Drama Project - Tutorial

I was pleasantly surprised with the feedback we got today mainly because we didn’t get to do our first idea and we’ve had so many ideas since then that I thought this might look a bit un-thought out or rushed. I think we made the right decision to do a simple story in the end as that way we could concentrate on making it a quality piece with a variety of shots and also try and focus on sound which is something Esther also pointed out. Because the story is quite simple and set in only one place and also due to the nature of it Esther pointed out it would be a good idea to concentrate on the sounds and expression when the two men end of having a sort of nacho showdown, where they’re each fighting over the bowl. Afterwards we decided even though we already had a few close-ups of the faces that we would go back and get more and try filming them from different angles and varying levels of closeness like mid close ups, close ups and also extreme close ups of the mouths while eating and their eyes to add to the drama and tension. We also went back and recorded more sounds, as a result of the tutorial, like the crunching of the nachos but close up so you can really hear every little sound during this tense moment. While we were paying attention to detail we also recorded atmos of the pub like the pool table balls knocking against each other and footsteps walking to the pub. It is important to think about the sound more just for the fact that this isn’t a dialogue heavy piece so you need lots of other sounds and noises to fill the void and give a good sense of atmosphere and also giving people something to focus on. Another thing Esther pointed out was the colouring as the different lighting environments made the tones not look very even throughout some of it, this is something we had realised but as it was only our rough draft we had not got round to correcting yet.

Drama Project - Character Profile

About the Character (Keith)

In my head I picture this character to be a bit zany, someone who is constantly trying to be funny and fit in but turns out he’s not funny at all and not many people like him even though he is quite harmless enough. I think he’s got to come across as a bit of a loner due to his awkward and strange personality and even though he appears simple and happy go lucky underneath he probably has a lot of problems but he always tries to laugh them off and see the brighter side of things. He always goes to this pub as he has somehow got it into his head that it’s his local and all his ‘friends’ go there but that isn’t the case at all as they would probably all know him as crazy Keith but really he’s just misunderstood and craves company whether it’s direct or indirect. He is someone also that doesn’t like to break the routine, because the pub is somewhere he goes a lot and he always has the same thing and sits in his same favourite seat so he likes his daily comforts. At the beginning and end of the film I just want to show him walking into the pub and then a shot of him walking away at the end to not only symbolise the beginning and end of this short ‘journey’ but also keep the mystery around this strange character so you don’t know where he’s come from or where he’s going and apart from this one thing you don’t really get to find out about much of his life outside this one place.

Drama Project - Another (Final) Idea

After a meeting yesterday, with me, Dan and Ed we decided that our new idea might not fit the brief as good as it could do with regards to a journey and it was hard for Dan to envisage how it would work and be a good quality 5 minute piece, we discussed many others ideas that evening but nothing was standing out to any of us, every idea we had just either didn’t fit the brief enough or would be hard to plan and execute within the amount of time we have left. Today I wanted to get everyone together as more heads are better for thinking of ideas, over night I had thought of an idea and written a rough script and so had Alex. The only people had with my idea was it was very script heavy and it would be hard for someone to learn it in such a short period of time and also find a good enough actor to carry it off as well. Alex’s idea was based on some Doughnut story apparently but he had changed it to a muffin, after we all read his rough script we decided it was a good idea as it was simple but could be interesting if done well. We thought of locations that we already have on offer to us and because of that we changed the story to fit round a pub setting which we already have permission for. Since Dan is going to play the lead role in it he has suggested writing a more final script so he knows what he’s got to say and then he’s going to send it to me later so I can make any adjustments or suggestions.

The story is basically about a man thinking that another guy is eating something that he ordered at the pub but turns out in the end he got his wires crossed and the other man was actually the one who was bemused and in a way being kind to him by letting him eat what was actually his. We’re going to use a pub lunch as the thing that the story’s centred around rather than a doughnut, which I think is from the original story, because I think it is more applicable to a target range of teenagers/young adults and maybe even adults as well and this way we can put our own spin on it and try to make it amusing as well.

Drama Project - Changes

Last night Dan posted on the Drama page that the actor situation wasn’t looking good and suggested we try and do something a bit less complicated as we can’t do our intended plan without at least two actors and also our idea involves quite a lot in terms of the planning and execution and time is not available to us to find actors that would be suitable for the roles. Due to all this he said if we were all fine with it that we do something comedic and in terms of locations etc a lot more doable for us to get filmed this week. Dan himself would also feel more comfortable being in this type of drama which half solves our actor problem.

After weighing it all up I decided we opt for doing something completely different which I am quite happy with the decision now after meeting up with Dan and Ed today and seeing Ed had written most of a rough script and some extra ideas. We then spent the next couple of hours all adding in our own thoughts and shaping it, working around Ed’s script, which went well as the ideas were flowing and we were all thinking on the same wave length. When Alex arrived we filled him in on what we had come up with so far and he was happy with the idea and hopefully Tom will be as well. After having an ending for the film pretty much finalised and a good idea of how we want to arrive at that point we decided that we would meet up again tomorrow all having thought of ideas over night of things we would like to include. We will then go through possible ideas and write out a final script using the basis we already have and any new ideas.

As director I actually feel a bit more comfortable with this idea than the previous as I can see this having much more potential of working well and everyone seems quite enthusiastic about it. Doing comedy is something I’m also a lot more passionate about and in my head I can already see how things will hopefully pan out.. Finding actors is still a bit of an issue and after talking to other people, using people from uni might not be an option as one group told me they didn’t get much response back and people they have got have dropped out as I think the drama students have a lot on at the moment. Dan said as he’s the Producer he’ll be able to act in it and I think Ed will do as well if we can’t find anyone else. The only problem with this is we only have 5 people in our group which is smaller than the others so we might have to share the roles a bit i.e. Ed is doing sound so me or Tom would have to help out with this if he ends up acting in it. It’s not always going to be ideal and I would have like to of found proper actors but with time of the essence it’s one of the few options we have and I think if we plan it in as much detail as we can I think it can work providing we all communicate with each other.

Drama Project - Pitching Day

We have all decided upon the vigilante idea for our drama and pitched it today to the class and then afterwards discussed it with Esther so we could clearly state what we want to do and how we plan to do it and also to go over any problems and things to think about.

One thing I was a bit worried about from the start was the fact the story isn’t very original which is also something Esther pointed out that it’s a bit clichéd but hopefully the way we have decided to do it will tackle that problem because we wanted to use as many creative camera shots as we can along with very good sound design and the unique thing about it will be we plan to edit it all into a split screen so you can see the two characters throughout, their actions and emotional and physical reactions to everything. By doing this though we are aware that extra effort will have to go into the actual filming because we will need each shot that’s being showed simultaneously to match up exactly from each angle.

Another thing we need to think about is the use of split screen like how do we want to use it, do we want it all the way through or just when there’s action or tension building etc. At first it was decided we would use it all the way through except maybe the last scene but it may look a bit odd on its own so I thought maybe starting the film in single screen and then move on to split screen for the main part of the film and then end on a single screen again so that way we’re not using it too much just simply to highlight the important part of the film where the action takes place for both characters. I think this way it would also make it a bit easier on us because doing split screen throughout would be quite intense to film as everything needs to be planned out clearly so I think it may be better to establish the film in just one shot and when the audience gets a good idea of what’s going on that’s when it goes into split screen.

By the end of this week we need to have written a script because that way we will have something to follow and go by then, even though the script won’t be long I think once we have this written our idea will come together more hopefully and be more clear because the moment we have lots of ideas but nothing set that can link them together and make it flow.

A majority of it is going to be set during the night as all this needs to take place under the cover of darkness in the industrial state and for that reason we have opted not to use the PD170 as it is very poor in low light and darkness and we also need to take consideration over lighting so we need to do location recces of the area to see what street lighting will be available and we will need to take our own lighting like torches or lamps as I doubt we will have access to a power supply.

With regards to sound we’re going to go to our locations early and capture lots of atmos and background sounds and any other sounds we can do before the actors get there because that way it’s more efficient for everyone involved and we can spend time getting good quality sounds with the Marantz which we will be able to review and make sure they are as good as can be as a lot of the sounds can be put over the top so don’t need to be captured at the same time as the acting’s going on.

We possibly have the 2 actors already who are friends of Dan’s (Producer) and have previous acting experience which is good as we need people that will be able to portray a lot of emotional expression due to the nature of the film and the fact it won’t be heavily dialogue based. If for any reason one of them can’t do it then Dan will be our stand it actor and we may need to have someone else on standby in case both of them pull out.

Our locations we want to use are a pub, Industrial estate and then Reservoir which we need to get permission for all three if we can’t get any of these places then I don’t think it would be hard to find alternative places as there’s lots of all these things around and the location could possibly be changed if it still fitted in with somewhere quiet and out the way for the murder to be carried out. This is something we need to discuss further though because if we do need to change location we need to know all the options like where etc straightaway as we can’t be wasting time driving around trying to find other places and then not having permission. This will mean that lots of recceing needs to be done which I am happy to do as I have a car and Dan knows the area well so that shouldn’t be a problem if we plan it before next Wednesday when the filming will start.

With transport I am the only one who has a car and as there are only 5 of us in the group we might be able to all squeeze and the actors make their own way there if the live in the area. If we can’t all fit some people may need to take alternative transport as long as I can take the equipment that will make things still a lot easier or I could make two trips if it’s not too far.

Drama Project - Mystery Train (Jim Jarmusch)

After our session with Chris I decided to buy a box set of Jim Jarmusch and because our drama project is based on the idea of a ‘journey’ I decided to watch his film ‘Mystery Train’ first as it sounded like it probably involved a journey of some sort. When watching this one of my main focuses was on the editing because what stood out to me were these long takes of walking that he used throughout the film. I noticed that the camera would follow the characters for quite a while when they were walking then eventually they’d walk out of the shot and as they did it would cut to them walking in another shot. This technique gave it a really drawn out feel that they were walking and had been walking for ages even though in the reality of the film it had only been for a couple of minutes. I liked how the characters weren’t doing anything except just walking because this too really emphasised the fact they were on a journey to find something and that this was their main intent and there was also no or little dialogue to accompany these shots which meant our focus was always on them walking which made you wonder where were they going or what was going to come next.  It also made you pay extra attention to their surroundings and this was integral to the film as it linked all parts of the story together eventually as you would recognise the different places later on with each different character and what part that place played in the overall story.

Drama Project - Sign Language (Oscar Sharp)

Sign language focuses around a man’s last day doing his current job as he’s just had a promotion. What makes this story interesting though is that he doesn’t have a conventional job and usually I think many people wouldn’t even consider it a proper job as he does street advertising which just involves him standing all day in the same spot holding a sign. The guys personality is what makes the story quite charming as he tells you about his friends who also have jobs holding signs and it’s quite endearing how he has a lot of enthusiasm for such a menial job and he can see the positives of what he does.

I like the use of the handheld camera throughout as it makes it seem more personal and intimate especially coupled with the close up shots of his face throughout I think this really helps the audience identify with him. There is a lot of use of cutaways of the things he’s talking about which helps you identify with his story and there are also artistic shots of just random things around him in which different camera techniques like focus pulls are used and these I think make it look aesthetically pleasing.  I think the use of music is good as it is the same piece of music that’s used throughout so it doesn’t detract you from what’s being said but instead guides you through without you really realising until his alarm goes off to indicate the end of his last shift and with that the music also stops which brings that part of the story to a end. I think the ending is nice as it’s a happy ending but also funny because you know that it’s not realistic and ultimately you know the story is not true at all but the way it’s told so nonchalantly and simply makes it feel like it could be real.

Drama Project - Short drama review

My Dream/My Reality – Jon Hardy & James Ward 

 http://www.bbc.co.uk/filmnetwork/films/p00nscrw

This is a short drama based on a true story from the view of a victim; a girl who was taken away and used for sex trafficking. The story is shown through a girl on a stage who is acting out what happened to her and throughout the piece there is no diegetic sound as the story is told by a narration over the top and there is also gentle piano music to build the story in some places but through most of it there is only narration and lots of silence which I think works nicely as it makes you focus on harrowing tale of the victim giving you chance to think and reflect on what’s happening and what’s been said. When it gets to the point where she’s actually explaining what the men did to her an eerie noise starts to build which aids in giving you this uncomfortable feeling while you listen to what happened but it remains very much in the background so you don’t notice it as the aim is to build a subtle tension I think with the audience without detracting from the story. As it comes to the end and the girl is saved and the piano music builds again which is nice as it fits with the sadness of what happened but also the more happier side to it that she was eventually discovered and returned home it also carries on through the credits which I think is poignant as to me it symbolises that even though this ordeal is over the effects of it will last on for the rest of this victims life.

For me what also made this short drama more powerful was when she was acting out the parts where she was locked in this bedroom it would keep changing from the stage bedroom which didn’t look too bad and had nice soft lighting to what looked like what could have been the actual bedroom as you could see the cold brick wall she was surrounded by and the lighting was much more clinical and this made it feel a lot more real. I liked this technique because performing it on a stage for an audience could take the seriousness out of something but by constantly changing, quite subtly sometimes, from stage to an actual room absorbed you more into the story and even though it is based on a true story it made it feel more believable and you could start to imagine this small horrible bedroom that she would have been trapped in as on a stage it’s hard to completely feel that.

Drama Project - Initial thoughts and Ideas

I am quite looking forward to doing our last creative media project of the year which is Drama because I enjoy writing scripts and I feel this will be the first time where we really get chance to write a proper script. My role for this project is Director so hopefully I will have quite a bit of creative control over the story and script and then how it will turn out in the final edit.

One of my main aims for this project is to plan ahead and keep on schedule, firstly to prove that I have learnt from previous mistakes over the course of the year and also because I know we will produce a much better piece of work if we plan everything as thoroughly as possible and don’t let ourselves get behind.

The first thing I did over the holidays was create a Facebook page for my group so we could arrange all our roles initially and if anyone has any ideas they want to share and it’s also a way of us all keeping in touch as we don’t all have each other’s numbers etc and see each other out of Uni so this is a central point of communication so no one gets left out.

Some of my initial ideas for this project are I like the idea of having one main character and that character is the narrator over the top as I think sometimes keeping it simple so to speak can be quite effective for a story. I also think this is why we have a restriction on the amount of locations and characters and also to make it easier for us because if you start involving too much of everything it can be difficult in such a short amount trying to find enough reliable actors, and if you’re having to move about and set up in lots of different locations I think as a result you start to lose on production value.

For my first idea I was thinking about basing it on a young man who goes on a journey back to a place where his parents used to take him on holiday when he was younger, but he only goes back in his mind because in reality he is still at home in his small dingy looking flat and he is still doing his normal day to day things of smoking, eating, drinking, watching TV, putting on a bet etc. While he does these things in reality his mind places him back in the seaside town he used to visit and he does all the things he used to do like eat ice creams, go in the amusements, go on the funfair, play on the beach etc and each of these things corresponds to something he is currently doing at home so when he’s having a cigarette at home at the seaside he’s eating an ice cream and home when he’s at the bookies placing a bet at the seaside he’s putting 2p’s into the slot machines. All the while why this is going on the man will be narrating over the top of how his life was then and how it’s changed now. Problems with this idea is unless you could class the seaside location as just one place it would go over the maximum of 3 locations being used. Also I think it might be a bit over ambitious with a location that’s not close by and all the travelling etc. To get around this I guess it could be based in a different location but I don’t think that way you’d get the sense of nostalgia that you get from a typical English seaside resort.    

Liverpool Documentary - Final decision

After having pitched our two ideas to the group and Esther - taking into account Esthers feedback and which one we preferred to do and thought we could cover more thoroughly we decided to pick The Beatles as this year it's their 50th Anniversary and it's something we all know about and everyone's heard their music so we thought this would be quite a rich topic with lots we can inclusde We started looking more in depth into places we could go to get as much information as possible and anywere that had a link to the Beatles so we were thinking firstly the museums at the docks, the Cavern club, any Beatles shops or shops containing Beatles memorabilia and music shops and possibly Strawberry Fields.
Clarice got onto emailing the museums straightaway as these places tend to want a lot of notice which we couldnt really give due to the project not being set for that long before we were scheduled to film.

Liverpool Documentary: Treatment 2

Treatment for Documentary Film

Hook: The idea for our documentary is to get a response out of the Liverpool public abouttheir views on how their city is being represented due to the reality TV series DesperateScousewives. If it a true or false likeness? We also aim to look into the style and fashion of Liverpool, stemmed from the Desperate Scousewives angle.Narrative

Development:

Beginning: We aim to start the piece by having a narration overestablishing shots of Liverpool talking a bit about the show and how it developed. (After thesuccess of TOWIE and Gordie Shore) Mentioning that the show has not been picked up for asecond season and asking questions as to why this may be. Leading into the one of the mainstrands of the documentary; The effects the show has had on the people that live there andasking them if they agree or disagree with the way they were portrayed in terms of style andattitude

Middle: Hopefully going into Nail salons/ Hairdressers and talking to the people that work there and asking them how business had flared since the show came around and if locals arecopying the over-exaggerated style or if things were already like that and the influx of peoplewho are starting to embrace it. Then we would switch over and look at people who disagreewith the stereotype based on their own personal look. From this going into vintage shops andtalking to shop assistants and asking them what kind of style consumers are buying in to.

End: To close we would then look at the pros and cons of the shows effect on the peopleliving in the city and come to a conclusion based on If Liverpool is anything like theportrayal we are shown on the television.

Style: We want to go for a style that doesn’t scream

documentary; we are considering using apresenter type (Direct Cinema) to make it a lot more casual someone who we either see orhear interacting with people on camera we also feel that this will help make them feel morecomfortable. We also want to keep the camera moving as much as possible, sweeping shotsof locations we intend to use, keep. Music to be fast paced and modern as the mood we aretrying to create is a light and if possible comedic, with an informal tone, nothing serious orladen with too many facts.

Audience: The target audience is 17 to 27 year olds, roughly around the same age as theaudience range for DSW, as well as this because of the second strand of fashion and stylearound Liverpool it would be more ideal to focus on a younger age range. The documentarywe feel will be seen on Channel 4 as one of their lighter documentaries, perhaps shown onbetween 7pm and 9pm any day from Monday to Thursday.

Liverpool Documentary: Treatment 1

Treatment

Target audience:

The target audience will be aimed at Beatle fans and the local Liverpoolcommunity. The tone of the documentary will be balanced with the pace speeding up and slowing down when needed to add extra effect and emphasis on our points being raised, withan engaging and more relaxed and contemporary feel. We want the documentary to target awide audience; this is because the band made a massive impact on world music inspiring people from Michael Jackson to Lady Gaga.

Purpose:

To inform people of the build up to the Beatles 50th Anniversary in August and toremind them of what the band brought to the city of Liverpool.

Style:

Artistic cut-aways with a voice over.

Working title: Celebrating The Beatles

Main message of the package:

The build-up to the Beatles

Details of specific content (plot/angle, discussion topics/facts/stats/interviews etc:

We willbe visiting the Beatles museum showing some of their famous moments in history. The maintopic will be about what will be happening towards the anniversary. A topic we will also bediscussing of what change to band made to the city and the music industry with their music.We will also me asking how important The Beatles history is to the different generations and is it appreciated enough by the community. We will also want to exhibit different ways peopleshall be paying homage to the legends

Music/Actuality:

http://www.istockphoto.com/search/text/The%20Beatles/filetype/audio/source/basic#11dc24a8 

Archive Sources & research: 

http://stock.mrfootage.com/mrfootage_contact.php http://www.beatlesstory.com/media-room/filming-resources.html 

Who will I interview

 – 

suggest names that you have researched:

Museum staff and Public

Locations

 – 

where will I go for my content:

The Beatles Story

Britannia Vaults, Albert Dock, Liverpool L3 4AD0151 709 1963

‎

Mersyside Highstreet

Equipment and Production meeting

For this project we needed to make sure we attended the production meeting at stores to make sure we could book everything out that we needed, in the end no one else was available to go so I went and took a list of the things we had decided upon taking:

Equipment List

·         Video camera – Sony PD170

·         Tripod

·         Rifle mic

·         Tie-clip mic

·         Marantz 660

·         Boom pole

·         Headphones

·         2x XLR cables

·         Stills camera

·         Tapes x2

Me and Clarice both have decent SLR cameras so we will take our own so we can take lots of photos to add in as cutaways. We didnt have Marantz in our original list but on the day I decided a Marantz would be useful for recording any background or ambient sounds as it would be easier and more efficient then having to keep plugging the mic into the camera if we only wanted to capture sound.

Liverpool Documentary

Our next assignment is based around documentary which is to be based on an article about the city of Liverpool as that is where we will be going to film it. As soon as I think of Liverpool there are a few obvious things that spring to mind like the Football club, The Albert Docks, The Beatles and many more so there will be a lot of things for us to choose from hopefully.
We have got into groups of 5 and I am working with Alex, Clarice, Jen and Sophie and today we have started discussing a few topics we would like to cover which are the Docks - Museums/Galleries, The Beatles, and the concept of 'Desperate Scouse Wives' which would include fashion etc and how people view Liverpool in those terms and how they view themselves.

Experimental Project - Sound Editing

Sound was a difficult one as we weren't too sure what sound effects to record and once we had them we didn't really know how to use them so in the end we didn't really use them too much which was mainly down to the fact that we kind of though our piece was quite good without sound and we were scared that sound might take away from it rather than enhance it or would just make it a bit too mad and take away from the seriousness. In the end Natalie found some royalty free music that had quite a weird sound to it so we decided to use that alongside a less weird sounding quite simple beat. The point of this was to use the more simpler, nicer sounding music at the beginning and as the stranger stuff starting happening and building that we'd gradually introduce the weird music a bit at a time to try and fit in with the images. The only other sounds we really used was a harp sound I put it at the beginning to go with the eye movement and some traffic noises where there was traffic and where the door close multiple times we added in a door slam. Again we didnt want to add an awful lot of sound, we wanted to keep it as minimal in terms of complexity because visually there is a lot going on so we didnt want it to get too much. If we get more criticism for sound I will understand as this was left a bit last minute compared to the rest and also in some ways I think it can be harder as sound effects can be created and dialogue recorded but when it comes to music if you can't make your own it's harder to try and find something that fits perfectly with what you want and that isn't copyrighted.

Experimental Project - Final Edit

After the tutorial I spent the next few days editing until evening as I seem to be able to concentrate better the later it is. I found with the editing that you've got to think outside the box a bit and I've learnt from other projects that sometimes the footage that you capture before or after a take, accidentally or what you don't think can be used can come in handy if you just think of other things you can do with it. The problem I had with some of the footage was there were things in the background I didn't like or the shot just wasn't interesting enough but I managed to find ways around it. One particular shot was the girl walking to the bathroom opening the door and then letting it close behind her, there was a fire door sign in the background so firstly I cropped that out (I had to zoom in quite a bit to make sure it wasn't in shot but because we wanted grain the fact the picture quality was reduced luckily wasn't a problem). To try and make it more interesting I played around with the speed of the door closing, making it fast then slowing it right down just as you thought it was meant to slam; I then repeated this shot many times but rotated the door so it was in a different position everytime, it was a bit weird but I liked it as the rest of the film also included shots where the angle and position of images had been changed so it didn't look out of place and I felt was inline with it being 'experimental'. There were also shots of Sophie (who acted in it) laughing which were just bits inbetween takes but I decided I really liked these as they were good for showing this 'dark' side and helped in making her look a bit mad and out of control, at one point using the opacity I layered this image with that of her drinking and just repeated it which made her look a bit crazy and uncontrollable and most of all it made it seem more dream like so it looked like this girl was seeing this image in her head and not like it was actually happening.
From start to finish I tried to keep in my mind that this was meant to build up so I tried to keep the shots of her in bed at the beginning juxtaposed with images of the dark side and then gradually as it went on I introduced shots of her getting out of bed then walking to the bathroom and while doing this I kept introducing more and more different shots and cutting them together quicker so that as time went on the madness and thoughts in her head grew and got worse, I also cut these with images of traffic moving faster and going backwards etc to also help symbolise and reinforce the madness. At the end we decided to bring it back down again so I used an image of her 'good' self looking in the mirror and then her 'bad' self doing the same (at that point also cutting any music off so it was silent) I wanted this to try and represent her analysing herself and maybe coming to a realisation that she knew her identity and excepted that. To show this I used 2 shots of her rubbing out the word identity from herself and her ripping up the word identity and reversed them so it looked like she was putting the word back together. In regards to the use of black & white and colour we decided to keep most of it in black and white apart from the shots of the traffic outside (to show this is something happening outside her room) and some of the shots that were juxtaposed together looked good with the contrast of B&W and colour because we thought it showed the conflict between the good and the bad and added to the confusion of it all.
Overall I am happy with it because I have put so much time and effort into it, there are definitely things that I am not too sure about, like if I have managed to make it tell some sort of story or if people are just going to be too confused (some confusion is good as that's what the film aims to create - an audience that can feel what the girl is going through) but I want them to understand the point of the confusion at the same time. There are also some shots which I wonder do they fit in enough, while still having an element of randomness like the handprints and some other shots which I can't think of at the minute. As long as people find it interesting and understand the basic story I think I'll be happy.

Experimental Project - Tutorial

I was quite glad of this tutorial as I had a few things I wanted to bring up. Esther seemed quite happy with what we had done so far but suggested we give it a bit more of a narrative or story as it was just a bit too random and was lacking direction which I agreed. Esther also mentioned some of the effects as we had done most of it in black & white with a bit of colour so she said we should think more about what we wanted to achieve with that and also picked up on the grain on some of the pictures (due to scaling and making them larger) and said it was alright as it brought something to it because of the mood and feel we were trying to create with the piece but that we could maybe try and incoporate that more throughout. The main thing she said that made me think was what do we want people to take away from our film. I brought up the fact I was unsure about the footage and after using nearly all of it did she think we could create 5 minutes out of what we had and she said yes which was promising. Esther also gave us some tips of what to do about sound, for example using sound effects like traffic as we had some shots of the traffic outside the window. Due to all this I came out feeling a bit more positive about what we were doing and me and Natalie booked out some sound recording equipment straightaway.

Experimental Project - Editing

We started off by going through the footage and picking out the bits we liked while trying to put it in some sort of order. We didnt know exactly what we were going to do with it but agreed we should build it up and by doing that we should use the same sort of shots for the beginning and repeat them in different ways and then as the film builds to bring in more shots to show how her mind is becoming more confused with there being more images and them being cut together quicker. We all had goes at editing but as it progressed I became the main editor as I had a few ideas. Before the tutorial we managed to edit about 2 minutes of footage and at that point I did feel like I was struggling a bit because I had already used most of the footage captured in creating those couple of minutes and we hadn't really progressed much with the sound either. I deccided it would be better to try and get the majority of the visual editing done first so we could then add on any music, dialogue or sound fx that fitted with the images when we knew exactly what we had and what we were trying to achieve with the piece.

Experimental Project - Filming

When it came to filming on Thursday and Saturday in Natalies room, although we weren't leaving it til last minute, we weren't as prepared as I'd hoped we would be as we didnt really have a meeting beforehand to discuss what we would film and how it would go so despite feeling we had a solid idea we were going in a bit blind and I think it showed when it came to editing as I felt we were lacking on footage a bit. Some of the things that we had planned to do also went wrong, like using the same person in the same shot we knew how it worked but not enough thought was put into thinking the best place and way to do it so the things in the shot that should have been kept completely still and the same weren't so I had an idea that coming to the edit things might not quite work out how expected. We also wanted to do a shot of putting make-up on in the mirror but I didnt think it looked right as there was too much stuff in the background like the kitchen and other objects that I think took away from the feel I wanted to create. I felt this with a few of the shots we did as it was all in the bedroom and things were in view in the shots which I don't like as I think it makes the framing look bad sometimes and it can make the work looked a bit rushed if not much effort is put into designing or preparing the location or what's going to be seen in the background. We did manage to get a few things filmed though so I felt the day had been progressive overall and we tried to overcome the setbacks as best we could.
Before we filmed on Saturday we decided to keep all the filming in the location of the bedroom because we thought it would help keep the film simple and the idea clear, I'd be lying if I said it wasnt anything to do with it being easier and the fact that it was freezing cold and snowing outside which would have made the conditions for filming uncomfortable and a bit more risky with the slippery paths.
When we started filming on Saturday we hit a bit of a brick wall again as the realisation hit us that we probably weren't going to have enough footage to make a 5 minute film but with a bit of iniative from all of us and thinking of ideas off each other we came up with a few more things to try out using things like stop motion with photos and words.

Experimental Project - Equipment, Locations and Props

Equipment List:

• Camera: Sony PD170
• Tripod
• Marantz 660
• Rifle mic
• Tapes
• FinalCut Pro
• SuondTrack Pro
• Garage Band (possibly)
• x2 DVD-R Discs

Potential Locations:

• Bedroom
• Town centre
• Park

Props/Clothing/Make-up:

• Lamp/torch
• Dark make-up, lipstick
• Photos
• Dark & light clothing
• Vodka bottle
• Cigarettes/lighter

Cast:

Sophie McNamara
Possibly extras

Transport:

We will be walking as much as possible and anywhere that is too far we will use public transport (tram/bus) and I also have a car if needed.

Experimental Project - Shooting Schedules

Thursdays Schedule:






Saturdays Schedule:

Experimental Project - Influences and Inspiration

Unfortunately I was not well so missed the first seminar back so Natalie and Sophie had to explain our initial idea and I missed the films shown but was still able to watch most of them on Youtube. ne of the films shown was Maya Deren's Meshes of the Afternoon and luckily I had already watched that film along with At Land and A Study in Choreography for Camera because Maya Deren was the focus of my Approaching Research presentation. I watched them again though as they're not the easiest films to understand and I thought they may help with some inspiration when thinking about how to create a film that is experimental. After researching into Maya Deren previously I also have a bit more of an insight into what she wanted to create and achieve and for me one of her most interesting points is that experimental film isnt about filming what's already there in front of you but doing something different with it by using things like camera and editing techniques (which today is practised a lot but in the 40's when she was making films and writing was seen as quite a new and adventurous thing)

'Meshes of the Afternoon' Maya Deren (1943) - This is quite a strange film and took a while for me to get my head around and even now I'm not too sure of what it's about but I can appreciate the many techniques she has used in it. There is a lot of time and space manipulation (which Deren was very big on) and you can see that for example when the woman is chasing after a weird hooded person but it appears she is not getting any closer despite the fact the cloaked figure is not moving very fast and the woman herself is running but still seemingly to be in the same place. There are also times in the film where there are multiple figures of the woman (played by Deren herself) so it looks like she is sat at the table with herself but infact these women are all playing out a different moment in time and a different outcome but they are happening parallel to each other so you see them all at the same time ( this is my interpretation of it anyway). Because the same thing keeps happening, within a slightly different way or with a slightly different outcome, there is a lot of repetition throughout the film and it is in black & white which gives a very monotonous feel to it and the repeated eerie music over the top just adds to the strangeness of the whole thing along with many other elements in the film.

'Ballet Mecanique' Fernand Leger (1924) - This film didn't really hold my engagement and after a few minutes I'd already lost interest in it although there were some elements that I did like. In this short film there are lots of different images juxtaposed together and repeated many times throughout, it's very centred around movement and its literal name would be machanical ballet so I think it's aim is to show how the movement of machines and other things being repeated over can mimic that of a ballet, all the swirling, turning and swaying movements are meant to represent the movement in dance. I think to remind us that it is being compared and contrasted to that of peoples movement there are also images of a girl on a swing and a girls mouth smiling and then going back to normal and the woman walking up the stairs is repeated and by doing that we can see that if our own movements were repeated in the same cycle like that of a machine that we would also begin to look mechanical. There are also images that you are seeing through a prism and also looks a bit like looking through a kaleidoscope in particular the womans face which I think may have been done to take away the human quality and symbolise that of the machines e.g. the pistons used in one shot are all working together and there is nothing special about them, they're all doing the same thing at the same time and all look the same and by using the glass prism you create multiple images of the woman that all look the same. 

The Chemical Brothers 'Star Guitar' directed by Michel Gondry - This music video is much more modern than the short films above so did appeal to me more, despite the fact of it being decades newer it still held on to the principle of repeating the sames things throughout and the video is also kept very simple with this train journey all the way through. The fact it never stops moving also reminds me a bit of the ballet mecanique because they too encorporate movement as one of the main elements as the shots (even if they are stills) are edited in a way that keeps them moving all the time so you never get a break or chance to have a rest. what stood out to me most about theis video is how the pictures are related to the music e.g. when a part of the song came on when there were voices the train would then be driving past people at a station and that same sequence would be repeated until the music changes, so when the beat changes or a particular beat or sound comes in the images on the video will move and match that so the picture is edited to fit the music really well.

What I've learnt from watching experimental films is that although seemingly to be made up of sometimes quite random shots that there is actually a pattern or specific idea behind them and that repeating the same shots or the same shots but edited differently is something quite common throughout. To mirror that the music always tends to be quite repetitive as well and although the notes and beat might change to go with the images they tend to stick with the same piece of music through the whole film, using the changes in notes and beat to highlight certain parts and help it flow. From watching these films I am now leaning towards using black & white for all of or predominantly throughout my piece as I think it looks very effective and especially if you are going to play around with lighting and shades it makes it simpler if you keep it in monotones. A big inspiration for me is Maya Deren's thoughts on camera and editing techniques, but mainly the editing as this is something I enjoy a lot and I love playing about and discovering new effects and ways of editing so this is something a really want to get stuck into and will probably be my favourite part during the process of making our experimental film. 
 Sound is one thing I have not really thought about in as much depth as the actual images and this has made me think about it more now. We did come up with ideas of it being recorded with no sound and then maybe having a bit of internal narrative over the top of the 'dark' side saying things to torment the 'good' side now and again but we didn't really have many ideas with regards to music so I think we need to start considering that a bit more now and searching for things that we could use.



Experimental Project: First group meeting

Before our first lesson back me, Sophie and Natalie met up in the Library so we can discuss a few ideas each of us may have come up with over the holidays. I had an idea about using a mirror therefore focusing our project on an object, my idea was basically the mirror is in a girls room and that it sees everything that goes on that other people do not get to see, so when she's happy, sad or angry etc and it also witness her biggest dreams or her darkest secrets so that the audience would get a real sense of seeing something that they should perhaps really not be. I thought maybe the girl would be addressing the mirror directly as well throughout like when shes doing her make up, cleaning her teeth etc so that we know how she's feeling and we're also witnessing her at her most vulnerable because it's when we're alone and in our rooms that we can truly be ourselves and not ut on a front for others and our emotions can come out safely knowing that we're not being watched. Because I thought it would be set solely in a bedroom to make it look more interesting and also a bit dark I thought about playing around with lighting a lot e.g. use of natural lighting, main lights, lamps, torches and maybe even coloured filters so when she's feeling angry use a red filter and so on. I also wanted it to be quite jumpy and unexpected so one munite she might appear happy but then all of a sudden it cuts to her talking angrily or sinisterly into the mirror.
Sophie and Natalie both liked the idea of the mirror but after talking we started to go down another route but still thinking about using either the mirror or the idea of a girl who had 'problems' as a main idea. Sophie remembered a music video she liked so showed us it, it was about a girl who's fedup of home and walks out and the video documents her journey through London and that at the end the realisation of all the bad things she has done, I liked it because it had some really interesting and large variety of different shots like angles form above and below looking at the girl and then long shots of recognisable places in London and it was cut together quite quickly so had a jerky fast pace to it.
In the end our idea was to focus on a word (we had a few on our minds to start with like depression, schizophrenia, personality, conflict and changing because we were thinking along the lines of maybe someone with 2 sides or personalities and then possibly them being torn between the 2 sides) After a lot of thinking we came up with the word identity and it being about a girl who's unsure of her identity because she has these 2 personalities as such - the side of her that likes being bad and is always there tormenting her goodside. We decided wherever this girl was (in her room, in town with friends, at the park, etc) the darker side would always be there waiting to get out, we thought about showing this in reflections like mirrors, water etc and also this dark side would effect her life and how she was with people. Natalie also came up with the idea of using the same person in one shot to show these 2 sides so that is something we will need to consider when filming.

Experimental Project

Our next project is to create a 5 minute experimental piece in groups of 3 and it either has to focus on a word, an object or a poem. I think this project will be quite interesting as I feel we have quite a bit more freedom, in a sense, compared to the previous projects as to an extent with experimental anything goes. Although I do realise freedom isnt always as a good thing as I'm not good with having too much choice and it can be hard to come up with a solid idea and stick to it as there are so many possibilities and it's easy to go off on a tangent and then realise there is no real main focus or idea behind what you've done. With this I am hoping to come up with and plan in a lot of detail a main idea so hopefully there will be no margin to go off the point too much and it will make sure we have a direction that we can follow closely so not much can go wrong.