Filming day

This picture is taken from after the makeup and green glitter is wiped off with water. This whole scene is created to show that what she experienced is not just fiction and a story, but real. Her changing from a fairy to a human, through the wiping off of her makeup, shows that under it all she is only human and situation like this are not rare. For me this was one of the most important messages I wanted to portray because I feel like in today's society, unless you experience a similar situation, incidents of abuse are dealt with with terms such as 'well it wont happen to me', 'I won't let that happen to me', when in reality, the victim doesn't have a choice.

Freedom

My piece is centered around the concept of having freedom taken away. In the world we live in there are numerous ways in which freedom can be taken away.

Examples:

Cars stolen-their only way to leave and go places is taken away from them

Trichotellamania-freedom to feel good about themselves is literally pulled away

Abuse-cripples a person and enables fear to get in the way of allowing them to have freedom

Mental illness-takes over and takes priority over living a free life

Text of someone expressing their feelings regarding their car, something others might see as insignificant but her idea of freedom, being stolen. (sadly this video by Emma Blackery has since been removed so I could not upload it to my blog)

22/11/15-filming day

Today I decided to get the majority of my filming done. I filmed all the scenes including the couple in my piece with back-up shots incase some of what I recorded wasn't up to my standards. 

I encountered many problems in my filming such as:

-bad weather-the day I planned for filming happened to be very cold and so I was unable to film for lengthy periods due to my actors getting cold

-limited time-due to the daylight hours being short at this time of year I had to struggle to make sure I filmed in hours of daylight

-changes in shot list-not all the shots I planned fitted in as well as I once imagined so I had to make changes

-costume issues-the wings I had created were too heavy and so I had to safety pin them many times to prevent them from falling

Pictures from shoot:

Wound in back created out of fake blood, glitter gel, eyeshadow and lipstick. 

Making of the wings

For the wings that are featured in my music video I decided to hand make them. I did not want my fairy wings for the older fairy to look fake and so I decided to hand make them. To do this I created a frame out of wire, covered the edges in ribbon and used clingfilm for the wing which I later stitched into. Overall I was proud with hoe they came out and felt they added to my piece.

Wheatley Park Film Festival

On Thursday 5th of November 2015, I and my classmates attended the film festival at Wheatley Park Scholl. This film festival included a collection of media videos that we sat and watched and then at the end they were judged and the top 3 were awarded prizes, 2 of which were awarded to my school. Watching the collection of pieces was beneficial due to it enabling me to see what others did well, or in some cases not, and also inspired me to get working on my own piece more and add new styles of shots. In-between sections of the film festival viewings, one of the three judges would speak and ask questions. They spoke about their careers, more about the audience and how to get into the industry and after would ask the audience questions. This enabled me and others to gain a better insight into Media after education and what you can do regarding it.


One of the pieces we viewed at the film festival:



Wheatley Park Film Festival website (outdated): http://www.filmfestival.me.uk/index.html
Write up on last years: http://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/11640164.Reel_honour_for_pupils_at_schools__film_festival/

Plan B research

Plan b-draw awareness to real life situations in music videos, I want to do the same but in a more discreet and hidden manner. Therefore I am presenting the harsh message of abuse through a whimsical disguise to draw attention to it but in a less stern way.


Examples of this in their videos:
End credits
Pieces
Writings on the wall
Ill manors

The effect:
-The message stays with you long after the song is over
-Resonates with you
-Changes the way you see the song
-Draws attention to difficult issues, sometimes addressing them explicitly but ether way making sure the message gets across the audience
-Tackles tough, controversial issues such as growing up in poverty, gangs and gang crime and cheating


Example:
The music video for End credits by Plan B revolves around the topic of gang crime. This song was used in the trailer of 'Harry Brown' -a film about the harsh reality of estates and gang crime- and a lot of the clips in the music video are from the film. This music video fits well with the piece of music itself with the man in the video dying just like the lyrics say. Many speculate the  meaning due it never being properly stated, however the meaning for me that I feel is portrayed in the video and song is one of a man who has led a life of crime finally catching up on him and resulting in his death.

Vlog-after filming the hand shots

Filming

This was the aftermath of a filming session with my friend for my piece. I filmed a series of shots of substances falling through their hands. The first was glitter. The glitter falling through the finger tips was to represent the freedom slipping out of the fairies grip. Next was the green glitter falling. Whereas the glitter drifted out of my friends hands, the green glitter glooped through and resembles the fairies blood sleeping through the hands of the one that betrayed her. The final series of shots I took were of blood dripping through the perpetrators hands. Blood was used not only to show the audience that all had turned sinister, but also to represent that the hurt, pain and suffering the fairy felt is not just a story, but that it is applicable to humans too. The use of blood brings more of a touch of reality to the piece and makes it seem less like fiction and more like true life.

I filmed these shots in front of different coloured bushes. I filmed the first shots of the glitter falling in front of a thriving green bush. I did this to show that at this point things were still hopeful and savable. I also did this to make a larger contrast between the shots I filmed of the blood dripping which were filmed in front of a yellowing, autumnal bush. I did this as a form of pathetic fallacy, with the change in the health of the bush representing the decline in her own health and well being and the change from thriving to decaying.

Brave notes

Foreshadowing enables the audience to make links and is also there for understanding.

 Foreshadowing is present in Brave-Disney Pixar

Notes:

Bear imagery-wood carving of bears

Foreshadowing

Mum turns into a bear

My piece:

Glitter falling

Fairy loosing power

The 3 brothers doing anything for cakes- stealing them, merida saying if they help she will let them have all her deserts-foreshadowing-them eating the magic cake

Foreshadowing-stamp with crest and crest on doorway to ruined castle-shows the witches spell has caused issues before

Split tapestry-split stone portrait

'The spell has happened before'

'Mend the bond torn by time'-the tapestry

Looking through the crack in the stable (at night)

Here are a series of pictures looking through the hole in the stable at different angles. I did this to see what kind of angle showed the biggest portion of the garden to get as much of my fairy as possible. I am excited to use this shot as i feel like the fact that only a little light is let through the gap, i feel like this represents a flicker of hope. 

Pictures of garden and feilds in sunset (location)

Original Idea

My original idea for the fairy in my piece was a dark and sinister presence. However, this soon changed when I realised I wanted my piece to show a journey and a devasting one at that. I wanted my journey to show a change that was dramatic and obvious. I also wanted to show innocence taken away and the character I first developed dis not represent this, she looked more grown up and seductive than innocent and naive. 

Swatches

Tester swatches of the fake blood and body glitter on the back of my hand. For the blood I'm going to mix it with flower to make it thicker and more of a scabby feel, and also add a dark eyeshadow for a more realistic look. 

For the green glitter i am going to coat her body in thin layers of it to make it look more human and less tacky. 

Labels Masterpost

-Research into similar products

-Potential target audience

-Actors, characters, interview subjects

-Locations

-Costumes

-Props

-Shotlists

-Layouts

-Drafting

-Storyboarding

-Time management 

-Q1

-Q2

-Q3

-Q4

Wing discussion

For my fairy wings I know for certain that I want them to look realistic and natural, however, I am still deciding on the type of wing style I wish to re-create.

I want to make my wings delicate and light like the real things and so I am considering creating my own, rather than purchasing, in order to have them exactly how I envision them looking. 

Signs

I also watched the popular alien invasion film Signs. What i noticed while watching this film was a certain feauture that is incredibly relevant to my final piece. I noticed that for about 3/4 of the film the identity of the aliens is hidden. This makes the film 10x more creepy and unnerving because you don't know it is that you are trying to avoid and who is after you.

I found this relevant to my piece purely because it reaffirmed, in my mind, the choice to keep the abusive boyfriends identity concealed. Not only did i feel doing this would be good for creating the same atmosphere as the one that in Signs, but also because it would generalise the abuser. I felt by doing this I would make people know that horrible occurrances like that are more frequent than many think and also that the attacker can be anyone, even someone you trust. It is not their appearance and identity that matters, but instead it's the vile acts they commit  

The use of sound to set mood (The Shining)

I re-watched the shining this weekend in order to consider what techniques Stanley Kubrick uses to make the film successfully creepy.

I came to the conclusion that Kubrick uses sound mainly to make the piece intense. Not only does he use the soundtrack to set the mood, increasing the tempo and changing the pitch whenever a scene gets intense, but he also uses sounds within the scenes. 

One example of this is his use of repetitive sounds such as the sound of Jack intensely typing and making it louder than the soundtrack. The sound of his frantic typing mixed with the soundtrack gets louder and louder in one scene to show a build up of emotion, until wendy enters and breaks Jack's consentration. At that point the typing and soundtrack end with an abrupt cruscendo. The intensity of this use of sound heightens the intensity of the emotions within the piece and highlights Jack Torrence's decrease in sanity. 

Another example of Kubrick's use of sound is the use of symbols to make the scenes feel off. 

Stanley Kubrick also uses the matching of sound with picture to show the decrease in security and comfort. He does this in the scenes with Danny riding his trike along the halls. In the first clip of this the sound of Danny going over the carpets and floorboards matches perfectly with the shots of this occurring. However, just before Danny sees the twins, the sound of his on his trike going over carpet and floorboards is not in sync with the image of him doing this. This was done on purpose by Kubrick to create a sense of uneasyness and to make the audience aware that everything is not okay.

Hyperlapses

Hyperlapse (also walklapse, spacelapse, stop-motion time-lapse, motion timelapse, moving timelapse) is an exposure technique in time-lapse photography, in which the position of the camera is being changed between each exposure in order to create a tracking shot in timelapse sequences.

They are a series of shots, put together and sped up to make a moving picture. They are often used to show landscapes and monuments and are a more exciting and interesting technique than just a single long shot. 

I plan on considering using one at the beginning of my piece when the sun rises and also towards the end when the sun sets. 

Example: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=lP75QXyMKFs

Production Meeting Notes

~Research infinite zoom

(zoom to a point with a stationary camera, move to where the camera stopped zooming and zoom from your new starting point)

~Research hyperlapse

~Look into changing beginning to a little fairy to a young girl with fake fairy wings on and a fairy crown (over the top)

~Consider it being the man's hand that lets the glitter fall (zoom out and see its him, showing he is the one making her life and freedom waste away)

~Consider doing a podcast regarding discussing costume e.g. Discuss about how lightweight and realistic I have to make everything

Introduction research

For my introduction I want it to show my main character as a young girl transitioning to a teen. I want to do this to show her innocence and to make it more shocking when it is snatched away. Numerous other music videos and films use this technique to not only add flesh to the charatcer and make their character more believable so the audience can form a stronger connection with them, but also so that any horrible event that befalls on the character is more hard hitting. The reason this technique increases the impact on the audience is because it is like you are growing up with the person and therefore you form a closer bond to them and their feelings, making you have stronger feelings regarding any negative events in their life.

Two music videos which not only include this technique but include it to a high standard on a low budget are:
>Superluv~Shane Dawson    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NONLMR7dbM
>Lost and Found~Trisha Paytas    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=neOKYns770M

Both of these artists are youtubers and therefore do not have the huge funds and highly regarded music video producers that other more renound artists have. Therefore, I felt they were more relatable to my piece as although they did not have huge funds for their videos, like myself, they still were able to create their music videos to a high standard and make them portray a strong message clearly and effectively.

Message regarding casting

Shotlist

>Scene setting (establishing shots of garden and fields in light)-to represent good and contrast with the darker lighting later on

>Shot of glitter in fairies hand

>Shot through crack in stable at young ginger girl --> Sophia 

> Close-ups of her features in the sun

>Changes to older fairy and transition is done through it changing to close-ups of her skin and features 

>Close-ups of wings shimmering in light

>Shot of glitter running through fingers

>Shot of the male's back

>Shot of him approaching fairy

>Shot of him running his hamd down her arm (slowly)

>Shot of her laying her head on his shoulder

>Shot of him stroking her cheek

>Shot of him walking back to the stable, her clinging onto his hand (shows vulnerability)

>Moves his hand to her lower back (shows him taking control)

>Shot of glitter slipping through fingers

>Shot of him caressing her wings (seductively yet creepily)

>Shot of him stroking down her neck

>Shot of him then holding her by the throat

>Rips off her wings

>Throws them to the ground

>Laughs manically in the foreground, her bleeding and crying in the background

>Shots of her pulling at her hair

>Shots of her back

>Close-ups of her back

>Shots of wings crumpled

>Shots of glitter falling

>Play around with effects on shots of blood running down back e.g. Reverse the film or strobe

SHOTS SLOW DOWN

>(after ahh's in song and change to eerie music) Shot of her laying in the middle of the garden (lighter darker than previously) 

>Shot of her curling into a ball and crying

>Shot of him standing over her

>(blow me away) Shot of fairy dust being blown

>Shot of her laying on the ground with her crumpled wings in her hands

>Shot of tear rolling down her face

>(and you feel so alive) Shot of the blood running down her back

>(I watched you change) Shot of her wiping off green body paint

>Smearing mascara and body paint as she wipes it off

>(feel so alive) Blood dripping from hands

>blood dripping onto the ground

>(I watched you change) quick shots of glitter funning through fingers changing to blood

>(like you never had wings) Laying as a human on the ground --> no green paint

>(I,I,I) Shots of her curling up in a ball

>(I,I,I) Shots of sun setting

>Shots of dark fields and garden

>(end of I's) Shots of her laying and shots of gun in his hand (to drum beat)

>(singing starts again) Blood on the ground and hands

>Mix the shots of gun, hands and blood to drumbeat

>(you changed) Her laid on floor

>Different angle of her laid on floor

>Shot of his feet walking away

>(roughly 14 seconds) Shot of child looking through barn again

Results of my typeform audience research

Fairy Pictures

On my typeform there were several pictures of fairies for those taking my survey to view and choose from. These gave me an idea of what to them was viewed as a fairy and gave me ideas as to what features I wanted to include in order to portray to my audience that my main character is a fairy and not a regular human.

A link to the audience research survey I created in order to gather information on the audience I am targeting: https://cheekycharlieh.typeform.com/to/KMvHDY

Costume

To inspire myself I decided to begin with costume and makeup. For my main character, the female with the wings, I want it to be obvious that she is an abstract form of a human in order to make it easier to over-exaggerate emotions and emphasize them as much as possible due to the piece and main character having an abstract and unrealistic nature. The costume will consist of either body paint or powder with a shimmery, metallic appearance, wings and a leotard covered in the same iridescent paint used on the body.
Wings I intend on purchasing and using: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/FAIRYTALE-MAGICAL-PIXIE-FAIRY-WINGS-Fancy-Dress-Costume-Accessory-/251549361194?hash=item3a9182a42a
 This is the pair of wings I plan on using however I intend to also decorate them with moss and other pieces of natural materials in order to give them a more 'natural' and 'authentic' look.

Message to Deftones asking permission to use their music

'In Guns We Trust' response

I used the monochrome overlay present in 'In Guns We Trust' to create the same unnerving and 'off' feeling that 'In Guns We Trust' had. Using monochrome heightened the emotions of unrest and uneasiness that the character within the piece was feeling when knocking on the door.

Production pitch A2

Production pitch A2

In Guns we Trust- overview

Things I noticed regarding the piece:
-Use of mainly pictures and the length of time at which you had to view them-The use of pictures for lengthy periods of times was so that the viewer could focus on not only everything within the shot but also to emphasize the messages on guns that the people and creator have
example~The shot of the young boy holding a gun with a comfortable and disturbingly naturatal expression and posture. This is to draw attention to how accepted guns are and how bizarre this is considered in not only the film makers mind but aso to other societies.

-The thumbnail picture being that of a messy looking man-The man withing the thumbnail looks somewhat dishevelled due to his untripped beard and grubby/ruggid looking clothing. This gives off a somewhat negative vibe as the owner holding the gun in the thumbnail looks irresponsible and like a 'thug'. This makes the thought of people owning guns more threatenin and dangerous, showing the filmmaker is not pro guns.

-All the photos used tend to have some type of colour treatement, in the main this tends to be monochrome-This not only presents the images in a dark light, just as the message of guns being thought of okay is presented in a negative light, but also the pictures are not only coloured black and white but also are showing the truth, often reffered to as showing things in 'black and white'.

-The use of replacing God with Guns in 'In Guns we Trust' as a use of irony as it's a phrase that many American's hold dear due to them believing God protects them and therefore they are replacing that a dangerous weapon, a gun.

Other texts that were similar in some ways with In Guns we Trust;
-Tim Burton's pieces e.g Frankenweenie due to the same macabre colour treatement
-Take me to church music video~Hoizer -monochrome colour treatement
both use the similar colour treatement to depict darkness and sadness

Potential Production Breifs

1. A promotion package for the release of an album, to include a music promo video, together with two of the following three options:

 – a website homepage for the band;

 – a cover for its release on DVD;

 – a magazine advertisement for the DVD

I am considering a music video as my final product due to music and their videos being something I enjoy watching and listening to on a daily basis. I also want to make something in correlation to one of my favourite songs in order to appreciate and give new meaning to the song. I am also interested in doing a music video because I feel it is very versatile and offers me many different ways in which to do it.  

10. A short film in its entirety, lasting approximately five minutes, which may be live action or animated or a combination of both, together with two of the following three options:

 – a poster for the film;

 – a radio trailer for the film;

 – a film magazine review page featuring the film.

I am also considering doing a short film. This is due to me previously doing an opening sequence and so would feel comfortable in this area. However, thats also a reason why I would like to do a music video instead in order to explore a different style of media and experiment with something new.

AS media final piece evaluation

Synopsis
The purpose of our opening sequence was to highlight different social groups and the differences in power, control and standard of living that are present between them. We chose this to do this by using two extremes, 'freaks' and someone controlling them. The 'freaks' were used to demonstrate the people within society who are different and/or stand out. The ringmaster was used to present those in society who are either against those who are different, treat them in a different way because of their uniqueness or consider themselves superior because they view themselves as 'normal'.
Areas of success
One area which went successfully was the match-on-action present in the picking up of the key. I think this went successfully as the whole action flowed smoothly using the combination of different shots and because of its smoothness it appeared more naturalistic. I think another area of success in my final piece was how well me and my group adapted to the changes we had to make within our piece. These were based on what we would and wouldnt be able to acheive within the time limit and with the resources we had. One example of this was us being unable to use the ringleader that we wanted as he wasn't free for filming so we found another friend who was willin to step in. Another issue we encountered that we effectively resolved was the issue of not being able to source cages for the 'freaks'. To work arounf this we instead used the bars of the school gates as the bars of the cages and on looking back I feel it worked well and provided the caged and trapped feeling intended.
Areas for improvement
Regarding areas of improvement, in my A2 piece I would like to improve the amount of time spent on planning the message and story behind it in order to ensure it comes across clearly to the audience. One way in which I intend to do this would be to not have such a complicated storyline as therefore it is easier to get lost. I also felt with my AS piece that I could have focussed a lot more on timing to ensure none of it was rushed and also hope to improve on making sure I have all the essentials such as props prepared so that creating the piece will run more smoothly and efficiently.
Audience feedback
The audience feedback recieved was that of what was intended of the piece, this being a sense of eerieness throughout and a view of the piece being creepy and slightly uncomfortable to watch. Their was also the view voiced that it was well put together and the music in the background heightenin throughout created the increased intensity and dramatic levels intended. The piece was also mentioned, by those who watched, that it was thought provoking regarding the issue of the discrimination against difference and also that it was intriging. However, it was also felt in parts that the storyline was hard to follow, and so therefore in my A2 piece this is an area I wish to work on.