x x . . Misz. Antoinette Yemzie Seki . . x x

Simply just doing Media . . :)

Prelim Task

AS Opening Sequence

Monday 26 October 2009

Review of Badlands

Badlands was a movie that was not best of movies, however, it had amazing shots!
The movie was plainly about two people that declared they were in love, and the boy killed his girlfriends dad, and following on from that he just killed anyone/everyone that came in his/thier way!

One of the first points of the movie i am going to analyse are their shots, during the movie Badlands had a series of amazing shots, although i cannot remeber all of tem i do remember the important ones.

Example one
When the two couples first met, it was a cut-away. Thsi was because the girl was outside playing with her hoola-hoop and "some-one" was watching her, however we did not know who, but what we did know was that someone was her in the bushes.

Example two
The next show we saw was a long shot, which was a long shot, this is when we the man walking towards her, and we then realise the person watching the girl was him

Example three
The next shot was over the shoulder shot, which was towards the girl so we could see the girl.

Example four
Then next it was close-up of the boy's face.
And these were the main four shots of the introducing of the two main characters.

Moving on swiftly, the next important moment to me is the death of the dad. The camera shots during this point were nothing unuual, There was a close-up of the gun so we could see the bullet, then straight after that we saw the dad collapse and AAAAARGH!! The girl screams which was all so predictable, and then there was a close-up of the dad's face so we could see if he was actually dead or alive, and he was dead, as his eyes were closed. And then a long shot of the guy that killed her dad aka her boyfriend to show is body-language, that seemed emotionless, then a switch to the daughter's face to see her facial expression which was likewise!

Moving of camera shots, i am now going to move unto sounds and audio. The movie actually did well in the audio aspects. Such as when they were burning the house, all we could here was the sound of the boy talking on the tape recorder, that was a good move. And also when the couple were dancing, they played music to make us feel as if we were actually there as well so we can feel the music. But other than these points there was no use or no good use of music during the movie. One of the places where they failed was when the guy was running away from the police, they really should of used some sound for that, so it could alos get the audience engaged and most importantly make it more interesting!

Badlands was a good movie when it came to camera shots, however, for everything else it failed. With continuity it did well in that aspect, but for keeping is audience engaged, motivated and interested it failed tredmendously. The movie high-lighted the town's number one criminal attacks and sprees, but for a movie with such a strong and intersting story, it was completly and unbelievbly boring.
This is because,
a) Their actors/actresses were very bad at their job
b) We were seeing the same faces which were the two main charcaters through-out the whole of the movie.
c) There was nothig to actually get the audience involved
d) There also wasn't anything to make the audience realte to what the characters were feeling.

This links in to anlogue and Digitial Video. With Digitial Video it allows the audience to "feel", for example if the characters are in the room, DV will also make the audience "feel" as they are actually in the room, as Badlands, obviously not DV they were not able to emphasise those key aspects of the movie which is to get the audience engaged. That is partially why this movie failed disgustingly.

Thursday 15 October 2009

Prelim Evaluation Task

Prelim Evaluation Task

1) Who did you work with and how did you manage the tasks between you? Explain how you organised your time and schedules. What issues came up with time management? What problems did you come up against? How did you deal with these? What were your strengths and weaknesses in this area? What would you do differently next time?

During my prelim task I was working with Josh, myself and Josh I would say was actually a really good team, this is because we both knew our positives and negatives, therefore to make a great movie, we acknowledged our positives and worked together to make a great movie! Josh was the camera guy, he set-up the camera, took care of the camera shots and what angles they were, and I was the dash-board girl, made sure I said “cut” and “action” at each relevant shot, and placed the shots and scenes on the clap-board, myself and Josh was also referring back to the story-board to make sure it was correct, and if it wasn’t we would change it to make sure there was a flow of continuity. With time management we did everything in one day, we scheduled it for and hour, however time did run-away with us and we exceeded an hour, but however, that only enabled us to make sure we do everything much more quickly and know how to manage out time better. Therefore, next time we do another video I have to make sure that I am quicker, and if I am not sure of the time I will make sure I book room that will enable to run over time if it is needed.

2) How did you plan your sequence? What process did you use?

For us to be able to make a short movie we had to make a storyboard, this was to save time, because in the movie business “time is money” and we cannot waste it. Therefore, we had to plan our movie
a) to save time
b) To actually make a movie.

3) What technology did you use to complete the task, and how did you use it? What did you learn about using the cameras? Here you can also refer to the discussions we have had in class recently about digital cameras.

During the task we used a camera for us to be able to film it, and one of the ways we used it was by using a tracking thing, as it enabled us to move the camera smoothly as if the camera actually has legs, which was a very good skill. I learned that you have to obey the 108 degree rule, and also have to remember the mise en scene which is basically everything in the frame. But in generally it was very exciting and interesting.

5) How successful was your sequence? Please identify what worked well, and with hindsight, what would you improve/do differently?
Personally, I feel that my sequence was very good. This was because I and my partner had organised everything well, we had scheduled a room and it was free at the correct and for the correct time. However, the only problem that had occurred was that one of our actors was not in, therefore I had to be an actor for my own scene, but as I did not know the whole script, that took up time. So one thing that will have to be certainly improved is my timing.

6) What have you learnt from completing the task? Discuss time management skills, group work skills, organisational skills and technical skills of production.
During this sequence I can certainly say that I have gained communication skills this is because, since I have been in class I never talked to anyone, in the whole class I only talked to one person, but through this sequence I have been able to communicate with others, this being I had to communicate with others to get the job done. My organisation skills were also very good as well this was only because I and Josh divided things between ourselves therefore; we had less work to do and plenty of time to do it in.


7) Post production - What did you learn about the editing process? How did you make decisions while editing? How did you plan your time to complete the editing task? What were your strengths and weaknesses in this area? What would you do differently next time?

And finally, the editing stage was actually say the most hardest task during the whole thing. This is because we had to have concentration on what we were doing and we also have to listen to everything making sure that we do not hear any “cut” or “action” which was rather hard, because at the same time we were still learning the new skills of how to edit, so it certainly took some time, it actually took more time to edit the video than to even make the video. One of my strengths was that I was able to work as a team and I and Josh were able to finish before the whole class because we worked together and as a team. That was definitely one of our strengths. However, one of our weaknesses was that we wasn’t very attentive, this was because every time we played the video back, we had realised that we had missed something or that we hadn’t trimmed it properly, but then finally we got there!

Monday 12 October 2009

Cut-Away Scene Evaluation

Cut Away Scene Evaluation

During this task there were several learning objectives, however my main one was to remember the story-board and know the shots. This was because it was mainly myself that made the story, therefore I had to inform my other two companions what shot is, where it should be and why it should be shot there. My role was to act, Dhara’s role was film, and Akins’s role was to do the clap-board, personally I do think that we all worked as a team, however I do not feel that I gave it my best.
This is because as I made the storyboard myself without so much help from my companions (as Dhara had to organise the camera) it delayed time, and I did not do it efficiently and to its best, hence-forth meaning when we started to film, we did not have enough time, and we had to change the story a few times because I did not plan it very well.
Therefore, one of my weak points was my planning. I have to improve my planning skills, as in the movie business time is money, therefore if I cannot plan appropriately and efficiently it will definitely waste time, and the outcome will be very poor.
However, on-the-other-hand, even though my planning skills were not that good, we were still able to work as a team and seek other ways in which it could be improved and what areas it should be improved in. Inversely, leaving us to actually finishing on time and to a good standard may not be perfect but it was good.
However, while we were shooting there were a few obstacles that occurred, one of the problems that we had was noise. As we were shooting outside there were other people walking around the college, and while they were there and while they were talking we really couldn’t get any work done, as it will interrupt our video. So we had to wait for them to go, and I asked a few people to “keep quiet” or “wait” so we can be able to hurry up and do our video on time.

Analogue and Digital Video

Analogue and Digital Video

Analogue
Analogue is very traditional, as it has been around for some time now, and it allows the audience to appreciate the beauty of film. First of all it is cheaper, as there is a very low cost on all aspects, whether it being sound, image or the actual video, there is a low cost in everything, this being also because they don’t need such a huge crew.
However, even though analogue movies are very traditional, they are not too interesting, as the audience of today tend to enjoy DV movies.

Firstly, Analogue is cheap, this is because there is not a very big crew, for them to pay a lot of workers, and therefore they can limit their cost. They do not need a whole lot of actors as it is not really necessary and due to them not having a lot of actors, means that they do not need a huge crew.

Secondly, it is much more traditional. It is traditional in the sense that, way before in the olden days, movies were treasured, desirable and most of all unique, people were not always able to go and watch movies in the theatre as it wasn’t easy and there were not a lot of them in that time, so whenever a new movie came out people were honoured to go and watch them which made them very valuable back in those days.

And finally, even though analogue movies may not be the most exciting movies, they are the cheapest and the most traditional; they give people the art of movies, and allow them to see the beauty of making a film. But, people nowadays are not really bothered about it anymore, and have completely lost focus on the real meaning of a movie, as DV has taken over.

Digital Video
Digital video allows you to see everything in a more enticing way, as it motivates the audience and gets them involved which every viewer wants to feel, while they are watching a movie.

Firstly, digital video is extremely exhilarating, as it motivates everyone that it is watching it, whether it is in 3D or just normal video, it certainly gets everyone involved and makes you feel as if you are in the room and actually can feel what their feeling – that is the effect of digital video.

Secondly, it is so much more better to look at compared to analogue films as the colour is perfect the lighting is even more perfect, it just looks amazing, compared to analogue as everything is just so much better. Even the crew, the more people the better, as digital video has more cast to help the movie be the best, it makes it even more better, as there are more people putting their heads together to make a good, quality movie, unlike analogue that are just worrying about saving money rather than spending money.
But you have to remember in order to make money you have to spend money!
But I guess Analogue just don’t understand that.

And finally, DV is better than analogue in a multiple of ways, as even though they spend a lot of money they please their viewers and they do make more money than analogue films. And they are much more interesting and better to look at and watch as it it gets your audience involved and motivated in what they are watching.