Location Stills

We visited the location where we plan to film all of our exteriour footage, ad took still images of different positions and angles so that we can put together a detailed story board of all of the exteriour sequences.
Church and grave yard behind the pub:

Ghost Hunting Documentaries

I have chosen to make a documentary on a ghost hunting theme, creating similar settings and effects to current documentaries such as 'Ghost Hunters' 'Most Haunted' and 'The Othersiders'. I am also using Paranormal horror/ thriller and documentary style films such as 'Paranormal Activity' to gather ideas of locations, characters, camera angles and Mise-en-scene.

I have included some examplesand clips below:

The Othersiders




Ghost Hunters




Most Haunted



Paranormal activity

A2 Practical Production

For my A2 practical production i have chosen to make an extract from a new documentary. I am planning to make a 'mockumentary' style ghost hunt / paranormal documantary. I have chosen this because I am interested in moving image media and I enjoy editing moving image. I also think that making a documentary of this theme would be interesting and present many challenges which I will be able to overcome, such as capturing footage in one single take with the use of multiple cameras and creating a 'haunted' and 'dark' atmosphere in the post production.

A2 Course

Beginning of A2 course from this point onwards.

Commentary and Evaluation

Final Media Magazine

Preliminary Task: video editing

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVucW320LVQ

For a preliminary task, using film equipment and editing software I created a small montage of footage showing characters walk through doors. I edited the footage so that different doors in reality, lead to different rooms in the footage.

Practice question: Downton Abbey

Discuss the ways in which the extract constructs representation of gender

The extract begins with a wide shot of the Abbey itself, this is an establishing shot, and immediately the iconic shot of the Abbey signifies the indexical meanings of ideas such as ‘power’, ‘money’ and ‘elegance’ therefore as a contrast to this, the editing then cuts to the Butlers of the abbey; under stairs where workers, maids, butlers and cooks are found. First we see a young maid, Daisy, walking down the hallway, waking other maids up. Throughout the extract (especially the first half) the narrative seems to follow Daisy. We get the idea that she is first out of bed and waking everyone up because she is of lower status, even below other maids.

Daisy’s status in the household is further constructed as we delve deeper into the extract. The following shot, takes us into the kitchens and daisy is moving about quickly and madly. An older maid strides through the kitchen calmly and cleans dirt off of the cooker, whilst firing instructions and questions at Daisy, all of which are answered snappily with a rushed out of breath voice. As she collects her previsions needed to tend to the fires. In this small clip, we get an idea that age is a large factor of status, certainly in this microcosm, but assumingly in the macrocosm.

When Daisy leaves the kitchen and climbs the stairs into the main house, some fast tempoed, non- diagetic music fades in; this builds on the stressful atmosphere that the audience are about to be exposed to. From the moment Daisy is on the ground floor there is one large continuous shot moving around the lower floor of the house. The first half of the shot mostly follows Daisy, through the house, showing all the maids rushing around, going about their individual jobs. All the time the camera moves smoothly, showing that although stressful, everything is smooth and precise. Once Daisy leaves the shot, the camera continues forwards and follows a butler who emerges from a door on the right. As this happens, there is a slight change in the music; it still remains fast tempoed, however the violins play a different more graceful melody, fitting with the well dressed butlers graceful stride through house. There is some small dialogue throughout the sequence. In which we hear the well spoken tone of the butler.

After the long sequence, the camera cuts to a shot of a young girl in a bedroom upstairs. We assume that the girl is part of the family that own the household because she is lazily just getting up from her four poster bed. Also the non-diagetic music gets softer again, demonstrating this. To confirm these assumptions, the girl rings a bell carelessly as if to say ‘where is my servant’ the bell signifies again the indexical meanings of power.

In contrast to the careless ringing of the bell, down in the kitchens, lots of bells start ringing in the kitchen, making the atmosphere again pick up from the relaxed of that in the bedroom, to that of the stressful one the maids and butlers are in.

The First main close up shot we see, is a shot of a ring of keys, being carried down a corridor. The close up shot triggers the keys to signify other meanings to the consumers. The keys are iconic of literal keys that open doors, due to a large number of them on the ring this is symbolic of a large house, meaning indexically, that the bearer of the keys must be of high authority and important. The camera then cuts to a high angle mid shot of daisy on her knees in the fireplace scrubbing it clean. This high angle indicating that we are looking down on her, because of her low status. This is cleverly done, because the bearer of the keys, Mrs Hughes, then walks into the room; although the camera is a high angle to daisy, it is a fairly low angle to Mrs. Hughes. Everyone in the room corrects their posture and make themselves look even busier as she entered. With all of this happening, it makes her seem powerful to an extent where the audience look up to her literally, in the low angle shot. This fully portrays her power.

Towards the end of the extract, we finally meet the lord of the house. The camera pans elegantly across the top of the stairs then pans up to a well dressed gentleman, walking at his leisure, down the stairs. Maids scuttle away quickly and butlers bow before him. To fit and emphasise the meaning, graceful, almost triumphant but elegant, music is played as he is in shot and walking down stairs. There are a large number of low angle shots used; e.g. waist height at the top of the stairs and then from downstairs looking up at him descend, again to emphasise power. He is up early and sits at the head of the table for breakfast with his children.

In contrast, the lady of the house is shown in bed, being served by a maid. It seems she has no need to get up. Therefore in answer to the question with use of camera, sound and signifiers especially, the director has portrayed a complicated representation of gender that is gradually unfolded throughout the extract. Resulting in a portrayed image that although men have higher status, in terms of names and work, e.g. butlers in formal clothes serving the family, where as maids are in work worn clothing, working behind the scenes on such tasks as cleaning and cooking., the women have overall importance, as shown in the kitchens where the maids are giving the butlers instructions. Also the lady of the house receives breakfast in bed and is not expected to get up. So in summary, you could say that a loose stereotypical is used, where outcomes are less harsh.

Practice Question: Misfits

How does the first episode of misfits establish the main characters and the genre of the series?

Many Reviews of the series, state that the genre of the series is mixed between teen drama, sci-fi and superhero styles, but how do we know this for sure? The audience are given a clear understanding of both genre and representation in the first episode. This then acts as a ‘fishing hook’ catching them and reeling them into the rest of the series.

The opening sequence is that of six small clips of the main characters preparing for another day of community service. These six shots not only give first impressions, but they are vital to outline representation of the characters. The shots are played in slow motion, each in the same style, allowing the audience to decide on their first impressions, based on the characters appearance, or attitude to preparing for the day. Use of camera angles also contribute to making this impression; for example, in the first of the six segments we see a female character (soon to be introduced as Alisha) the camera does a slow upwards pan of her body, making the audience feel as if we are looking her up and down. The director has chosen this technique to represent her as a ‘sexy’ stereotype. Another example of representation in the opening sequence is that of Kelly. We see a stereotypical ‘chav’ scraping her hair back. The key link in the opening sequence and even in the first half of the episode is Stereotypical representation. To emphasise this point, the first time the characters speak, when they are briefed by the social worker, they are again portrayed as their stereotypes; for example Kelly uses typical ‘chav’ slang.

One character however, seems to stand out from the group, and seems to take the role of group leader in the audience’s eye. Nathan doesn’t seem to fit under a certain stereo type and falls more under the category of prototype. In many media texts, no matter how original a character is, consumers still feel the need to categorise them in any way that they can. This may be linked to the idea that the consumers like to be well informed and omniscient; and as a result are able to predict what will happen in the narrative. Therefore Nathan is categorised under his nationality ‘curly haired Irish smart alec’ (The Herald).

Critics who have reviewed the episode, all commented on the use of stereotypes, and almost use the stereotypes themselves in their own description of the characters; ‘foul mouthed young criminals’ and ‘ a slutty one, a chavvy one, a violent one, an angry one, a weird one and an Irish one who talks too much’ the use of stereotypes makes it seem like the critics are being harsh and deconstructive of the episode and characters, however, when you read deeper into the reviews and into the narrative, we see how the stereotypes were used as a starting point to construct and to originate new personality traits deeper within the characters. Overman (writer) distorts and develops the original stereotype character forms, and plays on the stereotype weaknesses and strengths in their newly exposed personalities.

Overman chooses to cultivate the characters by inflicting a destiny on the characters. Being caught in a storm, they receive super powers, which they soon discover and cannot seem to restrain. Each power reflects a trait of the stereotypical representation that the bearer obtains. For example, Kelly is a very opinionated based character. Within the group she is probably easiest classed under a specific stereotype and therefore is easiest to be judged. As a link or reference to this, the power she receives is the ability to hear people’s thoughts. Curtis is a character living in regret after he was forced to give up his athletic career due to a period of drug abuse. Again his power reflects this and enables him to turn back time whenever he regrets something that has happened, and allows him to do things differently. Simon is a social outcast, and due to his slightly uncanny nature, is often avoided or ignored. Resultant to this, he has the ability to turn invisible when he is being ignored. And finally as we see in the opening sequence, Alisha, portrayed as a ‘sexy party girl’. The power she receives directly relates to her stereotype my making anyone who touches her skin fill with lust.

Not only do all of the powers reflect the stereotypical qualities of each character, but they are the cause of imitate change in the characters. They are a learning curve for the stereotypes to learn who they really are, and is some cases (such as Alisha and Kelly’s) learn to control and be thoughtful of how they come across and treat people.

In Terms of the genre, it is a collaboration of many different styles. It is also cleverly written so it isn’t too predictable. The first impressions, give the consumers the idea that its going to be a stereotypical text, with stereotypical characters. Acting as a kind of teen drama. This is a risky image to broadcast, as it may deter certain audiences, certainly of certain social groups or opinions. Because of this, the narrative gets straight to the point, and within minutes, the group are in the middle of a huge storm, with hailstones the size of cars start to fall, destroying everything in their path. This adds a sci-fi feel to the text. As a result of the storm, the group are struck by lightning and receive their magical powers; again another genre is added, this time of a ‘superhero’ style film. Finally ; the power that the social worker receives is somewhat aggressive and results in the brutal murder of Gary, and the attempted murder of Kelly and then the rest of the group; adding a horror genre edge to the text.

Overman states in an interview with total sci-fi, that his intention was to take ideas from other genres; “British take on the superhero show”. He chooses extremes with greater outcomes. For example, in spider man; Peter Parker, is a good kid, who lacks in popularity, therefore the stereotypical outcome of the situation is that when he receives super powers, he saves everyone, becomes a hero, gets popular, and gets the girl and everything turns out to be a ‘happy ever after’ However, Overman chooses characters who are viewed as bad citizens, who are doing community service and distinct young offenders in their bright orange overalls. He creates a situation where “they would be seen as criminals rather than heroes”.

Critics also comment on the text and outline it as not just one genre, but in fact a fusion of many genres. All critics however seem to agree on the same genres; Tim Dowling from ‘the guardian’ states that misfits “borrow liberally” from the ‘horror genre’ with references also to superheroes and killer zombie styles. He makes an interesting comment on the idea of the superhero genre which links the text and particular genre to other texts of the same genre; he states “These new superheroes do not find their powers remotely redemptive” like in most superhero texts the characters have to learn how to deal with their powers and use them correctly, therefore linking this critic comment to the idea that receiving the powers is a learning curve for the group.

Gerard O’Donovan also mentions in his opinion and based on evidence that the text is a calibration of a “nineties teenage horror film” and a “comedy zombie movie”, and Pat Stacey from ‘The Herald’ (Eire) comments on the group as “this fantastic four + one less than fantastic other” again making a direct reference to a superhero movie.

On balance, many reviews not only seem to agree on the genres, characters and styles, but also agree that this daring attempt at a teen drama clashed with sci-fi, horror and comedy, has worked even to the extent where it is a huge success. Down to the enterprising ideas of Howard Overman.

Practical Piece: Magazine Front Cover

Above is my final front cover, I have used my third option of leading article/ photo, and have used text to anchor the meaning of the image. I have used a recurring color scheme on the cover; with red being dominant, and white and black assecondary. I have included a banner across the top "New and exclusive interviews and info" this is another selling point that will draw the audience to this magazine rather than any others on the shelf; with words standing out being'New' and 'Exclusive' giving the idea that this magazine has things that others dont. At the bottom, I have included an 'Also' section, showing other famous artists also in the magazine, this is another selling point to attract established fan bases of the artists, therefore increasing sales. also on the cover, I have a barcode, issue number, date of release, and price.

I used Photoshop to edit the photo, using brightness and contrast first, then using unsharp mask to sharpen Matt Bellamy (front man), and I adjusted the curves in the photo. Finally I cropped the image to a smaller size, to draw the focus straight to Matt, rather than any other aspecst of the background in the original, such as the lighting.

For the secondary article, i am using a smaller picture in a frame on the cover. for this i am using my own picture taken at a muse concert in september of 2010. the secondary article is based on the tour of which this photo was taken.

After reviewing some popular music magazines on shelves in shops today, I noticed that in many of them, the leading/ cover artist is cut out and placed onto a white background, with text used as an anchor. I tried this approach with the picture. i like this option and have chosen to use it.

I then decided that althogh the second option was better in terms of showing the location, it was more distracting, and took away from the main purpose of the article/ front cover, being the model/artist. To try and solve this, I used a distorting sketch filter on the backround to make the model stand out.

I decided that the original picture of the model against the sound panel was slightly distracting, in the sence that is is not clear where he is or why he is stood there (the idea of the mainarticle is that the artist is recording his next studio album). So instead of using the original picture, I used photoshop to cut the model from the original backround using the magnetic lasso tool, I then featheredthe photo slightly to smooth the edges, and then dragged the picture onto the studio backround as shown above.

I also took some pictures of the studio itself that i could use for articlesin the magazine or as part of the front cover.

My First picture was of the model I am using for the main article and therefore the front cover of my magazine. I stood the model against an acoustic sound pannel in the recording studio to give a plain backround that isn't too distracting, but still linked with being musical.