Editing Re creation task

In media on Monday we were put into pairs and given the task to re create a short extract from raw files using Adobe Premier Pro. This task allowed us to develop our skills on the program and understand how to use it, as I have no background with media this was very helpful and taught me how to edit video material which will have a huge help when it comes to our group editing our own title sequences. We got given an hour and 40 minutes to do this task and make it exactly like the original. I found this task really interesting and it taught me not to give up as in the end me and my partner, Harry to did create a piece very simliar to the original which i'm sure we are both very proud of.

Storyboarding

Why is it important?

• Separates the different shots/scenes
• Gives an idea of what it will look like
• Gives us something to follow when creating the opening
• Pitching an idea
• Links planning and filming together 
• Visualising images/ ideas
• Links between shots
• Timing, continuity and pace
• Technical awareness and understanding
• Revise narrative sequencing 
• Chance to make decision/revision

Arrows

• Drawing the shot types
• Writing the script through pictures
• Cost effective

Based on what you learnt, in what way is a storyboard important to the director?

• Allows them to overcome any problems that may occur whilst filming
• Allows them to visualise what it will look like
• Cost effective

What do you need to include in your storyboards?

• Mise En Scene 
• Shot lengths and transitions
• Gender weakness/strength
• Sound
• Camera angle/framing/movement

Further Planning

Plot

• The name of our production will appear and over the top will be diegetic sound of the interviewer asking the Prime Minister why he is deciding to visit the Chalfonts Community College, that picture will then fade out.
• Mid shot of the Prime Minister so from waist upwards, a seconds pause then begins to speak with blood dripping down his face although not reacting to anything 
• Jump cut to a extreme close up of teacher with a sly/eerie smile, although in the background the Prime Minister is still talking 
• Jump cut back to news frame, there is no trace of blood on him which comes to the end of the interview 
• Zooms out to teachers room which will be messy, dusk, dark, dull and then cut away to the title sequence
• Montage sequence will be made to go behind or included in the title sequence

Characters and Costume

• Prime Minister- Sharp suite and haircut, white shirt and blue tie (professional and smart)
• Interviewer- Smart/ Casual suite nice hair
• Teacher- bedraggled/wasted look, suite, messy hair, round glasses which sit on the edge of his nose, maybe the colour green
• Voice in background- wont need a costume as it just a voice we wont be seeing the person.

I'm going to ask my friend Molly to do some make up effects for us to make it bit more realistic.

Props

• Alcohol bottles
• Orange tinted pill bottles?
• Newspaper cuttings about relevant events 
• Pictures
• Pinboard
• Map
• Small tv
• Picture Frame
• Desk 
• Lamp

As you can see once again our group has had a discussion and changed some things and added things as we realised that weren't creating a story as such but just the opening so we have decided to focus on more the title sequence and give it that political feel to it. With all the realvant articles and linking it to the Prime Minister.

First Idea

• Long shot of a middle aged man's silhoutte staring at The Houses Of Parliment
• Cut to a mans glasses, close up with the reflection of big ben in the glasses lense
• Cut to a black screen, title of film
• The non diegetic score playing over the top of title in the whirring of a video recorder
• Cut to vcr recording of the man speaking directly to camera (fuzzy quality)
• Cut to shaky camera sot of man entering bathroom (bright lighting ) juxtaposes with his gloomy expression holding a bottle of vodka swigging down a dangerous amount of perscription always starring intensely
• Estashblishing shot of school cut to the staff room (sound playing over the top)
• In the background hearing a news reporter talking about the Prime Minister cut to teacher assembly
• Long shot of him walking down corridor, his hand always on the gun (applause can be heard in distance) all of this will be done with an over the shoulder shot.
• Enters room camera glances up at the back of The Prime Minister
• Background goes black

This is our original Idea however after talking about it together as a group, we decided we would be giving to much away as we are only doing the opening extract. So after talking about it we decided to cut it down and build on our ideas, to create a more intense but proper opening making sure we keep the clues to a little.This is so we don't give to much away and will keep the audience at the edge of their seats. We have decided that doing a polictical thriller is a very original idea and we don't think that anyone else has attempted to do one. Ofcourse we will carry on building on our ideas and will each have roles within the group to create the best opening possible.

Discuss the way social status is represented in this extract from Merlin. Make specific reference to the following technical areas:

Discuss the way social status is represented in this extract from Merlin. Make specific reference to the following technical areas:

·                     Camera

·                     Editing

·                     Sound

·                     Mise-en-scene

Immediately status is introduced to us when we are presented with an establishing shot of a grand castle home presumably owned by royalty, this is where we first meet our male protagonist. However Merlin is completely juxtaposed with the massive royal home as he is wearing brown, raggy clothes which we would normally associate with poor servant people although we know he is the protagonist as he is the first character we see and also he is presented to us in the centre of our screens. We first see the protagonist entering a room and placing something down this is presented to us with a close up, The focus of the camera on the protagonist could suggest that he shouldn’t be in the room this is reinforced by the tense non diegetic score connoting his low status. A long shot showing a lady antagonist walking along the grand corridor highlights the different status between herself and Merlin as she is shot from afar not only this but her clothing symbolises royalty because of the purple colouring, connoting her importance. The echoing sound of her walking with her heels reinforces her role of being important as it connotes that she powerful and controlling. As she enters the room where our protagonist stands the non-diegetic score abruptly ends suggesting that Merlin was in there without her consent. Although they are both at the same level arguing that they are of the same status. A number of shot reverse shot sequences have been used to show the woman arguing with Merlin, the antagonist voice is sharp and very assertive, while on the other hand Merlin seems quite lost for words. The difference in the way both the antagonist and the protagonist talk highlights the difference in status. This is reinforced by her having the most camera time when talking showing her facial expressions when talking. 

After leaving the room, the setting has changed and we see more lower classed people wearing the same sort of clothes as Merlin and there is lots of background noise. Arthur an antagonist is presented to us through a medium shot as he speaks down to Merlin, whereas Merlin was allowed to walk towards the camera suggesting he is of higher status. In contrast to this the way they are both dressed could suggest that they are not equal as Arthur is dressed in armour connoting higher importance, armour is associated with war and violence. However they both mimic each other suggesting that they are both of the same status although Arthur has followers standing behind him agreeing with the antagonist and laughing when he makes jokes connoting that he is important   and should be respected when being spoken too. Arthur then throws a weapon at Merlin and when he fumbles and drops the weapon, it could be seen as though Arthur has the upper hand when it comes to the fight as he has more experience connoting higher importance. Although Merlin doesn’t see Arthur as being higher in status this portrayed through his use of dialogue “my Lord” the protagonist says this in a mocking tone reinforcing this suggestion.

As the antagonist and protagonist being to fight, a non-diegetic score is playing and the use of long shots emphasises the action and danger. The protagonist is quickly knocked down highlighting that he is less experienced when it comes to fighting and he shot from above him making us look down on him connoting he is of lower status than our antagonist. The use of the fast paced shots and tense music emphasises the aggression and conflict between the two characters.  However things turn around for Merlin when a close up of his eye is presented to us and the sound effect backing up the idea that magic is about to happen. Now we see that the roles have been reversed, Merlin appears to have more screen time and Arthur has been put in his place. This idea is being reinforced by the use of camera angle when the antagonist has been knocked over and we are looking down on him signifying that he is weak and of lower status. However this is juxtaposed when Merlin realises his teacher has been watching by using a shot reverse shot we can see the guilt Merlin is experiencing this might be because he knows his magic shouldn’t be used in this way. The antagonist seizes this minute opportunity of weakness and hits him with a broom, the use of folly sound emphasises the power and is symbolic of the upper class winning the conflict.  On the other hand the antagonist realises that the protagonist may not be as weak as he thinks this is backed up by the use of eye line match showing that they are of equal status and piece of diegetic dialogue “I can’t quite put my finger on you,” this could be seen as respect between them both.

In the final scene it appears that it runs parallel to the scene before because there is that element of conflict. However the tone in Merlin and his teacher’s voice connotes that it is serious and they are arguing about a serious matter. Again eye line match has been used which does suggest that they are of equal status and by using close ups and over the shoulder shots we get an insight into how the protagonist and antagonist are feeling as we get to see they’re facial expressions. On the other hand though the use of diegetic dialogue “I’m just a nobody” This connotes that Merlin is of lower status however using magic is moving him up the social ladder to where he feels he should be. This scene has been shot in a dark room although Merlin’s teacher is stood by a window letting the light shine on him, this could be seen as iconic because he is trying to help Merlin. On the other hand Merlin, the protagonist is stood in a more shaded area which could connote that he is still learning the ways but just needs the help to send him the right direction highlighting the social status of them both.

Intial Ideas

As a group we want to do something really original and different,basedon this decision we sat down and researched all the possibilities and have come up with the idea of Terroism Thriller with maybe a hint of Western in there. From here we are going to put up our Terroism research and the conventions as theses are very important when coming to creating our opening, not only this we are going to do some western research to help us build apon our idea. To help us Melissa suggested looking a topical subjects to have happened in the world to do with terroism. Hopefully by branching out a little bit it will make us stand out from the crowd and we each have roles within the group to help us achieve this.


Melissa - Research topical subjects
Hannah(me) - Research Terroism Thriller
Finley- Research Western Thriller

Our groups discussion

Our group decided to record our discussion we talked about the genre of our opening not only this but Melissa has added a picture of our brainstorm of what our idea should include. Unfortunately we have made a 100% decision because they are so many roads to go down and we established that we aren't going to do anything cliche. So think up an original and well thought out opening is going to take time, however we have been researching different genre's in class such as Western Thriller as it isnt very well known and we might be able to build on that.

Essay Writing

From today's lesson I have learnt how connect all the things I have learnt previously together to form a detailed and well structured essay.

Essay Notes

This weeks essay was on a clip from Merlin, the question was;

Discuss the way social status is represented in this extract from Merlin. Make specific reference to the following technical areas:

• Camera
• Editing
• Sound
• Mise-en-scene

Based on this when note making in class I split my notes on the page into four sections, which were Camera, Editing, Sound and Mise En Scene.

This will help me alot when writing the essay.

Introduction to our planning

Research and planning

• Everything we research will continue to go on our blogs
• Summarise learning for all sections this will help build our understanding of media as a whole
• The research will never stop, you will need to go backwards to go forwards
• By the end we will have to answer some evaluation questions these will be group/individual focus

Planning
we have now started to plan our thriller openings during this time we will need to think about setting, characters, props, music, costumes, genre and plot.

• The key is to reflects and evaluate our peers work
• We have to link our research to our planning and if bits are missing we will need to go back and do that
• Decision making will be a key aspect of this section of the course
• If we have any changes we will need to justify and evaluate them

The starting point to the planning is genre everything will then build on from that, then we will need to think about the codes and conventions of the genre we as a group will have decided to do. Then go and look at the social and historical contexts of them.
Melissa,Finley, Jacob and I have recorded our discussion which will be on the blog shortly.

Evaluation Of Research So Far

What have I learnt?
As I am new to media everything I have been taught has been a great help to me for example understanding how different types of sound and music can be added to a piece of media; non diegetic sound can be added through editing and diegetic sound which is a sound within the scene. Not only this I have learnt the different codes and conventions to create the great thriller genre these are some of things I found;

• Mirrors are used to portray the reflection of one's soul and inner self it could also foreshadow the darkness within certain characters.

• Shadows add darkness within inner beings and can create tension and eeriness, this connotes the idea of unknown circumstances and unknown answers.

• Obtrusive editing are used frequently in thrillers to create the feeling of suspense and tension, they are often used in a particular 'thrilling scene' sometimes creating a disorientation of space and time.

• Flashbacks often display what has happened in the past to give the audience and insight into the protagonists lives.

• Black and white is often used to accentuate the use of shadows and often makes the thriller eerie and dark.

• Twist is a common factor of a thriller by adding the element of surprise the audience can recognise the film as thriller this connotes fear playing on uncommon fears for example 'being afraid of the unknown'

Through my research I have learnt how important title sequences are for a film and how to analyse them properly to help when creating our own thriller opening, I have been analysing the opening of films by putting them into groups such as, camera angles, sound, mise en scene and editing and these are all things I have learnt throughout my time in media so far.Furthermore to this blogging is all new to me too as it is to many of the others in our class, so I have found it hard to blog everything I have learnt but I am slowly getting used to it and the way it all works. Being in a group with Finley, Melissa and Jacob I have learnt to take responsibilities and time keeping skills as each section of coursework has a deadline of when it needs to be done, this is something I really need to work on as I may fall behind if I don't keep up with the different aspects of coursework. Not only do I need to work on evaluating my own work but my groups too.

How Have I Learnt This?
Like I said being new to this course and not having the basics as some people have by taking it for GCSE I have had to really concentrate in class when my teachers are talking and writing down notes to help with my understanding of everything, Mr Miche has been showing us how to prepare for the exams by watching extracts such as Doctor Who and Primevil and showing us how to analyse them step by step and then asking us to write essays to help us practise for the exams. They have also told us to look at other years blog to help us with the way to structure and what to include in them. Not only this but by doing research of my own I have developed an understanding and put it in to way for me to understand better. By creating a glossary I have the key words in one place to help me when analysing openings of films and my peers work too.

My Strengths
I believe I am quite organised with my work, which helps when writing up my notes to my blog and finding them to help me with my analyse of films and my peers work. I believe this is good quality to have within my group as it is good to be organised and know who's doing what. However each member of the group has different qualities so by putting them all together I am sure we can achieve something good in the end.

My Weaknesses
I think I have many weaknesses at the moment but I am slowly getting to grips with them, one of them would be the ability to evaluate my groups research as I'm struggling with what to include within it however I do believe that I am getting better. Furthermore in my blog I need to include other ways of blogging such as video and sound clips, at the moment I have done a lot of writing and pictures, I just need to expand on that.

Targets
To help my improve my weaknesses I have created some targets in order to help keep on improving;

• To continue to add to my glossary to help with my understanding of the technical side of the course.
• To do some video and sound clips to make my blog more varied
• Work with my group more to create a great thriller opening at the end of the course.

Overall Progress

I have progressed so much since the start of media from knowing nothing to knowing most things about Mise en scene, camera angles, sound and editing ofcourse there is always room from improvement and I will insure that I do my very best to keep concentrating in class and keeping up to date with my blog. Not only have I learnt the lesson side of the course but the coursework side to with Mr Ford for example being able to work well within my group and understand their needs as well as mine.