POST 12

In order to prepare for the productions of our chosen films, we were set to understand the importance and quality of lighting and shading helping us with increased knowledge of video productions through technical factors meaning we could use this information to help us on how to set lighting etc within the productions of our own film.

We did this by dividing the section into two main factors then completing a few practical tasks to see how these could affect the outcome of any situation. The two sub-factors were direction and quality:

· Quality involves the concentration of the lighting onto the object, for example, hard lighting and soft lighting.

Soft lighting and hard lighting are both two different examples of quality within the lighting department. Soft lighting

· Direction relates to where the light source has been positioned in order to create a wanted effect. Aiming lights at certain surfaces in order for it to bounce off comes under direction where it creates a different yet interesting effect onto the screen.

Lighting Techniques – Madonna, Vogue (Video)

Once understanding the two key elements of light, we watched a music video done by Madonna named Vogue as well as being given sheets containing print screens of a few shots from the video. This video including a wide variety of light sources causing many extreme effects, showing us how effective they can be as well as what they can achieve; soft lighting, where on certain images in the video, they tend to blur and show different textures which is shown on mainly each character’s faces, also the use of soft/bright lighting techniques were shown on the clothes where it was difficult to recognise her uniform.

Quality and Direction of Lighting

Once watching the whole video, analysing each technique used, understanding their effects and taking into consideration for the production of our future video, our class was put into two groups being given a task to see these effects first- hand. First of all, we had to assign each person an individual role to put together this task leading to a joint effort understanding of direction and quality of light. We were also given an assortment of equipment to distribute to each person according to their role however had to come up with our own experiments to see how the direction and quality of lighting could affect the effects of lighting.

Every light has a point in which it reaches its brightest as well as a point where it loses itself completely. Lighting can come from any direction; the top; bottom; right; left, it can also reflect off other surfaces to give a change of sharpness. Amongst these, the quality of each lighting is about the concentration of the lighting where they could in most situations fall into the two categories of ‘soft’ and‘hard’ light.

The main part of this task was to understand how the direction and quality of lighting could affect how realistic the lighting turns out as well as to find out how we could control the lighting to reach each of these effects.

The equipment we were given was:
• Mini DV camera
• Tripod
• Batteries
• Base plate
• Tape
• Laminated whiteboards and marker pens
• Lowel pro 250W lamp
• Stand
• Extension lead
• Barn doors
• Torch
• Black wrap and crock clips
• White materials and tin foil
• Safety gloves

We then had to assign each person with a role taken from the following list, and gave them the equipment needed as part of their job:

· Director – Coordinates the group to achieve the experiment.

· Camera – Set up and position the camera, and record evidence.

· Clapper – Writes “boards” to notify the audience what they are watching. Also helps Recorder.

· Recorder – Notes down the experiments variables and monitors decisions and revisions made.

· Gaffer – Positioning of light and equipment.

· Character in the scene (only for the quality experiment.)

Once finishing this task, I now realise that I have a lot more knowledge on the different types of lighting, how they are set up and how they can affect each aspect of your final piece. Therefore this task has been extremely useful as it prepares me as well as everyone else on this specific area of film productions and will most likely improve the quality of the final piece to be made. It will be important for us to consider what type of lighting to use in each shot as it could completely change the appearance giving a mixed/different image to what the producer intends to therefore adding the correct lighting will help give away the required message as well as add an effect helping the imagery of the production.

POST 10

Job roles have a huge significance within the production of any film therefore it is important to assign each role to a responsible candidate in order to reach the film’s full potential. Along with all departments, it is vital that all job roles revolve around each other to ensure the smooth running and best finish for the film.

Director

The most important department of all jobs needed within the production of any film is a director. In most cases, the director would be the creator of the film therefore responsible for how the film is finally to be sent out and what message the audience shall receive from it. To help the director, they usually have assistant directors who ensure each of the director’s tasks are completed. They do this by managing time thoroughly and producing a strong workforce in order to meet the director’s need.

The first assistant director is the director’s right hand man, taking the majority of their responsibility leaving the director to focus on the creativity of the films production. The first assistant also has a right hand man, in which they take on the responsibility of ensuring everything runs smoothly and as planned.

LIGHTING

Lighting is an important aspect in the production of any performance or programme. It creates the right atmosphere for audience’s to cooperate with and respond however requires good knowledge of technical and creative skills whether artificial or natural light is used, all elements have to be considered in order to have an expected outcome.

Each different area of the lighting department are all conjoined with other areas of the films production for example the sound or camera crew in order to create a better effect for each scene of the film.

There are four different areas within the lighting department, the ‘gaffers,’ lighting technicians, ‘best boy’ and the ‘moving light operator.’

• The best boy is set to bring together all the lighting technicians dealing with the theory side of the department.







• Lighting technicians work under the gaffer in which they are responsible for the movement as well as the set up of various pieces of lighting equipment. They carry other simple roles such as focusing the lights or laying electric cables.







• The gaffer is head of the electrical department with responsibility for the finishing of the lighting plan, with the design of the lighting occasionally becoming a task.







• The moving light operator manages the intelligent lighting otherwise known as automated lights which are chose by the photography director.

Sound

A film is usually known to be a visual production giving out an image and message to the audience, however this is guided and helped by the use of dialogue. Using this information, a production sound crew is brought into the making of a film in order to achieve what’s needed for the final piece. Within this department, production sound mixers, sound assistants and boom operators are included.

A production sound mixer is responsible for recording of all sound and sound effects on set in order to include later on in the finished production or sometimes as a reference for the sound designer, foley artists or the sound effects editors. Their jobs include choosing and operating suitable microphones for each specific scenario, a fitting choice of recording media as well as mixing of audio signals.

• A boom operator has a task of assisting the production sound mixer. Their main responsibility as part of their job is the microphone placement, having to pick the best place possible to receive high quality sound yet not interfere with the camera’s work. As well as that, attaching wireless microphones to actors or any others that require voice recording comes as part of their role.





• Sound assistants are the third members of this individual department. They are set to provide general backup and support to the boom operator and production sound mixer. They also carry the responsibility of ensuring the sound department runs as smoothly as possible checking all stock, microphones and batteries.

Camera

The camera work within any film production is clearly the most significant due to the various effects it could have on the audience such as giving them a more detailed insight to a character or location. This is due to the various things they put together in order to create the required effect such as camera movement and the order of light/shade. A lot of skill and preparation is taken into this department in order to create each shot to its best ability, for example the cameras movement and its operation.

There are three different areas within the camera department to help ensure the use of the camera goes as smooth as possible.

• One is known as the first assistant cameraman otherwise known as the focus puller. Their task is to preserve the sharpness of every image on whatever the focus is on.





• A grip is also included into this department in which they have two main functions. The first of their jobs is to provide close camera support to the camera department, meaning they have to build, operate and maintain all equipment to do with the camera, for example tripods, cranes and dollies as well as in unusual positions such as the top of a ladder. Their second job is to work directly with the electrical department in order to assist the lighting set-ups needed for each shot, this being advised by the director of photography.






• Directors of Photography are another area within the camera department in which they have a major creative role. They work strongly with the Director and Production Designer to give their film its visual mark for the audience to realise.







• The last key role in this department is the camera operator otherwise simple known as a camera man. They are known to set up, position and operate the video camera in order to record the production of the film/video suitably.

Art and Production Designer

Within the film industry, the term production designer is used to name the person who is responsible for the general appearance of the film or even adverts they are producing. They have one of the most creative roles in the creation of their production, by selecting the settings and style in order to tell the story visually as well as the specific aesthetic needs of the project they have to work closely with the director and producer. The production designer also has links to the costume designer, key make-up and hair stylists, special effects director and locations manager however only the key staff within these departments in order to establish an integrated visual appearance and feel to the film.

The art department consists of a group of people who operate with the production designer to execute the attraction elements of each vision to the best of their ability.

· The art director has numerous experts from other departments such as the construction department reporting to them. This is so they can arrange everything to co-ordinate with each other giving the film its most important distinctive visual characteristics.

· Often using someone with experience in interior design, a set decorator is bought in to help find suitable, decorative items for the set such as furniture and wallpaper. They help to bring the reality of the story and add the required look set by the genre of the film.

· Art directors and film directors typically hire storyboard artists where they specialize in storyboards for any film’s production. They are able to visualize any story in a short time and sketch the ideas on paper at any moment.

Job roles within our production:

Due to our production groups being significantly smaller than what they are usually, only four people, we had to conjoin many roles to and distribute them to those we thought would have best capability to complete each role.

· 1^st person: Director; this person was the one whose story was chosen to become the final product to make. They took the responsibility of ensuring the whole production stage went as planned and every last detail was to their satisfaction as they would clearly have the best insight to how the film was set to turn out. Also over seeing all the other departments within this production, they could ensure each visual image works according to the storyline and helps send out the message they planned.

· 2^nd person: Lighting and Sound; this person took on originally two departments as they would be closely linked and correspond with each other, therefore due to the lack of people, conjoining these two departments make sense and helps with the production stage.

· 3^rd person: Camera; the person taking on this role took on everything to do with the shooting and pre-planning of the filming. This includes preparations, communicating with the director to ensure they fully understand what is needed, then the actual filming where they would try and recover the best images possible.

· 4^th person: Production Design; this person will have to sort out all production designs needed for the filming, including pre-planning helping and leading to the final piece ready for the filming.

Once assigning each role, we understood they would all correspond with each other therefore a lot of communication between us would be needed in order to ensure nothing conflicts and all production is done to its highest standard.

POST 9:

write comments from becky class mates and mrs shipp on v1

After interacting with other class mates, Becky Knapp, and my teacher, Mrs. Shipp, about my script, I went away with their ideas and opinions in mind in order to improve my script for a second and final version.

The changes I made were as follows;

I added more speech within the beginning of the text in order to emphasise on the child’s neglect which is the message trying to be sent across to the audience. Within this speech, I included a different language in which the family spoke in order to add a realistic and unique effect. This would help the audience possibly understand the cultural background of the family due to Asian representations/stereotypes.

I also included a whole new scene within the story line, the bedroom incident (page 2 of version 2.) This was in order to set another powerful image to the audience improving their views on the message trying to be achieved as well as to help the story achieve its time limit given of six minutes.

The rest of the story was kept the same as they were the main, significant events in which would help the audience realise the true story. Also the time limit given was too short to include all events therefore adding only the significant parts were necessary.

POST 8

Developing the script for my idea was a lot harder than I originally thought it would be. This was because I wanted the best outcome possible therefore what to include or not include became a hard decision as I had to think from the audience’s perspective and see what would affect them most due to it being my main aim. I did this by using notes I made during my lessons as well as notes I made myself which could possibly help influence my final script.

(Include image of me writing all events)

This image shows all events I thought of including to my final piece. However, I realised there were too many to insert into our six minute short film, therefore cut the majority of them leaving only main events and events which will leave an impression on the audience.

I also made a character profile for each member of the family in order to refresh my memory and help with how they would act and/or respond to the film’s events. Back grounds, interests, hobbies were all included as well as other information I thought could be useful when relating to my film.

Once finishing each character profile, I felt pretty much ready to produce my script as it helped me get a clear and refreshed memory of how everything was.

Now all that needed planning was the location and surroundings of the main character, this included the council estate, friends nearby, the poor surroundings reflecting on how each character was brought up and possibly why each turned out to deal with everything they had to. To help with this part of the planning, we were given an eight-way thinking table to help us acknowledge more of the background for the main character. They consisted of eight words: feelings, words, people, nature, sights, number, sounds and actions; in which I had to write as many questions under them as possible then answer them in order to help realise the true significance of every issue raised as well as raising awareness to what most needs to be put in order to fulfil the tasks of this short film. An example being, under the topic “feelings,” I wrote the question, “How do the other characters respond to when the main character suffers abuse from his parents?” This was a big issue within the storyline as it showed that there was not much help for the main character and made me realise that this should also be included within the story as it brings a strong true meaning to the audience, an aim I wished to carry throughout.

I carried on with some research by investigating into social workers who had failed with dealings with victims of child abuse. This was to help get a wider knowledge of what occurs when they take on such claims however as this was a personal issue, the majority of the intelligence came from my own experience and knowledge. One story which however did stand out was the country-shocking news of 'Baby P,’ this story was extremely useful and helped support me through the planning stage of the film as it revealed a lot of the failings by social services, such as their failings to learn he was abused, something I could use to help relate to and encourage including it into my story. The link below gives a detailed explanation of the Baby Peter case where you can see its relation and inspiration to my short film.

http://www.cypnow.co.uk/news/1037091/Baby-Peter-review-reveals-failings-every-agency/

Post 7: Create Your Own Script

My script has a theme of child abuse. I chose this topic as it was one I had personal experience, therefore came from the heart which I thought would have a real impact on the audience.

When I begun planning my script, I focused on six main things giving my story an outline helping myself in future planning. They included: a world; a problem; a character; a beginning; a need; and a want. This helps get more of an understanding to the main plot of the film and more of an insight to the main character.

Next we were given an eight way thinking table by our teacher in order to improve the planning of our film.

The rest of the planning went pretty easily as the planning I had already done provided stability for my ideas, as well as the fact that my idea was extremely personal therefore came from the heart, the only obstacle being my memory. I simply wrote down all the main events in my life crossing out parts less important than others, then included those left onto my script.

To help us receive a wider thought of creativity for the production of our film, our teacher recommended our class to watch the film Signs. It has an extremely simple message however leaves a big effect on the audience due to its different use of techniques. Signs did particularly well as a short film when entered in the Schweppes short film festival, drawing in a larger more mature audience.

Whilst watching Signs, our teacher regularly paused it in order for us to guess what we thought was going to happen next, this helped us to think from an audience’s point of view of how the plot for the films we are set to create could turn out to be, meaning we could decide to either make it predictable for the audience to have an outer gist of what was going to happen, or to make it totally unpredictable in order for them to stay intrigued to what happens next, but this will mean that the story has to be up to their standards throughout in order for them to stay and pay good attention.

This film encouraged me to leave audiences with a feel of sadness bringing more emotion therefore attraction to its deep meaning. Therefore I chose a well known topic which seems to hit the public when revealed about, as it occurs quite regularly and many want more consideration into.

As the film completed, my class had a mixture of suggestions to how it would finish, however the majority agreeing to one aspect, a negative one. This brought more concentration to the video as it created confusion as to what was going to happen therefore more attraction, learning this I thought it would be good to add something similar to my film in order to increase its success.

Post 6 - What Makes A Good Short Film?

To increase our knowledge in the production of short films, our teacher brought in a professional in this industry, Rebecca Knapp. She is a film producer and has worked with many script writers therefore has good knowledge of how to make our short films a success.

Rebecca taught us about script writing, what is needed in a short film and how to make them effective by handing out various scripts and showing us a few short films she had made herself.

First of all, she taught us about film lengths putting them into brackets of under five minutes, 5-12 minutes, and then up to 30 minutes.

If a short film was to have a length of five minutes or under producers can not develop into anything, such as a character or a big plot/storyline therefore planning into the film and script has to be done carefully as there can’t be too much to them.

The next length of five to twelve minutes can have more of a plot as well as a slight more depth into the main character(s) however still limited.

A length of twelve to thirty minutes film would have a storyline a lot more developed and a more depth portrait of certain characters. Another story line may be included as well as more main characters to enhance the film's meaning.

Rebecca Knapp also gave us two scripts followed by showing us both the scripts films. We first of all read the script and then had to watch the film to see whether it went along with our thoughts on the script; whether we imagined it to be similar to the film, or had a different image of what it would be like. Also, the film was shown to help us get an idea of what short films are set to be like, as they have a lower budget and less time than films with a longer duration. With these sources given to us, i found out that short films are a lot less developed than i thought, some have a lot more less dialogue, whilst others have an increase of music to represent the message being given.

The first script we read and then watched was called 'Donna.' Its severe lack of dialogue personally made me lose interest as it gave it less of an understanding therefore lack of concentration. However this helped me with my own script as it made me realise more dialogue would help its attraction and popularity.

The second script we read and viewed was called 'Does God Play Football.' This film contained a lot more dialogue, and had a depth-ful meaning to its storyline, giving me the impression that although short films can not go into too much depth of anything, they can still have a short yet meaningful story.

Post 5: Audience Theory and My Short Film

To help increase our knowledge on short films, our teacher brought in a professional in short films to speak to us about them and how they work. Her name is Becky Knapp, she is involved with the film industry as a producer. During this lesson, she showed us some of the films she had worked on and explained how she made them successful.

The first film I saw was named, About A Girl. It won a BAFTA award in the year 2001 and was directed by Brian Percival with a length of nine minutes and fifty-two seconds.

Negotiated Hegemonic - The difference in audience views can also lead to a variety of questions needing to be confirmed about the film in order to understand the true moral of the story. The main audience will have a different understanding than those of the producers so will have to adapt to the original meaning.

Oppositional Hegemonic - The message in this film can be interpreted in many ways. Audiences will most likely blame the mother for neglecting her child even though the preferred meaning of the film is to put the blame on the girl as she stays too secretive. The younger age race can relate to such stories possible from personal experience increasing its popularity.

Dominant Hegemonic - About A Girl brings amazement to the audience as the ending to the story is set to do. No one prepares for it bringing an entire new feeling to the film however it brings understanding to the films perception. It also brings in confusion leading to many questions to why the events had happened e.t.c.

Moral Panic - About A Girl threatens the social impact of female teenagers. This pressures feelings of being selfish and under-educated towards similar people causing a wider controversial stereotype enforcing more questions to be asked in relation to this short film.

Profile the Target Audience: The film has won many awards including Best Short Film Winner 2001 in the BAFTA's and Edinburgh International Film Festival 2001. This clearly indicates that a lot of work had been done into its research for it to become such a success. The BAFTA's Best Short Film Award was set up in order to encourage the essential growth and development of new talent within the British film industry in which the producers of this film have benefited from majorly.

Viewing Environment - Short films are shown mostly at film festivals; this is where they gain their popularity. The audience here are more convenient for them as they are focused only on the film rather than any other disturbances you would get at home for example. However the disadvantage to this is that there is only a limited audience, this is because short films aren’t really advertised therefore the majority of times, it is usually the same type of audience rather than a different variety.

Film four also air short films on their channel although as they already have a specific target market however it does help to increase its popularity even though it would not be as much as other channels, for example, BBC1.

You can also argue that audiences to both Film Four and Film Festivals are both the same. This is because they both have a set target market and stick to that, also because the audience are mainly focused on the film, therefore cannot find any disturbances to distract them and under-rate the film.

The second film I saw was named Cubs. It was directed by Tom Harper and produced by Lisa Williams, with a length of nine minutes and forty-nine seconds.

I noticed a dominant hegemonic representation behind this film as the story line behind the film is quite clear making the audience easily understand the preferred meaning offered by the text. It shows a youngster wanting to join a crew of older teenagers; however it comes at a price which by many audiences would be seen as horrific. This is easily understood by the audience as there have been similar story lines in popular TV shows, giving a stereotype for such people.

The film shows a youngster wanting to join a crew of older people which they say can become possible only if he shoots dead a fox. The audience can easily view his hesitations and unwillingness nevertheless his desire to link with the crew comes to a bigger value to him. This shows how some people can be peer-pressured into things they are reluctant to do in certain areas increasing negative stereotypes for many.

Due to the depth of the events in the film, it would increase stereotypes for such people. Many would now think that this occurs on a regular, common basis, giving a false hype towards teenagers.

The third film I'd watched was called Celebration, produced by Daniel Stedman. With a duration of only four minutes and fourty nine seconds, the film focuses on the relationship between a mother and her child. Being shown from the boy's point of view, it reveals a journey of the child exposing his sexuality to a certain group of people, ending with reactions of happiness and applauding by the adults in the group.

Daniel Stedman shows a stereotypical role of a mother towards her child; caring and loving.

The third film I'd watched was called Celebration, produced by Daniel Stedman. With a duration of only four minutes and forty nine seconds, the film focuses on the relationship between a mother and her child.

Daniel Stedman shows a stereotypical role of a mother towards her child; caring and loving, however through character movement rather than dialogue making it harder to understand in some ways. Although due to the chosen character movements, it is easier to understand what Steadman is implying, such as the mum smiling and applauding her child showing her parental love, a well known stereotype.

However, when the boy reveals his sexuality it brings a complete shock to the audience leading to a different view of the film. Apart from this, the film comes across as a dominant hegemonic as its preferred meaning by the producers is easily understood by the audience.

The final film I watched was called Wasps. Produced in 2003 by Andrea Arnold, it lasts for a total time of 24 minutes and 13 seconds. Although it only won only one award in its first year, it picekd up many more in the next few years including Best International Short Film and an Academy Award for Live Action Short Film, showing the impact it had as well as its realistic story line.

The film shows a struggling single mother trying to prove her children will not be an obstacle for her pursuit of retrieving her relationship with her ex-boyfriend.

The film shows a dominant hegemonic representation as the film is easily understood due to its stereotype. Many people are familiar with the events therefore can understand what the mother is going through, getting the message produced by the film across to all audiences.

The target audience would preferably be the older more mature people as they would more likely understand and familiarise themselves with the characters involved. They can also relate to it as the mother struggles to deal with her kids as well as other events, which many people stereotypically do. However the film brings a negative as well as positive stereotype towards single mothers.