Continuity Task

This is the first video we had created as a team, and the last. But I will evaluate the differences that I have made and how I have improved on narrative, camera angles and composition. This will become aware on my evaluation website. 


Little Red Riding Hood Neo noir from Charlotte Beach on Vimeo.

Smoke Video

I have created a smoke video with two different devices: a shisha stick and a KangerTech vapouriser to determine which is the most creative yet realistic smoke to use for my photo shoots and production. However, I am finding it difficult to add to Vimeo because of the size of the file. I may have to ask my teacher for help to add it onto Vimeo or create a larger video size because otherwise I cannot add to my blog. I will try and get this sorted by the end of this week.

Awards

Our teacher decided that we would all vote on the best productions starting 1-5. Every member of a team had to vote for their favourite productions. Autumn and I didn't believe it when we came third out of five productions. I was ecstatic when finding out the scores. Now, I feel we can create a very moving and very effective final production in the next couple of months. This score has made me very excited to start our production.  Below you can see the slideshare of the scores.

2015 media production as fairy tales position votes + comments from Elaine Humpleby

Our Fairytale Continuity Task

This is our neo-noir version of the fairytale: Little Red Riding Hood. I have taken this from my Vimeo account along with other blogs and posts i have created. We both felt thrown in at the deep-end seen as we have never done anything with creating videos or media since creating this. Therefore we did find it terribly difficult but we both know that to create a good final that we need to put so much time into practicing different skills to get our best. Enjoy.

Little Red Riding Hood Neo noir from Charlotte Beach on Vimeo.

Props and Conventions of our Fairytale Neo-Noir

Autumn and I have decided that we wish to refuse the ideal general conventions of film noir and create our own neo-noir in the style of Little Red Riding Hood. We have discussed and agreed that we feel the photographs at least should be black and white with only red as the colour standing out. This is usually used to draw attention to the femme fatale, however it will draw more attention to Little Red, the innocent. We will edit the photographs on Adobe Photoshop together. The three photographs below are some quick examples of how we will use the red to draw attention:

The photographs are fully black and white only focusing on the red. We have decided to incorporate the convention of Sin City into our film. These images were taken in today's lesson when we were interested in playing around with colour. 

We have spoken about props for the photo shoot that is happening tonight and we have decided on using a long red skirt as a cape for Little Red. This will be in vibrant red in the photographs. We also believe that Little Red should have red nails and lips too. This may make the audience believe at first that she is the femme fatale. Leading it to mystery.

For the wolf we had rummaged through the drama studios and found a furry hat and a leather look, old waist coat. This waist coast looks dirty which is great for the wolf as he is supposed to be a wolf that is used to the great outdoors. We wanted the wolf to be walking around with a cigarette as well to show he is supposed to be the femme fatale as he will also be flirty towards Little Red. 

We are still unsure whether we are going to have the gran in the story and whether we are just going to leave her locked in the wardrobe screaming telling Little Red to run away and hide from the evil wolf. However, if we are to use the gran in the story we could use a soft, knitted shawl as it is a stereotypical grandma type of clothing. We could also add some big glasses too.

For the axe man we have decided he must have some kind of tool on him to show the film is modernised and because he is the girl next door saving the day. We think he should wear either tartan or blocks to make it seem like they are really in the forest. He should wear rough jeans and should have a dirty face and be tired out from all the work he has been doing all day.

The four photographs to the right are of some of the costumes we will be using to try and set the scene properly. This photograph was taken by Autumn.

Fairytale Neo-Noir Script Work

Autumn and I have started writing up a draft script of when we film our short film next week. We have decided to keep it short but sweet as we do not wish to make it too long, only a couple of minutes to keep the audiences attention. Here below are some photographs of Autumn's note book of the draft:

As you can see we have colour coded it. The red pen is obviously for Little Red Riding Hood, orange is for the wolf and blue are the stage directions. We found this much easier to coordinate when running through our lines. 

Reflective comment:
I still believe that we need to tweak this to give the short film it's full potential and to making it slightly longer. We also did not know what the wolf should say to Little Red because he should be flirting with her to get what he wants (her as his dinner). We also need to add much more detail and media terminology to create the best effects. I enjoyed this task because we could add our own imagination and how both Little Red and the wolf should act.

Freeze Frame

The Great Gatsby Synopsis

Midwest native Nick Carraway arrives in 1922 New York, he is in search of the American dream. Nick moves next door to millionaire Gatsby and across the bay from his sweet cousin Daisy and her manipulative husband Tom. Therefore, Nick becomes drawn into the world of wealth and as he witnesses their illusions and deceit this film leads a tale of impossible love, dreams and great tragedy.

In the frozen photograph you can see both Gatsby and Daisy, Daisy of whom looks very lustful towards Gatsby as she is resting her fragile hands among her lips. Gatsby is positioned on the left in the frame, however he is not in focus. I believe the photographer has done this purposely because it shows that she is constantly on his mind, whether he likes that or not. Throughout the film the colour is very saturated this is usually done to show age to the film and they do this with camera effects and the colours that characters dress in. The distance between both Gatsby and Daisy shows they are now intimate and have been so before, Gatsby is longing over her as he is not focused. This is an over the shoulder shot which also shows he is watching her, gazing almost in this scene. I believe the shot is composed over the shoulder and with Jay Gatsby not focused because he has loved her all his life and all he wants is her back, throughout the film you can see all he does is try and win her over. If the shot were not composed from this angle I believe it would not be as capturing towards the audience. By the mise-en-scene of both characters in this freeze frame you can see both are wealthy, however both are not happy. The jewelry and elegant dress shows that she is a modest woman and is quite infatuated towards Gatsby. Lastly, the focus of the scene would be Daisy as she is in focus and so we can tell she is either about to start dialogue or there is meaning behind her smile.

Media and Me

As a class we were given a challenge from our teacher to create a short presentation or vlog about what kinds of media we use and how we feel about them. I had decided to talk mostly about films I have watched and what are some of my favourites and video games that I have played from childhood until now. This was my first vlog so I wasn't very prepared and was nervous.

I had created this vlog in my bedroom however, I did wish to film outside but the weather at the time was awful. This vlog was created with a tripod and by using my Nikon DSLR 5200, I had edited and cut this vlog as it was originally sixteen minutes I did this on MovieMaker. Enjoy. 

Media and Me from Charlotte Beach on Vimeo.

Reflective Comment:
I had great difficulty in adding this vimeo post on the blog and I don't know why it would not load, the page was just telling me the embed 'copy' was not correct, I believe this was my laptop as it works perfectly fine on school computers. As I add more vlogs and posts on my page I will discover the reason for this I am sure.