Information about silent movies

References from prezi:

http://www.raindance.org/making-silent-films-today-8-tips/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silent_film

I have chosen to make this prezi PowerPoint, the reason for this is that it gives me information on how I need to make a silent movie and what a silent movie should be like. This is important for my final video, the reason for this is because it will help me to create a professional looking silent movie and I will also make sure that I keep looking back at this presentation so that I will include everything in my work to make it look as realistic as possible. Overall I have chosen an example video in the presentation this then means that I have a clear idea on how to film the characters and the facial expressions and actions needed to produce an excellent silent movie, so I will keep this in mind and make sure that I do an even better video this time than my preliminary video.

preliminary evaluation

My brief was to film and edit a character opening a door, crossing a room and sitting down in a chair opposite another character, where they should exchange a couple lines of dialogue. This preliminary task should demonstrate match on action, shot/reverse shot and the 180 degree rule.

At the beginning of my preliminary video, I used white bold writing the reason why I chose this is because it gives the audience a semantic code towards what is going to happen. Also this links to the name of my preliminary video "The Unknown Man" this makes the audience wonder who the man in my video actually is and whether he is a good guy or a bad guy, this then draws the audience in to wanting to know more about this person and what the character might be after or even whether he might be the one to look out for.

The things that went well with my work is that at the start I used music to build the tension of how my character 'Martha' is feeling, because she hasn't heard from her parents for quite a while - they went out for a meal, by building this tension up at the start of the video I used a medium/long shot, where I have my head on my knees and I am holding the teddy bear very tightly in fear, the fact that  I did this is that she might be worried about her parents never coming back again. A close up shot is followed on from this to show how frightened Martha is about a strange knock at the door, the facial expressions on my face portray how scared the character is feeling because there is a strange person at the door. However afterwards I do stand up and walk towards the window to look outside and then shaking, I gradually decide to open the door and then a mysterious man appears on the other side, the dramatic music then fades out and dialogue starts. This video was filmed at my house and both of my parents helped in the process of recording the preliminary footage (as it was convenient to fitting the brief of opening the door, sitting down and giving a couple lines of dialogue to one another and when I did each scene I could then set it up how I wanted them to happen, because it was the place where I was familiar of) the reason why I set my scene at the beginning on the stairs was so I could show my characters feelings and make it a bit more dramatic, this was important to setting the whole part of my video so then it would make the audience wonder why the character might be on her own.

When 'The Man' entered the house dialogue occurred, by doing this I used a medium/two shot to show what each character was feeling and to show mainly which one was the dominant character and who had more power throughout the video, by doing this I made sure that both the characters wore something completely different. The girl wore a dressing gown and the man wore a posh suit to show that he was the most dominant and important character throughout my video and this also made the audience wonder why he is so important. Even though I have never filmed anything to a film style standard I thought that I did quite a good job for my first ever go and I will also be able to learn from my mistakes, then this would make my final film perfect - I will then be able to correct those mistakes I made. Following on from this I think this video would appeal more to young teenage people, the reason for this is that it hasn't got much gore in it which is mostly for over 18's and I think my film is a very unique video for the younger age range.


From doing this video I have learnt to have better audio quality so then the person who is watching it can then hear the sound better and understand what is exactly going on by the mood of the music, I need to make sure that next time I use one of schools cameras so then the video will come out with a more HD quality and also I am going to use a tripod when filming so then the image doesn't look wobbly and  unprofessional, when filming it is important that I don't zoom in and out on the camera for example, if it was a close up I would move the camera up to the characters face this then gives it a better flow and makes it look more professional and finally I need to make sure that I do some colour corrections to all the different scenes so then the colour of each scene fits with what is going on e.g. there would be rain in the background or a dark eerie atmosphere if someone was angry or upset this would also use pathetic fallacy to the film to add a dramatic effect to draw the audience in to wanting to know more about what is going on. But overall I do think that because it is my first go at filming and editing a film, I have done a really good job and I will be able to improve my skills on the final video I do. Overall the thing that is key for my overall piece is that the actors/actresses know exactly what they are saying and doing and they need to make sure that they learn there lines before I start filming them, the reason why I picked this up is because on my preliminary while filming, one of the characters is acting while reading from the script in a scene and this isn't very professional and makes it look unorganised. In addition I have used the 180 degree rule to portray the characters talking when they are in the kitchen and a character opening the door and sitting down and exchanging a couple of lines, I do strongly agree that I met the brief, but I do need to make sure that I improve in the quality of the film to a high standard in my final work, I will certainly learn from this for next time and it would be better quality too.

My Preliminary Video

Above is my final preliminary video, it has a lot of improvements needed for my final video but I will be able to improve on these drawbacks to make the final one more better and professional.

Camera shots and angles (explained in more detail)

Below is a more detailed description of different camera shots and angles, even though I already did a presentation in my previous post. I thought it would be a good idea to show the work that I did in class as a group with some of my peers and this is also a more expanded guide about the different shots that can be used for either filming or creating a magazine, this will then help me and the rest of the class through the tasks that we have been individually given to do throughout each lesson.

Film sound introduction

In a film it is essential that we include music, without this the audience wouldn't understand how the character is feeling and it also builds tension in a plot to make it seem more interesting and so the audience knows what is going on. A meaningful sound track is often as complicated as the image on the screen, it tells the story that the film producers are trying to show and can either be sad music or happy music. The soundtrack often consists of three essential things: the human voice, music and sound effects, these three things are used in music to create different effects in a film and are sometimes needed to be mixed together, balanced and put into different scenes so they fit to the music that's being played. When the film maker has produced the necessary emphasis towards the film this then creates different effects towards each scene being represented throughout the plot.

The human voice - dialogue

When using dialogue in a film it is used to show the characters feelings and motivations by telling a story, rather than having a narrator telling us what is happening when you can see it from the character what they say or do, the audience also either hates the character or loves them. This often depends on how the character speaks or is portrayed throughout the plot, often when the film makers make a character they make sure that they have different personalities otherwise it would be boring and bland. By doing this they usually make a character profile to ensure that the actors understand what the character is supposed to be like and the personality that they need to portray. For example, in Broadchurch DI Alec Hardy who is known to suffer from severe health problems and he also had an up and down friendship with his colleague DS Ellie Miller, when David Tennant portrays his character he uses a lot of anger and weakness from his health to show how much he want's to get a case sorted precisely and quickly. Also when you see both the characters together you can tell the difference between them and Chris Chibnall (the writer) presents this brilliantly throughout the script.

Sound effects - synchronous sounds

This is where the sound is matched with what is viewed on the screen and it also relates to the realism of a film to create an atmosphere. For example, when The Doctor in Doctor Who uses his sonic screwdriver and it makes a noise for opening doors or if someone opens a door and you don't see who it is, this then creates suspense towards the audience wondering who the person might be and it helps to engage the audience into wanting to find out more and makes it more intriguing too.

Sound effects - asynchronous sounds

This is where a piece of action takes place but the sound is not matched to what is happening on the screen, but it does provide appropriate emotion to how the character is feeling or to build climax, the music may also add to the realism of the film. For example, in a film while people are acting there might be included an ambulance siren, it might not link to anything but it adds the effect that these people are in a real life situation and if it was anything like Casualty then it would link to people being critically ill or injured. Also using sounds in the background portrays where the setting may be either in a city or town etc. this might also show that something bad is about to happen in the plot.

Music - background

The background music is used to add emotion and rhythm to a film. Usually it is not meant to be noticeable, it often provides an emotional attitude towards the story or the characters. In addition, background music often foreshadows a change in mood. For example, dramatic fast music might be used to create tension of someone following you in a scene, also to show the pace that you are walking and how scared you are about getting caught by the person behind you. Background music may also link different scenes together, an example of this might be when music in Doctor Who is used to link every scene together and to also create a dramatic effect this might include using music like This is Gallifrey to express The Doctor's feelings towards his home town getting destroyed or something terrifying happening in a scene when he has to save people from an alien race, often to emphasise that he is a hero and no one can defeat him because of how powerful he is with his sonic screwdriver and The TARDIS.

I am going to make sure that I take on board what I have put above, to also make sure that I use these techniques in my final video, this then will make it stand out and will show different emotions that each character portrays in my two minute film as well.

opening sequence analysis: Divergent

In Divergent the storyline is about a futuristic world where every person has to be split into five factions and they have to commit to this faction for life. Tris the main character chooses dauntless, however what people don't know is that she has a bit of every faction in her which is called a Divergent, many people see this as a threat and want to destroy them. Will she be able to keep the secret hidden away?

The film company that made this film was Summit entertainment, this is an American film company that has made a wide range of well know movies, these movies include: Twilight, Step up, Ender's game, Now you see me and Remember me.

What happens during the beginning credits?

At the beginning of the film it starts off with some text, which tells the audience who the makers of the film are this is followed by the title appearing. When this occurs calming music is used to show how everything in the next scene is a normal day and that there is also a peaceful and calm environment, this music also links to the next scene where everything is deserted. Also when the film starts the background is dark coloured maybe showing danger and maybe suggesting that something really bad happened in the past or the present.

                                    

After this scene the music get's louder and louder and birds start tweeting to show that nature and wild animals are still carrying on with there life's, as this occurs the camera moves upwards to show a high angled view of what is occurring above the grassland this is also very calm and makes the audience wonder why the film maker has started off like this at the beginning. As this occurs the different people involved with the film appear on the screen, so they are then recognised by the audience as being part of the film.

As the camera moves to the left you see an abandoned ship wreck that has been left to rot, no one is even walking through the fields this maybe suggests that there is something dangerous out there for everyone. When this bit appears up on the screen the audience maybe then starts asking questions about why no one is in this area and what has happened in the past to stop people from entering this abandoned grass land? This long shot is used to show the whole area around the ship and to emphasise that no one has been around this area for decades or maybe to show that there is nothing to worry about.

                                       

As the ship disappears you see a tall fence that blocks people out from the other side, this maybe suggests that a war has broke out in the past. Also throughout the opening sequence there is a hermeneutic code, which refers to an element of the story that is not fully explained to the audience to why there is actually a long wall blocking everyone out. Also this sequence suggests that there is not many people anymore in the city and uses a long shot to connote the emptiness of the city and maybe not many people have survived.

As the calming music carries on playing we see a city that has been exposed to a war type environment, as you can see from the buildings nearly falling apart. Also you can see debris and plants growing through a lake that suggests that no one has tidied it up for a long time and there is not much left in the city for people to survive.

However as the music fades away a little you see people walking around the city, however there is many people wearing different coloured clothing. This suggests that they maybe have different groups that they have to stick to because of what happened in the past, which suggests that this is the only way that there can be peace between everyone working together. Also as the opening carries on the questions get answered so the audience then know why the wall was made and what exactly happened.

Finally, this long shot of all the people shows that they do anything they can to get food and many cities were actually devastated in the war except Chicago. The imagery that is presented at the beginning suggests how much people want to feel save and have a better life than before, they don't want another war otherwise it could cause a lot of blood shed again. Maybe this time this place of safety is going to stay safe or will it?

How to achieve a film look - YouTube tutorial

This YouTube video below, that I have found is very helpful for my actual final two minute video that I am going to make, it gives examples of how to set the camera so you get a professional film look and how to change the aperture in day light to make the moving film image not as bright or blurry. I think by using this video it will help me a lot in producing a high quality video, that will use a wide range of media skills to give me extra marks and it will also give me an overall high quality final product for my coursework. Also this video gives examples of different films that have high quality pictures and it is important that you have a steady hand when filming someone in a chase scene or a action scene, to get an effect like this on final cut I will use warp stabiliser on final cut to get a smooth flow to the film, this film below is very useful and will help me throughout the editing stage and the filming stage.

YouTube preliminary influences #3

I decided to have Sherlock as my final influences for my preliminary, the reason for this is that it is a detective like scene where Sherlock has to try and discover what has happened to Mrs Hudson he cleverly discovers that she has been dragged up the stairs and he notices this from her nails scraping against the wall, this detective is completely different to any ordinary detective like scenes, his logical thinking is unique and different to anyone else who plays a detective and u either love or hate him, when he sees this he then suspects that someone is holding her hostage and tries to help her out. I am going to use this example to help me out with how I should represent my detective like scene for my preliminary, this then gives me a bit of an idea how I should use the camera when doing this scene and how each character should act.

Youtube preliminary influences #2

Above is a scene taken from Divergent, I used this scene as one of my influences because it links to a chatty scene across the table. This also shows the different characters personalities and what they like and dislike so then the audience get to know them a bit more, during the feast at the table there is a bit of conflict about what factions they used to be in. This video gives me an idea of what I might want to do for my preliminary, which would help me to produce a face to face talking seen across the table while sitting down, by doing this I will make sure that you see the characters different personalities and how they are feeling during this scene and maybe use different character angles and lighting to show this.

Script for preliminary

Below is the script for my preliminary that I will be using to help film my video, I hope to use this when I actually start filming to give me an idea of what might be involved in the 2 minute scene and the camera shots needed for each scene.

Defining the target audiences

For many reasons film producers always consider audiences in different groups of consumers. These type of audiences are classed in different ways, this might include using TV, film, magazines or newspapers to publish something to get the audience involved with whatever it they are advertising. When producing something like a film, the producer always thinks about the audience/the people who watch it because without them they wouldn't succeed in the film industry. Many audiences can be classed in different ways, these include:

• Mainstreamers - The first target audience mainstreamers like security and feel comfortable when they belong to a group of people. Also mainstreamers like to be organised which makes them feel really comfortable, most of the time they like to blend in rather than stand out to avoid anyone confronting them about the work that they have done. Mainstreamers are also popularly accepted trends, ideas, principles and values that are accepted by the majority of people.
  
• Aspirers - Aspirers want to have status and a lot of money and stand out from everyone else. Also these people like to have designer clothing and brands that are well known, they also love to show off to everyone around them about what they have got. However they live life using a credit card and cash.
• Succeeders - These are the people who have already got control and status in there life. They like achieving good things in life and work hard to becoming successful in whatever they do.
• Reformers - these people define themselves by self-esteem and self-fulfilment, they thing positively with personal growth and they don't like having a lot of status just positivity in life.
• Makers - The makers make sure that they make something that is exciting to the audience/customer and they aspire to doing well even though sometimes the ideas they come up with isn't always successful.
• Strugglers - these are the people who tend to struggle to do anything in life and they try to escape from people due to low self-esteem, lack of direction for the future or told that they are not going to get anywhere in life. Sometimes this can lead to them not looking after themselves for example, not washing themselves or eating anything to survive and they do anything they can to simply survive and sometimes this can lead to a lot of consequences

Above I have identified the different target audiences, even though I haven't come up with what might my target audience is yet for my final two minute video. I will make sure that I use the above information to get an idea of what the target audience will be and who would understand my video better when watching it.

Opening sequence analysis: Coraline

In Coraline the story line is about a girl who is of course named Coraline, who moves to a different house and discovers a secret door to another mysterious world, behind which lies an alternate world that closely mirrors her own but, in many ways, is better. However the parallel mother and the rest of her not so real family try to keep her there forever. Coraline then must use all her resources and bravery to make it back to her own family and life, during this the evil mother sets traps for her to make it more difficult for Coraline to save her parents and get back to the life she had before. But can she overcome these set backs?

The film company that made this film was LAIKA films, the type of films this company has made as well as this film include: Box Trolls, Paranorman, Kubo and the two string, Moon girl and The Corpse Bride. They use realistic animations to produce outstanding films that are great for young kids.

What happens during the beginning credits?

At the beginning of the opening sequence very creepy music is played in the background, this is used to set a sinister scene towards what is going to happen in the full film. The music then seems to get louder and louder to maybe scare the audience a little. Also at the beginning it shows who made the film, the different producers who edited the film and the people who play the characters. This happens on a brown background and the writing that is put on top looks like it has been sawn on which links to when the words 'Coraline' comes up on the screen with a button for the 'O'. This maybe foreshadows what is going to happen next.

After the bit with the writing a doll floats in, using a long shot to show how vulnerable this child is, maybe this girl might have been killed by the person who crabs her with metal fingers very tightly. Also the music suggests that something is going to change and maybe this makes the audience wonder what plan this creature might have next for another child. Also the girl is then forced to lay down on something, how the camera points at this young girl suggests how weak and useless this girl is and that she can't get away from whatever this thing may be. There is then a close up of this creature cutting up the clothes that this doll once had, but you never really see the face of it, the doll maybe suggests something like a voodoo doll and that this thing is trying to have another person under its power, maybe with this young person having buttons suggests that this creature has got what it has wanted and has got the girl trapped forever. This bit suggests that when a child get's fed up with there toys they always want a better one to play with, this links to the unknown thing not having what it wants and "thrown it's toys out of the pram" because it is bored and wants a new victim to become loved by again and have it rapped around it's finger.

Extreme close up of the hair is used to make the audience wonder who this person may be, the anticlimactic feel to this put's the audience in suspense because they have no idea how and what might happen next and why this creature might want to kidnap all the children? the film producers do this so the audience can then carry on watching the film and can then answer all these questions, when the doll then get's stripped from head to toe it then get's all the cotton pulled out from the mouth this might show screaming and fear. However instead of having cotton wool in the doll, sand is then added in to maybe show how time is running out for this person to survive and there is also no where to run!

Dust then appears on the sewing machine, this shows that this person hasn't had another child to kill in ages and that she can't wait any longer. Finally Coraline the character who you are about to see in the film, is then let go into the sky to show that this is the next victim. When filming this the doll is zoomed out to show how she can't get away from this thing whatever she may do and it is also out to get her, but is she ready for the fight?

Overall I think the opening sequence to the film sets the scene very well and the music played in the background links very brilliantly to how creepy the film is, also the doll shows a lot of connotations of weakness, vulnerability and fear from the thing that is trying to possess them to becoming part of the creatures life. This also makes the audience, including myself to wanting to watch more of the film because of how interesting it is and you want to also find out what happens next, the reason for this is that you are left on a cliff hanger.