Since beginning the NEA task on the 18th June, I have received performance, website and technical training, which have helped develop my skills in directing, teamwork and choreography.
I have so far been able to complete my own music video version of Sigala's 'Give Me Your Love,' using shots directed and performed in by me and other members of my NEA music video group. On the Studio day, I was direct some shots and perform in others, as well as take some promo shots for my artist, and help with the others' promo shots.
I will continue to use the current project in the future, but I will be changing various aspects of it in September. I will not shoot any shots in the summer, but instead I will scouting out areas for possible locations for narrative, and also focus on taking new and improved shots in September. I will use more variation across my shots, with CU, LS and wide shots being more prominent. I will also put a focus on shooting dance shots, as I feel there should be more dancing and well choreographed movement within my project. I will also aim to reshoot some of the lipsync shots that I am in, as I feel my lipsyncing skills must improve for the final project.
1. What was your role in the task and what did you actually do? I was an actor, playing the role of an Iranian ambassodor under interrogation. I had to learn my lines, and then play the role of the ambassodor in the shoot. I had to do this role somewhat convincingly, so the shoot ressembled a Homeland interrogation to an extent.
2. What factors did you have to take into account when planning, filming and editing? We had to base our plotline around the brief, which stated that we required two people to enter a room, with one suspect sitting at a table.We had to try several practice takes, moving around tables, trying different lines of dialogue and incoperating different themes, in order to give our story a Homeland-esque feel. During filming, we tried different angles of shots, rehearsing the entire script at these different angles, in order to give people different types of shots to work with during editing. Finally, during editing, their were a number of things we had to take into consideration, in order to make the edit make sense. A large problem was the transtion between shots, and creating a linear flow; for example, opening and closing a door across two differents shots was difficult to edit, as the door couldn't look like it jumped from one position to another across shots.
3.
How successful was your sequence? Did you manage to demonstrate
match-on-action, shot-reverse-shot and the 180 degree rule? Did you
achieve continuity overall? I feel that we were, as a group, able to maintain the 180 degree rule, with a wide variety of shot types, allowing us to create a linear sequence, demonstrating both shot-reverse-shot and match-on-action, with different props and costumes taken into consideration, to create continuity within the sequence.
4. What have you learnt from completing this task? I have learnt that the smallest details during planning affect filming for the better or worse, which in turn have massive effects on the edit. It is therefore important to pay close attention to detail throughout each stage, as these features could hinder/aid you later on.
Basic settings- Many plain and basic settings are used throughout the video. This is so that the audience is able to focus on the story being told through the characters. This also links to the fact that the characters are all wearing brightly coloured clothes, most likely to draw attention towards the characters, and help the audience to acknowledge the dancing and story being told.
Sychronisation (dance and soundtrack)- The dancing scences only ever appear when the soundtrack is building up. This helps build suspense and anticipation up to the point where the music becomes more dramatic, and puts emphasis on the mies-en-scene throughout the video.
Mies-en-scene- The video tells the story of a boy and the father he grew up without.It does this through two different narratives: a street where we see a few pairs of parent and child performing their slick dance moves in sychronisation, and the boy without a dad frustratingly attempting to interact with a model of his father, with no results. The two narratives play out nicely, and eventually combine at the end of the video, when the model comes to life and starts to dance with the boy, giving the boy's ending a happier ending than one would have thought.
Fast-paced editing- Shots are often around 2 seconds long, and are changed frequently as the music speeds up. This sets up a pace for the video, and makes the unusual ending of the video all the more dramatic, as the ending slows down greatly.
Unconventional ending- The boy becomes a lifeless mannequin, like the one of his father at the end of the video. The ending doesn't make sense, and it doesn't need to, because it is in a music video, which are uncoventional, and don't need to make sense, unlike Hollywood. It is used to create a dramatic ending to the story, not exactly a happy ending, but not a sad one either. The story is about the artist, Stromae's missing father, after he was killed in the Rwandan genocide.
Monday, 18 September 2017
Trailer analysis- 'Logan' was realesed February 2017, and follows the final chapter of Marvel hero Wolverine's life. The film took a largely different approach to most other Marvel films, as reflected by the trailer. The trailer contains graphic violence, showing the girl hacking mercineries to bits, suggesting that the trailer is meant to appeal to older audiences. The return of Wolverine largely appeals to Marvel fans, especially those who are also fans of the actor Hugh Jackman (who plays Logan).
The genre for the film is action/adventure, as reflected by the consitant explosions and fight scences throughout the trailer. The genre is another source of audience appeal, as Marvel audiences are familiar with fight scences and villains. The villain is another typical action genre signifier, this time being a mercenary seeking to oversee the extinction of mutants, including the girl.
The film has been branded as a Marvel movie, so the public is able to associate 'Logan' with other Marvel movies. This is shown by the Marvel ident at the beginnning of the trailer. Since many Marvel movies in the past have been successful, potentials viewers are more likely to go and watch 'Logan', as they can associate it with previous successes, making them belwive it will be a good film. Although Marvel is owned by Disney, the trailer doesn't contain any Disney ident, because Disney is associated with kid-friendly, family movies, while this movie is a violent action/adventure movie for older audiences. Therefore, it would not have been a good idea to put the Disney ident into the trailer, because potential audiences may have been put off by Disney's kid-friendly vibe.
Character representation is varied greatly in this trailer. The character Laura is presented as a sweet, friendly child, when in reality she is a fighter/anti-hero. She has been included as a strong female character, so that she may come across as represenatative of women and femanism, which will attract female audiences to watch 'Logan'. On the other hand, there is Logan, a sterotypical male character that has proven popular in previous Marvel films, representaive of heroism and strength. He has been represnted as his old, quick-to-temper self, because it's a characteristic that has proven popular with Marvel fans in the past.
