Monday 22 November 2010

Skins - Ethnicity

Thomas is an immigrant from the Congo. Due to his African upbringing, he finds it hard to understand the British way of life. The show portrzys the streotypical view of black people, dressed in a hoodie, and living in a poor accomadation. It also shows the stereotypical view of black people being poor and having no money, the only way they can make money is doing something 'wrong' or 'illegal' like sellings drugs or stealing.




Ethnicity

How different ethicnities are portrayed in the media:

Mexicans - Certain types of things that are generally associated with a person who is of mexican decent are that they may eat nachos, speak spanishm live in the desert and wear ponchos. These are the connotations of mexican, it may not be what they actually do but it is what the public assume.

Irish - The things that are associated with the Irish are that they might be drunks, aggressive, friendly, gypsys.

French - Sriped tops, berets,

American - Loud, talking on 'cellphones', over nice - sometimes portrayed as 'fake'. Overwight or underweight.

Catholics - Closed MInded

Indians - Curry, wear hijab, henna, arranged marriages, lots of children.

English - Posh or Chav, tea, snobs, mini-cooper.

Black people - bandana, hooligans, violent to girlfriends.

Muslims - wear head coverings, terrorists.

Wednesday 10 November 2010

Moon


The Film 'Moon' was directed by Duncan Jones and starred Sam Rockwell and Kevin Spacey, Rockwell plays the lead of 'Sam Bell' who is an astronaut working on the moon harbouring Helium 3 which is energy from the sun trapped on the surface on the moon. Spacey plays the robot 'Gerty' at the base.

The film is aimed for a unique audience, it definitely does not fit the four quadrant. The film is mainly about expressing Sam's feelings, which is what brings out the complexity of the film.The certificate of the film is a 15, which is why it isn't a four quadrant picture, children wouldn't be able to watch it and I think in my personal opinion that it definitely doesn't to a stereotypical teenager. I think that it's aimed for older people like Uni students and upwards, the reason for this is because while I was watching it, it tackles the topic of loneliness, it shows how a person can change over time in isolation which is what makes the film so interesting.

 The film has basic special effects, this is because of the budget of the whole production, they only had five million dollars to do everything. Also the whole movie was filmed in one month. Which is very unusual because most movies take six months to a year to film.

Wednesday 29 September 2010

Pre Production Of Magazine.

We were given a task to create a new college magazine, I decided to base my magazine of student lifetsyle for men. I want to include the things such as Fashion, Sports, Music, Films and Gadgets. These would be the things that are involved in each and every student's lives, even though not all of them apply to the students, but at least one of them will take intrest from a student which will make them want to open up the magazine and read it. We had to include a medium shot and a close-up photo, then a masthead.

I then had to come up with a a colour scheme, I chose the colours: black, white and red. This keeps in line with the rule of three, only having three colours, more will be too much and make it look too busy and unnatractive. When I look at magazine covers such as VOGUE, GQ, LOVE, DETAILS they all have only three colours on the cover, which is why I thought that I should use only three because it will make it look much more professional than just throwing in random colours that clash.


I looked through the list of fonts that was available, I really like Calibri because it was clean and clear, which would look professional on the cover. I also decided that I was going to call my magazine 'HOMME' which translates 'MEN' in french. I thought that this would be a good name for the magazine because it would stand out like 'VOGUE'.

Wednesday 22 September 2010

Film Editing

We started to edit our film for the continuity task that was given,I found it quite hard to catch on.It was quite different from using windows to using a mac and iMovie. We learnt how to copy and extract audio from the clips and put them in the background of another shot which was quite effective. We started to cut our shots, and putting them together so it'll flow continuously.


We did have a problem when we filmed two different shots, it was of Eleanor walking through the door, and her walking down the corridor. The problem was that in the first shot of her walking through the door, the lighting was brighter, and in the second, it was darker. Therefore when we put the two shots together, it looked like she wasn't in the same place.


But we fixed it by using an close up of her foot walking, this will make the audience think that she has walked further down the corridor than she actually has which is why the lighting is different. 


We still haven't finished our whole film because we didn't get the chance to finish filming all the shots in the lesson, but we only have one left to do which is of Eleanor and Ella having a conversation which was in the brief that was given to us.




Wednesday 15 September 2010

Hot Fuzz

The movie opens up with Nicholas Angel walking down a corridor, he is in the centre of the shot, this shows that he is the important object on the screen. Also surrounding him is a golden light, this suggests that he is somewhat of an angel, coming down from the gates of heaven coming to help the people. As he continues to walk down the corridor, his face is hidden from the audience, all the audience can see is a silhouette of a policeman walking down. The silhouette could imply the idea of power of the uniform, you don't actually have to see the man himself. It is the uniform that gives the man the power, and without it. He is just another normal citizen on the street. We also hear his footsteps getting louder and louder as he gets closer to the camera, this would also imply the idea of power of the uniform.



The camera then moves onto the next shot which shows his previous achievements, like his police training and exceeding in his 'coursework' and 'final examination'. He also received the 'Baton Of Honor', good with 'Advance Driving' and 'Advance Cycling'. This shows that he has worked hard for what he has, and he is also very proud and takes a lot of pride in his work. On screen, all the shots are very fast paced, the director has done this on purpose because he wants the audience to see how much he has achieved, and make them feel sorry for him when he gets the one thing thats he's good at. Being a Policeman, being taken away from him.



Last of all, his name is an oxymoron, because it has both good and bad in it. 'Nicholas Angel', Nick is short for 'Nicholas' as in going in the nick, and then 'Angel'. Like a messenger of God being born on earth to help the people for the greater good.








Pre-Production

For creating the storyboard, I found it pretty easy. I imagined what it would've looked like in my mind, and then drew it out on paper. This gave me a much more clearer picture of what the my shots would look like, and by making sure that I make sure that the continuity flows. The task was to create a series of shots of someone walking down a corridor, opening a door and then sitting down and having a conversation.

1) Long Shot - Shooting from the back, walking down the corridor.

2) Close-up - Of the person's phone next to their ear.

3) Medium Shot - Looking though at door in a room, on the right wall of the corridor. You see the person walking past.

4) Long Shot - Walking past another door on the left wall of the corridor.

5) Medium Shot - Looking through a door in a room, on the left wall of the corridor. You see the person walking past.

6) Long Shot - When they have walked past the door on the left, a shot of them at the door.

Monday 13 September 2010

American Beauty Homework

To Write 200-300 words analysing mise-en-scene, camera angles, sounds in the opening sequence of 'American Beauty'

American Beauty is a film directed by Sam Mendes made in 1999. The plot follows an American family living in the suburbs. It portrays the idea of the picture perfect family, but behind the pretend smiles, the movie tells the real story of this family. An angry daughter, a real estate mother and a father who gets attracted to his daughter's best friend.

The sequence opens up with one of the characters filming on a camcorder of the daughter. We also hear the tape of the camera re-winding which also let's the audience know that this is shot by an amateur. We see the daughter wearing simple bottoms and a vest top. By what she is wearing, the viewers start to see that she is comfortable with showing skin in front of the character she's talking to. This suggests that they may be involved or together.

We then move on to see the title of the movie, 'American Beauty' in red. The red could be foreshadowing the roses to come and the death of the father.

A long shot was then used to show the neighbourhood of the suburbs, we see nice houses with trees on the side of the roads and white picket fences in the front lawn.

As the camera moves further into the sequence, we have a high shot from the ceiling looking down at a father being woken up by his alarm in a king bed. On the other side of the bed, we see that there was someone else who was sleeping there. Which suggest that he's either married or seeing someone. Then we have a close up of his face, he held a tired expression, like he was tired with his life and waking up to another was a burden.

In conclusion, Sam Mendes has used different camera angles, sounds and mise-en-scene in the opening sequence to give the audience a glimpse in their mind of what is to come.
 

Wednesday 8 September 2010

The 5 C's

- Camera Angles
- Contuinity
- Close - Up
- Composition

When telling the audience where the film is set, the director would a long shot. This lets us help the viewers see the important information that they need to know, like where the characters are.



A Medium - Shot is the most commonly used shot in cinema. It is used to show any character interaction. For example, the shot would have two characters talking to each other. Therefore letting the viewer see whats around and where they are like at a resturant, office etc.



Close - Up something/ someone important to show the audience. E.g. If a person was married, the director would have a close up at the characters hand showing a wedding ring.



Conintuity - Generally refers to visual errors. In very basic terms, it means having a character in a red top one seconf then a blue top the next. Seeing something that wasn't in the shot a second ago, but just appeared out of no where.

Cutting / Editing - Essential, otherwise films would be in real time and woud never end. It allows the director to change locations. The main use is to either add pace to a scene to make it exciting or to slow it down for dramatic emphasis.

Hello

I have chosen to do Media Studies because I have an interest in Music, Fashion and Films.

Instead of just watching films, I would like to know how they are made. The processes that are needed to make it into a film and the media side of fashion.

I read a lot of fashion magazines, from VOGUE to GQ to Nylon and Vanity Fair. I think that Fashion has really become a part of our culture, its not just for celebrities with money anymore. Its become a part of everyone of us, it makes us what we are. How we present ourselves to others.





When it comes to Music, I like pretty much anything. I like bands from Kings of Leon to Lady Gaga. I think that Music is also an important part of our culture because it is involved in our lives everyday even if we may not know it. You might be watching an advert and a song comes on, or you could be listening to your iPod or listening to the radio in the car on the way to school.



I'm the same when it comes to movies as well, I like anything really. From Horror to Comedies and Romantic Comedies. One of my favorite films is 'Mean Girls', it wasn't the story line that made me really like it, it was how it was used in conversations at school. People would reference back to the movie like calling girls who wear too much makeup 'Plastics' and it is just so memorable. It is one of those movies that you just can never get tired of, like 'Titanic'. I have watched that movie like a gazillion times and still, it doesn't bore me!