Thursday 16 December 2010
stop frame animation
I decided to try and do a stop frame animation to see how good and succesfull i could make it look to see if i should consider using it in my short film. I soon relised that the process of taking this many pictures toke a very long time to do and it was difficult to redo a section if the first time went wrong which was very frustrating. Another thing that was hard was getting the times right between each picture so that it looked fluent and clear. By doing this small test of me walking i relised that i didnt want to do this in my short film as i didnt think it would look as good as filming.
Monday 13 December 2010
Friday 10 December 2010
Documentary analysis
Documentary is way of presenting factual material which spans film television, radio, theatre, and the press.
Documentary presents actual incidents and statements which can be tested against reality. Documentary has changed and developed throughout the history of film and tv, in tv it overlaps with categories such as currents affairs and news. In the history of film, the documentary offers an alternative to the fictional world created characters and clear narrative shape for film. QUOTE:the documentary is distinguished from the factual film by its socipolitical purpose. Great art can be an instrument for social influence and change. The documentary film does have this purpose. Unlike films with a fictional narrative, documentarys rarely are intended for entertainment only, they usually contain messages of educational, social and/or political importance.
Documentary films include: in the name of the father
Forms and conventions of a documentary
Documentary is way of speaking about the world. It cannot be tied down to specifics of character and storyline in the same way as a genre can. It is typified by:
· Natural lighting-to give a more authentic documentary feel to it-separates a documentary from Hollywood cinema
· Indistinct town
· Jerky camera movements-tripod sometimes not used
These forms and conventions can chage as new technologies are constantly being developed. The term ‘actuality’ is used to describe the shots of actual footage as they happened. The event would have taken place wether the camera was there or not. The term ‘fly on the wall’ filming is leaving the camera in an specific area for a length of time and the editing it later and incorporating it into the rest the documentary.
Film images are selected for their use in illustrating and evidencing an argument.
Voice over: the voice-over has a role of uncovering, solving a mystery and/or telling a story. It can be used to record thoughts, it can also be used by a narrator, who has specific knowledge and is shaing with the audience, it can have a ‘god-like’ quality to it.
Written text:the term documentary implies that what is presented is linked to written documents. Many use subtitles, reference to time and place, and the appearance with written documents in the frame.
Documentary presents actual incidents and statements which can be tested against reality. Documentary has changed and developed throughout the history of film and tv, in tv it overlaps with categories such as currents affairs and news. In the history of film, the documentary offers an alternative to the fictional world created characters and clear narrative shape for film. QUOTE:the documentary is distinguished from the factual film by its socipolitical purpose. Great art can be an instrument for social influence and change. The documentary film does have this purpose. Unlike films with a fictional narrative, documentarys rarely are intended for entertainment only, they usually contain messages of educational, social and/or political importance.
Documentary films include: in the name of the father
Forms and conventions of a documentary
Documentary is way of speaking about the world. It cannot be tied down to specifics of character and storyline in the same way as a genre can. It is typified by:
· Natural lighting-to give a more authentic documentary feel to it-separates a documentary from Hollywood cinema
· Indistinct town
· Jerky camera movements-tripod sometimes not used
These forms and conventions can chage as new technologies are constantly being developed. The term ‘actuality’ is used to describe the shots of actual footage as they happened. The event would have taken place wether the camera was there or not. The term ‘fly on the wall’ filming is leaving the camera in an specific area for a length of time and the editing it later and incorporating it into the rest the documentary.
Film images are selected for their use in illustrating and evidencing an argument.
Voice over: the voice-over has a role of uncovering, solving a mystery and/or telling a story. It can be used to record thoughts, it can also be used by a narrator, who has specific knowledge and is shaing with the audience, it can have a ‘god-like’ quality to it.
Written text:the term documentary implies that what is presented is linked to written documents. Many use subtitles, reference to time and place, and the appearance with written documents in the frame.
Monday 6 December 2010
Evaluation
For our advanced production we were required to produce a short film of approximately five minutes. Also, we needed to show that we have carried out relevant research and planning. Short films have become increasingly popular with film makers because this makes it possible to use different techniques and unique ideas to create an effect that often proves to be at least as effective as a full length film. The definition of a short film is one which lasts less than an hour.
After completing the Foundation Portfolio, we have transferred and developed the skills learnt there and have put them to use in our Advanced Portfolio. Specifically on creativity and digital technology; as in our Foundation Portfolio which was shown in a folder, just using mainly images and text. We found that this wasn’t as effective as it would have been on a blog for instance. As we have internet access, we decided to make best use of internet resources and to present our work online. This has encouraged us to use different digital techniques such as Slideshare and Youtube as well as conventional photography to make our work more engaging. Also using mobile phones and e-mail to communicate with each other as a group, also as we used a song in our film this had to be downloaded through iTunes and then uploaded to our editing software. To make our short film evident on our blog we used film stills which we print screened from the film, this giving us support for our evaluation and ancillary tasks. Using this range of different technologies it produced a variety of media texts to present on our blog.
Although still using high standard text in our ancilliary texts to promote the Short Film, ‘Weightless’ this has proven our intellectual abilities as a group. Looking at our film, and ancillary tasks they clearly communicate a similar message to our audience, producing a synergised marketing campaign. As for our poster the image conveys the theme/genre of our film and what it is about. The photograph on our magazine review demonstrates the genre of the documentary, being an image of the narrator and the interviewee. This then links them all together, to make our film memorable and increase awareness of the films subject.
One of the things that we learnt from the Foundation Portfolio is that for the 'Research and Planning' section of the coursework, it is crucial to go into as much detail as possible. This provides the essential background information needed to produce a successful film. This was lacking in the Foundation portfolio so, for the Advanced Portfolio, we made sure that we used our time effectively and carried out as much research and planning as possible.
The analysis of successful short films gave us a better idea about what the audience enjoys and idea/conventions that we needed to include. This then relates to real media texts, which we needed to research and provide knowledge of on our blog. These then guided and influenced our choices and techniques. For example, analysing documentaries or short films which try to convey and achieve a specific meaning.
We decided that the best way to connect with our audience was to choose serious subjects and to use content that may prompt an emotional reaction. The logic behind this was that it would make our film more memorable. Also, this technique would make the audience more aware and more educated in the subject of the film. We decided that an ideal subject to use for our short film was eating disorders.
After analysing a number of short films which produce emotions from the audience, we decided that the films ‘Offside’ and '10 minutes' were the most successful and memorable. They also gave us ideas for narrative, lighting, sound, mise en scene, film style, genre, character representations, and editing etc.
We were inspired by their use of sound, and so we used similar techniques of slow, emotional non diagetic sound. We also wanted to create a personal and intimate effect with our documentary. To achieve this, the narrator talked to camera in a casual style, and also to the interviewees in this style. They sat quite close to each other also, because as this is a personal subject we thought this would make the subject feel more comfortable talking about their experiences.
Our target audience are young and educated. Therefore the people we interviewed were also young and intellectual. This achieved audience inclusivity and made them relate to it. After looking on the website ‘find your tribe’ this gave us further insight into what our audience enjoys and is interested in, such as fashion and technology, which we tried to convey within our film.
Conventions such as various shot types, to keep our audience interested. We found music very important also, we used typical conventions such as music relating to the mood and emotion of the film.
Our media product challenges previous documentaries about eating disorders, mainly by acknowledging male and female sufferers. In the past there have been very few documentaries on male eating disorders despite the well known fact that 1 in 10 eating disorder patients are male, recent figures have even shown it could be closer to 1 in 7. In previous years there has only been one real documentary highlighting male anorexia and that was BBC3’s "I’m A Boy Anorexic". Other than that in documentaries males are barely ever mentioned. Although it was not our main focus we still wanted to aim at highlighting the issue and help appeal to a broader audience. Unfortunately we were not able to find a willing male participant to take part in the interviews; however we did include statistics of male eating disorders. We also carried out interviews with male participants on their views and opinions on eating disorders. We have used the typical media convention of on the street interviews intertwined with set up interviews. After watching other documentaries it showed that having a variety of different people gave a much wider range of responses.
We researched many different short films to analyse which forms and conventions were for the most part successful. We chose the genre ‘Documentary’ as this type of film commonly provides an alternative outlook and opinion of different media subjects. One decision we made was to include interviews with patients that have suffered or are suffering with an eating disorder as this would give insight and detail into the subject.
To give the audience perspective we included statistics conveyed through a voiceover to increase audience exclusivity. Also using group opinions with people not suffering with an eating disorder this would give a non bias opinion and different intellectual responses. As this was a difficult genre to relate to a narrative theory, but we structured it, so it could be followed, at the start introducing it, then gradually introducing it through opinions, then at the ending credits we showed how the patients are doing now to give the audience closure and understanding. We represented our subjects as ‘normal’ people to reduce stigmas and stereotypes, this could possibly also make the audience sympathetic and cause them to emphasise with the interviewees.
Our ancillary tasks, we feel had a successful and effective relation to our main feature. The title ‘Weightless’ is catchy, memorable and relevant. Then the poster is a picture of someone standing ona scale, which expresses the theme of being weight conscious, and being the main image on our poster this then expresses the importance of weight and image that our patients feel is high, this then passes on this particular message to our audience. It also gives our audience an idea of what our film and whether it interests them as of course everyone has their own opinions. Our magazine review for Empire Magazine then gives further incite into the plot of our film and what it is about. We also put a still frame of our film into this review, to make it more pleasing to the eye and more attention ‘grabbing’. The ancillary are proved most effective together as they both have different effects on the viewer, and together, we think promote our film most effectively, which is important so people view our film.
For our group getting audience feedback was really interesting and it made us aware of what we did well and what we achieved compared with what they thought we could have improved on or what they thought wasn’t particularly effective. Looking through the comments, we found out that people did become more aware of eating disorders, which was one of our more important aims; to increase awareness. They also thought the personal style of it also created further meaning and effectiveness. It also showed that they formed a bond and could identify with them. Our criticism was taken as constructive as our audience main concern was some camera movements were shaky and in particular parts of the film sound was in issue; which we found hard to avoid.
We used many different media technologies, as mentioned before, but during our filming process, we thought the best way to produce a successful film was to use a good quality hand-held camera attached to a tripod to avoid unwanted movement, and also to incorporate a pod cast in our film.
For editing we used Adobe Premiere CS4, as this was available and convenient for our group, and we also have experience with it from our Foundation Portfolio. For our ancillary tasks, Photoshop was used on the poster, and Microsoft Word for the magazine review. Using this range of different technologies it produced a variety of media texts to present on our blog.
The Genre specific elements of a documentary are firstly an interesting subject, with interviews and live footage. Documentaries also need an element of realism and factual knowledge on the chosen subject matter.
We incorporated these into our film, we used many interviews which were all live and the peoples answers weren’t scripted which adds realism. The subject matter we thought was of great interest as it’s a rising problem especially with teenagers and the pressure they face through the media to look like celebrities and models. We filled the film with knowledge through interviews and statistics and then at the end we put a help line so people can find out more if they need or want to. It targets our audience by giving them knowledge of new things which we found out in our audience surveys is the main reason people watch documentaries is to educate themselves.
We represented our characters as real people so the audience could relate to them and it would make the subject matter seem more real. It targets our audience by making them feel involved with the characters as they are real people also as the audience are.
We used many different shot ranges to give a different outlook on our interviewees and the narrator. We used the close-up shot to really display emotion, so our audience could connect with the patient and to bring out emotions. we also used over the shoulder shots to enforce our genre Documentary, as it showed the narrator, we ensured that the narrator and the interviewee were sat near each other as we wanted it to be personal and we thought this would make viewer feel more involved. We used shot types such as medium and full length to show the location as well as the characters. This makes the frame look more interesting and more appealing to our target audience as it is more visually attractive and they won’t lose interest. We also used a panning shot to establish one of the various locations, and to slowly introduce one of our main patients. The location was peaceful although quite a lot of background noise caused by a fountain, although still effective.
The locations we used were thought about carefully we wanted them to be everyday scenes but not so public that it would cause are interviewees to feel uncomfortable, as they were sharing personal stories. We used benches as they are commonly found but in secluded areas and small class rooms as well. We occasionally had to change our plans to adjust to our surroundings such as rain of loud noises. It targets our audience by making them feel comfortable watching it because its filmed in a college or public space there is nothing intimidating. It adds realism by them recognising the places we filmed or by viewing it as familiar makes them emphasise further with the characters.
On the whole, we are happy as a group with our production and ancillary tasks as the majority of the feedback was positive and we believe that we have achieved what we set out to do. There are, of course, enhancements that could be made, especially in our production, and in particular the sound and the camera movements. Overall we are pleased with what we have achieved and have learnt through working on our Foundation and Advanced Portfolios.
After completing the Foundation Portfolio, we have transferred and developed the skills learnt there and have put them to use in our Advanced Portfolio. Specifically on creativity and digital technology; as in our Foundation Portfolio which was shown in a folder, just using mainly images and text. We found that this wasn’t as effective as it would have been on a blog for instance. As we have internet access, we decided to make best use of internet resources and to present our work online. This has encouraged us to use different digital techniques such as Slideshare and Youtube as well as conventional photography to make our work more engaging. Also using mobile phones and e-mail to communicate with each other as a group, also as we used a song in our film this had to be downloaded through iTunes and then uploaded to our editing software. To make our short film evident on our blog we used film stills which we print screened from the film, this giving us support for our evaluation and ancillary tasks. Using this range of different technologies it produced a variety of media texts to present on our blog.
Although still using high standard text in our ancilliary texts to promote the Short Film, ‘Weightless’ this has proven our intellectual abilities as a group. Looking at our film, and ancillary tasks they clearly communicate a similar message to our audience, producing a synergised marketing campaign. As for our poster the image conveys the theme/genre of our film and what it is about. The photograph on our magazine review demonstrates the genre of the documentary, being an image of the narrator and the interviewee. This then links them all together, to make our film memorable and increase awareness of the films subject.
One of the things that we learnt from the Foundation Portfolio is that for the 'Research and Planning' section of the coursework, it is crucial to go into as much detail as possible. This provides the essential background information needed to produce a successful film. This was lacking in the Foundation portfolio so, for the Advanced Portfolio, we made sure that we used our time effectively and carried out as much research and planning as possible.
The analysis of successful short films gave us a better idea about what the audience enjoys and idea/conventions that we needed to include. This then relates to real media texts, which we needed to research and provide knowledge of on our blog. These then guided and influenced our choices and techniques. For example, analysing documentaries or short films which try to convey and achieve a specific meaning.
We decided that the best way to connect with our audience was to choose serious subjects and to use content that may prompt an emotional reaction. The logic behind this was that it would make our film more memorable. Also, this technique would make the audience more aware and more educated in the subject of the film. We decided that an ideal subject to use for our short film was eating disorders.
After analysing a number of short films which produce emotions from the audience, we decided that the films ‘Offside’ and '10 minutes' were the most successful and memorable. They also gave us ideas for narrative, lighting, sound, mise en scene, film style, genre, character representations, and editing etc.
We were inspired by their use of sound, and so we used similar techniques of slow, emotional non diagetic sound. We also wanted to create a personal and intimate effect with our documentary. To achieve this, the narrator talked to camera in a casual style, and also to the interviewees in this style. They sat quite close to each other also, because as this is a personal subject we thought this would make the subject feel more comfortable talking about their experiences.
Our target audience are young and educated. Therefore the people we interviewed were also young and intellectual. This achieved audience inclusivity and made them relate to it. After looking on the website ‘find your tribe’ this gave us further insight into what our audience enjoys and is interested in, such as fashion and technology, which we tried to convey within our film.
Conventions such as various shot types, to keep our audience interested. We found music very important also, we used typical conventions such as music relating to the mood and emotion of the film.
Our media product challenges previous documentaries about eating disorders, mainly by acknowledging male and female sufferers. In the past there have been very few documentaries on male eating disorders despite the well known fact that 1 in 10 eating disorder patients are male, recent figures have even shown it could be closer to 1 in 7. In previous years there has only been one real documentary highlighting male anorexia and that was BBC3’s "I’m A Boy Anorexic". Other than that in documentaries males are barely ever mentioned. Although it was not our main focus we still wanted to aim at highlighting the issue and help appeal to a broader audience. Unfortunately we were not able to find a willing male participant to take part in the interviews; however we did include statistics of male eating disorders. We also carried out interviews with male participants on their views and opinions on eating disorders. We have used the typical media convention of on the street interviews intertwined with set up interviews. After watching other documentaries it showed that having a variety of different people gave a much wider range of responses.
We researched many different short films to analyse which forms and conventions were for the most part successful. We chose the genre ‘Documentary’ as this type of film commonly provides an alternative outlook and opinion of different media subjects. One decision we made was to include interviews with patients that have suffered or are suffering with an eating disorder as this would give insight and detail into the subject.
To give the audience perspective we included statistics conveyed through a voiceover to increase audience exclusivity. Also using group opinions with people not suffering with an eating disorder this would give a non bias opinion and different intellectual responses. As this was a difficult genre to relate to a narrative theory, but we structured it, so it could be followed, at the start introducing it, then gradually introducing it through opinions, then at the ending credits we showed how the patients are doing now to give the audience closure and understanding. We represented our subjects as ‘normal’ people to reduce stigmas and stereotypes, this could possibly also make the audience sympathetic and cause them to emphasise with the interviewees.
Our ancillary tasks, we feel had a successful and effective relation to our main feature. The title ‘Weightless’ is catchy, memorable and relevant. Then the poster is a picture of someone standing ona scale, which expresses the theme of being weight conscious, and being the main image on our poster this then expresses the importance of weight and image that our patients feel is high, this then passes on this particular message to our audience. It also gives our audience an idea of what our film and whether it interests them as of course everyone has their own opinions. Our magazine review for Empire Magazine then gives further incite into the plot of our film and what it is about. We also put a still frame of our film into this review, to make it more pleasing to the eye and more attention ‘grabbing’. The ancillary are proved most effective together as they both have different effects on the viewer, and together, we think promote our film most effectively, which is important so people view our film.
For our group getting audience feedback was really interesting and it made us aware of what we did well and what we achieved compared with what they thought we could have improved on or what they thought wasn’t particularly effective. Looking through the comments, we found out that people did become more aware of eating disorders, which was one of our more important aims; to increase awareness. They also thought the personal style of it also created further meaning and effectiveness. It also showed that they formed a bond and could identify with them. Our criticism was taken as constructive as our audience main concern was some camera movements were shaky and in particular parts of the film sound was in issue; which we found hard to avoid.
We used many different media technologies, as mentioned before, but during our filming process, we thought the best way to produce a successful film was to use a good quality hand-held camera attached to a tripod to avoid unwanted movement, and also to incorporate a pod cast in our film.
For editing we used Adobe Premiere CS4, as this was available and convenient for our group, and we also have experience with it from our Foundation Portfolio. For our ancillary tasks, Photoshop was used on the poster, and Microsoft Word for the magazine review. Using this range of different technologies it produced a variety of media texts to present on our blog.
The Genre specific elements of a documentary are firstly an interesting subject, with interviews and live footage. Documentaries also need an element of realism and factual knowledge on the chosen subject matter.
We incorporated these into our film, we used many interviews which were all live and the peoples answers weren’t scripted which adds realism. The subject matter we thought was of great interest as it’s a rising problem especially with teenagers and the pressure they face through the media to look like celebrities and models. We filled the film with knowledge through interviews and statistics and then at the end we put a help line so people can find out more if they need or want to. It targets our audience by giving them knowledge of new things which we found out in our audience surveys is the main reason people watch documentaries is to educate themselves.
We represented our characters as real people so the audience could relate to them and it would make the subject matter seem more real. It targets our audience by making them feel involved with the characters as they are real people also as the audience are.
We used many different shot ranges to give a different outlook on our interviewees and the narrator. We used the close-up shot to really display emotion, so our audience could connect with the patient and to bring out emotions. we also used over the shoulder shots to enforce our genre Documentary, as it showed the narrator, we ensured that the narrator and the interviewee were sat near each other as we wanted it to be personal and we thought this would make viewer feel more involved. We used shot types such as medium and full length to show the location as well as the characters. This makes the frame look more interesting and more appealing to our target audience as it is more visually attractive and they won’t lose interest. We also used a panning shot to establish one of the various locations, and to slowly introduce one of our main patients. The location was peaceful although quite a lot of background noise caused by a fountain, although still effective.
The locations we used were thought about carefully we wanted them to be everyday scenes but not so public that it would cause are interviewees to feel uncomfortable, as they were sharing personal stories. We used benches as they are commonly found but in secluded areas and small class rooms as well. We occasionally had to change our plans to adjust to our surroundings such as rain of loud noises. It targets our audience by making them feel comfortable watching it because its filmed in a college or public space there is nothing intimidating. It adds realism by them recognising the places we filmed or by viewing it as familiar makes them emphasise further with the characters.
On the whole, we are happy as a group with our production and ancillary tasks as the majority of the feedback was positive and we believe that we have achieved what we set out to do. There are, of course, enhancements that could be made, especially in our production, and in particular the sound and the camera movements. Overall we are pleased with what we have achieved and have learnt through working on our Foundation and Advanced Portfolios.
Sunday 5 December 2010
short film analysis continued...
How ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ engages their audience through marketing techniques:
Through the use of viral marketing, as this increases awareness of the film through, word of mouth, or via the internet, e-mail or social networking sites. This is mainly meant to achieve high product sales as marketing itself can be just as expensive as producing the film. Pathé focused on online marketing, which then produced technological convergence. Particularly search marketing, as niche audiences were targeted. They successfully drove online traffic to their marketing websites, Pathé worked with ‘tug’ to create online awareness through; Google, they had banners across the website, trailer ads and many other advertising techniques online. The film beat all UK box office records.
Audience Research
How ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ engages their audience through marketing techniques:
Through the use of viral marketing, as this increases awareness of the film through, word of mouth, or via the internet, e-mail or social networking sites. This is mainly meant to achieve high product sales as marketing itself can be just as expensive as producing the film. Pathé focused on online marketing, which then produced technological convergence. Particularly search marketing, as niche audiences were targeted. They successfully drove online traffic to their marketing websites, Pathé worked with ‘tug’ to create online awareness through; Google, they had banners across the website, trailer ads and many other advertising techniques online. The film beat all UK box office records.
Through the use of viral marketing, as this increases awareness of the film through, word of mouth, or via the internet, e-mail or social networking sites. This is mainly meant to achieve high product sales as marketing itself can be just as expensive as producing the film. Pathé focused on online marketing, which then produced technological convergence. Particularly search marketing, as niche audiences were targeted. They successfully drove online traffic to their marketing websites, Pathé worked with ‘tug’ to create online awareness through; Google, they had banners across the website, trailer ads and many other advertising techniques online. The film beat all UK box office records.
Idea Generation/ Development
Focus of film: Eating disorders
Main messages/themes: Theme of bringing meaning to the otherwise insignificant. Exploring beneath the surface of the everyday norms.
Characters: Predominantly female, some male. Recovering eating disorder patients.
Who will be in film, and purpose: Those who have experienced eating disorders will feature and tell of their journeys, what led to it, what got them through it etc. As to evoke emotion, inform audience of what’s behind eating disorders, and to show how the smaller things mean so much more.
Narrative structure: The narrative will consist of a silent narrator and questions shall just appear on the screen, to make it seem more personal, or a one on one interview with the interviewer being behind the camera. The film will start on an introduction with random people being asked what does the word “it” mean to them, and then develop to what the word means to those affected by eating disorders. It will develop by showing how such a small thing taken for granted can mean and be so much more for another person. The ending will conclude on returning to ask other people what the word “it” means to them, and then contrast it with those who it does affect.
Aesthetic style of film: Black and white, using irony to show not everything in life is black and white, and 2 dimensional.
Audience point of view: The audience are going to see the film from the interviewer’s point of view.
Time setting: The film shall be set in the present as it is a documentary, it shall however talk much about the past, and the interviewees prospective futures.
Target audience/ Appeal: The film will be targeted at an older audience perhaps 25+. The film wouldn’t be appropriate for a very young audience as it would contain mature themes and possible strong language. The film may appeal for teenagers but a younger audience may not be as interested or understand the concept of mental health as much as an older generation.
Location: Some filming would have to be done on the street to film those not affected by eating disorders to make it more casual. Filming of the E.D interviews could be in any room, as long as it had the same backdrop. It would be a bit impractical to film on the street so perhaps we could take the random interviewees into one of the rooms for a more practical filming location.
Techniques/inspirational ideas:
Editing techniques/impact
Skills:
Role distribution: The cast will consist of E.D patients and perhaps their friends/relatives and can be handpicked. The other cast such as the narrator will probably be one of our group and the random interviewees will be cast by random selection.
Documentary
View more presentations from JoeRobert.
Documentary Analysis
Documentary
Documentary is way of presenting factual material which spans film television, radio, theatre, and the press.
Documentary presents actual incidents and statements which can be tested against reality. Documentary has changed and developed throughout the history of film and tv, in tv it overlaps with categories such as currents affairs and news. In the history of film, the documentary offers an alternative to the fictional world created characters and clear narrative shape for film. QUOTE:the documentary is distinguished from the factual film by its socipolitical purpose. Great art can be an instrument for social influence and change. The documentary film does have this purpose. Unlike films with a fictional narrative, documentarys rarely are intended for entertainment only, they usually contain messages of educational, social and/or political importance.
Documentary films include: in the name of the father
Forms and conventions of a documentary
Documentary is way of speaking about the world. It cannot be tied down to specifics of character and storyline in the same way as a genre can. It is typified by:
· Natural lighting-to give a more authentic documentary feel to it-separates a documentary from Hollywood cinema
· Indistinct town
· Jerky camera movements-tripod sometimes not used
These forms and conventions can chage as new technologies are constantly being developed. The term ‘actuality’ is used to describe the shots of actual footage as they happened. The event would have taken place wether the camera was there or not. The term ‘fly on the wall’ filming is leaving the camera in an specific area for a length of time and the editing it later and incorporating it into the rest the documentary.
Film images are selected for their use in illustrating and evidencing an argument.
Voice over: the voice-over has a role of uncovering, solving a mystery and/or telling a story. It can be used to record thoughts, it can also be used by a narrator, who has specific knowledge and is shaing with the audience, it can have a ‘god-like’ quality to it.
Written text:the term documentary implies that what is presented is linked to written documents. Many use subtitles, reference to time and place, and the appearance with written documents in the frame.
Documentary is way of presenting factual material which spans film television, radio, theatre, and the press.
Documentary presents actual incidents and statements which can be tested against reality. Documentary has changed and developed throughout the history of film and tv, in tv it overlaps with categories such as currents affairs and news. In the history of film, the documentary offers an alternative to the fictional world created characters and clear narrative shape for film. QUOTE:the documentary is distinguished from the factual film by its socipolitical purpose. Great art can be an instrument for social influence and change. The documentary film does have this purpose. Unlike films with a fictional narrative, documentarys rarely are intended for entertainment only, they usually contain messages of educational, social and/or political importance.
Documentary films include: in the name of the father
Forms and conventions of a documentary
Documentary is way of speaking about the world. It cannot be tied down to specifics of character and storyline in the same way as a genre can. It is typified by:
· Natural lighting-to give a more authentic documentary feel to it-separates a documentary from Hollywood cinema
· Indistinct town
· Jerky camera movements-tripod sometimes not used
These forms and conventions can chage as new technologies are constantly being developed. The term ‘actuality’ is used to describe the shots of actual footage as they happened. The event would have taken place wether the camera was there or not. The term ‘fly on the wall’ filming is leaving the camera in an specific area for a length of time and the editing it later and incorporating it into the rest the documentary.
Film images are selected for their use in illustrating and evidencing an argument.
Voice over: the voice-over has a role of uncovering, solving a mystery and/or telling a story. It can be used to record thoughts, it can also be used by a narrator, who has specific knowledge and is shaing with the audience, it can have a ‘god-like’ quality to it.
Written text:the term documentary implies that what is presented is linked to written documents. Many use subtitles, reference to time and place, and the appearance with written documents in the frame.
Maggie’s Personal work log:
Solo work:
11th October:Analysis of videos, posters, and reviews
Audience questionnaire
Target audience research
Mind map of target audience with objects added.
Uses and gratification theory
Maslows hierarchy of needs
My target audience
13th October:Shot list
Synopsis and planning frame for documentary.
24th October:Story board draft
29th October-10th November:Socio economics
Hypodermic syringe
Culmination theory
The two step flow
16th November - 27th November:Working on poster on Photoshop
29th November:Uploaded my poster to my Blog analysed it and wrote about its making process and what inspired its final image.
30th November - 3rd December: Uploading other group members work.
Group work:
27th October - 1st November Filming: with group - Filming with Joe
1st November - 3rd December Editing: with Kathleen
December 15th Evaluation: with Kathleen and Joe
11th October:Analysis of videos, posters, and reviews
Audience questionnaire
Target audience research
Mind map of target audience with objects added.
Uses and gratification theory
Maslows hierarchy of needs
My target audience
13th October:Shot list
Synopsis and planning frame for documentary.
24th October:Story board draft
29th October-10th November:Socio economics
Hypodermic syringe
Culmination theory
The two step flow
16th November - 27th November:Working on poster on Photoshop
29th November:Uploaded my poster to my Blog analysed it and wrote about its making process and what inspired its final image.
30th November - 3rd December: Uploading other group members work.
Group work:
27th October - 1st November Filming: with group - Filming with Joe
1st November - 3rd December Editing: with Kathleen
December 15th Evaluation: with Kathleen and Joe
Friday 3 December 2010
Magazine Review Analysis
The town review by Empire magazine
Cemetery Junction reviewed by Empire Magazine
This review has a nice layout, with a large use of colour when appropriate to brighten up the page. The colours it uses are yellow and blue which contrast so have an attention grabbing quality, the are also quite cheerful colours which aren’t gender specific, which reflects their wide audience of both genders. It has a page number at the bottom corner of the page along with the magazines name and date of issue. The page shows a picture from the film covering half the page and text covering the other half. The writing styles are used are quite simple and to the point, clearly written for people who have an interest in media products. The image used from the film shows some of the characters and it also has some writing explaining the picture. The obvious conventions of a magazine review it uses are the star rating at the end of the text and quotes from the film written in bold.
This article for Empire magazine is about the town, film. It has a big image with a large font saying the name “The Town” in capitals. Both of these features grab the audience’s attention and suck them in. The images used back up what the text is saying and stops it from looking dull.
The text is clearly written for film lovers as it links in other films with similarities (the other film Affleck produced) expecting the reader to know of them, without explanation or description. The review is positive and cheerful and is clearly written by a Ben Affleck fan. It state the genre and some of the plot with quotes weaved in when relevant to the film. It shows quotes from a short interview with Jeremy Runner one of the cast members to finish.
The images all contain a small sentence explaining the picture so its clear to someone who hasn’t watched the film. It’s obviously written to persuade its audience to watch the film as it shows it in a very positive light.
The magazine shows good quotes in bold so it makes more of an impression on the reader. The colours highlight important features to make them stand out it also makes the whole page look more interesting to the reader
The text is clearly written for film lovers as it links in other films with similarities (the other film Affleck produced) expecting the reader to know of them, without explanation or description. The review is positive and cheerful and is clearly written by a Ben Affleck fan. It state the genre and some of the plot with quotes weaved in when relevant to the film. It shows quotes from a short interview with Jeremy Runner one of the cast members to finish.
The images all contain a small sentence explaining the picture so its clear to someone who hasn’t watched the film. It’s obviously written to persuade its audience to watch the film as it shows it in a very positive light.
The magazine shows good quotes in bold so it makes more of an impression on the reader. The colours highlight important features to make them stand out it also makes the whole page look more interesting to the reader
Winters Bone reviewed by The Times Culture Magazine
The purpose of a magazine review is to tell future audiences about the film, its release date and to persuade them to see it. the types of magazine reviews exist are positive/negative. The review is laid out fairly simply in mainly black and white, with a small amount of blue and red. It has a page number at the bottom corner of the page, but apart from that its only about the film, with no magazine references at all. This probably because it comes with The Times newspaper which contains all of its Institutional references. The ratio on this piece is half text and half showing an image from the film. The target audience for this magazine would be middle to upper class people with a good education. The mode of address targets its particular audience targeted, by speaking to them in a complex and intelligent way. The film Winters Bone, looks very serious and complex which will compliment the magazines target audience. This magazine review uses a variety of writing styles, to keep it’s intelligent audience entertained.
Mind Map - how audience uses media
Mind Map exploring how our target audience may use the media. Using these ideas, we can decide how we want to advertise our film through the use of media. To build on these ideas, we will create questionnaire and videos asking our audience 'how they consume media'.
Shooting Schedule and Script
Location | Date | Subject | Details |
Henley College | 18th October | Setting up equipment, doing a few test shots | |
Henley College Henley Town | 19th October | General public Students Narrator | Asking the public/students a few questions on the subject of our documentary, to get different perspectives |
Henley college Henley Town | 21st October | Students General public Narrator | Continue to film and ask questions |
Henley college Henley Town | 25th October | Background | Filming a few shots of the town/college to get a ‘establishing shot’ |
Henley College Classroom | 26th October | E.D patients Narrator | Start to film and interview the patients, in a quiet and private room. Interviewing them about their eating disorder |
Henley College Classroom | 1st November | E.D patients Narrator | Continue to film and interview them |
Henley College Classroom | 2nd November | E.D patients Narrator | Finish off our questions, and finish filming them |
Henley Town Sainsbury’s | 4th November | E.D patients | Film them from a distance and finish off any unfinished filming |
DEADLINE | 5th November | DEADLINE | DEADLINE |
Shooting Script
[Music Fades In]
[Establishing shot of narrator walking towards camera]
[MS of the narrator]
[Music fades out]
Narrator: In this documentary we are going to take a special look and view at the very relevant and serious issue of Eating Disorders. Let’s take a look at peoples various opinions on the matter...
[Music slowly fades in]
[Close-up shot of each member of the public]
[Music fades out]
Actors :( each actor gives a brief description individually answering the questions)
[Statistics appear on screen in front of an establishing shot of all the people that were interviewed]
Narrator: a shocking 1.1 million people in the UK alone are affected by an eating disorder, also that females are 10 times more likely than males to be affected by an eating disorder and that only 25% of women are happy with their weight. Pressures from the media endorse this as 91% felt it was bad that the media always portray so-called perfect women.
Narrator: Before we take a closer look, at [states names of patients] we decided to go and ask the public a few questions about the subject and see if we can get a few different views
[LS of narrator walking into town]
[Tracking the Narrator]
Narrator: Can you spare a few minutes to participate in our documentary?
Person 1: ?
Questions that the narrator is going to ask the public:
1. Do you have much knowledge on the subject of eating disorders?
2. Do you know anyone that has been affect by an eating disorder?
3. Do you have a view on eating disorders?
4. What do you think is the meaning of an eating disorder is?
5. What comes to mind when someone mentions an eating-disorder?
6. What do you think are the causes of an eating disorder?
[MS of narrator]
Narrator: Sums up findings of the public interviews
Questions to ask the patients
1. What was your lowest point?
2. What made you admit to yourself that you had a problem?
3. How is your relationship with food now?
4. What was your lowest weight?
5. When did you really start recovering?
6. How did it start?
7. What helped you through it, why didn’t you just give up?
8. How long have you been diagnosed for?
[LS of the patients walking away together]
Day 1:
Wednesday 27th October:
Location: Reading-Forbury Gardens-Location had nice scenery, much greenery and a public place. Reminiscent of the clinic grounds Marina stayed at.
Clothing Casual
Sainsbury’s in Reading, easy access to shots of food and magazines.
11am - Forbury gardens - panning shot of scenery (include water fountain in shot) (10 minuts maximum)
11.10am - Forbury gardens - interview between Joe and marina (40 minutes maximum)
12am - Sainsbury’s - panning shot of magazine stands, and film plan of various food products.
Day 2
Thursday 28th October
Location: Henley College - Rotherfield Benches - Nice scenery in background, common place for students to be having lunch, eating.
Easy access to students available for interviewing, creates a juxtoposition as they eat their lunch whilst talking about eating disorders.
12.10 - Set up equiptment.
12.15 - Film interviews of personal experiences, asking questions or letting participants ad-lib. (approx 30 minutes max)
Location: Henley college - Art courtyard - previously planned to be filmed near exam hall but wheather conditions created too much external sound. The courtyard creates an intimate atmosphere perfect for a personal interview.
13.30 - panning shot(s) of scenery.
13.35 - Re-set up equiptment and shot to avoid external sound interference.
13.40 - interview Olivia (E.D. patient). Approx 30 minutes maximum filming.
Day 3Friday 29th October
Location: Henley college - media studio 1 - the studio is very small and ideal for an intimate interview, the shot is lit by natural lighting. The set of the room helped provide an over-the-shoulder shot.
14.40 pm - set up over-shoulder shot and check that the shot is properly lit. (approx 5 minutes maximum).
14.45 - interview Kathleen about her knowledge of eating disorders. (20 minutes maximum).
15.05 - Extreme close up shots of Kathleen. (5minutes maximum).
Day 4 Monday 1st November
Location: media Room R115 - A casual student oriented backdrop to the shot, creating a casual interview atmosphere with the natural college environment.
10.35 - Arrange backdrop to scene and set up equipment. (10 minutes maximum).
10.50 - interview with Maggie about her friends suffering with eating disorders, and having her views/opinions. (include close up shots). (30 minutes maximum).
Location: Henley College - entrance corridor to media room R115 - the brick wall creates a different backdrop for this interview than in the other shots. First male interview, aiming to get a different perspective.
12.00 - set up equipment and shot. (5 minutes maximum).
12.05 - Jordan talking about his views and opinions on eating disorders. (maximum 20 minutes).
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