Subject Exploration: Film part 2

As a group once we had thought and planned out an idea the location was key to make this entire film work. The location of Klinger Ltd, located in Sidcup was suggested amongst the group, which in an abandoned derelict building. The group and I visited the building as preparation ensuring it would be right for filming, upon visiting we had decided the location would be perfect for filming the short film, I had captured locations shots of various areas around the building, mainly in two sections as these were the two areas the filming would mainly be taking place. As well as taking images of location, using chalk a pathway was drawn as well as on walls creating markings for directions that would be used when running for the chase as well as where to enter the buildings from when filming. Below are the images I captured.

Subject Exploration: Film part 1

Planning: First inistal brainstormed ideas

As a start I had decided I wanted to carry out this task of creating a 1 minute length chase sequence as a group, we all then began brainstorming and planning various ideas for what our chase scene could be. Many ideas were thought of such as the first initial idea being a gangster chase - although this was a great idea, the gangster theme was a cliché. With moving on with ideas a theme of childhood, adult fears came up with the idea of a male character narrating a story on his childhood, reflecting on how as a child he had a fear of monsters beneath his bed, and tries to run away from these demons. The monsters are representations of real life horrors such as bills, taxes, they would be perceived as the struggle and fears of adult life. Animation would have been used also as the monsters would be animated creating the mixture of both live action and animation together. Although this idea was brilliant and one I throughly liked, there was conflicting times for filming within the week we would need to.

Planning: Brainstorm and Timeline of final ideas

Notes on final ideas 

In thinking of other ideas we could create an idea was thought of that two graffiti artists go to an abandoned, derelict building to do graffiti before being spotted by a security guard resulting in a chase taking place. There were ideas that the ending to this would be 3 versions, the first being during the chase one of the friends becomes injured resulting in the other friend making a decision to help them or continue escaping. The second the friend to jump off the building resulting in injuring/death or becoming caught. The final the security guard becomes injured resulting in the character either helping the injured security guard or running off like the friend had done. Although these were good endings I had thought of instead what if the security guard returned to the spot he found the artists and threw a can in anger from them escaping, which exploded creating this big mess of 'art' which would inspire him to finish the piece off. This ending went down well with the group and we had gone with it as it had an unexpected twist. The reason for deciding to carry out is that graffiti can be portrayed in many ways, some may find it vandalising, others a form of art. In this short film the twist of the security guard a law abiding citizen continuing the graffiti, shows that perhaps in his eyes it really is art and not typical vandalism. Below is the storyboard which was created using a application called Storyboards, it shows the detail of how the chase sequence will occur. 

A Chase through Future Memories

As an introduction into film we began with discussing various areas within film such as the story, sound and image, editing, rules such as 180 degree, 30 degree, and more. These subjects were interesting to learn about as I have previously studied film but not as in-depth. The Chase Sequence was the area we looked into as the main task was to create a chase sequence which was to be 1 minute in length. This was very exciting as a chase in any film is the mind blowing sequence you wait for to occur. We began by viewing various chase sequences to gain ideas and inspiration for when creating our own, we began by viewing The French Connection (1971). This was a great piece to watch as this portrayed the classic car chase with the handheld camera enabling you as the viewer to feel within the scene, especially with the diegetic sound. Another sequence we were shown was from an episode in the American Television series Louie (2010). This chase was hilarious as this sequence was so expected and had a great twist, I was able to throughly enjoy watching the chase unfold. The final chase was from New York Stories (1989), I didn't enjoy this sequence at all as in all honesty, it creeped me out. It was the typical romantic chase which all I felt was bore when viewing. With viewing these chase sequences I was able to have a clear understanding into how the consequence of actions impact the results of a chase. After viewing the chase sequences I had thought about the various chases I have seen in many films, many chases take place within one of my favourite film trilogies Back to the Future (1985). One of them being a skateboard chase which takes place between the main protagonist Marty Mcfly and antagonist Biff Tannen, in which Marty gets away on a skateboard, which hasn't been invented yet - this chase sequence was brilliant. 

Sound Exploration: Sound part 2

Sound of lighting lighter.

Sound of boiling kettle.

Sound of picking up keys.

In creating the final sound piece slight changes where made in which once collecting a range of sounds needed Imogen and I both discussed that with the sounds we currently have there was no where near enough time to include a car crash into the final ending. We  decided in keeping the idea of having an argument taking place but the character would just escape the chaos by sitting in their car with a cigarette. In removing the car crash concept we created two difference sound pieces with different endings, the first was the character leaving their house, getting into the car whilst huffing, breathing heavily as they're filled with stress and emotions, lighting a cigarette and smoking the anger away. The second was the character leaves the house gets into the car and turns on the radio, flickering through different channels before finds the perfect song. Since the removal of the car crash we also had to create more things happening in the household such as boiling the kettle, making tea, the sound of the dog barking, picking up keys. This made the sound in my opinion be more believable and work better. In editing our final sounds nor Imogen or I had used Garage Band before in editing any form of sounds so it was all new to us, we watched various tutorials we taught us ways to edit certain things as well as both of us working out things for ourselves. With these alternate endings we had a choice between the both in deciding which felt right for the story we where portraying, as a result we decided on the first sound. I felt personally that the first sound flowed much better with the concept of leaving and escaping from whatever was in the house, the peaceful sound of the rain against the car, the inhale of the cigarette calming down the character, the sound of heavy breathes was something which I liked a lot.

Editing sounds in Garage Band.

In editing this we had cropped and layered sounds to create a nice flow as each sound faded in and out, with sounds such as the kettle boiling, and the argument taking place these where cropped and layered with the volume being risen and lowered through out to become that much more effective. The continuos barking noise of the dog had been lengthened through out the argument enhancing that chaotic feel whilst in the household creating tension even more. The sound of the rain was layered and volume lifted high which created the heavy rain effect, as well as a light sound of a distant siren in the back ground which we thought sounded good as you never really know what that siren sound could be for. Whilst in the car the sound of the lighter volume was turnt up high which enabled that sound of the sparks to be heard, as well as the sound of the deep inhale of the cigarette being smoked which represented the stress and anger. All sounds both faded in and out of each other as we felt it made the sound neater and flowed better. Over all I am throughly pleased with the sound we made as I have not done this before and it enabled me to have an understanding of how sound works. Also how much of an impact sound has whether being within a film or a sound piece on its own, it can have just as much effect without a visual aspect.

First sound we created, this was our chosen sound for our sound journey.

Second sound we created.

Subject Exploration: Sound part 1

As a start to creating our sound journey, I recorded test sounds to hear what certain sounds would be like when recording the final piece. Luckily it rained quite a lot which enabled me to get sounds of heavy rain and strong winds outside as well as whilst sitting in a car. With testing these sounds I let them be recorded for quite a length of time to hear if any changes such as the sounds of the rain and wind, I was able to hear the heaviness of the rain, the strength of the wind. I was able to persuade my mother and brother to act an argument which I had recorded over a couple of times, as well as being able to catch arguments of them unaware to see which sounds worked best and where most believable. Testing sounds of lighting a lighter numerous times was carried out also as we where able to capturer the sounds of the sparks where heard which sounded great. Below are the test sounds I carried out. As well as a sound storyboard I had created using a program called storyboards, it features the step by step process in which the sound journey would occur.

Sounds of both the rain and wind whilst outside.

Sound of the rain against the car whilst inside.

Sounds of lighting a lighter repeatedly.

Sounds of an argument taking place.

Planning: Sound Journey storyboard

"Future Memories" and a Sound Journey

Rough notes on sound journey

As an introduction into sound design we discussed areas of sound design as a whole such as structure, techniques, audio formats and many other areas which intrigued me as I have not learnt about sound before and how in-depth sound really is, this was all new to me. As a way to practise recording sounds before our main task, we were given sound recorders to travel around collecting various sounds to listen back and to learn and be prepared for when creating our own 1 minute sound piece. I had decided to carry out a group final piece with Imogen, together we came up with various ideas we could create, creating sounds of a car crash came to mind as it would be interesting in using various sounds, merging them together to enhance effectiveness. As well as a car crash taking place ideas of creating some form of backstory to the sound such as, carrying out household things such as making a cup of tea, having a cigarette. Also homely troubles will happen such as an argument breakout between a mother and a son, resulting in an angered car accident. I felt this idea would be interesting to experiment with especially with sound never been done before and also with so much going on within the sound, it should be an interesting outcome. 

Review - Monsters University (2013)

Usually with films I love such as Monsters, Inc (2001) I long for sequels, yet always have a slight worry that it may ruin the brilliance of the first fiIm but happily I was so very wrong with this one. Soon as Pixar released the first trailer for this I almost cried with joy. Monsters University (2013) was the latest Disney film I watched and it was brilliant. The opening featured the young, and very small Mike Wazowski taking a class school trip to Monsters Incorporated, which enables him to find his dream to become an all time scarer. With the film moving on Mike attends college and during his first day on the scare program comes across Sulley, also a student who is from a long well known line of successful scarers. With both of them eventually finding themselves having to try to get back on the scare program, you're able to see obstacles and challenges through out the film as well as other characters such as Randal with his villainy explained. 

Pixar never fails to please with the clever, comedic humour and in this case does a great job in reflecting typical campus life and comedy. The olympic-like 'Scare Games' was genius, the challenges the monsters had to face where hilarious, I honestly could not stop laughing through out, the cleverness and ideas of Pixar really amazes me.The animation is vivid in colouring and mind blowing with its raw detail - just like every pixar film, especially the campus scenes. There is an insight into countless new furred crazed characters and the world of Monstropolis is explored a little more, which pleased me.  I was very impressed by both Billy Crystal and John Goodman bringing energy and excitement to Mike and Sulley creating the perfect college freshman. Through out this film is genuine joy and is something one can watch countless times and never get bored.

Subject Exploration: Animation part 3

During the creation our animation titled Gone in the Blink of a Fly my group and I had spoken about roles in which we would all carry out as some of us where stronger in certain areas such as sketching, creating props, using the software. This enabled us all to work well as a team, especially when the roles of creating the animation itself came about. Stop Motion was the style of animation we decided as a group to carry out, I myself have not worked with this style of animation before so it was an enjoyable learning how to. With filming on the first day, we were able to film the beginning, leading on to the middle of the animation. The opening was featured indoors where the protagonist a fly is relaxing in paradise which is then disturbed by the Antagonist, the cat. As we where filming we where making sure our animation was being saved constantly. Although we had an incident in which our file became corrupted so we had lost the entire 16 seconds of 30 which we filmed - we had to start again the following day. 

Animation in progress: Filming

The following day we began again, ensuring we had two backed up files in case of having a repeat of the previous incident with our animation. With the layout of the first scene we kept it simple yet appealing with the use of bright colours to make the animation stand out. The camera angles varied with having close ups so upon viewing the animation you where able to know the key elements in causing the havoc for the fly such as the fan blowing him out the window or the close up of the fly with a different facial expression. The use of sound enhanced the effect the animation had as the audience would be able to understand what is happening better than without sound. This also enabled the animation to be more humorous and enjoyable to watch creating an almost child like experience with the boing sounds of the fly falling and hitting the light bulb. As we where going along filming the scenes and watching them back we decided slight changes here and there would make the animation better, as well as some changes for the good of the animation ensuring we made that 30 second limit. The ending had changed slightly so instead of the light turning off and hearing a smack sound, the paws of the cat appear, cut to black and you hear a cat screeching so you never really know what happens, you decide with your own interpretation. We thought this would be more intriguing as the cat is the Antagonist after all. 

Fly characters we worked with

I felt in carrying out this task I was able to learn how Stop Motion and the software to create animation works. I also had an insight into what animation is like, and that I enjoy creating it. It is a challenge yet you have a great feeling once you have seen your work created into an animation and come to life almost which is the most pleasing aspect over all. Working in a group was another great experience I had as we worked very well together, enabling us to be proud of what we created. Below is the final completion of our animation.