Bogdan: a week on

So, reflecting on our shooting last week, i think it went really well and we all worked great together as a group. I think in accordance to the 'shooting schedule', we did not follow keep up with it at all. I mean right from the start for our first shot, we were behind with our time. But, as we got on we progressed good and finished on time with all the shots we wanted. I think the good aspect we included througout was communication between the crew and knowing what each member of the group expects, as well as a great relationship with the cast. We got good feedback from the actors, and i believe this is a good way to develop ourselves as practitioners. I think it was good getting good and bad feedback from people who are already in the industry and have experiece, as this gives us a more in-depth understanding of real on-set work and how much work is involved.

We are now in the editing stage, and we have made a good start on it already. We have 6 days left for hand-in, and i believe we will have a good finished edit for then.

Props List for Bogdan

EXT. LEGAL OFFICE. DAY (DICe)

handbag
files
portfolio
cigarettes/ bottle of water
folder (for Bogdan)
EXT. DAY. (Tramstop at Forest Field)
cigarettes
letter (with school logo)
watch


INT. LEGAL OFFICE. DAY (York House)

law books from Boots
computer (Macs from 207 Wav?)
desk lamp (?)
pens
mug
files
stationery
graduation photos
picture frame
pins
calendar
diploma
diary
airline ticket


INT. APARTMENT. NIGHT

pictures (son & wife)
picture frames
Romanian/English books
Ro/Eng Dictionary
chessboard
stationery
plate
knife
fork
newspapers
ironing table
Rubik`s cube (?)

Long awaited update... presenting BOGDAN!

Okay, so as you can see i haven't updated my blog for like 2 weeks! Its been so damn busy these few weeks. 1st with our assignments and then our productions. Be prepared as theres alot im gonna go through so brace yourselves! So yeh, we've got another film to shoot and this one isn't a practice. We've been given scripts from Jools, which we've re-written in the way in which we want to percieve the story. Well, its been re-written like 3 or 4 times to what we've got it to now. Our story is called 'Bogdan', and is about a Romanian man who is an immigrant to the country and the story basically outlines his struggle with having to deal with the seperation with his family and how he tries to bring them over to the U.K and what issues he faces in the process.

So, last week we got our scripts (through a random dip) and our group was glad to have got the Bogdan script, as we all were more drawn to that script on first impression anyway. The day after, we had a group meeting, discussed through the script, and the group shared ideas on what they thought could be useful in the process of getting a meaning to the script and ideas on how we might approach telling this story in the most effective way possible. Luckily, we have Diana in our group, who is from a Romanian background, so we were given a head start in the background knowledge and how our character Bogdan may appear and what his characteristics may be like. Diana has done a character study on our character 'Bogdan', in which she outlines what our character will be like and what type of clothing would be suitable and what props may be effective with our Romanian character (http://duckieontrent.blogspot.com/2009/11/bogdan-capitan-de-plai.html).

We then discussed everyones roles. The main idea we had was for everyone to try out a different role from the one we had in our previous film. This is turn, would help each of us to understand the other roles more and, in essence, this would be better practice for ourselves in learning new skills. I myself was incharge of all the camera-work in the previous film, however in this film i think i want to discover more of the sound side, as i believe this is my weaker side. Therefore, i have chosen to be incharge of the sound design for Bogdan. As well as this i am the assistant director and assistant producer. I have been reading a book called 'Sound for Film & Telivision' by Tomlinson Holman:

(http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=wBlRtAlKPFsC&dq='Sound+for+Film+%26+Television'+by+Tomlinson+Holman&printsec=frontcover&source=bn&hl=en&ei=HhMLS83eHZT54AbI3OS3Cw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CBkQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=&f=false).

This book has helped me develop many interesting ideas, which were are fairly new to me. In the book i learnt about ''Hyper-REAL'' sound and the way in which this works and how sound recorded as natural may not sound 'real' when recorded (in the viewers perspective). Therefore, the technique relies with the sound being exxegarated a little during post-production. We see this in nearly all films, yet it goes un-noticed. This exxageration of sound adds so much effect to what is happening visually. Watch a film next time, and realise how the foley sound effects (e.g. footsteps) are alot louder than they would be in reality (exxageration of reality). I believe sound plays a massive part in a film, yet is is the thing that goes un-noticed the most. I think sound is VERY crucial, as it works with the audience unconsciously (as it can't be seen) yet has a MASSIVE effect with how a story is told. An identical scene played back with different music, can have a completely different meaning and message to an audience.















This is me collecting Foley sounds to include in post-production. In this specific picture i was collecting a sound for footsteps. I was completely caught off-guard :D

An example is in the film Citizen Kane, a scene where the sound can be contrasted with that in the next scene of Kane and his girlfriend in the back seat of his car. In the first scene, the sound is emphasising the seperation of the characters, Whereas, in the second, the sound is very intimate, emphasising the change of scene and moment or even change of emotion between the characters. All in all, i believe sound plays a massive part in directing the viewers attention and witl all the things i have learnt about so far, i am intending to incorporate all these ideas into our next film Bogdan as head of sound. I have written down a long list of sounds for what will be taking place in each of the scenes and i intend to collect these sounds seperately also to 'hype' up in post-production. This will all help me in the process of me learning new ideas and skills.

We then as a group decided on some location for the scenes in the script. We had 2 exterior and 2 interior shots. We had some discussion, and changed our locations around a few times and finally came up with the locations. We will have an exterior shot at behind the university DICe building, an exterior shot at the Forest tram stop, an interior shot in an office, and an interior shot of a house. We went to all the locations with the all equipment and had trial runs, just so we known and are confident that everything is right for the shoot. If any problems occured, we could then solve them on the trial run ready for the shoot. Here are some of the pictures of the locations:

















Oh yeh, and we met the actors we have been given for our film today too. It was a great opportunity go through everything with them and understand their professional perpective on what they thought. We also ran through the script and went through any problems they had and rehearsed each scene until we felt it was ready for us. Both of our actors come mainly from a Drama and theatre background. For example our female actor has been in Heartbeat, Doctors, Casualty, Holby City, Children Of The Crown (Nottingham Playhouse), and has also been in some feature films. Our male actor has been in The Execution Of Damiens, Coronation Street, Holby City, Coke Zero Advert. These are just a small few from a big list of things the actors have done.

We have also got a list written up of all the props that will be included in each scene, but i'll just include that in a seperate post as iv'e written sooo much already! Well i guess thats due to the fact so much has been going on the past 2 weeks. Neway, we are going to film tomorrow, so lets hope all goes well!

MALac complete

On Tuesday, Me and Alan, after alot of discussion and work fnished the final edit of the MALac project and we think we did a pretty decent job of it. We were however, as a group, in some concern about certain elements (E.G. sound, lighting) which we changed and then did a second edit. The first edit can be seen from the following link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OqbVJStELRg

Shallow Focus & Cinematographer

Ok, so this was work we got for last week so its a little overdue. I'm not sure its come up properly however with the quality, but I used the MF function on the camera after asking somebody, to get shallow depth of field (or there abouts):




















.

Film Production : MALac

So, today we completed filming our MALac storyline. After a veeeeeery long day we finalised and were happy with what we had. The only complications we had were that the actors we got tunred up quiter late. Given the fact we had to rely on them, we didn't really have a choice except chase them up. This consequently affected the lighting we had set up because we already had our lighting up and ready. However, by the time our actors came it got a little dark, therefore we could not go ahead with the lighting we had set-up initially. We then had to re-set the lighting to how we needed, which took up more time than expected. Besides this, our filming went all according to plan. Every memeber of the group did their roles as expected and altogether I think we worked very well as a group. The things we would do different next time is make sure the actors turn up on time and also take out equipment a good few days before to the actual location we are filming and practice and get ideas of how we can any overcome problems that may occur. This will, in result, help us work more quicker and efficiently when we film.

Here are a few photos on the day of filming:



Actors learning the script



Filming the house we had for our establishing shot



Sound guy checking sound levels



In action.. take 2!



Alan taking care of all health and safety measures



A few extras added by the director to add realism



A bit of dirt won't do any harm!











<< And finally, our cover images, but which one to pick? >>

Film Production: Practice Day: MALac

Today, we hired out all equipment that in going to be needed for our actual film. We went to our location and we set them up however we wanted to be set for our set. Here are some pictures showing what we did:



Camera Practice



Setting up lights




Picture of our location



Our cellar location for MALac scene









Minutes for the day:

-Final draft of the script, discussed and agreed upon.

-Studio light and camera rehearsal

-Booking equipment for Tuesday (on location rehearsal) and Wednesday (shoot)

-Health & Safety, Recce sheet completed

Overview - MALac Meeting

Today we were given the groups for our production of the film MALac. We then assigned each member of the group with a role, which they were comfortable with and then had a group vote. I chose to lead camera and assist lighting. After choosing the roles we had a meeting after our seminar and planned how we were going to go about everything to help us be more time-managable and meet all targets, as well as gather ideas from each member of the group.















Minutes for the day:


• A new member has joined the group, who will take up the role of sound recording

• We have got interested actors and actresses who have e-mailed back to take part in our film

• We have sent details and asked the actors to call back

• Completed a schedule for the filming and practice for all roles

• Tuesday at 2pm after lecture we will do a set rehearsal

• Wednesday at 9am we will do a dress rehearsal

• Monday at 9am, lighting and camera practice will be done before filming on Wednesday, by people undertaking these roles

• Script will be finalised on Monday (all changes)

• The risk assessment has been scheduled to be done on Monday as well

• We have had another discussion regarding our location, after having a sound lecture. We then decided a bedroom, but have now gone back to our original idea of the cellar due to sound and lighting purposes

• For all filming we have got permission from the technician to borrow equipment (e.g. camera, lights, mic etc) on specific days, when needed, whether for practice of actual filming

Film Review: Couples Retreat

Ok, the only reason i decided to watch this film was because it starred Vince Vaughn in it, and his films are pretty funny. So, this film is a comedy about four couples who undergo relationship therapy, which has its fair bit of laughs.
The unhappily married Jason and Cynthia, who decide to mix therapy with pleasure by holidaying at a tropical resort. There the activities include jet-skiing and swimming with dolphins, along with marriage counselling.
Vince being reluctant to go at first is persuded by his friend to come along as they get a discount if they go with three other couples. So they go along thinking they will have a great time at this exotic holiday resort.
Upon arriving at their 4 srat hotel and resort the couples are amazed to what they have come to, however not realising what is to come. The holiday resort they have applied to come to comes with strings attached. Along with having a great time, they are reqired to have realtionship 'therapy sessions' which none of the other groups feel comfortable with, especially the yoga training with the 'tight-trunked' yoga instructor.
After feeling that this trip wasn't what the group actually bargained for, the group go off and do their own thing. After going to the 'dark' side of the resort, and revealing the true fun time they wanted to have on the Eden resort island, they come to realise that it was all part of the therapy in which the couples took part in to reveal their true feelings about each other.
So, overall i'd give this film 3 stars, as yes i think it had its fair bit of comedy in it but yet it could have been alot better through its storyline as more realistic. As far as i know this film was written by Vince Vaughn himself, so yeh i guess there could have been a lack of storyline, due to lack of experience as he dosen't really write or produce in many of his films, but only just act. However, other producers involved Victoria Vaughn, sister of Vince Vaughn, who has produced three films, but being famously known for The Break-Up (2006).

Location Manager

The location manager, as the name suggests is basically the person who is responsible for finding the location for a film set. However, there are more roles to be played by a location manager. The location manager finds and secures locations to be used making sure it is relevant for the production to successfully complete. They are also responsible for resolving any issues that arise during this time and. If, during production, there is any impact of affect on the outside people/community, the locations manager is responsible to resolve them. The location manager has to visit a place, risk assess it, before actually choosing it as the best place for the film to be shot. They also identify and problems that may occur for e.g. accessibility, food, weather etc. They make arrangements for filming to take place, including co-ordinating parking facilities and fees for the location, available power sources, and permissions from relevant authorities. Therefore, a lot of planning in advance is required to successfully secure locations for a set in a film.
I have never really heard of this job role before having the lecture with Deborah. I have heard of the obvious roles likes director, producer, editor, but it was interesting learning about different roles. I think it is a great job to do, i mean i myself would love to do it! However it does come with alot of responsibilites and work (but i'm sure i could overcome that).

Here is a good video to check out about the roles of a location manager:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qr3Elpsjtwk

Jurgen Wolff

To follow on from the lecture i attended earlier in the week with Jools, we discussed the ideas of Jugen Wolff

and creative writing. I especially liked the idea of capturing and preserving new ideas as they occur and

doing so without judging them. i.e. every idea/opinion counts, regardless of what it is and how or when you take

down or preserve an idea. We also discussed how people do this in different ways for e.g. taking the main words or points from

an idea and putting them forward. However, the way in which i myself preserve ideas, is as i think of an

idea i write is down straight away. I think, for myself, this is the best way in which i keep my ideas together.

I also agree with Wolff's idea that the more diverse a persons knowledge and experiences are, then the more creative

they can be.

Ok, so we have been told to 'do something different', to help us become more productive. So i did the thing i hate the most;

sitting through a film i don't like. So recently, i watched District 9 (which i didn't like), so i watched it over again

but this time with an open mind and i actually sort of erm liked it. Maybe because i took notice of certain things more for

e.g. how it was put together in a sort of documentary way, but yet still be action-packed with sci-fi.

I have also been looking through Wolff's website and have come across some interesting ideas. Here is a short piece about

ideas and thoughts i read from Wolff's blog:

http://timetowrite.blogs.com/weblog/2009/10/to-change-your-thoughts-change-this-too.html

IDENTITIES FEEDBACK

HEY PEOPLE! could you please take a look at my 'Identities' package (1st link) and fill out the feedback form (2nd link)

This is the link to my Identities Package:

http://maeda.ads.ntu.ac.uk/~N0220002/Copy%20of%20mein3d-flashh.html

After viewing, please follow this link to complete a questionnaire on my design:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=emCtnBSxKQHEwkl9128p7g_3d_3d
Click Here to take survey

Thanks!

P.S. Were all going to have to do a questionnaire anway, its only takes a minute And i'll fill yours out in return :D Thanks again!

Box Update

AVATAR

Ok, i know i haven't uploaded for a while now. But dont worry, i have been getting my work done! :D Iv'e had my avatar done for a while now, about a month ago to be exact; but i now just need to get it into flash and work with it as it will be the idea for my actual box i.e. other elements linking from it. I've also got my flash done. This is a quiz about me, giving the user a more in-depth description of what sort of person i am.

This is my avatar from all angles:

Logos

Ok, so i've been working on my logo for my box. For this i used a few softwares. Firstly i designed these logos in Adobe Illustrator, i then edited/designed it further in Fireworks. I created quite a few and got a bit carried away. Hmm... now is the part where i have to choose!

I worked with 2 designs:-

First set of logos:


Chosen Logo for 1st set of designs (Above)




Or maybe this (Above)



Second set of logos:










Chosen logo1 for 2nd set






Chosen logo2 for 2nd set

3DS Practice - Hand (F*** You!) lol

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wy0etK97sxg)

Just some experimenting i've been doing on developing ideas for my box. Its a little out of place... but HEY!

Portrait Task

At first i wanted my portrait that captures me as a person as an image i made on photoshop, however after re-thinking i decided to make it a more real-life image with a realistic environment. This image not only captures my personality, but also my qualities & charcteristics. This is through how they are represented and how they are shown in accordance to other objects in the image. Hence, showing the significance of each item with myself. Some show my strenghths and some weaknesses and also emphasises importance linking with me and things that mean a great deal to me. Overall, i think the portrait is a good way to explore ideas of identity.


(Click to see a larger view of the image)

My 3D Avatar

This is the 3D avatar we did in Andy's seminar today. Hopefully i will use a similar idea for my box with the avatar and build on it. However, i'm not too sure whether to have my 3D avatar like this one or use the material editor in 3DS and draw on it e.g the face. I personally think the avatar would look better fully in 3D, rather than having this layer so i'm going to have to decide.





This is the avatar with the biped attached. With this i will now animated fully i.e. every body can be altered.

3D Car

3D car in 3d studio max. Not a very good outocme, but it gave me great ideas for my identity box witH the idea of the material editor in 3DS.

Hovering Monster In 3DS!

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDmZAGZEqco)

The 3D Monster we worked with in Andy's Seminar =)

3DS Modelling

This was my basic model once completed



I now needed to colour both the body and the teeth.. therfore i used the material ID tool to seperate both of these objects



I now added the colour to my character using the material editor making the body red and teeth white



Once coloured and turbosmoothed, my character was ready to be animated! I had to clone my original character and make others to animate. These were some of the various examples i did for the facial expressions.















This shows my final character and the order in which i animated the sequence of expressions, using the Morph modifier.

Another video for Unilever!

(Following from my previous blog) Check it out, this video shows how young girls are influenced by the beauty industry so much everyday through ads, billboards, magazines and beauty products. YET UNILEVER DOES THAT THEMSELVES... WITH THEIR PRODUCT LYNX AND THE ADS! DAMN UNILEVER!)

Identities

The Hypocrisy Of Unilever – Dove and Lynx

After reading a journal from one of our Multimedia students Steven Carroll, I decided to write my own journal and my views on the subject.
‘Dove’, a beauty brand under Unilever, was first launched in the 1950’s in the US, and then in the 1990’s in the UK. From this time Dove has come along way in developing further products such as deodorants, hair care products etc and is well known all across the world.
In 2004 Dove launched a ‘Campaign For Real Beauty’, which supposedly highlighted Dove’s commitment to broadening definitions of beauty. Here’s a video showing the ad shown on TV for this Campaign aimed at our young generation (I’m sure many of you have seen this before).



(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RADYaTvTGts&feature=related)

Following on to this in 2005, Dove launched the ‘Self-Esteem Fund’, which acts ‘as an agent of change to educate and inspire young girls on a wider definition of beauty. It aims to boost the self-confidence of young girls and women, enabling them to reach their full potential’ (As written on Dove’s website under ‘How it all started’: http://www.unilever.co.uk/ourbrands/personalcare/dove.asp ).

The same company Unilever also has a brand called Lynx, which I’m sure all of you have heard of. Lynx is a brand for deodorant aimed precisely at men. Unilever boasts themselves with this product with ‘The Legendary Lynx Effect’, which they say is ‘the smell of desire. As said by on their website and adverts ‘Lynx gives guys serious pulling power’ (http://www.unilever.co.uk/ourbrands/personalcare/lynx.asp ).

Ok, this is the thing I don’t understand and I find very hypocritical is that in the Lynx adverts, Unilever show women with hardly any clothes on and portray woman as sex symbols:



(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29HXaYkhOzk)

(See more examples at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8eUGtZr4Co&feature=PlayList&p=CD2FE47E1740228F&index=0 ).

On the other hand, Unilever, in their Dove adverts promoting their so-called beauty campaigns, boasting that their products ‘boost women’s confidence’. How on earth can you ‘boost women’s confidence’ with your products? When on one hand your launching Self-Esteem Funds and Campaigns For ‘Real Beauty’ with Dove, and then portraying them as sex symbols with Lynx. This in my view is very hypocritical of Unilever and the way in which they promote their many different products, just in order to draw people in.
And then they say woman are not happy with their figures. Well, of course they won’t be…

A Dove Film called ‘A Girl’s Self-Esteem).


(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ytjTNX9cg0&feature=related)

My MoodBoard

I've created a MoodBoard that visually shows what i'm into.. what i like... and general things that interest me. So take a look and i'm sure it will show you what sort of person i am! This also portrays the characteristics of my avatar.




I used Adobe Photoshop to help me make this. Using the 'Quick Selection Tool' helped me alot in editing the images and overlapping etc. The background of this image is a design from an Adidas hoody.

More Second Life

Ok, now ive actually understood how to telelport myself and go to other places rather than the place you end up once registering. Ive also changed my whole appearance after asking around and going to shops. I chose a smart look with a suit and tie.



Ive ended up on top of a mountain, and i think thats a ship in the distance and a little house. I went to check it out until it told me i entered a restricted area and i was teleported back to the mansion! ...



I'm a cloud of smoke!