To analyse opening sequences i chose the opening to Shameless series 3 as i feel it follows many of the conventions you would expect to see.
Firstly, within the opening sequence you will discover the main character that is going to be in the program. This main character is quite obviously Frank Gallagher, as he is doing the commentary to introduce you to his family and friends. From the opening sequence, you can tell this character and the majority of the people he has gone through and named are going to be important in the program, and going to play a vital role, without even watching the program itself.
Secondly, mise-en-scene is used to exaggerate the genre of the drama and make it clear to the audience what should be expected. For example, when Karl, Franks son, is shown you see him holding a condom. From this prop you can presume that the program is maybe going to be a bit rude and explicit, but also quite humerous at the same time. Furthermore, you see Debbie in daylight stealing something. The way its shown in daylight automatically shows she is not bothered about getting caught and is going to be quite mischevious - this is then followed when she gets stopped by the police in full uniform and doesnt seem to phased by the fact she has been caught. Similarly, at the end of the sequence you see a lot of people with a police car, this use of props and costume implies that the drama is going to contain a lot of crime and maybe some violence.
In most opening sequences, you tend to also get a recap of the previous episode. However, as this is the opening to a brand new series it is slightly different but still following a similar convention. As some people may of forgot what happened in the previous series, Frank is running through what each character is doing at the moment and 'where they stand' within the program. This is useful as it helps people put the characters into perspective and to remind them of what is going in within the story line to help welcome them into the new series.
Also, there is a theme tune, which is common within all TV Dramas. This makes the audience automatically know that the programme is about to start, or if you were in another room it would be an interpellation - therefore grabbing our attention. However, it is not as distinct in this opening as Frank is doing a voice over, but it is still there and would be recognisable to any Shameless watcher.
And, as with near enough all TV dramas the name of the programme is shown within the opening titles. SHAMELESS is in big letters at the very end with the name of the creater underneath - which is another common convention. Normally, there would be some directors, producers or actors/actresses names, but that may be because there's been a lot of talking and a lot to take in from the opening credits, so they have kept it simply by just using the creators name to finalise the titles.
Thursday 17 December 2009
Thursday 10 December 2009
Analysing the Hollyoaks scene
Characters
- Warren - in this clip, as he is the one stuck in the fire the audience is made to feel sorry for him. However, if you are a regular viewer you would know that he is actually the 'bad guy' and therefore fans of Hollyoaks would not feel sympathy for Warren in that situation. He is a key character throughout Hollyoaks with his 'badboy' image, so him being in a fire like this was a very random shocking storyline.
- Hannah - She is also a key character in Hollyoaks, so when we see her lying on the floor here we feel great concern for her. She has always had a troubled roll in Hollyoaks, playing the struggling anorexic, so to see her so vulnerable and ill isnt nice.
- Sasha - As she loves Warren, it is clear she would be panicked and distressed to find out her lover is stuck inside the fire. She blames Justin for what has happened, even though it actually has nothing to do with him. Yet because they do not like eachother, he seems like an easy target.
- Justin - Getting blamed for starting the fire yet actually didnt have anything to do with starting it.
Stories
- The main story line within this particular scene is the death of Warren. As he has been tied up with no escape out of this fire that has took over 'The Loft' we know that unles a miracle happens, that the character is going to die. Yet, we as the audience know that Louise, Warrens evil ex business partner, started the fire... But as she has now got herself trapped inside, Justin is getting the blame for Warren being stuck. Hannah has been dragged out the fire, so now this also reflects bad on Justic as it now makes him look like he nearlly killed his girlfriend and his boss (Warren). The storyline is set in the traditional well known Hollyoaks village, which any Hollyoaks viewer would recognise easily with the stairs, the beauty salon, the casual shop and where the fire is - The Loft.
Camerawork
- Low Angle Shot - This is used within the first 15secs of the clip to make Justin seem confused and dazed. He is shot from below not to show power, but so you can see him moving around and paniking.
- Close Up - At 14seconds a close up of Hannah is used to show the horrendous state she is in. Mise-en-scene is used here as she has all the proper medical equiptment over her face etc to make it look like she is genuinely really suffering.
- Establishing Shot / Birds Eye View- As this is not a clip from the start of the episode, this establishing shot lets you see exactly what is happening without watching from the very start. The high angle shot gives a birds - eye view of what is happening - the ambulance being there, the fire, the crowd building and Hannah on the floor.
- Panning and Tilt Shots - Between 20-50 seconds, lots of little short shots of Warren in the fire are shot. These are all took from different angles, changing the perspective for the viewer. The way all the shots are so short and scattered reflects how Warren is confused, struggling to concentrate and paniking.
Dialogue
- There is little dialogue within this 2 minute clip, this is because as there is so much action going on, there is little need for dialogue to confirm exactly what is going on. As the audience, you are so interested to watch whats going on and to see whats going to happen next with the fire, you tend to want to focus more on the filming itself with the non diagetic music, rather than listen out for lots of dialogue.
Music
- Non Diagetic - At the start of the clip there is very slow music, this slows the pace of the scene down and contrasts with the paniky atmosphere. Its also quite sad music, which therefore gives you a clue that something even worse is about to happen - like Warrens death. Yet when we go back to seeing Warren, the music speeds back up, implying that more action is about to commense, speeding up the pace of the clip and making things more exciting and adding to the tesion.
-Diagetic- The use of the noise of the fire is very effective in this scene as you can hear it crackling etc, this makes it sound more furocious and makes you as the audience more worried as you can hear the fire getting closer to Warren.
Hollyoaks - a teenage soap
In this particular clip, there is nothing to really emphasise the sub genre this program belongs to. However normally, the teens are all in their school uniforms, you can see the local shops and restaurants that come up in most scenes and the pub would be shot, as this is a main location that is used in Hollyoaks.
- Warren - in this clip, as he is the one stuck in the fire the audience is made to feel sorry for him. However, if you are a regular viewer you would know that he is actually the 'bad guy' and therefore fans of Hollyoaks would not feel sympathy for Warren in that situation. He is a key character throughout Hollyoaks with his 'badboy' image, so him being in a fire like this was a very random shocking storyline.
- Hannah - She is also a key character in Hollyoaks, so when we see her lying on the floor here we feel great concern for her. She has always had a troubled roll in Hollyoaks, playing the struggling anorexic, so to see her so vulnerable and ill isnt nice.
- Sasha - As she loves Warren, it is clear she would be panicked and distressed to find out her lover is stuck inside the fire. She blames Justin for what has happened, even though it actually has nothing to do with him. Yet because they do not like eachother, he seems like an easy target.
- Justin - Getting blamed for starting the fire yet actually didnt have anything to do with starting it.
Stories
- The main story line within this particular scene is the death of Warren. As he has been tied up with no escape out of this fire that has took over 'The Loft' we know that unles a miracle happens, that the character is going to die. Yet, we as the audience know that Louise, Warrens evil ex business partner, started the fire... But as she has now got herself trapped inside, Justin is getting the blame for Warren being stuck. Hannah has been dragged out the fire, so now this also reflects bad on Justic as it now makes him look like he nearlly killed his girlfriend and his boss (Warren). The storyline is set in the traditional well known Hollyoaks village, which any Hollyoaks viewer would recognise easily with the stairs, the beauty salon, the casual shop and where the fire is - The Loft.
Camerawork
- Low Angle Shot - This is used within the first 15secs of the clip to make Justin seem confused and dazed. He is shot from below not to show power, but so you can see him moving around and paniking.
- Close Up - At 14seconds a close up of Hannah is used to show the horrendous state she is in. Mise-en-scene is used here as she has all the proper medical equiptment over her face etc to make it look like she is genuinely really suffering.
- Establishing Shot / Birds Eye View- As this is not a clip from the start of the episode, this establishing shot lets you see exactly what is happening without watching from the very start. The high angle shot gives a birds - eye view of what is happening - the ambulance being there, the fire, the crowd building and Hannah on the floor.
- Panning and Tilt Shots - Between 20-50 seconds, lots of little short shots of Warren in the fire are shot. These are all took from different angles, changing the perspective for the viewer. The way all the shots are so short and scattered reflects how Warren is confused, struggling to concentrate and paniking.
Dialogue
- There is little dialogue within this 2 minute clip, this is because as there is so much action going on, there is little need for dialogue to confirm exactly what is going on. As the audience, you are so interested to watch whats going on and to see whats going to happen next with the fire, you tend to want to focus more on the filming itself with the non diagetic music, rather than listen out for lots of dialogue.
Music
- Non Diagetic - At the start of the clip there is very slow music, this slows the pace of the scene down and contrasts with the paniky atmosphere. Its also quite sad music, which therefore gives you a clue that something even worse is about to happen - like Warrens death. Yet when we go back to seeing Warren, the music speeds back up, implying that more action is about to commense, speeding up the pace of the clip and making things more exciting and adding to the tesion.
-Diagetic- The use of the noise of the fire is very effective in this scene as you can hear it crackling etc, this makes it sound more furocious and makes you as the audience more worried as you can hear the fire getting closer to Warren.
Hollyoaks - a teenage soap
In this particular clip, there is nothing to really emphasise the sub genre this program belongs to. However normally, the teens are all in their school uniforms, you can see the local shops and restaurants that come up in most scenes and the pub would be shot, as this is a main location that is used in Hollyoaks.
Tuesday 8 December 2009
Distribution
What is distribution?
Distribution (the pig-in-the-middle) is about releasing and sustaining films in the market place. In the UK, distribution is very much focused on marketing and sustaining a global product in local markets. This process is where films are brought to life and connected with an audience in the most profitable and global way possible.
Licensing
This is where the distributor gets the legal rights to exploit the film that has been made. It can take place on 2 levels -
International distribution -
Ensures the film makes it to the 90+ territories around the world.
They might get a sales agent to set up a stall at film markets that run throughout the year - this person will understand the value of the film in many different markets
Local distribution -
Involves the distributor getting the rights to exploit the film in a particular country.
The distributor will pay the licensor a fee to exploit the film, and then the distributor will then be offered the rights to to distribute the film in different ways (eg on TV, in theatres, in cinemas)
Distribution (the pig-in-the-middle) is about releasing and sustaining films in the market place. In the UK, distribution is very much focused on marketing and sustaining a global product in local markets. This process is where films are brought to life and connected with an audience in the most profitable and global way possible.
Licensing
This is where the distributor gets the legal rights to exploit the film that has been made. It can take place on 2 levels -
International distribution -
Ensures the film makes it to the 90+ territories around the world.
They might get a sales agent to set up a stall at film markets that run throughout the year - this person will understand the value of the film in many different markets
Local distribution -
Involves the distributor getting the rights to exploit the film in a particular country.
The distributor will pay the licensor a fee to exploit the film, and then the distributor will then be offered the rights to to distribute the film in different ways (eg on TV, in theatres, in cinemas)
Marketing
A film will near enough always be released on a Friday, and will be released at a time when there is no other films that are similar to it being released. Also, they will pick a period of time to show the film when there isnt many releases, therefore giving them more space in newspapers to be reviewed and increasing the chance of people chosing to see that particular film.
Prints/Advertising
Fewer than 10 prints will be sent to independant cinemas - but around 200 will be sent around the UK to all the major towns and cities.
The main way to advertise the film is -
Have press reviews, have trailers broadcasted, use magazines and newspapers, have a press campaign, use the actors/directors to promote the film and the distributor will consider having advanced public screenings to create 'word of mouth'.
Logistics
This is getting the film from place to place - physically distributing the film around the UK in lorries/vans.
The film will be on many 35mm print and each print costs £1000.
Each reel will run for about 20minutes at 24 frames a second.
So a physical film will normally be on 5-6 reels.
Monday 30 November 2009
Friday 27 November 2009
Friday 6 November 2009
Monday 2 November 2009
Print Prelim Evaluation
For my print prelim i worked with Katie, we both thought up our models and both decided on our chosen colour palette. We used inspiration from magazines like Heat and Glamour to get ideas for our magazine as they would appeal to the same audience as what we wanted - teenage girls. To actually produce our prelim we used the digital cameras to take a variety of pictures of our models, and then uploaded them onto the pcs to then use Photoshop to edit and organize our contents and front pages. Our magazine fits a number of conventions. It follows: the 'rule of 3' to not use more than 3 colours for a scheme; it uses a large title across the top; a barcode; true life stories; a mid-close up of a model and follows the same colour scheme and models into the contents page. Me and Katie decided on a target audience of teenage girls/young women. This gave us a mass audience and we hoped to appeal to them by using girly colours like purple, headlines that would get their attention about fashion/true life stories (which women love!), and by using a title that would appeal to women 'Chic'. As we decided to design a whole new magazine, we would be targeting a new audience, hoping to draw people in with our first copy by using a pretty model, clear modern design and interesting headlines.
Overall i was really happy with my magazine front cover, i felt it looked like a professional magazine, and was done neatly and with a lot of care. Also, if i was a woman im sure i would pick up the magazine and have a flick through! However, if i was to do it differently i would chose a closer up picture, so you could see the models makeup better, and try to elaborate on the contents page more to give a better idea of what we wanted it to look like by adding more pictures and titles.
I have learnt that producing a magazine is much harder than what i thought. Photoshop was slightly unreliable making it really difficult to make due to its Text tool not quite working properly, and make me realise it takes a lot longer than i imagined to produce a top quality peice of work. Also, it takes a lot of care, it cant be rushed otherwise you get a really tacky peice of work. After producing my magazine contents n front page, i think ive decided i would like to produce a film as i had more fun producing my film prelim than my print.
Overall i was really happy with my magazine front cover, i felt it looked like a professional magazine, and was done neatly and with a lot of care. Also, if i was a woman im sure i would pick up the magazine and have a flick through! However, if i was to do it differently i would chose a closer up picture, so you could see the models makeup better, and try to elaborate on the contents page more to give a better idea of what we wanted it to look like by adding more pictures and titles.
I have learnt that producing a magazine is much harder than what i thought. Photoshop was slightly unreliable making it really difficult to make due to its Text tool not quite working properly, and make me realise it takes a lot longer than i imagined to produce a top quality peice of work. Also, it takes a lot of care, it cant be rushed otherwise you get a really tacky peice of work. After producing my magazine contents n front page, i think ive decided i would like to produce a film as i had more fun producing my film prelim than my print.
Sunday 25 October 2009
Finishing Our Print Preliminary
Once we decided which pictures we want to use, we had to upload them onto Photoshop. We could then adjust various aspects of each picture, such as the contast, brightness, and size. Once we had edited the picture to look how we wanted, we could then also use a tool to outline the outside of our picture, leaving no background colour - perfect to put as the background of our magazine. Now the picture was complete, we had to start adding text. We decided on the name 'Chic', the price of a £1, and what special feature articles we would advertise. We chose the colour scheme of blue, purple and black as we thought they suited well and would appeal to women, and also chose easy to read modern fonts to appeal to the target audience.
We continued these colours onto the contents page to show continuity and also used another girl to model, so then we had more variety.
We continued these colours onto the contents page to show continuity and also used another girl to model, so then we had more variety.
Monday 12 October 2009
Print Preliminary
To start our magazine cover and contents, we had to figure out the main features of what makes a successfull magazine. We analysed different magazines and then planned our front page and our contents page, using inspiration from other mags to help us do this. Then we had to go find a model, someone to be the face of our magazine. Once we had collected a wide range of different angled/different posed shots we could then upload them onto a PC to decide and short list our favorites.
Tuesday 6 October 2009
Film Prelim Evaluation
For my preliminary i worked with Katie, Kam, Tommy and Rob. Kam took the role of camera man, Tommy figured out the dialogue and helped Kam, Rob starred as the man, Katie as the woman, and I helped organise the shots and drew the storyboard. To plan our short peice we drew up a storyboard with our ideas, we made sure our peice would meet all the criteria and all came up with the idea of a scary peice. We used the video recorders and the Macs to finish our films, the Mac allowed us to cut our footage and to rearrange different shots. When shooting we had to make sure that there was no background noise, being in a large school this was diffult, and needed to make sure the lighting in the room was how we wanted it to be. The film conventions we have followed is using background music, using the 180 degree rule, match on action (with the door scene) and used a variety of lots of different camera angles. Before filming we had to make sure everyone was in place, we made sure the lighting was dimmed to make a scary atmosphere, that we had the right props to make Katie looked like she was tied to the chair, and used costume on Rob to make sure he looked intimidating and like a clear 'baddy'.
We can apply Barthes's codes as we have the action code of Rob looking scary about to open the door, and als0 we have an enigma code as we see Katie tied up and wonder why she is in this situaton.
I feel our video went well as we have achieved a quite good film that is interesting. Some things i would change are the fact our clips are a bit jumpy and didnt flow, to fix this i would of filmed more of each scene in one clip, rather than lots of little clips. Also, i feel our dialogue wasnt very clear so i would make sure the camera was closer to the characters so that we could hear what they were saying more easily. I felt out props and costume worked really well as it was obvious that Katie was in a awkward situation and that Rob was the badguy.
Producing a short peice of film was a lot harder than what i thought it would be, as i didnt realise how much i would have to take into consideration. Also, by working in such a large group, we had a lot of clashing of ideas as people wanted things doing their way - leading to disagreements. Im pretty sure at this point that i would like to do a Film as my coursework, but i would want to work in a smaller group so i could use more of my ideas and get more involved in the filming.
We can apply Barthes's codes as we have the action code of Rob looking scary about to open the door, and als0 we have an enigma code as we see Katie tied up and wonder why she is in this situaton.
I feel our video went well as we have achieved a quite good film that is interesting. Some things i would change are the fact our clips are a bit jumpy and didnt flow, to fix this i would of filmed more of each scene in one clip, rather than lots of little clips. Also, i feel our dialogue wasnt very clear so i would make sure the camera was closer to the characters so that we could hear what they were saying more easily. I felt out props and costume worked really well as it was obvious that Katie was in a awkward situation and that Rob was the badguy.
Producing a short peice of film was a lot harder than what i thought it would be, as i didnt realise how much i would have to take into consideration. Also, by working in such a large group, we had a lot of clashing of ideas as people wanted things doing their way - leading to disagreements. Im pretty sure at this point that i would like to do a Film as my coursework, but i would want to work in a smaller group so i could use more of my ideas and get more involved in the filming.
Monday 5 October 2009
Filming/Editing our first short film
When filming our first short film, we had to take a lot of things into concideration. Firstly, lighting, setting and props. We made sure we had a quite dark room to film our peice in to make an eery environment, and also made sure Rob was dressed intimidatingly in a hoodie and balaclava. Once these were all in place, we could start filming. We did each shot 2/3 times to make sure when it came round to editing our peice, we had a variety of shots to chose from, just incase some of them didnt turn out how expected. Also, we made sure we followed our story board, therefore helping us know exactly what we wanted to do for each shot, meaning we could get the job done quicker. Once we had completed all our filming, we went onto the Mac iMovie program to edit.
Once we had uploaded our movie onto iMovie, we went through all our footage and picked the best clips. We then deleted the unwanted excess. After that, we made sure all our footage flowed properly, so that the story followed on and to make sure we had included all the criteria.
In my opinion, i feel our first short film went ok. Some possitives were our planning, we knew exactly what we wanted to do before we set out, therefore we had no arguments or disagreements on what we were going to film. Futhermore, we made sure we followed the criteria, making sure we had included the necessary camera shots etc.
Some negatives were the way our film flowed. I feel it's a little jumpy and maybe we should of filmed some of the segments all at once, rather in lots of seperate takes. I feel like this would make our film flow better. Also, we ran out of time in editing, so it was a shame we couldn't add music to it, to add drama and more pace to our movie.
Overall im happy with our peice, as we have met up to the criteria and thought up a good interesting storyline.
Once we had uploaded our movie onto iMovie, we went through all our footage and picked the best clips. We then deleted the unwanted excess. After that, we made sure all our footage flowed properly, so that the story followed on and to make sure we had included all the criteria.
In my opinion, i feel our first short film went ok. Some possitives were our planning, we knew exactly what we wanted to do before we set out, therefore we had no arguments or disagreements on what we were going to film. Futhermore, we made sure we followed the criteria, making sure we had included the necessary camera shots etc.
Some negatives were the way our film flowed. I feel it's a little jumpy and maybe we should of filmed some of the segments all at once, rather in lots of seperate takes. I feel like this would make our film flow better. Also, we ran out of time in editing, so it was a shame we couldn't add music to it, to add drama and more pace to our movie.
Overall im happy with our peice, as we have met up to the criteria and thought up a good interesting storyline.
Tuesday 29 September 2009
Planning our first short film
Our task was to film and edit a character opening a door, crossing a room and sitting down in a chair opposite another character, with whom she/he then exchanges a couple of lines of dialogue. Our short film must obide the 180 degree rule and include a match on action shot and a shot/reverse shot.
To start, we drew up a story board to plan what different shots we would use, plan the action within each shot and think out our dialogue. This was done on an A3 sheet to allow us to plan 8 different shots.
Our idea was to have a close up shot of a mans face walking up to a door, with an extreme close up of his hand opening the handle. We would then see a mid shot of a girl tied to a chair struggling, to a sudden shot of the first character inside the room. There would then be a point of view shot of the man walking over to the tied up girl, exchanging dialogue with her, before hitting her to end the scene. This idea would then cover the shot /reverse shot and the 180 degree rule by flicking from one person to the next while they speak, only using one side of them to film. Also, it would use the match on action of the character going towards the door then suddenly being inside the room.
To start, we drew up a story board to plan what different shots we would use, plan the action within each shot and think out our dialogue. This was done on an A3 sheet to allow us to plan 8 different shots.
Our idea was to have a close up shot of a mans face walking up to a door, with an extreme close up of his hand opening the handle. We would then see a mid shot of a girl tied to a chair struggling, to a sudden shot of the first character inside the room. There would then be a point of view shot of the man walking over to the tied up girl, exchanging dialogue with her, before hitting her to end the scene. This idea would then cover the shot /reverse shot and the 180 degree rule by flicking from one person to the next while they speak, only using one side of them to film. Also, it would use the match on action of the character going towards the door then suddenly being inside the room.
Tuesday 22 September 2009
1st Practical Practice
For my first practical I worked with Rob, Kam and Tommy. Firstly, we did multiple takes of all the various camera shots, repeating them so we had plenty to chose from when it came round to editing. Before and after each clip we made sure we left a 5 second gap to insure when editing we would have plenty of space to work with. To edit we used the Apple Mac computers and used the I Movie program. We selected our favourite clips of film and then edited them to all flow one after the other - and deleted the ones we did not want to use. When editing we had to do a variety of things: shorten the clips; make the clips faster; add music and add text. The music we used was a simple drum beat which we felt went well with our fast paced clip, we also added text to introduce the characters and to name the director and cameraman at the end.
I feel our video was good, seeming we had less time than others to get it edited. I was very pleased with our variety of camera shots as we covered all of them and thought the music matched well. Also, i wasn't in the film or filming it, i was just directing the shots, so next time i would like a go at actually using the camera to get a feel of how to use it properly. The quality of our shots were good as we used the tripod - therefore reducing the chance of a shakey shot. One thing I would change next time is what we actually filmed, 2 lads standing talking isn't very interesting, so next time I would try to think up something more imaginative to make a clip about.
I feel our video was good, seeming we had less time than others to get it edited. I was very pleased with our variety of camera shots as we covered all of them and thought the music matched well. Also, i wasn't in the film or filming it, i was just directing the shots, so next time i would like a go at actually using the camera to get a feel of how to use it properly. The quality of our shots were good as we used the tripod - therefore reducing the chance of a shakey shot. One thing I would change next time is what we actually filmed, 2 lads standing talking isn't very interesting, so next time I would try to think up something more imaginative to make a clip about.
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