Week 6 @ SDC

The sixth week has been the start of my next unit in my UAL course and is about advertising. Within the first two days I completed my Research Plan for doing research to produce a television advert that will hyperthetically gain as much profit as possible. This is done through the medium of collecting results from Primary (research done by own accord) and Secondary (going to other sources to gain information) Research as well as Quantative (data that can be quantified such as statistics) and Qualatative (opinions, agreeing with statements etc) Research. I also consolidated the important of Market (understanding the general market of a product and identifying competitors) and Audience (building profiles of potential consumers as well as identifying their needs) Research. All of this was stated in my Research Plan, which can be seen in my Advertising section in the Portfolio tab.

During this week I also quickly decided on a brand that I wanted to advertise which was Converse. In particular, I wanted to produce a TV advert for Converse sneakers. While I don’t have a strong concept I’m set on doing just yet, I’m thinking of making a black and white advert to compliment the colours of tje black and white design. However this may change through I intend to carry out from my Research Plan. The Research Plan was completed on Tuesday night and for the remainder of the week I conducted the majority of the research. This said research included analysing adverts produced by Converse and its competitors (to spot common trends as well as gain some persuasion and cinematography technique), creating a large research log for all the sources I intend to use in my Research Portfolio (due next Wednesday) and finally begin to think about questions for a questionnaire. I’m really looking forward to this project as all the research is being done by our own accord and means that we can make a concept of our favourite brand through our eyes.

1.2.1 Task

Comparing Two Sequences 1.2.1

Film 1: The Shining by Stanley Kubrick (1980)

Film 2: Whiplash by Damien Chazelle (2014)

 

While it can be argued that The Shining and Whiplash are two almost different films from different eras of film and media, they both convey the same emotion and meanings towards the audiences of either time periods. The Shining is a horror film as opposed to Whiplash which is more of a psychological, but the two scenes ‘Go Check It Out’ and ‘Rushing or Dragging’ from either film respectively are put into the film for the same purpose: to create tension and put audiences at the edge of their seats.

In terms of lighting, both scenes have quite different uses of lighting for different purposes. In The Shining, Kubrick uses high key lighting for this scene with a tint of grey scale as well. This can be seen by the fact that a lot of the background set is white and the actual lighting clearly shows the expressions of the leading characters Wendy and Jack Torrance. On the other hand, Whiplash features a fair bit of what seems to be low-key lighting but is in fact just dimmed down lighting. The sort of lighting used by Chazelle creates the effect of a spotlight which is very topical with the film and centralises both the successful musician Fletcher and the upcoming star Miles. The effect that lighting has in both scenes is similar though as both techniques are used in the context of their genre.

The cinematography and particularly the camera work inside both of the films was directed quite differently. The scene for The Shining features a wide range of shots from close-ups to long shots for lots of purposes. Although this is more focused in Whiplash as it contains medium shot of the two characters, Fletcher and Miles, as well as some additional close ups of both characters. The many medium shots that are contained in this scene are to make sure the focus of the audience is on the two characters as the pan manages to just fit the two characters as Fletcher confronts Miles. These close ups are used to convey the emotions of Miles, as any director would used them for, and more specifically make the audience feel sympathy for Miles as he is being almost abused by Fletcher.

The music used in both of these scenes are quite different as well. In The Shining, for example, the use of soundtrack that progressively gets louder and more relevant as the scene progress. This progression not only builds tension but also matches the waking up and realisation of Jack Torrance as he becomes enraged about his situation. Conversely, Whiplash‘s music is taken directly from the scene and the stopping of music is to make the audience focus on the confrontation between Fletcher and Miles.  In short, the sound in these two scenes are used for different purposes but again achieve mainly the same effect on audiences. The only reason it changes is again due to the context and genre of the films with their respective scenes.

Finally the shooting of both of the scenes in The Shining and Whiplash is dissimilar to each other once again. The Shining has an irregular pattern of shots with a range of timings. There are some shots which will last for over twenty seconds and then there are some that only last for a few seconds. The longer shots are used for the dragging as well as shots with Jack being awake and regaining his conscious as a madman and the long, drawn-out times of these particular shots are used so that the audience by Kubrick so that the audience sees the mounting frustration and turning of Jack Torrance. In the case of Whiplash, the scene contains an erratic speed of shots as well as some normal shots. It does have a pattern, however, as the speed of transitions between the shots increases as the frustration of Fletcher progresses as he loses impatience over whether Miles has a “rushing or dragging” tempo in comparison to the rest of the crew. This high speed is to signify the timings that is required in music but also allows Chazelle to emphasise the anger and aggression of Fletcher towards Miles.

Week 5 @ SDC

This was the final week in our Filmic Remake project. The main focus was to get the rest of the filming done and then split up to create both the completed edit and also the presentation accompanying it for Wednesday. The remaining shots which needed to be done  were ones of Corey being dragged across the floor as he regains consciousness from being knocked earlier in the film. These shots were a lot more difficult than what I realised because the shots in the original were closeups of Jack Torrance face as he was dragged. This was incredibly difficult to replicate as we were given a SteadiCam which although was suited for the lower shots in our scene was still hard to keep stable for a lengthy 23 seconds. What made it even more harder was the location itself; the aisles in which we had to film were very tight with boxes and items which couldn’t be moved acting as obstacles for myself when filming.

We completed the filming at around 2.30pm on Monday and after returning the equipment, the group split into pairs. One pair would create the edit and the other pair would create and perfect the presentation for Wednesday’s showcase. While I did have a quick go on Adobe Premier editing a few shots and bits of audio into the edit, my focus was to complete the presentation so that the whole group knew what they were doing. For the next two days I created the visuals and scripts for said presentation and made each slide specifically to each member in our team’s taste. The final edit was a little sloppy in my opinion because the sound issues really appeared when playing the edit out loud on a bigger platform (the front in the showcase) and also a few timings of door slams were out. The presentation itself in my opinion was better though as it was reflective of our entire project and informative to the audience. Overall, I was quite happy the way the project turned out and learnt a lot of first hand experience in filming.

Week 4 @ SDC

This week was the second week of production of the Filmic Remake production. The plan according to the Production Schedule was to complete the pre-production portfolio by Wednesday and get all the filming done on Friday in order to give ourselves as much time as we possibly could for creating the presentation and edit for the showcasing next Wednesday. As there was little to do for the portfolio as we managed to get a lot of the pre-production documents done by the end of last week, it was quite easy to get this done. The only things that needed to be done by the entirety of the group were the individual treatments and smaller things like the Call Sheet and actually recording the roles of the group. The pre-production portfolio was finished by Wednesday and promptly handed to our teachers for which they gave the thumbs up to begin recording.

On Friday we arrived with everything we needed for recording: the equipment, the portfolio, costumes and props. However the member of our group who came in first to pick up the equipment made a mistake in not checking the equipment upfront so things like an XLR cable for the TAScam were missing as well as the shotgun microphone being broken despite thorough testing. We did manage to rectify this issue by the beginning of the planned out shooting with our actress which began at 1pm in the college’s storage kitchen. My roles were to get the set ready for filming as well as getting the fake knife from the Prop Room of the Drama Studion inside the college and of course being the Camera Operator. For me, handling and positioning the camera for each shot was a great experience however I did make a massive mistake: keeping the camera in auto-focus. This is a cardinal sin in filming as some of the shots which we got were not in focus and were quite blurry in 5 of the 23 which meant that the quality of the final would be compromised when it came to making the edit. This was unfortunate but I only realised this until after the shooting. The difficulty of the shooting also came from the location’s size and constant whirring made it a real pain to film inside it but we did overcome this and managed to film a total of 18 shots, which was the majority. We have gained permission to come in on Monday to finish of the remaining shots, so the plan for now is to begin making the presentation and get the rest of the filming done on Monday. I thought the production process was overall a success as we overcame a lot of obstacles in all aspects and I definitely learnt a lot about by first-hand filming.

Week 3 @ SDC

This was the introductory week of our Filmic Remake project. The prompting scene which was given to us was the ‘Check It Out’ scene from The Shining (1980). On Monday I was put into a group of four and we had out first meeting. This meeting was to determine the individual roles of the group for which I became the Camera Operator (as I had a camera of my own), Set Decorator, Prop Master and also was jointly in charge of the Costume/Wardrobe along with another member. These roles felt reasonable to me and everyone else shared out the rest of the roles equally with them being happy to fulfil their responsibilities. For the rest of the week, the focus was to complete the pre-production documentation to enable us to film next week. The next two days also saw a lot of important decisions being made such as managing to gain an additional actress for the role of Wendy Torrance, deciding the location of the set being the College’s own Storage Kitchen and coming together in order to get all the costumes.

The deadline is next Wednesday and from what we have managed to get done, we’ve done a lot of this work. I’m incredibly happy with what we have achieved so far. Alongside those important decisions, we also managed to complete the majority of the pre-production: Risk Assessment, Storyboard, Production Schedule, RECCI (Location Survey and also gaining information about the nearest police station and hospitals closest to the College) and the Lists for Costume, Makeup and Props. At the moment, it would be fair to say we are well on our way to completing the pre-production portfolio because of how everyone in my team has just got on with their work as I have done.