Red + Blue + Yellow = Brown

After finding out the results of the election.

My Sad Lif....Lights

These are my lights at night when switched on, i think it looks quite sad.

Yer, my lights look like a sad fat man. Its because the lights 'beam?' makes eyebrows on top of two of the three lights, the eyebrows are tilting outwards which gives the impression that its sad. And to add to it, the light facing away from the camera (middle one) is casting light on the bottom half of the picture giving it a upside down smile. :(

Evaluation

My idea was always very vague, even by the late stages of the brief. I knew that I wanted to use the television studio for this idea of showing a t.v studio in a new way, but the Idea was lacking in a good ending, in face it was lacking in any ending at all.
I knew in my head how I wanted this short film to look, but I couldn’t communicate the idea what so ever to the tutors and the treatments I wrote didn’t do any better either. Because of my bad communication of ideas the teachers tried to get something out of me and help to resolve the film and make it interesting to the viewer.
Having ideas from the tutors was helpful because it got me thinking more, but they came to me on different days giving me ideas to make the short film work and what I did was take both there opinions and ideas and tried mould the film round what they had told me, which I knew wasn’t what they wanted me to do with there advice but because I didn’t actual know what my idea was I just took what ever I could get.

I was pleased with my storyboards I made, even though my idea was still very sketchy. From the storyboards you can sort of see what I wanted to achieve in the short film and I kept on referring back to it when doing my editing on my first edit.
Once I’d talked about the edit I’d done, the comments I got were that it was the same all the way through it, so I tried an edit where the rhythm of the was messed with to make the fast cuts and slow sections were more exaggerated, but came to the conclusion after talking with the tutors that sound might be the key the this film working.

My final film isn’t totally different to how it was on the first edit and isn’t far off my initial idea, because I always wanted sound to be a prominent part of the short film and have extreme close ups of the equipment in the studio.
So there are elements of what I wanted the film to look like even if it had changed over time but the changes have made the film much more interesting.

All the way thought this brief my issue has been my idea and it had been the problem all the way thought to the end and has made everything much more difficult from making treatments to talking to the tutors. But over all I am happy with how it’s progressed over time however radically that may have been and I think the final out come is both audially and visually interesting.

Another Treatment Post & somthing else

My motto has to be something on the lines of, 'if your shit at something which might help you in your future then work on it', that's why I've posted a few things about Treatments!

As well as having most people from moving image on this blogger I've also started following other people as well, one of which is a 'Pixar' blog (its not an official one, just a fan one who seems to have a lot of inside knowledge or a lot of time on there hands)

This guys (or gals) latest post was about Pixar's next short film (which will be before Toy Story 3, which should be pretty good by the looks of things)

The short is called 'Day & Night' and it just looks amazing from the two characters and the typography in the poster which is below...


Firstly I'll get the treatment out of the way....well the guy has called it a Synopsis (which if you read down a few posts at "treatments 'take 4" you'll start to understand that they are both the same....sort of!), ANYWAY, hears the treatment/ sinopsis....

When Day, a sunny fellow, encounters Night, a stranger of distinctly darker moods, sparks fly! Day and Night are frightened and suspicious of each other at first, and quickly get off on the wrong foot. But as they discover each other's unique qualities--and come to realize that each of them offers a different window onto the same world--the friendship helps both to gain a new perspective.
(read the guys full article on it at http://pixarblog.blogspot.com/)

So this treatment gives us no camera angles or how they will shoot it (which i kept doing), its telling us what sort of characters they both are and how they react together plus a vague description on how they resolve there problems. It sums up with 'the friendship helps both to gain a new perspective.' which leaves you (well it leaves me) wanting to see it.

_______________

Right, boring bit over with, ok, this 'Day and Night' is Directed by a guy called 'Teddy Newton' who's work i love. I first saw his work in 'The Art of The Incredables' (which a book of the art work from 'The Incredables') which i also love, he was a character designer for the film 'the Incredables' which was Directed by Brad Bird. Brad and Teddy Newton came to Pixar together after they both worked on 'Iron Giant' (brad bird was the director again and Teddy Newton was Story boarder Etc) So they both came into this new medium together (3D animation)

The reason why i like 'The Art of The Incredables' was because of teddy Newtons work, hes very much influenced by the style of the 50's and 60's animation (which i absolutely love my self) so the book immediately applied to me.
This new sort film has Teddy Newtons style all over it, from the characters (having both eyes on one side of the nose is very 50's, that was inspired by Picasso's cubist movement which looked at things at different perspectives/ time)

can't wait to see it! :D

Sound

Nic told me that my video reminds her of this advert (above) which I'm fine with, it has a beat that builds up over time, introducing new things every now and then which is what i was/ still am doing. My short film is 2 minuets though, so i have to have a lot more thing to introduce to stop people getting board of watching the same thing.





This video (above) made by a guy on you tube (he's suppost to be quite famous on you tube?!?) any way, this guy is using things around the house to make a beat for a song, its very good sound wise (bit of a cheesy song though). He has some clever ways of having a musical pause (iron steam and stapler)

But I'm not a fan of cutting up the screen to see every sound he's made, i don't know where to look and especially with my film, if i was to over lap sounds,(all my sounds are very very short) meaning things will be popping up then going away whilst other things might carry on, it would get too complex and no one would know where to look.
Saying that though this guy has overlapped sounds (i'm not musical, so i don't want to try and start overlapping!) so I suppose cutting the screen up helps in a way.

Research

I've sort of took inspiration from the short film by George Lucas (a little bit too much inspiration now I've looked at it!) Only from the credits at the beginning, having extreme closeups of televisions and blued lights from computers. Also the darkness of it all, you feel enclosed in this mess of wires and lights.

Treatment 'take 4'

Today I got this e-mail off my dads friend....

Tom, You asked 'when you write a book do you have to write a treatment?'

I said 'yes', which is in fact a lie,

The answer should have been 'no, I have to write a synopsis'. Which is pretty much the same as a treatment.

In publishing they ask for a synopsis. In film and TV they ask for a treatment. They're very similar. Basically, a summary of the whole thing. Everybody hates doing them and there is no right or wrong way because everybody has a different idea of what should and shouldn't be included.

The only rule is if somebody asks for two paragraphs don't give them three pages and vice versa.

Sometimes you're asked to write a treatment after you've written the whole thing. Everybody hates doing that as well. It seems pointless and sounds easy, but sometimes it's hard to condense the whole thing into a short document.

Have fun.

_________________________

(He also gave me this website to look at, he said its quite long winded and that they should have written a synopsis!)

http://www.movieoutline.com/articles/write_treatment.html

"Treaments, Take 3"

I spoke to my dads friend yesterday when he came round, hes an author and has three books out at the moment. His latest book is aimed at 13-14 year olds and his last two were 8-9 (I think)

It suddenly clicked that he would have to somehow sell his idea/story to a book publisher, so i asked him weather he has to write a treatment! (he said yes)

So i asked him what is a treatment (me still confused on what they are) and he answered, "every publisher wants somthing different, some what a in depth analysis of the characters that will feature the book, whilst others don't what too much said about them" he goes on to say "you can sit at the internet for hours (which i tried to do) but will never get a certain answer to want people what from a treatment"

Remember that this is for books though, so it could be different for a moving image.

He also said "i hate writing treatments", looks like I'm not alone!

His books:
The Courageous Cats' Club
The Courageous Cats Compete
and
The Angels of Mona Terrace

Here's his website->>>>>>>Click>>>>>>>Steve Wood Books

Messing with contrast/ brightness/ colour, in Film (& T.V)

This episode of scrubs came to mine when messing with colour and contrast etc to make clips look sharper or more interesting.

The episode is based loosely on 'The wizard of Oz', the start of the show everything is normal, just like any other scrubs episode, but after the break (half way through) the colours are so much brighter, everyone is wearing bright coloured clothes, women where bright coloured lipstick etc. I'm guessing that the brightness is upped in premier (or what ever software they use!)

Changing the contrast and brightness, making colours more vibrant, makes the whole second half of this episode look like a different world, a fantasy place.

Mr. Shortfuse - At The Post Office

I found this video after reading a book on animation companies i saw in the library. I looked up some of the companies which i found interesting (from looking at the pictures!) and watched this video on one of the websites. Its done by a director from a company called 'Tandem' (the guy who did it is called Daniel Greaves. Simone's Cat came out of one of the people who worked for this company as well.

I think its a really cool animation, its simple and very short but very creative, the change from normal person to crazy man is sooo smooth and the second time he changes is really good, the curves going back and forth whilst saying "CHANGE WHERE'S MY CHANGE!!!" is brilliant.

Its weird, its only 13 seconds long (animation, with credits its more) but its still dose what it says.

Also shaking the camera works well to emphasis the anger!

Pretty good animation

This short animation is done by a student in there last year of there coarse in America. The guy did a character animation class, so everything is in rough, the backgrounds are sketchy and its not in colour, because the focus is on the animation.

The animation is really good, but the story is just as good, its a short and sweet story that leaves you smiling.

I really like the character design of the man, looks very 1960's.

I got distracted from writing a Treament

Yer.......My hand was in a position on my desk where the shadow had eyes and a really big mouth, so i stuck a finger up and, well, it looks like the ghost from Ghostbusters.

Thats all i have to say....for now

Triumph des Willens!

This is the film about Hitler, made in 1934 and directed by Leni Riefenstahl. Not going to lie, I've not watched it all, its like 1 hour 30 minuets. I watched the start and a tiny bit in the middle and the end (where Hitler makes a speech about the 'Night of the Long Knives').

In terms of editing, its pretty good, the first like 12-15 minuets its just Hitler in a car driving to his destination with people saluting him. This would seem quite boring, but Riefenstahl cuts to the crowd and to different camera angles so we don't get bored of watching him. If it was just one full shot of the car driving through the streets it would be pretty dull, so giving the audience different viewpoints and visuals, it makes it more entertaining.

During Hitlers final speech (in the film, not EVER) Riefenstahl cuts from video of Hitler speaking to a crowd of SS Troops, to footage of the SS troops listening to him and cheering. so its like the rear window thing i put on a few weeks ago: hitler speaks, the crowds reaction.

I hadn't heard of this film before, i liked what i saw purely because i find it interesting, seeing such an infamous man speaking for 1 hour is so surreal and fascinating.

This film, Germany Calling by Charles Ridley (think thats how you spell his name) is a mock of the 'Triumph of the Will', it takes the footage and makes hitler and his troops look like idiots rather than god like.

What i like about it is the rhythm of the troops marching, He reverses the film so there going back and forth, but it also goes well with the sound thats placed onto the footage. Pretty sure someone's made beats out of footage to make music, just cant think right now.

Also its weird to think the same film that made Hitler look really cool/ god like, can also be manipulated to make him look like a complete fool.

Treatments....again

Visual Representation of writing a 'Treatment'

So, we have to do a treatment for are short film, ok, this is my first attempt and my only attempt up to now...

Try 1
...'By showing close-ups and abstract imagery of a broadcasting studio, I hope to fool the audience into thinking something else is going on and that preparation for a live broadcast isn’t happening until the end, when its reviled.'


My short film, doesn't really have a story, but dose have an ending....sort of, so i'm confused on how the treatment should look. This first try seems to describe it how i want it describing so maybe its correct?
I may need a description of what i want the audience to think is going on, but apart from that i don't know how i can elaborate on it........ and also how it will end, saying how it will conclude.


Try 2
By showing close ups and abstract imagery of a broadcasting studio, I hope to fool the audience into thinking something more serious and exciting is happening and that preparation for a live broadcast isn’t happening, until the very end when a wide shot is shown of the studio.

Is this right?!?!?!??! who knows!

The rest are in a word document (+the final) to hand in for assessment

Life of an American Fireman?

I've been sitting here for an hour now, reading every comment on youtube and imdb.com, but still i don't know what to believe?!?!?!
Everyone's saying that 'life of an American fireman' wasn't the first film to use cross cutting, there saying that Martin Scorsese is wrong in the 'cutting edge' documentary we watched.

LINK TO THREAD

there are also arguments on youtube


(double click to go to the actuall website where people have posted opinions)

This video of 'life of an American fireman' isn't how it looks on the documentary we watched. in the Documentary they cut from the firemen traveling to the woman in the house, and say "you make the connection even though there in totally different places". But the youtube video above show something different?!?!??!?!?!?!?!?!?

Weather its right or wrong, i appreciate that cutting from one place to the next eg; firetruck to woman in a house full of smoke makes people put 2 & 2 together to make 35 and will take it on board when doing stuff my self.

---------

This, on the other hand (below), by D.W Griffith called 'A Corner in Wheat' made in 1909 is a good example of Cross Cutting.
It tells a story of the rich and poor and cuts between them both in different places, but you get whats happening and it evokes an emotion, just by cutting between them both. If they were separate, then it would seem like two different stories.

The Story of 'Zero and Blind Terry'

So, this is one of about three songs which i adore by Bruce Springsteen.

Listen first (or don't!)

His voice is pretty mumbled so lots of it you can't make out what he's saying, so here's the lyrics for it.... LYRICS!!!!!!

Right, so, this song didn't even make it on an album, its on a compilation of tracks which is full of b-sides, never released songs and different mixes, its called (quite appropriately) 'Tracks'! The reasons why i love it sooo much (and why it relates to what we do) is because of the story, its story telling (in music form) at its best. Bruce is telling the story in past tense to us (narrating it)

I think of it like a film, with the way its told, in fact it could be a treatment

Verse 1
You are introduced to the two main characters straight away and also one of the antagonist (Terrys dad) So in the first verse you know everyone!


Verse 2
By the second verse you know Terrys dads reasons for why he wants Zero Dead and not being with his daughter

"Now Terry's daddy understood that this Zero was no good, A child, a thief and a liar" But your still routing for Terry to get away from her dad and run away with Zero.


Verse 3
Your relived that they got away from terry's dad, and they live happy ever after, until you find out the dads hired people to kill Zero. (then there's a lovely instrumental which build up to a climax, F****g awesome!!! because you know there vulnerable, as we were told there asleep)


Verse 4
Everything explodes into a massive fight on a field whilst the Protagonists.....

"Zero and Terry they ran away, And the gang fought all through the night"


Verse 5
Were back in the future and Bruce is telling us the rumors of what happened to the Legend of Zero and Blind Terry, we all want to know what happened: did they get away? Was zero killed and terry sent back to her dad? Bruce leaves us with a fantastic ending which hints at the fact that they didn't succeed :(

"If you look hard enough, if you try, You'll catch Zero and Terry and all the Pythons, Oh just hiking them streets of the sky"


I love this song because i see it as a film/ animation, mostly animation because of its child like naivety which i think would work well with the song.

The story's so solid, everything is understood, you know who everyone is, your routing for the main characters to win and your left just distraught, knowing there up there in the sky. But in away there now free to be together so really its a happy/ bitter sweet ending.

But still Flipping Brilliant!

More Rear Window Fo' shizzle

I've talked about this film before, but i want to bring it back up again, its an Alfred Hitchcock film which follows a man, well not really follows, because he's house Bound because he's broken his leg! So the man becomes obsessed with watching the neighbors and, yer, the story unfolds.

When watching the documentary they talk about Hitchcock......way of working?... don't know is that's the right words, but anyway, on the documentary they show these clips from the film which are all the same technique, technique was the word i was looking for!.....

.....the technique shows good editing, which is what we were looking at today. If he hadn't have shown James Stewarts face to begin with, i don't think it would have been as effective because we wouldn't have know how his face had changed after seeing what he had just seen.

Also in the 'cutting edge' documentary we watched it mentioned 'vertigo' which is one of Hitchcock films. it seems as if he keeps to a strict method of editing is some of his films, like this one (Rear Window) and vertigo, maybe more as well, but i haven't see all of his films.

New Way of Looking

This video shows us something that is invisible, by using iron shavings behind glass and putting a magnet on top of the glass we see the magnetic field.

It looks pretty cool and the movement of the iron shavings is really nice, even the shapes they make are impressive.

Its not as cool as the 'salt on sound' thing that ian showed us in his lecture because the salt was always changing, but maybe messing with the magnets, turning them ect might get sum funky pattens.

Here's another two, still the magnets are stationary though so not much happens :( but they make different pattens to the one before so :). But yer, moving the magnets might get sum different results.







Here is one where the iron shavings are in water, quite cool how they move...

By the way, these weren't done by me.

Arc

'Arc' is a third disc that came with a Neil Young live album 'Weld', I've heard some of it, but its hard to sit through the whole thing.

All the CD is, is 35 minuets of feedback from the amps used in one of his tours, whats nice about it is that its something that you would never really think of, you just hear. But when you hear about 15 minuets worth of the 'song?' you sort of appreciate it. I thought it was quite sinister when i heard it and the voices in the background make it quite scary too.

Its a weird bit of music, not too sure it needs to be 35 minuets long, but still, it evokes some emotion in you and also its something that you would never had thought to hear or wanted to hear.

There was no clip of it on you tube or a free listen to it on a website so the only way you can hear it, is if you have spotify, type in 'neil young' and scroll down to the year 1991, which is when it was made. or buy it! no don't.

On The Way Home

>>True Stories - The Bridge<<
(watch the second clip) (d'no if its on you tube!)

I watched this film/t.v program/Documentary a while ago, but thought about it whilst walking home from uni today.

We got the first brief in Applied Design and so i desided to walf home with will and jack to see what we could find to inspire us in this new brief. We went are own ways at Bramhall Park, but whilst there on a bridge with a stream underneath i thought how peaceful it was, people go to lakes/ rivers for fishing, to relax ect, but also its quite a sinister place. People dump things in rivers that they want no one else to know about, from memories to dead people!

From this Bridge which can be seen for miles and admired by everyone that goes to see it, they got a pretty moving project out of it.
were asked to look at things you might never look at till now and see if can lead to a project, but sometimes something as big as The Golden Gate bridge can have a moving story to it.

This is when i remembered to 'True Stories' Documentary, for the program, they filmed the golden gate bridge for, i don't know how long for, but they got loads of footage of people who jumped off, ending there lives.

__________________________

On the subject of Buffalo Springfield (title 'on the way home' is one of there songs!) Oriana posted this video a while back, its the first thing i thought of when told "a day in the life of somehting"
So this video shows a day in the life of a bullet with an appropriate track 'For What it's Worth' by Buffalo Springfield...