece of audio you need to:
1. Select voice (recording)
2. Production
3. New
4. Category-voice5. Category number- e.g. VL3TEST
6. OK
The only settings on the sound boards that we will use the most is the presenter and guest mic. In which should be half way as this has the best sound pick up levels.
The 'Mic Live' box on the back wall and outside the room will glow red when recording to let people outside to not interrupt the recording session.
Once you've carried out the steps to create a new recording, press record and then once the recording in completed, select stop and then save.
The recording will automatically save to the system and to find it, select system, export, WAV file and then save to desktop and drag to a USB drive.
After setting up the audio
equipment and working in the radio studio, I would like to try working with all
three mics as well as the presenter mic in the radio studio, as they could come
in handy at different stages of the production. We may need the presenter mic
to record high quality voice-overs, the wireless mic could be used if we find
ourselves needing to move around, therefore the wireless mic allows the user to
be more free in more mobile tasks. The boom mic may we useful if we need to do
a scene that replicates a news report at a specific scene. The final mic,
handheld, could also be used at one point but I’m not too sure when we would
use it but I think we’ll make a more clearer decision with what mics we will
use when we mind-map a storyboard and come up with basic ideas and thread them
to together.
The group then set up a tripod, connected the camera to it, looked at the different settings that are most commonly used on a camera, such as: white balancing, ejecting the battery and putting it back in place etc.
The tripod looks like this at first when it is taken out from the bag. Separate the three legs, you may need to apply pressure onto the bottom to ensure it is flat on the ground. Then open up the latches on the bottom of each leg to extend the height of the tripod.
The top part of the tripod also extends, so adjust the tripod until it is to the required height.
This is the battery and it slots into the back of the camera.
In order to attach the camera to the tripod, you need to connect the piece being held in the image on the left to the bottom of the camera. This will now ensure the camera is attached securely to the tripod.
And the camera should slid on like in the image to the left and right. The dial with the red circle in the middle allows the camera to tilt when loosened. Ensure to tighten it when the camera is set in the right place.
The red button is the record button and the white line next to it is the on and off switch. In the image on the right, there is another tear shaped dial, which controls the movement of the handle (to move the camera side to side)
The switch that has the letter 'T' and 'W' on is used to zoom in and out. The red button on the top is also another record button. The image on the right shows the flip screen on the side of the camera, and all the buttons next to it. Also visible on the image is the is the 'Mode' button which is used when you what to view the footage on the SD card, you can play back footage, pause, stop and delete.The image on the left shows us formatting the card by going into settings, then into the card settings and then formatting it.
We are white balancing the camera to ensure that it is set to the natural lighting in the room. Ensuring high quality footage can be recorded. The button we needed to press in order to carry out the white balance is seen below the lens.
There is a number of options and buttons on the lens itself, options such as focus, white balance, iris and neutral density filter.
The buttons on the bottom of the camera control the lens and the focus of the lens. The image on the right shows how the quality of the screen when the options haven't been changed.
Genre
Genre in film means that a film can have different conventions that make up a specific style, this can then attract certain types of audiences to watch a film and genre is a way of categorising a film. Films also have similar narratives, issues, locations and lighting. Films in modern cinema tend to be hybrid genres, meaning that two or more genres have been merged together. Some examples of genres and hybrid-genres are:
- action
- romance
- drama
- comedy
- horror
- rom-com
- sci-fi
- detective
- action and drama
- horror and comedy
- crime documentary
- fantasy
- comedy animation
The things you expect to see and the things you expect to hear in a film, refers to the characteristics of genres, and this is covered as the iconography. The stock characters, the setting in which the film is located, the narrative patterns, and themes. The auteur theory is linked to genre, as with this theory you need to find similarities between directors as they're often seen working on the same or similar genre to one that they've done before.
Narrative
The structure of a narrative can link in with the genre of a film, as certain genres could follow a certain type of structure, and this could possibly depend on the director as well as genre. Almost all films follow this structure:
- equilibrium
- dis-equilibrium (disruption/climax)
- new-equilibrium (the disruption has been resolved)
The narrative can be told from a specific point of view e.g. this could be a POV from the main character, therefore this could place the audience as the main character. The POV could also be described as a narrator. The audience may not even see the narrator, they may not play a character who is seen in the film. Time and space is a part of narrative structure as the film can fast forward a certain amount of years, not so we can see the future, but so we are placed in the future and living in it (vise-versa). Another element of narrative structure is cause and effect; this is where a film is moved forward by one scene or event having being caused by an earlier one and in turn giving rise to an affect which is seen in a bigger event. A resolution is always seen at the end of films (possibly not in horror films) where the narrative and rounded up and there is clarity for the audience. Some films don't have a linear structure, as there could be flashbacks and this is described as an 'anti-narrative'.
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