Script (New)

After the feedback from Mrs Field that had one point that our script focused too much on that every one conformed to the norm and that we weren't really presenting that the documentary was about expression within society and that sometimes the use of big words can become pretentious and bore the watcher/listener. There fore we re wrote the script, keeping it simple and with the key values of the documentary in mind.

Feedback and How They Were Fixed

The genre was clear from the film pitch...most likely because i said straight away in the first slide that it is a documentary, along with the premise.
Our target audience was thought to be a good age range of 16-early 20, but I think there would still be those of an older generation interested in this documentary.
It was understood that the characters would not be fictional but real life people that we are going to interview. And that the setting would be within a tattoo parlour and other places, it is unknown to us at the moment of which tattoo parlour we will be gong to be filming in.
Most people said on feedback that there was little to no enigma and we thought that we would create enigma by hinting at the tattoo narrative with pictures of tattoos, tattooed you tubers coming up etc.
People thought it was similar in the way it was going to be filmed like TV Documentaries but then other people had never watched any real documentaries so had nothing to compare it too.

In the comments people asked...

How will you make it less like a T.V program?

I will make it less like a T.V reality tv documentary mix (for example 24hrs in A&E) by using the conventions of documentary films and making it a little bit more formal with the interviews, less reality being watched from spy cameras etc and more professional interviews and filming and then on top of that a lot of cinematic artsy shots to add to the film likeness of the documentary.


What is the message of our film?

The message of our film is mentioned in the first few slides, the messages in this society of conforming with trend and pop culture why do we get tattoos? is it still for individualism or just going with the trend? And then what is the impact of getting a tattoo? Like with employment discrimination and such things.

Film Opening Pitch

This was my initial idea to do a documentary for the film opening on tattoos and then my group decided to take my idea on and add what they had too it. So Ben had an idea for drama with culture, we are going to include culture as a focus of the tattoo documentary and then Aaron' film was very artsy (similar to Tree of Life) so we decided to incorporate these artsy shots to the look of some parts of the doc intro.

We used my initial presentation and adapted it for our group presentation...

Genre (Documentary) Conventions

The conventions of documentaries were mentioned in the film pitch.

In the narration video I mentioned a script, the script will be a piece of narration that goes over the top of the opening two minutes. This is a common convention of the documentary genre with voice overs in a clear distinctive voice helping the narrative of the film and encouraging the watcher to listen and think.
All of our footage will be "real footage" none of it is acted or re created for the film. Interviews and real places that are not fictionally made will be included which is a must with most documentaries.
We be using archive footage on two occasion, one is the video of the catwalk (which is shot 8) and the other is in the form of a photo collage (shot 27) of hipsters all looking the same which will be collected online.
Interview exerts will be used to provide thought provoking opinion and information. Which is mentioned in the narration video right at the end of, it will be one of the last shots we get.
We will have non-diegetic sound throughout the whole of the opening, maybe taken away for interview exerts, to add an ambience and atmosphere to the opening.
Visual Coding - the Mise en Scene of the whole opening sequence will add to the realness, hint at narrative and go along with narration. For example in the interviews the person being interviewed will maybe have tattoos or piercings or in the background there might be tattoo art all in the background on walls etc.

Script (Old)

Here is the old script Nathan wrote for the narration of the beginning of the opening sequence. As you can see there are annotations put on there splitting up different montage/scenes of the opening sequence, what shots to get, there timings etc.

Letter Of Permission

This is the permission letter that our teacher wrote for us in case we got stopped at any point and someone would need information but when we were filming we were either in the tattoo parlour where we had permission from the owner and customers to shoot or we were on the highstreet of town, a public space where it is completely legal to film. We ran into no problems.

Shooting Schedule

This the shooting schedule of everything we shot, when and where.

Filming Evidence (Part 2)

This is photographic evidence of filming of the opening piece...

Production Diary

Our group has decided to create a Tattoo Documentary and this is the production diary...
Nathan Blog - http://gbhsasnathan.blogspot.co.uk/
My Blog - http://gbhsasbengriffiths.blogspot.co.uk/
Aaron's Blog - http://gbhsasaaronhunt.blogspot.co.uk/

Production Diary

11/11/2015
First Meeting - We created and discussed our initial ideas together and we all assessed certain aspects of those ideas. We did this by viewing and introducing our initial ideas to the rest our group, we explained the main aspects of our idea, how we were going to make it into a good film pitch, how we will create enigma, how we would present the credits and we explained where the filming of each of our ideas will occur. We did this because when we come to a conclusion of whose idea to go with we will be able to incorporate ideas from each of our individual pieces this will allow our final film pitch to be original and interesting, this allowed us to accurately create our film pitch. We also presented where we got our initial ideas from for example I was inspired by Tree Of Life, Nathan was inspired from the many documentaries I have watched and Aaron by culture drama like Top boy and we presented scenes of our evidence of these different ideas of films and this allowed us to be able to understand what we would need to incorporate into the final product and what to include into our final film pitch.

12/11/2015
Second Meeting - After analysing each of our initial ideas for a film pitch we chose to use Aaron's Tattoo Documentary idea as a base of our film pitch because this idea was original (no one does a documentary as their film opening) and challenging. Then we worked on trying to include all of the groups ideas into the final product. Building from my initial Tattoo Documentary idea and what needs to be included in a documentary, we added the use of artsy/cinematic shots from my film idea to make the documentary a much nicer thing to visually look at and then my I idea of culture to be a focus of the documentary. We decided on the main focuses of the Documentary would be, how culture of today is affecting people into getting tattoos? is it inked celebs? Or is it a need for individualism within conformist culture/society? Or are they just easier to get? These questions were highlighted in the film pitch.

13/11/2015
Third Meeting - After discussing our final idea for our film pitch we discussed and researched evidence to assist on how to create a good and interesting documentary. We researched tattoo documentaries, filler shots and how a professional interview should be presented. We also researched a variety of angles and shots too keep our documentary interesting. We discussed how we would present that the documentary is based around tattoos but still be able to create enigma about the subject of the film. We chose to do this by not mentioning the word tattoo and only to hint around the idea of tattoos in the first parts of the opening and then we will drop the theme/narrative fully presenting the fact that our film opening is based around tattoos.

14/11/2015Fourth Meeting - Nathan and Aaron focused on presenting research and the information we had collected for the documentary on our blogs. We made sure we had an idea of how to film our film opening and we discussed necessary equipment that will be needed to make our documentary, consisting of camera's and tripods etc. Then we discussed the costumes that could be used in our film openings and what costumes will be the most appropriate to use for different scenes such as interviews. Myself and Nathan discussed where to film our scenes and we found several tattoo parlors that we could potentially use to film our film opening. We thought that we should use more than one tattoo parlor so we have lots of different environments and people to shoot. We will interview those thinking about having a tattoo, people with some tattoos with meaning and people that are covered in tattoos and this will allow our film opening to be interesting because there will be a range of 'characters' in our documentary opening rather than the same 'characters' repeated throughout our film opening.

16/11/2015
Fifth Meeting - This meeting we began doing our storyboard but a relaxed storyboard, with post it notes we drew and wrote down the shots we thought we would want and need within the actual
I worked on the Mood board, this will present our inspiration films and shots we have looked at to inspire the creation our film and this will show the films, genre and types of shots we used from different films to think of the shots we have thought to use and where we have chosen the shots from.
Aaron began to write up reviews from our film pitch which were written by other students in our Media class and our teachers, Nathan gave advice on the answers to the questions asked that were :
How will you make it less like a T.V program?
What is the message of our film?
(These have both been answered on the film Film Pitch)
These are the two main questions asked by the students and this was expected. Documentary films can often be interpreted as a program in the pitch process, like a reality doc mix for example 24 hours in A&E.
In this meeting we also have discussed that we have a working title which is Tatted Generation and at the end of all of our filming we will create a final film title as this will be easier to do as we can base our title around a certain scene or a certain part of our film opening. We have chosen to use the title Tatted Generation for now as our generation will be the most tatted generation history (it is thought) and we have based our film documentary around this because there are several questions that can be asked through this topic therefore we can create enigma through this topic about tattoos.17/11/2015
Sixth Meeting - In this meeting we considered which shots will be best to use and if there are any shots that we could add if our film opening is too short or not detailed enough and the more shots we have, the more detail that will be included in our film opening. We have also chosen to include shot angles in different sections of the shots will use in our film opening, "Interview Shot", "Filler Shots" and "Montage Shots"and this will include the type of shots we will use and how we will present these including sound, Mise en Scene, location, and brightness of the shot as we will be able to change and add effects to our shots to make our scenes as interesting as possible.
I researched how documentaries present credits and titles and the way and how long the titles last and we will be able to estimate how long our film opening could become by estimating how long each shot will last.

18/11/2015
Seventh Meeting - In our seventh meeting Aaron and Nathan used the script I written for the narration of the film and we put to use the shots we had created with the "Post it note storyboard" deciding on which shots we will use and how long each shot lasts for. We described the types of shots we were going to use and we drew how we would like every shot to look like. It was something I hadn't enough of on past tasks was the detail in the description of the storyboard, Nathan covered all the aspects of the shot in the description this time so Nathan knew exactly what to film.
I focused on several jobs that were necessary for the film opening; Music Research and Title Research.

19/11/2015
Eighth Meeting - In this meeting I covered the Risk Assessment about us filming throughout Chelmsford and the risks we could encounter. I is also carrying on more with Title ideas and the most effective font to use that will work for our tattoo documentary and we discussed as a group different ideas for a suitable and original idea for a tattoo documentary and we are deciding as a group the most suitable font to use. As a group we checked one another's blog to tell each other if there are blog posts missed or not in enough detail as they should be and this allows our group to stay on task and we will be doing a blog check every so often to make sure each job is being completed and not left unfinished. Nathan and Aaron checked the script and shot list and we ensured that the shots we have chosen are correct and we discussed how we will perfect our camera angles.

20/11/2015
Ninth Meeting - In this meeting I with the aid of me, focused on writing emails for every tattoo parlour shop that could be considered to visit to our film opening scene. The initial email can be seen on a separate blog post. After this I researched and found a variety of available tattoo parlours that we could email and access if the parlours accepted our request.
After this task Aaron focused on editing the storyboard voice recording and the images of the storyboard to match the voice on Adobe Premiere. Aaron recorded Nathan talking about the storyboard and the basic idea of our film opening then I focused on editing the images and storyboard to match what shot he is talking about and the image of the correct shot. Once this was completed I uploaded it to YouTube, it can be found on another separate blog post.

23/11/2015
Tenth Meeting - In this meeting Aaron started to research a catwalk clip that we could use in our film as we would not be able to film this ourselves. Aaron and Nathan discussed which shots would be taken after school and during the weekend and which shots we are able to without a tattoo parlour and which shots we need to record throughout school or other places to record shots. We set up a list of where we will record each shot to be able to record in our houses and other locations. We also went to an art classroom where we asked permission of a student if we would be able to record her doing art work, this would allow us to complete a shot which we will film during our next media lesson. Aaron and I then called a nearby tattoo parlour to see if we could stop by during the weekend to do some interviews and get some shots, we were told that we could stop by during the week to see them.
After school we went to my house to film a short clip of the online generation scene in our film opening which consists of someone looking online on a computer and on social media.24/11/2015
Eleventh Meeting - In this meeting we discussed about marketing and distribution and I began making the blog post for that and the rest of us got on with out blog work. Nathan also filmed someone in a art classroom doing her artwork, which was a shot we needed.

25/11/2015
Twelfth Meeting - In this meeting we tested a short recording of a tracking shot of Aaron taking a image and we will most likely record this in a different location than not at school as the atmosphere and surroundings can be more interesting than the surroundings at school.
I emailed another tattoo parlour that responded and are allowed to record we just need to find out when we are able to film.

26/11/2015
Thirteenth Meeting - In this meeting Aaron completed the shot list and uploaded it to his blog. I carried on researching the organisation and layout of the titles and how titles in documentary films should be presented. As a group we decided to use 'Tatted Generation' as a title and unless we think of a different and better title we are going to keep the title. We chose this title as our generation is supposed to be the most tatted generation as it is very easy and tattoos can be seen as a fashion sense in this generation. Also we just needed something to call it.

28/11/2015
Fourteenth Meeting/ First Day Filming- In this meeting we began filming and the tattoo parlour we went into is called 'Sacred Tattoo' (http://sacredtattoos.co.uk) we interviewed a tattoo artist called Alex and we asked interesting questions which had even more interesting answers and we have recorded the interviews and this went well more than expected and this resulted in good footage which we will begin editing in our next media lesson and there was a good amount of evidence of our day, Nathan also shot a lot of filler footage of "random" things around the tattoo parlour and people getting tattoos. We asked the customers at Sacred Tattoo if we were able to interview and record and take images of the tattoos they were currently having and we are able to interview one customer and take recordings of the other customers. Then after that we filmed other footage that we could get whilst in town, all can be viewed on the shooting schedule.

30/11/2015
Fifteenth Meeting - In this meeting Nathan began editing the beginning of our film opening after, importing the footage and getting it onto the timeline but there were many complications to editing on a mac so Nathan went onto a windows computer and got all the footage on an external hardrive and then began editing but Nathan couldn't really edit until the narration was recorded.

1/12/2015
Sixteenth Meeting - In this meeting Nathan went to music to record the narration script with their good quality mics and in a sound proofed environment, once this was done Nathan took the narration and went back to begin editing. Myself and Aaron began to start subtitling the interviews.

2/12/2015
Seventeenth Meeting - In this meeting I covered and reduced scenes that shake and parts of scenes that are not focused and edited the scenes to see whether the issue of a part of a scene can be solved. Aaron added more posts to his blog. Nathan edited.
After school Nathan went to his friend's Poppy's house to film a few shots that Arron needed of someone looking in a mirror and a close up of someones eye.

3/12/2015
Eighteenth Meeting - In this meeting all my editing could not be found so Aaron had to re start, Aaron continued to edit late after school but Nathan got the bare bones of our first draft done.

4/12/2015
Nineteenth Meeting - Aaron Finished the titles for the first draft on the edit, Aaron created a poster that would be used to market the film. Aaron exported the first draft of the opening. I began writing subtitles for the interviews.

7/12/2015
Twentieth Meeting - In class we watched everyone's first drafts and got to hear a little bit of feedback. I started finishing the subtitles for the interviews

8/12/2015
Twenty-first Meeting - spent the lesson writing feedback for people. No improvement on edit. Had a talk with Mrs Field about what we can do to our opening.10/12/2015
Twenty-second Meeting - Nathan and I rewrote the narration at the beginning of our film opening and a teacher feedback recommended. I had to re-write the subtitles as we chose different interview scenes.

11/12/2015
Twenty-third Meeting - I focused on subtitles and Nathan re-recorded the narration and I focused on archive footage and updating research for our blog.

Research evidence

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/01/19/tattoos-generational-divide_n_6445760.html

Provided the incentive and information of employment discrimination, that will be a focus of this documentary, and will be hinted at as a question to be answered in the opening sequence. i can use a quote like this to help with questions for interviews.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKagSW4s244
I used this documentary to get an idea of "real" shots that I can include in my documentary and how to maybe use archive footage. Also it gave an idea of having to use the production company first in the title sequence.



http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00t9vwc
This BBC Two documentary gave me the idea of questions that could be asked for getting tattoos that could be explored through the documentary and lead onto the "choice and consequence" reality of life or getting the tattoo and what it does for your future.





http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-magazine-monitor-27115348
This an article on other countries (there is more than what is shown in the image) views on tattoos and some jobs in Britain that dont allow tattoos in certain places or to be visible.

Storyboard

This is the first page of the Storyboard and this is showing the beginning shots which are mainly montage, quick second shots.

This page is mainly cinematic shots and artsy shots, which will be mainly shots of Nathan on a computer then, someone doing art and there are quick transitions.

This page is where the interview takes place and there will be images flashing on screen and then the title will appear.

This is our Storyboard Narration and Nathan spoke about the Storyboard and he included shots that we will add and shots we could possibly add as well as talking about each shot and explaining how we will record each shot.

Film Poster

This is the poster that I have created for our film. I used a shot from our short film opening and I have chosen this scene, as this is artsy and this a dark scene in our film opening therefore the writing would show up easier than using a scene with a light background. We chose as a group to use Ben Griffiths production logo as it the most artsy logo and stands out the most out of our production logo's.

Archive Footage

Archive Footage For Our Documentary

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOjOHly7gig

- This video is from YouTube and this footage from a Catwalk for TopShop and we will use a small short clip as we are not able to record a catwalk as we do not have this footage.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YhtowFSi0Vk

- This is another video that we have chosen to add to our short film and this another cat walk and we have chosen a part of this clip, which is a short clip of Stephen James (a model) walking who is covered in tattoos and therefore this will hint that our documentary is about tattoos.

Teacher Feedback

First Draft Feedback - Teacher Feedback


Mrs Brookes


WWW - Camera shots, Editing and Mise En Scene.

EBI - link between intro and tattoo where is that? Voice over a little to complex maybe shorter and shorter. When you walk into the parlour, you need intro. Job title needed. Lower tattooing sound. Cut out "yeah". Need more tattoo scenes.



Mrs Field


WWW - Shots are very well done. Editing is good.

EBI - Need to simplify the narration at the beginning of the film opening. Improve sound of the tattoo noise. Job titles should be added. Need to remove the constant "yeah".


Mr Amato


Really like the titles but can be positioned better.

Feels TV Documentary rather than a film, this could be because of the instant voice over. More instant talking and change the font that you use as it goes on and on and I do not like the late titles. Subject matter hands you some potentially beautiful shots that wait really evident.


Improvements from Feedback


We can improve from this feedback as we are able to go into other tattoo parlours and we are able to film more tattoos and we can film other tattoo parlours to change the scenery and we are able to film for filler shots and to make the documentary film more interesting by using different scenes. We are able to cut out the "yeah" throughout the interview and we will use subtitles to be able to understand what Alexsandrs Hirsfelds (the tattoo artist) his answers to the questions which we may display almost as subtitles to understand the questions and the answers and this will solve the problem of not understanding his voice clearly. We will be attempting to reduce the sound of the tattoo gun and we will most likely use a program like audacity to remove or to quieten the noise of the tattoo gun.

Evidence of planning

This is an image presenting Nathan beginning with a range of ideas for shots that we could add in our film opening and myself and Nathan began this and I did help with ideas to add to our film opening.

This image showing how we presented our shots, we used a piece of paper for the sticky notes to attach to and on the piece of paper had one of three titles, "montage", "interview" and "fillers" and we chose to show our shots this way to present the shots that we have thought to use that would be good to use in our tattoo documentary.

This is another image showing how we stuck every shot we done for each different title and this allowed us to add and take away shots that are a good idea and are not a good idea and shots that are necessary for our film opening.

This image is showing me and Nathan working on the storyboard and this is after we decided which shots to use and we wrote onto a storyboard sheet which shots to use.

Group Photo

This is our group for our final film task.

Aaron's job was to stay on top of research and make sure everyone's blog is up to date and he focused on shots for the cinematic parts of our film opening,

Nathan's job was to do basic editing and narration for our film opening and he was the person who had the original film pitch idea and we began with his idea.

My job was to focus on subtitles and research for titles and music to be able add this to our film opening and to make sure that there is nothing missed for research for our film opening. I had the idea of our film to be based around culture.

Shot List

Shot list:

Shot 1 - 6 will be a short montage of a 'hustle and bustle' of people walking, a cashier, buses. This could vary depending on shots which could be 1 second instead of 0.5 seconds.

Shot 7 - This shot will last 4 seconds and it will focus on a young and old person at a bus stop, this will be a still long shot.

Shot 8 - 11 will include 4 shots that last 2 seconds each which will show a catwalk clip, someone reading a celeb magazine, a girl looking at herself in the mirror and a extreme close up with a blurred background.

Shot 12 - 18 will include a shot beginning at a extreme close up on someone typing on a keyboard then transitioning to a mouse, then a fast zoom out to a high right angle facing down, then to a mid shot over the right shoulder slowly going closer to the computer then to a POV shot of looking at YouTube and Instagram.

Shot 19 - 23 will begin at a foot and then slowly go upwards from the shoe to the person looking through a camera, we have done this to present the creativity of our generation. Then there is a transition which is from zooming into the camera and transitioning to someone grabbing a pencil presenting our generation is artistic, then zooming out to present the person drawing.

Shot 24 - 25 will be someone drinking from a Starbucks cup then quick cuts back and forth from a Starbucks cup and a Costa cup to show similarity.

Shot 26 will be a long shot of a group of people and all dressed very similar.

Shot 27 will be a series of images showing hipsters to fill up screen with a collage.

Shot 28 this is where our film opening will tell the audience our film opening is about tattoos as this will be an interview about tattoos and this will be presented in a mid shot and we have chosen tell the audience this late is so enigma is created throughout the film opening.

Shot 29 This is where the title will appear and the title will be surrounded in tattoo related images.

Shot 30 (possibility) We could have a final clip after the title scene but this will be to create enigma and we are not sure what it will include.

Marketing Research

Marketing Research

Our target audience is 16-24 year olds. Therefore our marketing will be based on what influences people of these ages. We believe that most people young people who would be influenced by a tattoo documentary usually use all kinds of social media. Therefore we will advertise our film on the most popular social media sites. Such as:

• Facebook
• Twitter
• Instagram
• Tumblr
• Reddit
• Imgur

Another idea for our marketing is to use YouTube, as many teens frequently use YouTube. We could use a trailer of our film as an advert on YouTube to advertise our film. We could also chose to only include the advert on tattoo related videos as the people watching these videos are most likely to watch our film.

We would also create a website for our Documentary as a way of finding us. Our website would include such things as :


Home page - short introduction of the documentary.
Newsletter about the production of the documentary.
Links to our social media
Trailer Tabs
The team portfolio
Diagram Plan of website :::

Email to Tattoo Parlours

Dear Sir or Madam,

We are Year 12 Media students from Great Baddow High School and a part of our coursework is to create a film opening. We are filming a documentary about the rise of a tattoo culture within our generation.

Would it be possible at all for us to visit your parlour at a weekend or a weekday evening to interview you about a variety of subjects surrounding tattoos - the process of preparing the equipment necessary and maybe film someone getting a tattoo.

We would ensure to not interfere with any of the customers in the vicinity. The final production will only be viewed by fellow media students, teachers and the exam board. It would not be used for anything apart from for educational purposes but of course we would be promoting your parlour in a positive manner to our generation, who may be interested in getting tattoos in the near future.

We are excited to get started within the next week and would love to use your parlour as our setting. We wouldn’t be there any longer than 1-2 hours, ensuring we do not interfere with any of your customers and we are more than happy to work around you within the times you provide us.

Looking forward to your reply with any questions or queries.

Yours sincerely,
Ben Griffiths
Mobile (07921 426393)
Email (bengriffiths102@gmail.com)
cc. (hentonmedia@gmail.com)
cc. Mobile (07443 336743)

Risk Assessment

Title Ideas

I've looked at many documentaries online about tattoos and all seem to have feature words to do with skin, ink and tattoos. However we wanted to create enigma for our documentary, so we decided not to add any words like that.

Titles I feel we could use:
Living Canvas
Living Ink
Tatted Generation
Painted People

We were also thinking of the fonts we could use for our title. We used the title 'Tatted Generation' as an example but it is still currently a working title. These are the fonts we decided we could:

Music Research

For our music research we decided to look for YouTube supported, royalty free music. This means we face no copyright issues and are allowed to use the music in our film opening. We looked through many different tabs, to change genre and mood, to find the best song/s for our opening. We have found two songs that we feel best fit the mood and enigma we wish to create in our opening. We have chosen a dramatic/ambient song with a deep baseline to create enigma and a dramatic mood. And we also chose a happy upbeat piece to create a positive vibe about our documentary.

Title Research - for Documentaries

Title Research 

We researched the films McCullin and Ed Hardy : Tattoo the World

• Production team (This is always first and usually has 'In association with' before it.)
• Who filmed the documentary (Usually saying 'A Film by...')
• Cinematographers (Usually with 'Cinematography....')
• Music (Who created the music for the documentary, usually with 'Music...)
• Who edited the film (Usually with 'Film Editors...')
• Who produced the documentary (Usually with 'Executive Producers...')
• With interviews the names and their role in the documentary comes up as they are interviewed

Order of appearance in the opening scene:

• Soda Pictures (With logo, on a black screen)
• A Group production logo 
• A film by Nathan Henton
• Cinematography, Aaron Hunt
• Music, from the YouTube Bands (Names included)
• Film Editors, Nathan Henton & Ben Griffiths
• Producer, Ben Griffiths
• Title of the film (Tatted Generation)

Tatted Generation - Mood Board

Tatted Generation - Mood Board



Skin Deep – A Youth Culture Tattoo Documentary


We gained some inspiration from a tattoo documentary on YouTube. We need to make a film opening therefore we need ‘artsy’ cinematic shots. This documentary includes many of these in its opening. Therefore we will use these shots to make it more film like. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bw7WMKx6WE4







The Tree of Life - Cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki


We also gained inspiration from ‘The Tree of Life’ which is a movie that includes many cinematic shots, therefore if we include cinematic shots like this we can give our documentary a movie feel. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXRYA1dxP_0







In Skin - Tattoo documentary by Flying Knee Productions
We looked at multiple documentaries that include interviews and we noticed that every interview is shot at a different angle, therefore we are going to include this technique in our film to make sure the interview scenes don’t get boring and repetitive. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aC0GChceIVA







Close up tattoo shots.

We looked at some close up shots of people getting tattoos and we thought it looked very cinematic and would look interesting to include in our opening as it would be our filler shots and would complement what is said in the narration and interviews, to ensure everything in our opening scene is relevant.

Student Film Review

Film Opening Marking Criteria
Level 1 0–23 marks
The work for the main task is possibly incomplete. There is minimal evidence in the work of the creative use of any relevant technical skills such as:

• Producing material appropriate for the target audience and task;
• using titles appropriately according to institutional conventions;
• using sound with images and editing appropriately for the task set;
• shooting material appropriate to the task set; including controlled use of the camera, attention to framing, variety of shot distance and close attention to mise-en-scene;
• using editing so that meaning is apparent to the viewer and making selective and appropriate use of shot transitions and other effects.

Level 2 24–35 marks
There is evidence of a basic level of ability in the creative use of some of the following technical skills:

• Producing material appropriate for the target audience and task;
• using titles appropriately according to institutional conventions;
• using sound with images and editing appropriately for the task set;
• shooting material appropriate to the task set;, including controlled use of the camera, attention to framing, variety of shot distance and close attention to mise-en-scene;
• using editing so that meaning is apparent to the viewer and making selective and appropriate use of shot transitions and other effects.

Level 3 36–47 marks
There is evidence of proficiency in the creative use of many of the following technical skills:

• Producing material appropriate for the target audience and task;
• using titles appropriately according to institutional conventions;
• using sound with images and editing appropriately for the task set;
• shooting material appropriate to the task set; including controlled use of the camera, attention to framing, variety of shot distance and close attention to mise-en-scene;
• using editing so that meaning is apparent to the viewer and making selective and appropriate use of shot transitions and other effects.

Level 4 48–60 marks
There is evidence of excellence in the creative use of most of the following technical skills:

• material appropriate for the target audience and task;
• using titles appropriately according to institutional conventions;
• using sound with images and editing appropriately for the task set;
• shooting material appropriate to the task set;including controlled use of the camera, attention to framing, variety of shot distance and close attention to mise-en-scene;
• using editing so that meaning is apparent to the viewer and making selective and appropriate use of shot transitions and other effects.

Roses are red:

For this movie the titles are presented really well and uniquely. The camera angles and mise-en-scene were used effectively. However the computer scene was very blurry as the title cannot be seen very well.

The music fits the romance genre very well and was not too loud or too quite however the duration of the music seemed too long and got boring after a while.
I feel the genre of the film was made very clear after the titles as the mirror scene with the hearts and red writing pointed out the genre very effectively, but also the previous titles created good enigma.

Blitz
Right from the offset of the film you get a 1940's feel due to the props, the photos on the wall and the 'red brick' background also give a 40's feel.
The music and use of sound is well thought out and used effectively, the distant creaks and explosions and set the atmosphere of the movie well.
I feel the mise-on-scene was effective to show the girl at the end of the film to reveal the horror genre. The opening was very slow and subtle to ensure the audience was hooked and wanted to see more of the movie the whole time.

Mother and I

The titles at the start of the opening were very basic and poor quality. They were very boring and only had a fade in and out effect that looked poor. This gave a bad impression of the film from the outset. This bad impression was maintained throughout most of the film, the content was all the same, with just a boy walking around his house paired with poor acting.
However there were some varied angles and shots used which was good and the mise-on-scene was used effectively, however the enigma is far too complex and nothing is given to the audience making it boring to watch. But the use of different age groups is effective and may add slightly to the story and enigma. 

This is my final cut for 'A Bigger Saw'

Photos during the Prelim Task

Prelim Task - Script

This script is for the conversation scene:

*Lollie enters room via corridor entrance*
Lollie: Now to find out what you know *Removes bag from head (Prolong scene for audience to look at Ben*
Ben: Well I can tell you that your style is way out!
Lollie: *Stunned*/ that’s not what I meant and you know it *Slams table*
Ben: Ah, you wanted to know what songs *Gets cut off*
Lollie: What do you know about me?
Ben: I already told you everything I know *Panicked*, your style is way out! I mean ‘WHAT ARE THOSE?’
Lollie: Ponytails! *Pause*, Wait, Stop. Well no matter, you’ll never escape out of those bindings
Ben: What these *Presents ropes- Pause –Stands up and begins walking out the door*

Lollie: No stop *Begins chasing on tricycle*

However during filming, we were unable to get a tricycle and so we improvised on the day.

Prelim Task - Storyboard

Above is the storyboard that we created for our preliminary task, 'Bigger Saw' that we created on the second day of planning for our task. It overlays the basics of what will occur during the opening scene of the supposed movie and where the camera will be placed and at what angle. This will help us on the day of filming to organise how we create our movie and also when we edit so that we have the scenes in the correct order to create the best effect.

Prelim Task - Music

As in typical horror, the music will play a key part in the movie to create a suspense that will be dropped and mocked when funny events occur. Furthermore when a silly or stupid event happens the music will stop almost in disappoint to the scene or the event that is occurring.

The music we chose was from the movie 'Saw' which the preliminary task is primarily based off and that a large portion of the comedy is based off. We chose this because it is considered sinister and is already revered as being associated to a horror movie series that is globally known. This means that when people hear the music they will instantly think of the horror genre and make assumptions about what will happen.


These assumptions will then be broken by comedic scenes that will catch them by surprise and cause them to laugh out of their own mistakes.

Preliminary Task Evaluation

Talk With Pete Fraser

Prelim Task Ideas

Juno "All I Want Is You" Task

Audience

Uses and Gratifications of Media
16-24 year old's are the main target audience for most films.

In today's lesson we were told about an acronym that can used to present Uses and Gratification, which is PIES, this stands for:

Personal Identification
Information
Entertainment
Social Interaction

These are the four main reasons people view media and how they gain gratification from it.

When someone views a piece of media, whether it be a soap like Eastenders, or reading a newspaper article, and feels a similarity to an event or part of their life, this is personal identification.

If someone was the view media for the soul reason to gain information, if it be recent events and happenings in the news, or past historical events in a documentary, this is information.

If someone looks to media for enjoyment, and gets enjoyment from media, this is entertainment. For example watching a comedy film, or reading a humorous newspaper article.

If you were to be the first person to show the school a funny vine, or watch a particular piece of media to just discuss with your friends, this would be social interaction.

Institution

In today's lesson we went over the differences of mainstream films and independent films.

Movie Plan Feedback

The movie we pitched was called "A Year in L.A" the feedback was mostly positive. The most popular things about our movie were the actors we would use and the idea behind the storyline. But also our marketing techniques were praised highly. We received an average score of 49/70 with the majority of people wanting to purchase the rights to the film.

We also received constructive criticism on how to improve our movie, the most common point was that the storyline was quite 'clique' and a lot like other RomCom films such as "Valentines Day" however this was one of the films we gained inspiration from. However creating a RomCom that is original can be very difficult as it has to be 'clique' to fit the genre otherwise it would not be classed as a RomCom.

Movie Plan

Average rating: 49/70

Production Logo

In today's lesson we were asked to create a movie production logo. The first image is the image I used, and the second image is the end result after I edited it on Adobe Photoshop.

Practicing editing, with Adobe Premier

In Today's lesson we were asked to make practise edits using Adobe Premier Pro, I created a Dancing Bears video and a recreation of James Bond. If I could improve my edits I would have rendered and exported it in a better format so the quality of the videos is better.

Boyz n The Hood

In class we were asked to analyse 'Boyz n the hood' using the aspects we covered in class.

Camera

The opening scene shows a huge diversity of camera angles, the main is a tracking shot to display and set the scene for the movie. The children walk to the murder scene followed by a tracking shot to make the audience feel as if they are walking with the children, it also displays the rough area of America the kids live in to create a strong emotional attachment between the children and the audience in the first few minutes of the film. There is a significance of the upward shot of the 'STOP' sign, which I feel refers directly to the murder and outlines it's huge importance in the movie. The stop sign refers to ending of the person's life. There are many POV shots along with shots level to the children to make you feel as vulnerable as the children, and feel as if you are on the same level as them, also outlining their importance in the story.

Editing

The editing of the transitions in the scene where the children are walking to the murder scene establish the brutal nature of the murder. There are lots of shot cuts in the transition creating a harsh, brutal atmosphere about the murder. Also the scene with Trey's mother talking the teacher has significant editing. At first you can hear the phone call whilst seeing Trey walk home. He has to walk past people violently gambling in the street whilst his mother is arguing with his teacher. This displays how difficult and harrowing his everyday life is. When he walks past the gang it makes the audience feel as if he will end up like them, gambling in the street if he continues to fight in school and has his teacher call his parents.

Sound

There is a whole host of diegetic sounds in the opening scene, with sirens and people talking being heard. There is huge emphasis on the gun shot sounds in correlation with the music. Most of the dialogue between characters is typical for an African American 'Hood', reiterating the title of the movie. The majority of the scene between Trey's mother and his teacher is non-diegetic.

Mise en scene

Trey dresses much smarter and formal than his peers, but his slurred, slangy speech shows his roots, and upbringing in the 'hood'. The fact that his clothes are formal but his speech is slangy shows how much of a diverse character he truly is. The movie has a light blue/grey hue to it, especially in the opening scenes, creating a depressing feel, reinstated by the mention of murder. Set in a suburban hood in America, the setting is a comment on the characters and their lifestyles but also how difficult, different and secluded life in the 'hood' is.

The Language

In today's lesson we learnt the four main aspects of film language. These were: camera, Mise en scene, editing, sound.

Camera:

Frame: ECU, extreme close up/Mid shot/Close up/Middle long shot/Long shot/ELS, extremely long shot
Angle: Worms Eye view/PoV/Birds Eye
Movement: Pan/Tilt/Tracking Shot/Steady Cam/Hand Held

Mise en scene:

Costume
Lighting
Actors, class, gender, ethnicity, body language
Make up
Props
Setting


Editing:

Transitions
Order of narrative - Mix up the order of time
Pace - Slow or fast to emphasis drama
SFX

Sound:

Dialogue - What and how

Music - Parallel (What you would expect to hear) Contrapuntal (When the music doesn't fit the scene)

Diegetic sound - The sound that actors hear/ Non diegetic - Sounds the actors can't hear, music narration etc.

'Boyz n the Hood' analysis.

http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=boyz+n+the+hood+dutch+subtitles&FORM=HDRSC3#view=detail&mid=BCA98CE309ED50662AF4BCA98CE309ED50662AF4

Representation

In today's lesson we looked at representation and how the media portrays certain people, events or ideas:
Representation is the way in which people, events and ideas are presented to the audience.

Stereotypes: Media institutions use these as the audience
instantly understands them, it is a visual shortcut. They are
repeated so often that people see them as normal or 'true'

Archetypes: The ultimate stereotype, for example an Essex girl, with white stilettos, a big busted, brainless blond bimbo.

Counter-types: These go against the stereotype, and misconception of the media. For example Thierry Henry is a counter-type to the typical french man.

The media takes something that is already there and re-presents it to us in the way that they choose.

Gatekeeper: This is a person that chooses how to represent something in the media. 

The Male Gaze: The male gaze is a theory by Laura Mulery, women are put in the media for men's pleasure


I have decided to analyse a scene from St Trinians.

As you can see in the image the girls represent typical stereotypes. The girl on the far left is your stereotypical 'nerd' with with messy hair and glasses. Then the girl next to her is your typical 'Emo' With the all black attire, the black hair with pink highlights and black boots. Then the girl next to her is the typical 'Posh girl' with the knee length skirt and formal attire with neat hair and red lipstick. Lastly the girl on the end us the typical 'Slut' with a short skirt showing off her stocking, with an abundance of makeup and lipstick.

Narrative

In today's lesson we were asked to look at movies and analyse them using the theory of Bathes, Todorov, Propp and Levi-Strauss:

The first film we analysed was a short film created by Pixar. The title Jack-Jack Attack

All is fine at the start of the movie, suggesting equilibrium, with the typical characters of the a misbehaving baby and a babysitter. 

Then the baby keeps disappearing and things start to go wrong, suggesting a destruction of the equilibrium. The baby starts behaving badly and, when shown a picture of a campfire, sets on fire. Another destruction of the equilibrium. The baby sitter manages to put the baby out, restoring equilibrium but then the movie cuts to a scene showing a destruction of the entire house. A very tired baby sitter and playful baby is then shown, as Propp says very stereotypical in all films. 

Then the stereotypical villain shows up at the door and the film ends. 

The babysitter manages to overcome many obstacles creating a curve in the equilibrium of the story. 

Narrative Part 2 (Scene analysis and prestige)

We were asked to analyse a movie opening scene by using the code techniques used by the theorist Barthes.

I decided I would analyse 'Scream'.

Enigma:

• What is the significance of the scream and heartbeat at the start?
• Why is there caller asking so many strange questions?
• Why does he keep ringing her?
• Why does he want to talk to the girl?
• Why is the man being so threatening?
• What is the game?
• Where is he hiding?
• How does he know so much about her?

Significant actions:

• The phone, the creepy calls set an eerie tone for the opening.
• The swing that swings by its self already gives a creepy feel.
• The popcorn that she left cooking creates tension as you can predict something bad will happen.
• When the man mentioned about looking at her and her blonde hair, suggests she has a stalker.
• The ringing of the doorbell.
• The constant mention of horror films. 
• The stalker knows her boyfriends name.

Symbolic:

• The phone is used throughout the opening scene suggesting a possible stalker.
• The knives she starts to pick up give an idea that the film may be a slasher and already gives us an idea about the strange man on the phone.
• The popcorn that is 'popping' and 'growing' reflects the characters growing angst and fear.
• The discussion about horror films, on the phone, is foreshadowing the rest of the movie.
• The use of pathetic fallacy, the fact the scene is set at night time reflects the darkness of the man on the phone.

Action

- The magic creates a sense of action, for example when the bird disappears. 

-The idea that the magician falls into and dies in the glass container

-The sound and image of the cage slamming and locking closed.

Enigma

-What do the hats on the floor represent?

-Why did the magician fall into the cage?

-Who murdered the magician?

-Who is Nolan and what do they do for the plot?

Symbolism

-Top hats give an upper class feel towards the magicians.

-Top hats are representing a magicians graveyard

-Little girl represents the audience watching the movie as we get taught the basics of magic

-Suit makes the magician look more proffesional

Genre

Today we were asked to use DISTINCT, which stands for:

Describe

In detail

Setting

Theme

Icons

Narrative

Characters

Textual Analysis

 to analyse opening scenes to movies. I first analysed Harry Brown, the first thing you notice is the point of view camera. It gives the movie a handheld, amateur feel, much like 'The Blair Witch Project' which consists mainly of handheld filmed scenes, the film tries to continue from the success of the British film industry by incorporating realism by using a hand held movie approach to show how the film realistically displays London society . 

With dark scenes and fast paced camera work there is an element of unknown towards the opening scene. The only real detail we can gather from the opening scene is the fact that there are typically looking hooded 'Chavs'. The distinct suburban feel and scenes paired with the graffiti and distinct London accents gives off the impression that Harry Brown is set in London. 

The camera work draws attention to many key icons in the opening scene, the first being the light bulb that the main protagonist smokes drugs from. This paired with the fast shaky camera work makes us feel as if we are the character that is on drugs. Moreover there is a lot attention drawn to the gun, which suggests that the film has a violent undertone, with possible killings involved. 

The constant cutting of the scenes gives a very manic feel to the movie which also makes us feel the effect of the drugs. Also another key icon in the movie is the pram that the mother is seen pushing. It makes the audience automatically have an emotional connection to the woman, as she is a mother and is killed in the opening scene setting a dark story-line from the offset of the movie.

Guardians of The Galaxy

The opening scene gives the movie and very dark moody feel, with the opening scene taking place in a cavernous setting. It has man old fashion objects mixed with newer, futuristic objects, such as the 80's Walkman and the futuristic jet-pack and also the neon lighting text throughout the opening scene is not futuristic at all.

The main protagonist in the opening scene is displayed as childish, when he is seen kicking the rat like animals in the cavern. This paired with his singing gives more of a comedy feel than a sci-fi. At the end of the opening scene a mystery glowing object is shown, this icon gives the movie a mystery feel from the offset.

What Lies Beneath
The entire opening scene is one giant build up of suspense, with subtle yet creepy music playing in the background, a glimpses of a figure in the mirror, the movie puts its audience on edge right from the off.

When the main character of the scene asks 'What do you want?!' the paranormal entity replies by using the condensation of the mirror, saying 'You know' which is a very 'clique' for paranormal horror, however it gives a clear indication to the genre of the film and also creates suspense for the audience.

Semoitic

In today's lesson we learned about semiotics, this is the study of signs. We also learnt about denotation, to give something its literal meaning, and also connotation, what we understand, gain from the image or what it can represent. 

We were given the task to analyse a movie poster using semiotics. I decided to analyse 'A Nightmare On Elm Street.

The darkness of the image represents how the movie has a dark storyline and red tint of the blood and the image show how murder and danger is involved in the movie. The woman in the poster is seen staring directly into the camera giving a connotation of fear and her facial expressions also show this.

Moreover the figure in the background is above the girl showing his power and significance in the story. Also the fact that he is unknown and in the shadows connotes a menacing character. Also the fact that the girl is in blood shows how she is in danger and connotes she may die in the movie.

The glove on the characters right hand is shining implies its importance in the movie and how it may be used as a weapon throughout the movie. The slogan of the film 'He knows where you sleep' implies that the movie will evolve around nightmares and that the murders will be involved with sleep.  

Genre - Film Language

In today's lesson we were asked to take pictures that represent genres of movies. These genres were selected randomly from a box.
This image is to promote the genre of Thriller. The image is masked with mystery and is difficult to interpret and determine what is going on in the image therefore giving a thrilleresque feel.
This image represents the genre Horror. The image has a creepy feel to it, as Chris has distorted his eyes to look inhumane, if I was to improve the image I would remove the background as it is distracting.This image represents action, the character is climbing the pole and has a determined look on his face. I feel that the relaxed background adds to the action feel as it outlines how Chris is over exaggerating his actions to create the action genre in the image. However if I had more time I would edit the images and replace some objects in the foreground and background to add the image.This image represents the genre Documentary. As you can see Chris is displaying and examining a rock. As he is facing the camera it looks as if he is telling the audience about his findings, and the red tape gives the feel of an archaeological site, meaning Chris may be delivering a documentary about history.This image represents the genre Comedy. As you can see Chris is flailing his arms to create an over dramatic, hyperbolic feel, which creates a feel of Comedy. He is falling over in the image which is comical to watch and so adds to the comical feel.