Dogme95 Realism

Dogme 95 is a film making movement established in 1995 by the Danish filmmakers Lars von Trier and Thomas Vinterberg. They started this film movement to combat the Hollywood-ised nature of modern day film including mass special effects. Dogme was initiated to make film makers and audiences alike re think the art, effect and essence of film making.
The Vows of Chastity are a set of ten rules that Dogme 95 states needs to be employed in a film of this genre. They are as follows:
1. Filming must be done on location.
2. The sound must all be diegetic, including music
3. The camera must be hand-held
4. The film must be in colour without added special lighting
5. Optical work and filters are forbidden
6. The film must not include superficial i.e murder, weapons etc.
7. The film must take place in here and now
8. Genre movies are not acceptable
9. The final picture must not be in widescreen specifications
10. The Director must not be credited


The reason why this is so relevant to our film is that Dogme95 provides a sense of realism to the film, while being made with a very low budget. Also the Vows are very easy to follow, as many of them we don't have the potential to do anyway. For example we dont have special lighting, and even though we go against a few like genre and superficial actions and we need to be credited because its our coursework it doesnt matter because the few we can comply with will help the realism of our film. 


BH

Production: The End

For the end of the end of the film, i want a really strong ending to leave the audience feeling emotionally drained. Even though it is really hard to create i want to have a hanging scene end which sounds slightly drastic, but i think it would end the film with a 'wow factor' scene. The few examples which i looked at have used shots of swinging hanging feet, and the noose around the neck, with the top half of the body. The idea is that you are given enough implication of the act without seeing an explicit long shot showing the whole body hanging, which is obviously quite dangerous.

This link is a clip from Kidulthood, and is the only clip i found with the scene in it, so its slightly longer than needed but the last 7 seconds is what im looking at as it does exactly what i want to create.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltFlpF-lvUE

BH

Short Film: BFI Moving Shorts

The British Film Institution created a compilation of short films they consider to be worth recognition. This is based on originality and production. However, the four i watched seemed to contain originality for originality's sake. What i mean by that is that they have been asked to create something original and they have come out with something very abstract. An example is a short film on the dvd called 'The first time it hits' which is just 3 minutes long. However in that three minutes there is not much else than some shots on the end of a skateboard, some close ups and extreme close ups of a teenage girl and a few of a boy. They manage to make it look very grainy and extremely home-made. Having said this it is supported and funded by ScreenYorkshire and it is Lottery funded.
Again, similaar to the virgin media shorts, the films i watched seemed to have no narrative, purely an idea around which the creators slightly adapt a few times.

BH

FONTS

The font used in film says masses about the genre, feel of the film and the quality; and thats not even talking about what the writing in the font actually says!


As we are using iMovie to create edit our film, i have shown a selection of the fonts we could potentially use for the titles.
A FOCAL FILM This is Coolvetica, and is our first choice. It gives nothing away about the film, with the basic capital letters, something completely necessary for the action thriller genre. 
A FOCAL FILM This is Chalkboard and suggests an element of fun, or a childish film which is obviously not what we are going for but this is here to show a really clear comparison.
A FOCAL FILM This is Big Caslon and suggests something a bit too regal for the film we wish to create which deals with slightly more gritty issues than this film suggests. You would see this font in, say, a period drama. Having said this it would not look too out of place as it is a versatile looking font, but the top font, coolvetica, is the best choice.


I did this post on my iMac at home and unfortunately the different fonts do not come out on Windows computers.


BH

More short film research

This is much more the idea that I wish to create. Even though its slightly longer (7 minutes too long) it has the components of a narrative that I want to make. The majority of short films, even slightly longer ones do not seem to have a narrative inbuilt, which severely  limits their effectiveness as short films, in my opinion. The actual idea is clever, and it is pulled off well; having said this, horror is the easiest genre to create and do a good job. You look at British horror films which works on small budgets with really effective results. The best part of the film is adding an massive twist to the end of the narrative which i wont spoil for you, but really tops off a great amateur effort.


Alongside this is the inclusion of some fantastic shots and really well done mise-en-scene, mainly the shots of London, empty in the middle of the night, and the train station. It starts off with these empty london streets, setting up the horror so well in a '28 Days Later' sort of fashion.

BH

Research into Short Films

The Virgin Media Short film competition is held every year, and is relevant to what we are doing but they generally focus on one idea and expand on it, utilising this one idea many times, with no proper narrative structure to it, merely several ideas on one idea. It is quite difficult to explain but there are a few examples:

The Vicious Cycle:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvmcQKfGHFw
This short film is a perect example of what i am talking about. It is the same idea- a bike that goes in circles through time- and this idea never changes, merely camera angles change.

The Black Hole:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Un20p1NGuw
This film is edited with real quality, and the idea is flawless and inventive. But the same problem is that it is one idea put into different scenarios, such as the vending machine and the safe.

The problem with these examples is that the film i wish to create has a particular narrative to it, and the idea is to include all the features of a feature film but make it 5 minutes long. Maybe this will prove too hard, but it is the idea i hold on to.

BH

Movie style Soundtrack.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zykzIgMNQqo This would be the type of soundtrack to which were looking for.

Range of Shot Types we will include in Film

We feel that a short film must represent the movie as a whole, though leaving clues and enigma codes is vital. Showing the audience the best of our quality will generate a fealing that the film will continue this quality through out. A way to increase the fealing that it will cover this concept is to add a range of screen shots. Showing off to the audience our many ways of filmings.
Big close-up
Mid shot(MS)
Wide shot (WS)
Point of view (POV)
close up or close shot (CU)
Medium-long shot (MLS)
Over the shoulder (O/S)
High angle
Medium close-up (MCU)
Long shot (LS)
Two shot, three shot (2/s,3/s)
Low angle


DW

Preliminary Ideas for Short- 8ball

Foucsing on an Action British film, there seems to be a trend in fast-moving shorts with the representation of the stereotypical Britain. This could include scenery such as London or the Countryside or our well-known English accent. The increase in global viewers for British film has increased, aswell as it increasing in the U.K itself.

Our short film for 8-ball is to give a brief and sharp insight into the Movie. Shocking the audience with powerful scenes which cover the "over-all" storyline and structure of the film. Leaving enigma codes that have been picked carefully to raise opinion. Trying to be as similair to how the present films of this nature in the industry, created there film. This will then hopefully tempt the viewer into watching this as a whole.

The film will inlucde an oppening to the protagonist's life. It will seem "clean" with a slight hint of average behaviour in the character, but nothing to "cheesy", we feel this could clash with who he realy is. The piece will be struck into darkness with an ambient sound after we see him smile, acting in his "fake" life. a gun click will be heard in the darkness aswell as people talking, nearly shouting at each other in a panic. A bright light will then strecth across the screen and the greasy face of a man will appear in a big close-up shot, he will then state " so this is the guy?" It will be appear as if he is performing surgery to the viewer. This will apear as a catchphrase within the film, he will be reffered to by "the guy" a lot of the time, saying "he's the guy" or "thats the guy". After this short clip the music will suddenly drop into a fast beat with a catchy melody, . There will be narating over the music from the scenes which are shown, though famous speeches in the movie will continue for longer over the other scenes that are being shown. This continued voice will appear relevant for what is being shown. For example there will be a scene where the character is being told of a "great drug robbery waiting for him to snatch" and as this voice is describing it, we will be seeing the robbery itself, the drugs, guns firing and so on. Sudden scene changes will be relevant for the film, trying to fit in the best shots to keep the audience occupied. Towards the peak of action the screen will turn to black and the music will stop then red bold letters of "8 ball" will appear. The main character will then be seen shooting an 8 ball into a snooker hole aftert this. It will then turn black again.

DW

Teaser trailer footage --> short film

During the half-term we spent time filming for the teaser trailer. However, as soon as we had a little content I realised that it was extremely hard to cut certain bits out to create the snappy transition of many 1 or 2 second shots which just imply a meaning and don't carry it out properly. As a consequence, I saw the opportunity to extend it into a short film instead. This would give me a chance to exercise my narrative qualities that I use with my creative writing in English – and a career interest of writing screenplay.
This leads me on to how a teaser trailer is so very different to a short film in so many ways, although they are both visual media and a short film is only slightly longer. Having said this, the extra few minutes are essential to creating an opening, and more importantly a closure of the narrative. This is the main difference between the two, as a teaser trailer with not have this explicit narrative, merely imply genre, stereotypes etc. as it is meant to entice and not explain.
To conclude, I am going to finish the short film, and also complete filming for the teaser trailer, so we have an option to polish one for the final product.
BH

Pitch for proposal movie (trailer) "Who Owns"

Based in 70's New York, Antoni is a 20 year old, full time waiter working in a pizzeria. A street life with his gang is all he has. Until one night he over hears a plan when working, from a Mafia don named Sully, to take over the restaurant. And to Kill Albo, the Manager. Antonti saves Albo. Albo leaves the country leaving Antoni with his house and restaurant. His gang takes over the restaurant until the Mafia find out whats happened. Antoni and the gang are not willing to compromise What will happen next?

DW

Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels Teaser Trailer

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Dead Man Running Teaser Trailer

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• In 47 seconds of trailer i counted 42 visible shots. There is also a seconds worth of film that also includes a second long montage that includes about 20 shots. This requires very sophisticated editing but looks very good. Most of the explicit shots are either one or two seconds long with pure implication attached- something very important for teaser trailers
• The point of a teaser trailer is obviously to whet an audience's appetite. The inclusions of well known actors and features of a Crime thriller that the chosen audience will want to see are all put in. For example, the problem is lightly explored, lots of money is shown and black screens in between the visual action that explicitly tell you what you are watching. An example of this is 'The Player' followed by a little montage of Danny Dyer and so on. There are six of these black screens including the Title at the end. They simply serve to fill out the story and make sure the audience knows what is going on.
• Another feature that works well is the voiceover that goes over the fast paced music and the visual action. It is almost all Danny Dyer's voice that fills out the story without giving too much away, similar to the way the black screens do. The best quote is "How we gonna raise hundred grand in twenty four hours?!"

BH

Dead Man Running Film

The film 'Dead Man Running' is an example of contemporary Brit Crime Thriller genius in terms of storyline. It is written and directed by Alex De Rakoff, and this is perhaps why the storyline is so well done. The actual cinematography used throughout the film is not special, and no shots really jumped out of the screen at me like The Layer Cake did. However, the narrative is done extremely well over the hour and a half of the film.

• There are no settings in the film, bar the last two minutes of it, that say that it is set in London, however, the estates shown and accents used (cockney rhyming slang mainly) and the diverse nature of people shown imply that it is based in the Capital until this iconic shot:
• The reason i praise the narrative so highly is because whilst the main narrative featuring Danny Dyer and Tamer Hussain (staple Brit Crime Thriller actors) are carrying out one storyline, there is a parallel one featuring the protagonists mother being held hostage by the local hard man. You would expect that the main storyline would be light-hearted and this other parallel would be dark. On the contrast, the main storyline is at points dark and sinister, as well as carrying a form of light-heartedness throughout. The storyline that runs parallel is almost laughable, as this older woman, in a wheelchair, is having two shotguns pointed at her for hours on end and she laughs about it, reads and listens to the radio. She offers him tea and talks to him, to the point where you revisit this one and forget he has guns, and she is hostage to be killed if money does not reach the main bad guy in 24 hours.
• The only cinematography that I really liked was when Hussain has to kill a random man in some woods for money.  He drags him into the woods, away from the van and the driver, and you see a medium close up of him shooting the guy, which then cuts quickly back to the driver's perspective, so a long shot. This happens three times and the juxtaposition allows the audience both the protagonists view, and that of the driver. Later on in the narrative, you find out that hussain has used a fake gun previously given to him and he doesn't actually shoot the man, and this is why you see the long shot, because the driver tells his boss that the target is dead, and Hussain is given the money.
• The soundtrack is very british, and modern, to the point that I recognized all of the main songs played, showing that my generation can really relate to that, as well as other aspects of the film.

BH

Genre

The genre we are most interested in recreating is the niche market of British Crime thrillers. To provide the best example (and arguably the pioneer of the genre) is Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. It wasn't the first of its kind, granted but it is the first that comes to mind when thinking about the genre as a whole. Others that spring to mind are: The Layer Cake- my personal favorite, Snatch and Dead Man Running to quote a few.
Another reason for doing this genre is that many of the best British crime thriller films are done on a low budget, and this is obviously important for our piece, as budget is one of, if not the main issue when planning and making the piece.

BH

The Hero with a Thousand Faces - Joseph Campell

The non-fiction, comparitive mythology work written by Joseph Campell is broken down in "The Hero with a Thousand Faces". A book published in 1949 describing, through a theory, that myths with the archetypal hero usually share similair structure and have over thousands of years. writers, directors and artists have taken on board the theorey conciously and carefully in modern times.

Here is a Quote that is well known from the introduction of this book.
"A hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a region of supernatural wonder: fabulous forces are there encountered and a decisive victory is won: the hero comes back from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons on his fellow man"

We can break down this theory into steps, which lay out and create the journey for the Hero.

1. The Hero is living a dull, basic or exciting lifestyle, though in the ordinary world. The world could always be improved, though they are usualy (not always) unaware of it ever changing, by accepting through society, family or past. "Ironman" gives us the example of an exciting lifestyle, lived by a successful buisinessman. "Avatar" gives us the example for the dull lifestyle, thinking it shall never change due to the Hero's part as a soldier who is disabled in a wheelchair.

2. The Hero is called to duty usualy because of need, help or revenge into a strange world of different activity. we make out of the "adventure call". Though the Hero may be given chance to accept, we learn things throughout about the Hero, though at this point we see whether they are "worthy". Courage, pride, hate, love and loyality is also what we may find out.

3. Trials and tasks will challenge the Hero if he chooses to enter the alternate world. The Hero may decide to, or not to, go alone. This choice may interfere with the goal. The Hero may leave his home and family behind. Also, typically telling them "I shall be fine". The tasks usualy include fighting through battles against foes.

4. The Hero will face a final challenge. This usualy comes with aid or help gained throughout the joutney of tasks. This challenge could be fighting in battle, a duel, rescuing something, destroying something, defeating the enemy or finding freedom. The challanger may come across the Hero before the "final showdown", and even defeat the Hero before hand. This appears the most anticipated or intense.

5. The Hero may gain or release the goal needed for the long journey. This will open up self-success or extreme self-knowledge. This could change the Hero into a "new-being".

6. The Hero now has the chance to return the goal or gift back to the ordinairy world. If the Hero chooses to do so it may create peace or freedom for the ordinairy world. The Hero may discover love along the journey and find it on the journey home. When back to the ordinary world there may be a problem with the love coming back with the Hero. The Hero or even the love may have to devote or give up something for the love to last. Many thanks from the ordinary world are given to the Hero. The Hero lives a better life.

Not all myths or recent movies contain these stages. Some may have one, some have all.





DW

MYTH

There are myths in life, as well as being in Media. A myth is something engrained in our understanding of life which has been shaped by our background. A media myth is similar, but it focuses on metanarrative, and the myths in them. Metanarrative is the super story if you will, it is the story that everyone in an audience is assumed to know what exists outside of the narrative. For example, Batman Begins (2005) was created with a massive myth of Batman that the director assumed people watching already were aware of this. He then took this and expanded on it and used, but also altered, the myth surrounding the character.

BH

Reseach: The Layer Cake

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A film made in 2004, directed by Matthew Vaughn. It quickly rose to critical acclaim for brilliant storyline and casting. These were the ideas i collected from watching the whole film. A few of these are in this clip above:

• At the start, a black front door shuts, with the name of the film in white edited on as though it is stuck on the door.
• There was a bird's eye view of three toilet cubicles, the two flanking occupied by girls using them, and the middle filled by two girls snorting cocaine
• In the club scene, Sienna Miller is shown dancing in a small crowd of people, and she is shown very claerly to be the attention of the camera, and of Craig (at time 0.30) he is shown coolly watching her while being talked at by the girl's boyfriend. WHen she comes over to talk to her boyfriend, the camera moves with her hand to Craig's with her number and she mouths 'Ring Me!' (at time 1.12) I would really like to create something similar in my piece
• In the slightly horrific assault scene in a cafe, one of the main characters is shown effectively beating up the camera, with the effect of being the beaten and getting beaten up up. It is very easy to do but the effect is very good, shown in the above clip (at time 1.40)
• A very small thing but it jumped out the screen at me, the camera is under a glass table, which holds glasses, drugs and a gun, and you look up at the two people talking like this:
• There is a black screen, made by the camera being in the back of a van, the doors are opened, and it illuminates the van-you see the man with a dead body, and a policeman looking in. The camera is at the back of the van giving an onlooking, seperate effect
• A slow motion silhoutte of a women walking down a corridor create powerful implications, as does the over the shoulder shot of the woman knocking on a hotel room door, the man opening it, the women steping inside and kissing him and the door slowly shutting
• At one point, there is an extreme close up on Daniel Craig's eyes, which has zoomed in in one setting, and when it zooms out, he is in another setting. Quite difficult to edit, but looks really clever. Something similar happens where you are just out of an over the shoulder shot, but you see Craig's reflection in a mirror cabinet, he looks haggard and is topless then the cabinet opens, and when it shuts he is looking normal in a suit as shown in the above clip (at time 2.52)
• The main killing scene is done very well, and more importantly cheaply. The killed is walking around the garden, the camera zoomed out and you watch the killer walk up to him with a gun pointed at his head. The camera then cuts to looking down the barrel of the gun, from an over the shoulder point of view, which then cuts to original spot, the gun is fired and the guy flies to one side
• When the thee main characters look into a freezer, the camera is placed in the freezer looking up at the three's reactions, an original idea done very well
• Lastly, the drug deal at the end is done how I want to do ours, there is a car with four men suited and booted, and the camera almost is aiming at them, and the other car is almost in front of the camera but at an angle, so that you feel on neither side, but included somehow 

BH

Research into the Genre

For the project, it would be useful to research similar films to the one I want to create. The genre, or more sub genre is crime-thriller, a popular contempory choice for directors in the modern era. I have been watching the modern classics to get ideas on mise en scene, editing and shot techniques, not to plagiarise but recreate with a personal twist.

BH

Critical Perspectives writing about production

Critical reflection is the ability to step away from your own work and critically analyse it. This is not only an evaluation of the work, it is the instinct to theorise our own things, getting to a level where opinion does not affect the evaluation, it is from a perspective outside your own, opinionated one.

The 10 Commandments for Reflective Writing by the Moses of Media:
1. Focus on creative decisions informed by institutional knowledge
2. Focus on creative decisions informed by theoretical understanding
3. Evaluate the process
4. Relate your media to 'real media' at the micro level
5. Try to deconstruct yourself
6. Choose clearly relevent micro examples to relate to macro reflective
7. Avoid binary opposites
8. Try to write about your broadcaster media culture
9. Adopt a metadiscourse
10. Quote, paraphrase, reference

Key Concepts
Synergy: The way that two media texts sync together, for example a poster with a film. It is concepts being continued across the texts
Downloaders: Pretty self explanatory, it is the new term given to the way of accessing media that does not require hard copies of it.
Theorised: Explores theories of media showing understanding of other forms of media

BH & DW