How and why postmodern media plays with the verisimilitude of a text.

Postmodern media is a fairly newly named style of media in which the media plays with the audience's interpretation of reality and over-arching morals. It has an anti-foundationalist attitude which feel the need to deconstruct every myth and accepted modern standard. Every kind of media text can be explained as post modern if you are to look deeply enough into them but I feel that the Internet, some kind of Art and Film are the most experimental platforms with this style of media.

Verisimilitude is how close to reality the representation is to the real self. For example in art, a realist painting, such as Manet's Olympia would have more verisimilitude than an abstract peice of art such as Picasso's Weeping Woman because it is a closer representation of reality. Media text often try to get so close to reality that they make things over-real. This i called Hyper-reality. This is excelently demonstrated in the Hudsucker Proxxy by the Coen Brothers in which the film is set more in a film-reality than in verisimilitude. For example the imagary within The Hudsucker Proxxy is very much ideolised to be like the 1950's posters. Not like the 1950's reality. This supports Baudrillard's theory that reality can no longer be seperated from media reality.

Chandlers model suggets that the audience only sees the reality through the production. The representation of reality can be called simulacrum. The simulacrum mutually relies on the audience to understand what it is simulating. So allready reality is interpreted through a pre-existing interpretation. Post modernism is just playing whith this pre-interpreted past and media reality by replacing it with it's own, ironic and playfull reality. I feel that post modern texts ask for the audience to make their mind up on what they feel is reality themselves, interprate things in a new light, with their own eyes and mind.

little confused at the plan, not comfortable with doing esssays in this style. Not all of the essay due to this being a draft on my blog, sorry.

The way the production uses them, referring to things the audience believes in - what happens to the referent in a Postmodern text - through the understanding of the referent in the media text of the past (in which the audience is aware of) Examples, such as Directors, Platforms (not just British!) etc. Possibility to mention it as Global.


The reader must be aware of the way Hyper-reality works, such as analysis of Coenn Brothers, Michael Winterbottom, Camera Shots. Representation of the film world.


Why are Postmodern texts playful and not serious? Lack of values and morals lead to the playfulness (Nihilism). Examples! Go through PAINPIPES - No need to mention them all! Sharing the fact they are a construction. The Simpsons for example relate to self-referential.

Coen-Brother Films.

All three films are very American as well as being very much to do with the American Dream. (Not so much the Big Lebowski)

O, Brother where art thou?
A 1950's setting film about three escaped prisoners and their jorney through life and back to reality and comfort.



The Big Lebowski.
A film about "The Dude" a washed up bum, his relationships with his friends and the scenario he gets into for having the same name as a rich pensioner with a gold-digging floozy for a wife.


The Hudsucker Proxy.
A 1950's style film about the rise of an individual to the very top of a company, through luck, and his overcomming of the evil company manager, with luck.

Hyper Reality lesson

Baudrillard.

- Hard to disgunguish reality from Media reality.
e.g. 9/11 when you think of it, you think of the media images.

Image consumed event
- Absorbs the event and offers it for the consumption of the audience.

Technocracy - Technology ruling instead of humans (Democracy)

Jameson - "Postmodernism is the inevitable state of late capitalism" (all about the individual)

Dystopian (Oposite of Utopian)

Utopia

Dystopia

Random Key words.

Ideology - The idea of perfection within a group or persons mind
Connote - A link that the audience interprates themselves, more general than...
Denote - A direct link from the object/image.
Semiotics - Signs and meanings within society
Stereotype - Expected characteristics and type-casting
Hegemony - "A concept from Gramsci suggesting that power is achieved by dominant groups through successful struggles to persuade the subordinate that arrangements are in their interest. Using cultural power to maintain the status quo." (from http://www.heanorgate.org.uk/visualarts.asp?pageID=MediaKeywords)
Pluralistic - General and equal ownership, no particular leaders. e.g. Youtube
User Generated Content - Content added by users e.g. youtube
Iconic - Someone or something that has become an icon e.g. Martin Luther King.
Diagetic - Natural sound e.g. someones boots clicking as they walk along.
Non-Diagetic - Non-natural sound, e.g. music over the top of a scene
Moral Panic - Where a certain group or movement is over-covered and exadurated by the media, causing irrational fear.
Folk-Devils - Scapegoats
Verisimilitude - The closeness to reality of a text (remember by VerySimilarTo)
Overarching Morals - The main beleifs and social rules of a group or society
Meta/Grand narrative - A generally accepted way of life working, for example in England, education and healthcare.

Michael Winterbottom Films.

I studied two very different pieces; 24 Hour Party People and Genova.
24 Hour Party People is about the development of the music culture in Manchester with narration from a music manager. A very post modern piece, due to several factors which I will go on to explain.

Genova is a film about greiving and the loss of someone important in your life. There is no narrator or particular main character as it follows two daughters and their father through a new life in Italy after their mothers death. The story dosen't have a plot realy but is more about the greivence prosess and the meta-narrative of family values.

Work in progress, need to find my notes, which are currently downstairs.
24 Hour Party People.
- Breaks fourth wall
- Talks about being post modern within the film
- Intertextual, has TV, Music
- Refers to other texts
- Nihilistic plot - does not just stick to it e.g. pigeons dieing scene (random)


Genova.
- Stedicam style camera work
- No real plot
- Hyper reality

Stedicam style and Postmodernism.

Here for usefull source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steadicam

The stedi-cam style of filming can be considered post modern due to the fact it is self referencial, refering back to the audience, who can easily relate to the hand-held camera style. As well as video texts using the Stedi-cam becoming hyper real, allowing the audience to gain a more personal viewpoint of the scene, for example in Genova where the camera is often folowing action, rather than the action fitting into the frame, much more like reality. Your eye follows action rather than visa versa.

Media Essay. How do Moral Panics form a Fragment of Cultural Identity?

How do Moral Panics form a Fragment of Cultural Identity?

I feel that cultural identity is basically just the same as a collective identity within boundaries of generation and location. I also feel that moral panics are situations that the media blow out of proportion.

Fragments of cultural identities are small parts of a collective identity that have fragmented off from the rest of society usually because of more extremist viewpoints. For example the Nazis started off as a fragment group of socialism because of their extreme views which where too extreme for most allthough over time people grew to support it due to their frustration at the state of government at the time, this shows that even fragment groups can grow to become generally accepted. Fragment groups in the sense of the media are most likely people who are within different classes, genders, ethnicities and ages than the target audiences of specific texts. For example someone who is not middle classed and educated reading the 'Guardian'. They could then be a fragment group of their typical sect in society if they where to be untypical the would simply become fragments of a larger, or parent group. These are usually called "splinter groups". These groups consist of the same overarching moral agenda as the parent group but have a different, usually contrasting, veiwpoint on one or several of the parent group's beleifs. These can be created in the context of moral panics.

For a moral panic to happen you need an emergance of some behaviour and then an irrational fear of the certain behaviour catalysed by the media. This can happen with statistics. For example, "75 women raped by plumbers". This phrase does not mention over what time period this has happened, it could be over 400 years for all we know but never the less, some of the audience will take this as the hypodermic needle model suggests, without any real thought or external input. These members of the audience will form a collective identity who dislike and judge the moral agenda of a general group of people, the plumbers.

In terms of a real scenario; the rave culture hype. A relatively harmless movement of youth, where they had an anarchic, unlawfull and pluralistic style of rule, with no real heads and secret meeting places. It provided the three main missgivings for it to become a moral panic; "drugs, sex and pleasure". People became so worried about it several acts where passed so that the raves had to be stopped. For these conclusions to occur there needs to be

In conclusion, moral panics form a fragment of cultural identity by making the problem seem much worse than it actually is and then different people from the same cultural identity disagree on certain factors of the 'panic'.

Post Modernism.

x Self referential (such as breaking the fourth wall, talking about the sponsors negitively as a joke)
x Rejection of conventions. No central values
x Death of the author.

Parody - A direct piss take with a few people and 1-2 texts
Irony - Humurous juxtapositions (e.g. a lazy person saying someone else is lazy)
Pastiche - A montage of genres mimiced (e.g. Scary Movie)
Eclectic - Blend of things that usually do not go. (Genres etc.)
Playfull - Do not take themselves, or the audience seriously. (e.g. Team America)
Aesthetic - The way things look
Intertextual - Referencing other texts (e.g. Spaced)
Nihilism - No faith, pesimistic.
Self Referential - Refer to themselves in texts (e.g. The Simpsons)
Hyper Reality - More than real, exadurated reality (e.g. Malcolm in the Middle)

The Boat that Rocked Homework.

To what extent is the film based on real events?
There where real Pirate Radios on ships.
There was not a real ship called "Radio Rock" - I feel they made up this name because it goes with the title - "The Boat that Rocked" which has the double meaning of rocking in the musical, 'cool' terms and rocking, as a boat does in the sea.
The Government at the time was labour, not conservative - They most likely made this up so as to make it much easier for them to get the audience to react negatively towards the "evil" character. They made him very stereotyped so him being conservative came naturally.
The boat that rocked station is most likely based on the legendary Radio Caroline. A real, and most successful pirate radio station which is still on air today.
The fact that it is still on air suggests that the boat did not sink. I feel that the sinking boat was added so that the characters could each go their own ways, onto the different boats without making that decision themselves. It means that the audience gets an insight into the futures of the characters simultaneously and without a feeling of them leaving the "rocking" lifestyle.
The 45 minutes a day on BBC I am not sure is true or false. But there was a foreign radio station that was very popular, Radio Luxembourg. The founder of Radio Caroline, who helpped the Rolling Stones, wanted to get them aired. But Radio Luxembourg was filled with major record label music. So the founder of Radio Caroline (Ronan O'Rahilly) wanted to found a radio station whereby indipendant and smaller groups could gain air time.
The class of the people onboard the ship is accurate however. Ronan O'Rahilly was a well off man and lived in relative luxury. This was kept accurate due to the easyness on the eye and brain for the ship to be relatively well looked after and luxurious. This keeps the audience's attention on the goings on of the characters rather than their living conditions. This goes along with the positive, upbeat and 'feel-good' nature of the plot. It also helps create nice, cosy mis-en-scenes.
It is also true that there was American influenced radio stations. This was kept the same since it helps the verisimilitude as well as satisfying American audiences.
Again it is true that there was a massive audience listening to these pirate radios, over a third of the British population.
The Broadcasting Offences act was true and it did become law at a midnight. This allowed for the rather symbolic ending of broadcasting


Things that where kept out:
Major Oliver Smedley hijacked Calvert's fort. In a fit of fury Calvert, who was known to be a violent and irrational person, burst into Smedley's home and hurled a heavy stone ornament at him. He also claimed to be armed with a tear gas pistol. Smedley took up his shot gun and killed Calvert. The image of the offshore stations as jolly buccaneers using spare radio channels to provide popular free entertainment was irrevocably shattered. Now the government could portray them as battling, murdering gangsters.
This was kept out because it was far too brutal and down to earth for this film. Also as it says in this extract the fun loving, jolly buccaneer attitude of the DJ's would have been ruined.

Source:
http://www.radiocaroline.co.uk/#history_part_1.html

The Boat That Rocked

1. Who are the target audience for the film? and 2. How do you know?
I think that the target audience for this film is probably middle class Americans and Britons. This is because the stereotype of British people is rather overplayed, towards an Americanised point of view. Also the people involved are all middle to upper class. They have rather a lot of money and time to spare, very english accents and live in relative Luxury. This is a feel good film for the masses.

3. How does this film rely on stereotypes?

I feel that this film, and indeed all Richard Curtis films have a large reliance on stereotypes, or breaking of. For example, the "uncle" figure. He's old, and mostly upper class. There would be many domninant discourses about him being grumpy, wise, frail, unfasionable etc... but infact he breaks these and is "cool", he even offers a spliff to the younger character. Also it makes the audience feel more comfortable with conventional characters, people that they can predict what they are going to do. This film is for a more conservative audience, who just wants their mind to be comforted rather than challenged.

4. Cite two principal stereotypes and make a list of at least 10 dominant discourse assumptions about them.
- The lesbian.
She's a woman, therefore she cooks.
She can't realy cook well though, you see burnt toast and odd food.
She's timid about her sexuality. [British - Not overconfident and very self deprocating]
She's maternal of the other members of the ship because she's a woman.
She beleives in Love. [I feel this is rather British]
She's loyal as timid ladies are (The I LOVE YOU sign as her new girlfriend leaves)
She is also not very feminin - she wares unflattering clothes and looks rather stuffy
Dosen't care largely about her appearance - Ties her hair up in an odd way

- The Sex God guy with the leather Jacket
Realy cool without even trying
Leather jacket and trousers
Dosen't realy have to do much
Dosen't realy have a peronality or any interests
Gets lots of women with ease - Doesn't even speak

It is hard to say why these things are quintisentially British. I feel that the characters themselves aren't overly British due to the Americanisation of the film. They do however have some British tendancies such as drinking tea and being friendly. Also another thing I find very British is picking out the faults of others and laughing about it, which is a way of us accepting and appreciating what makes that person individual.

6)In what ways can Curtis and the team be said to be appealing to the mythological tendencies of the audience?
This movie is directed more at nostalgia. It is overdramatising the history of the Pirate radios into something mythylogical and fairy-tale like. It is also picking out the good sides of the overall story just as someone would when reminising about something, this would appeal to the audiences mythological tendancies. Curtis also managed to appeal to the audiences mythological tendancies by using the mass images of people listening to Radio Rock. This probably gives people of that generation a feeling of collective identity due to their connection to that period.
Also he over stereotypes the government into an almost archetypal conservative political system with the greased back hair and black suits which will muster a stereotypical feeling of dislike from the British and American audiences in relation to so much past history against people such as Hitler.

7)Explain the film making process from concept to culmination in 150 words or less

Sorry what? -REMINDER FOR ME ASK WHAT ON EARTH THIS MEANS-

Red Sheet Questions.

1. What is the USA like in comparison to france?
Compared with France, USA is very different for many reasons:

• The age, France is a much older institution than America
• America was built very quickly and by the government therefore has "blocks" - Square like map, set out in a grid. France has winding streets, built over time by people living in the town.
• America's diet is much more artificial than France. France has natural produce and a nice ballanced diet whereas American typically has much a much more fatty diet and therefore, fatter people.
• France has different hygine priorities.
• France is also more fasionable and trendsetting
• America drinks cheap beer - France drinks wine

2. Why, according to Barthes, might USA have its own sports, little played anywhere else? What is the function of these sports?

Harry Potter 6 Presentation.

Here is the trailer. Yay.

Working Title Films...

...A British film production company founded in 1982. Produced feature films and sometimes television productions.

Has a HUGE ammount of films to it's name. For a British film production company anyway.
Such as:
Working Title films

About a Boy (film)

Ali G Indahouse

Atonement (film)

Barton Fink

Bean (film)

The Big Lebowski

Billy Elliot

The Boat That Rocked

Bob Roberts

The Borrowers (1997 film)

Bridget Jones's Diary (film)

Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (film)

Burn After Reading

The Calcium Kid

Captain Corelli's Mandolin (film)

Catch a Fire (film)

Chicago Joe and the Showgirl

Dead Man Walking (film)

Definitely, Maybe

Drop Dead Fred

Edward II (film)

Elizabeth (film)

Elizabeth: The Golden Age

Fargo (film)

For Queen and Country

40 Days and 40 Nights

Four Weddings and a Funeral

French Kiss (film)

Frost/Nixon (film)

Green Zone (film)

The Guru (2002 film)

The Hi-Lo Country

Hippie Hippie Shake

Hot Fuzz

The Hudsucker Proxy

Inside I'm Dancing

The Interpreter

Johnny English

Land and Freedom

Loch Ness (film)

London Kills Me

Long Time Dead

Love Actually

The Man Who Cried

The Man Who Wasn't There

Map of the Human Heart

Mickybo and Me

Moonlight and Valentino

Mr. Bean's Holiday

My Beautiful Laundrette

My Little Eye

Nanny McPhee

Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang

Ned Kelly (2003 film)

Notting Hill (film)

O Brother, Where Art Thou?

Panther (film)

Paperhouse (film)

Paul (film)

Plunkett & Macleane

Posse (1993 film)

Pride & Prejudice (2005 film)

The Return of the Borrowers

Robin Hood (1991 film)

Romeo Is Bleeding

Rubin and Ed

Sammy and Rosie Get Laid

Shaun of the Dead

Smokin' Aces

The Soloist

State of Play (film)

Tales of the City (TV miniseries)

The Tall Guy

The Comic Strip

Thunderbirds (film)

United 93 (film)

Wild Child (2008 film)

Wimbledon (film)

Wish You Were Here (1987 film)

A World Apart (film)

The Young Americans (film)
Wikipedia Links.

I feel that Working Title FIlms help smaller films becoome more open to a wider audience and therefore more successfull without taking away its individuality and Britishness.

Teaser Trailers? What are they?

Three British Film (teaser)trailers:








Teaser trailers are like normal trailers except they are much shorter (30-60 Seconds long). They also contain little actual footage of the film/game/television series.
They usually earn the name "Teaser" from being brought out quite a long time in advance of the actual release date of the film/game/television series so as to pep the audience and to make them excited about it.

Teaser trailers are usually only made for big-budget and popularly themed movies. Their purpose is less to tell the audience about a movie's content than simply to let them know that the movie is coming up in the near future, and to add to the hype of the upcoming release. Teaser trailers are often made while the film is still in production or being edited and as a result they may feature scenes or alternate versions of scenes that are not in the finished film. (Source - Wikipedia)

Teaser trailers are made just to make the audience excited of the approach of the product. They manage to do so by showing small, obscure and cryptic parts of the film in order to get the audience guessing and contemplating what may actually happen in the film and consequently get over excited and thrilled.

[Okay now I'm not sure if Mr Wroe actually meant the movie The Myth with Jackie Chan... or myth in general.. I'm going to do the film though.]
Why do Teaser Trailers suit "High concept" films like "The Myth"?
I'm not sure but I'm guessing it's because it focuses on plot/scenery and characters rather than detailed story line and or individual characters roles. It just says about how he will take a journey and discover some stuff that is interesting realy.

Myth?

I feel a propper Myth allways needs a certain ammount of enigma. A certain unawnsered ending such as bigfoot or the Yeti. What is it? Where are they? Do they realy exist?
Usually they origionate from rumor and are local to a few areas or certain places. And are rarely seen even in the Myth itself.

They are also a generally accepted truth that is prehaps put into history. The lack of evidence of it's existance helps the enigma of the object/situation continue and thrive as it is mainly the individuals imagination fillin gin the blanks.

British Film Teaser Trailers & Websites.

http://www.lookingforericmovie.co.uk/ Both the Trailer and the Website.
There is a consistant theme throughout the website which gives it a nice feel.
There are signs also if the main characters individuality right from the start. The fact that he can play a musical instrument and that he chooses to wear a football support top.

http://harrypotter.warnerbros.co.uk/site/index.html
Trailer and Website.
The trailer is the first thing you see and there is no aditional information on the page except from the video trailer and the title of the movie. Gives a very epic and important feel to the story. It is also very long and the speed continues to get faster near the end, making it a cliff hanger and encouraging the audience to go and see it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XsmbObwStSQ
Bend it like beckham trailer (accessed at school so i havent got to watch it yet)

British Classics.

Grandma and parents helped me copile this list:

Kind hearts and clarrinets
Goodbye mr chips [1939] About the life and later success of a headteacher.
Breif encounter [1945] Two married people meet and soon fall in love and then have to part
James bond [1593 onwards] Secret agent gets into lots of action adventures with sexy ladies.
Henry V [1989] Based on a play by Shakespeare
Monty Python - Life of Brian [1979] About a young Jewish man who lives in the same place and time as Jesus
Lawrence of Arabia [1962] Based on the life of T.E. Lawrence
sex, lies and video tape [1989] A man who films women discussing their sexuality, and his impact on the relationship of a troubled married couple.
Saturday night, sunday morning [1960] Film adaptation of a novel of the same name.
The Third Man [1949]
Brighton Rock [1947] Centring on the criminal leader "Pinkie". The film's main thematic concern is the criminal underbelly evident in inter-war Brighton.
Howards End
Alphie
The Italian Job

[Not Finished]

What defines being British?

I think part of what being British is is that there is no certain definition.
Me and my family decided if there was a British moto it would be "Each to their own" - suggesting that as long as you're within certain boundaries you can be how you want to be or who you want to be and it wont matter if you aren't "Normal". Everyone can find somewhere they feel at home and are accepted.

Here are some more definitions both linking to my theory of there not being a specific one:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/966849.stm

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/columnists/janetdaley/3555154/We-dont-need-to-define-Britishness.html
"British national identity is becoming more and more like the weather: everybody talks about it but nobody can do anything about it. And come to think of it, it is especially like British weather: so tepid most of the time that it is difficult to describe."


http://thethunderdragon.co.uk/2008/08/britishness-is-in-the-eye-of-the-beholder.html
"None of these are absolutely wrong, and none of it right. Really, the question “what is Britishness?” does not have an answer. For that answer relies almost entirely on where you are sitting. From where you look - depending on how your experiences in life have moulded you and your opinions - defines how you see and conceive the elusive and almost mythical concept of “Britishness"

I asked some people on Msn/Facebook on their opinion of being British and Britishness. Here's what I got:

Mark:
"Being British is hating the French"

Joe:
"i dont know how you would define that other than 'lives in/comes from britain"

Jamie McArthur:
"A country is made of individuals
to suggest there is anything connecting all those people together other than their environment is silly
So Britishness is just a collection of individuality and ever changing dynamic culture."

Coza:
"a person from Britain"

Emma:
"okay cant describe wat i wanna say
one thing tho is the weather.
britishness might be dying out"

Tanya (Argentinian Exchange):
britishness? it's living with the tipical british culture, like talking with a really brithish accent, or having tea, or knowing everything about the Kings and Queens and use umbrellas#
haha :)

Henni:
"knowing the national anthem?"

Sam Johnson:
"Britishness. is erm? Living in Britain? Having British Pastimes. Erm. Erm. Having British Heritage? Enjoying British culture?
I should put these on my blog to. Thanks for making me do my work Lily =)"

Matthew Charles:
"That said, Britishness is by default a subjective quality: there is no `standard` of Britishness we can use to decide what it is exactly."

Thom (My Brother):
"Looking stylishly pasty"

Matthew Springett:
"Tea Parties"

British Icons?

Evaluation of the Film Project: Gunpowder (From Questions)

Our media project challenges forms and conventions of real media products because there is a woman protagonist who lives on her own, and has a dark past. Most women protagonists, especially younger ones, are light and cheery or have a reasonably clean past. She appears to be in quite deep with some kind of issue that makes her consider killing herself. This would not classically be on TV or in a film. Also her middle class appearance starkly contrasts her alone stature and alcoholic problems. Our lady does not represent any particular social groups as she is from the 1950’s, and a middle age, young women. She does not represent any modern social groups and she definitely doesn’t fit the traditional stereo types of the 1950’s. Mostly women where expected to be married and a respectable housewife. She does not appear to be any of this.

The Media project may be supported by KOCH Entertainment. They have supported several film noir movies and have a host of classics. They are one of the fastest growing independent institutions in America. Although it is mainly based on music, you can see its film section here: http://www.kochent.com/kochlorberfilms.htm

The audience for our media project would be intellectual adults, this is because film noirs generally have many twists and puzzles in them and have morally ambiguous endings. The people that would see our film would more likely be film buffs who understand and relate to certain cinematic techniques that you would need quite a lot of cinematic knowledge to understand.
They would have to be the kind of person who would want to sit through a dark and mysterious film. Most likely people over the age of 17.

We attracted out audience by using the classic style of film noir, for example the black and white style and edgy lighting. We also, throughout the introduction slowly increased the pace of the shots to make the audience drawn into it, and want to keep watching. We felt that the music also pulled people in as it was quite calm and mysterious. Also one of the pieces of music was used from one of the classic film noirs (Psycho) which meant that people would instantly know which genre it is and if they will like it. Another factor that would appeal to the film noir audience is the fact that you do not get to see the actress's face until she gets inside the house, this creates mystery and interest.

By doing this project I have learnt how to use iMovie which I had never used before this project. I also learnt how to use and negotiate apple macs much more than I had done before. Also I haven't had to use a video camera myself before, properly anyway. So now I know how to use a video camera, an apple mac and iMovie. I also learnt how to connect up a video camera to an apple mac, and to convert the film back into a MP4 and then upload it to youtube.

During this project I have also learnt how to blog properly :)

From the start of this project until the end I have learnt how to use the different technology available on an apple mac (as I'm much more used to windows). I have also learnt different shot techniques and how they change the effect of a shot. I have learnt the techniques used in film noir and the way lighting and shots are used to create a dark feeling and moody sense of anti-socialism. I have also learnt about classic movies and how they have added to today's media and how things are created.

Evaluation of the Film Project: Gunpowder (Personal One)

For this project we had to make an approximately two minute film introduction. It had to include several different style of shot and keep the audience's interest for that time and hopefully make them want to watch more. It should also include credits and definitely a title. I think we managed to fill the criteria although obviously with a few bumps in the road.

We used iMovie HD which was not a very good programme as there was limited titles and transitions available but we managed to work with these by slightly changing where we placed the titles. Besides the lack of things to work with on the programme. It did, however have good ways of editing colours, exposure and other similar details. For example this allowed us to create the black and white with colour effect used in the first shots so that you could see her red dress. This effect was simply to accentuate the point of focus in the shots, which in this case is Ingrid's dress. As well as raising the exposure on shots to give them a heightened sense of reality and to draw attention to the title "Gunpowder" shot written in the frost. We edited the title because Mr Wroe said it was unclear as to the purpose of the shot as a title so he wanted us to make it clearer. We sorted this out by turning up the exposure and contrast, it would look a little like this (Picture from Gunpowder plot):



Before


After - With exposure turned up


One of the other problems we had was that when you had to stop a shot you would press the button on the camera meaning that it sometimes would shake quite a lot near the end of a shot. This meant that the filmed look much less professional. Also when trying to pan across to follow Ingrid's legs, the tripod was quite stiff therefore the shot is jittery and she walks off the side a bit at one point. I would like to have done this again to a better standard but it was very very cold at half past 7 in December especially for Ingrid in her dress. Because of the slightly small budget of the school (understandably) the camera quality was not very good at handling the lack of light in our shots making the shots quite grainy. Another group had a similar problem.

I think that the thing me and Robyn achieved the best in the film was the slick changing between camera angles within shots. For example when Ingrid pulls up her bag from under the bed it's almost seamless. We wanted to create this seamless effect to keep peoples interest and also to make the movie have a natural effect. Another way we managed to get this "natural" effect is by making Ingrid (and the other actress in the movie) start walking slightly before we start the shot this means that they don't suddenly jump into action when the camera starts and gives them the feeling that it's what they where doing before the audience started to watch.

We managed to keep the film set and props very simple by using the surroundings we had and Ingrid's already very elegant wardrobe. The only other props we used was the suitcase which we borrowed from Robyn's father and a sly wine glass and bottle of wine on the side table on the inside shots. We thought that the wine glass and bottle would help to connote a slight lack of control on the heroins life and show that she has flaws too. This would allow people in the audience to relate to her more and show that she might have a strange story behind her and draw people into the film.

The lighting in the film was pretty much just as it came when we where outside. But when we where in side We made sure that the curtain was closed so a Film Noir style shaft of light would fall over her face and the bed. I think this was quite effective. Later on in the inside shots the lamp was behind her giving her a dark and secretive effect which I found to be useful because, again, it imitated the Film Noir style quite strongly.

With our actress, we managed to get her to act in our film by offering her breakfast and a cup of tea afterwards. She was good at following what we told her to do except when we got in from doing the cold shots and she got into the big warm bed this made her incapable of looking confused or angry so we had a problem with that for a while but the end shot turned out alright.

Another issue that arose was that we needed to find some appropriate music to put over the top of the silence. The way I found some suitable music was to search on the Internet for scary movie themes, two songs came up that I thought was going to be appropriate. These where Wolf - 101 strings and Psycho - The City. Both from other movies. The only problem after this was that with the Wolf theme the tone started to change about halfway through. I had to blend both songs together to make it have a seamless and appropriate effect all the way through the intro. If you can hear, the songs change over just on the title shot. It worked out pretty well and the movie is complete with these themes.

Things that inspired us to create this movie are in art I studied Film Noir and how they create the gloomy dark and mysterious image then I took black and white film studies with Dr Ryan for complementary studies and watched "The Lady Vanishes" also I watched the Four Minute film school which is in one of the articles bellow.

If I where to do this again I would like to use some better equipment but otherwise I think we did it quite well and finished about a month earlier than we needed to therefore had a enough time to write a very long evaluation.