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