Wednesday, 17 March 2010
Personal Response To Project
Audience Feedback
the lighting is awesome and the acting is great. I think the way you've put in all the opening production credits works really well. :D
Monday, 15 March 2010
Monday, 8 March 2010
Copy of Music Permission Application Letter
I am writing to ask for your permission to use your song “Warriors Dance” from your album “Invaders must die” for educational purposes. The song will, with your permission, be used as a soundtrack for our AS level Media studies film opening. Due to obvious copyright laws we will not distribute or sell your material in any way.
Matthew Laverack
We ask you to sign the below slip if you would like to give your permission:
Confirmed by:
LICENSOR (theprodigy)
_________________________
[Theprodigy]
Friday, 5 March 2010
7. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in progression from it to the full product?
Our prelim task contained one major problem; we failed to adhere to ‘The Line’ or the ‘180 degree Rule’. In this project we made sure to understand fully and adhere to this rule. I have also learnt the importance of a schedule and how difficult it is to make a schedule work properly with only short windows to shoot in. This time we made a special effort to frame and light shots, and therefore we learnt how to do it. I wish to develop the skills in lighting and lighting continuity as these would possibly our weakest area. We also developed our use of titles as we had them over the picture instead of simply over black. Overall I feel I have honed all the skills I learnt in the Preliminary Task, from framing shots, to telling a story coherently.
6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
I have learnt a lot about technologies over the process of making ‘Poker’s Advocate’ as we had access to equipment this time round that we did not have whilst making our Preliminary project. Firstly I learnt the importance of planning, music and the length of the filming process.
Practically, I learnt how to light a shot to give it depth, and that using shadows can be highly effective to create an interesting picture. I learn not to touch the redhead bulbs as the oils on your hand would cause the lights to burst. Never touch the barn doors when the light is on or directly after it has been switched off. And finally don’t turn the lights on if anyone is looking at them.
I also learnt about the shutter speed on a camera as well as gain and white balance. And how ‘shooting for edit’ makes for easy editing.
Sound wise, point the tip of the boom microphone at the speaker for better sound quality. And there are hand held recording devices available. I learnt how to work and download off of one of the hand held recording devices.
Editorially, I learnt how to manipulate and loop music, as well as how to use various editing techniques such as the ghosting effects. I also learnt how to use Final Cut Pro (even though we did not get to use it).
I also found the music website ‘grooveshark’ which allows you to listen to music for free (a great tool to preview potential songs to use in a film).
5. How did you attract/address your audience?
In the opening sequence we attracted our target audience through their interests. We used poker terminology and real probability statistics (found in the ‘Dangerous Book for Boys’) which instils that the film is a serious poker film. The setting also indicated that the film is about poker.
The music is also a way we attracted our audience. By using legends such as Jimi Hendrix, Black Sabbath and The Prodigy, most men of the target audience would know of them either through popular music, their parents, or through personal experience. The tracks used are also famous tracks with effective beats that would draw anyone with a musical interest in. The choice to use popular music instead of composed music could also attract the fans of these bands and the type of music.
The topics and themes of the whole piece would attract the audience with an interest in drama and medical drama.
To attract the film students and film amateurs, the range of shots, angles (such as the angles in the close ups of Dave showing his decreasing mental state), effects (such as the grading, peephole effect, and ghost trail) and storyline would attract them.
If the film were to be made and advertised, we could advertise it as a debut piece to attract the film amateurs, whereas the story should attract the target audience. Using the popular music within the adverts would attract the music lovers.
4. Who would be the audience for your media product?
At the beginning of the media project we set out to make a poker film aimed at young people in their twenties who had an interest in poker and drama. At the end of the project, with a more elaborate plot, we have found that that target audience of our media project are young Caucasian males between the ages of eighteen and thirty-five with an interest in poker, drama and medical drama. The lower age boundry also indirectly appeals to sixteen year olds and up as films aimed at a certain age range are normally also watched by the age group just below the stated age. Although it is unlikely that there is a gambling medical student who aspires to be a dramatist , any of these genres may appeal to the other as it is a spin on each genre that hasn’t been done widely before.
Another audience would be media students and amateur film makers as the film was produced by these sorts of people. This project would appeal to amateurs and students as those with an interest in film making would probably take interest in the behind the scenes work and thus us, the students who made the film and thus the film.
3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
I think The Sundance Film Festival would distribute our product as we are independent film makers and the Festival is in celebration of our kind of people. If we found funding, Columbia Pictures might distribute our product as they distributed the film ‘21’ which had a heavy influence on our piece. Miramax Pictures might distribute our product as they distributed ‘Rounders’ which is of roughly the same genre as it deals with Poker. Finally, Universal Pictures may distribute our product as they distributed ‘Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas’ which follows the same kind of themes as our product as it is about abstract happenings. As the last three production houses in this list are a part of Sony Entertainment, we should approach this company for our best chance of mass production of our piece.
2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?
Within the opening of ‘Poker’s Advocate’, various different social groups are represented. Holly, the only female represents both her gender and her upper class society through her gender, wardrobe (being of a classy dress, high heels, a shawl, and pearl jewellery). Through her leaving the game when it became stupid to stay in, it shows that she has the intelligence to save her overwhelming abundance of money. It also shows that she is more mature in gambling. Her leaving also shows that the higher class aren’t particularly the main social group that are to be portrayed in the film.
Gary represented the more wealthy Caucasian male, possibly single with a lot of girls following him around. We based his character around the stereotypical high stakes poker player at a Vegas casino through his cowboy hat and black leather jacket. His language throughout the piece is provoking and against the underdog which should make the audience not like him very much. He should be in his late twenties to mid thirties.
Dave represents the most average of players who don’t have much money and are playing to earn, not for fun. This is shown through his fleece jacket and nonspecific t-shirt. He would be about the same age as Gary. His continuation in playing the game says that he is stupid and doesn’t have much logic. Or possibly he is desperate for the money. Dave also has a brain tumour which represents these people as desperate as well as having action controlling hallucinations in the form of an angel and devil.
The angel and devil themselves represent the good and bad through their hair colour, skin tone, colour scheme and facial expressions. The good being innocent and paler. The bad being evil and dark.
This piece does not represent other ethnicities other than Caucasian except in the case of the devil. This could be seen as a view that Asians are evil (which was not the intention so casting could have been better thought out; maybe played by the same person, or even by the same actor as Dave and using split screens).
We chose to have a range of people from different social backgrounds within the game to show the variety of people playing these games. We also noticed how, in the real poker games in ‘High Stakes Poker’ there was a variety of people within one game. The majority of people playing are males, which was chosen as stereotypically, poker is a man’s sport/hobby. Dave was chosen to be the main character (being a male) as a woman would be less likely to turn to gambling to sort her money problems.
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
The first convention used in real films are the production logos. Originally we wanted these in order to have a sound bridge from something other than blackness. Then, whilst making the logos, we decided to use them to represent the kinds of production companies that might produce our product. ‘B Productions’ is stylish, ‘Bullseye Productions’ could be linked to the poker side of the story and ‘Spark Studios’ could be a studio that made explosive films.
We also placed producer credits at the very beginning of the piece, followed by the actor credits (following the presentation style of ‘Trainspotting’), and then production team credits over the title sequence.
In most films made for the big screen title sequences aren’t used in the way we used them for this is a more TV style of presentation. However, we chose to do this as it mimicked the opening sequences of real life poker shows such as ‘High Stakes Poker’ which I see having a high influence on the style of the piece if it were to go on to a full length film.
The pre-title sequence is a rarity in most films, however was used in films such as ‘Lucky You’. We felt we needed this to set the atmosphere and to use dramatic irony (as used in the film ‘21’).
The abstract sense of the piece is never really used in poker films. Our abstract sense was created through the completely black background and the angel and devil element of the piece. However, conventions surrounding the abnormal were followed such as having a ghost trail around the angel and devil, and allowing the white of the angel’s shirt bleed (which would normally be stopped with different lighting or an off-white shirt instead of the stark white shirt).
Regarding representation of players, a lot of our players followed the slick ideal of poker players that is often used in films surrounding the game. There is often a cocky player (here being Gary) and the main character is often downtrodden and the underdog. These stereotypes are used possibly to gain the viewers sympathy as people tend to support the underdog, and are used widely in films such as ‘21’ and ‘rounders’. However, we did challenge the conventions slightly by adding the character Holly, a rich ‘daddy’s girl’ to the table to add variety, something you don’t normally see.
Editorially, we desaturated the picture which is a commonly used technique to take away the ‘peachy-ness’ of the skin colour. We also used the music to various effects. As in most film media projects, music and background noise levels decrease when important dialogue is being said. We followed these conventions as it was the most logical thing to do.
We also used a convention found in ‘21’ whereby we used a lot of Extreme Tight Close Ups of the players which contained small gestures that flawed the players’ ‘poker face’.
Monday, 1 March 2010
Sunday, 28 February 2010
The Production Logos
EDITING: Monday 1st February to Friday 12th February 2010 (main)
Friday 29th January 2010
Thursday 28th January 2010
Tuesday 26th January 2010
Monday 25th January 2010
Friday 22nd January 2010
Friday, 19 February 2010
Thursday 21st January 2010
During the lesson today (period 2) we filmed the card tricks we play to use in the Title sequence. We filmed it in the joining doors between Drama and Music. Although the area didn’t have a black background, we were able to make the room dark enough to light it properly, and then framed the shots to get as little of the white walls in as possible. We did have trouble controlling the extraneous sound levels as we were just outside a working Music studio, however we were able to block out most of the noise. We did get interrupted many times with people walking through the doors (a side effect of our location), but it did not disturb the filming process enough for us not to get the shots we want.
After school, we were filming in the drama studio with the full cast. A main problem was, with a larger cast of friends, everyone wanted to talk, thus we took a long time. The character Leo was also cut as the actor playing him was, at the last minute, unfortunately not available to film. As Leo is a minor character we were able to cut him with minimum disruption. If fact, during filming we found that this was for the best as we could only fit five people comfortably around the table we used (compared to the six that there would have been). As we had to film everyone, the process of lighting and shooting everything took even longer than just with Matt and Jack. However, everything went according to plan. We did film a tracking shot around the table, which proved challenging as we still had to light the shots and thus had the cameraman’s shadow falling across the table at points. We had to film this shot in steady cam style as we could not find a dolly or a trolley to make a make shift tracking system. Running around the table also proved to be dizzying and disorientating and probably created a wobbly shot.
Wednesday 20th January 2010
Today we filmed the dialogue between Dave and Gary. It was the first time we used the specialist equipment so was a big learning curve. We had to think about the lighting, the audio boom, the camera angles as well as the actors performance. We only had Sonia, Jack, Matt and I there instead of the whole cast because we planned to use close ups or tighter therefore did not need the others in shot. We learnt that moving the lights and equipment to get a good shot took a long time therefore it took a long time to film the shots we need.
We used a shot list to help us make sure we got everything we needed;
- Extreme close up of Dave’s eyes
- Pained shot of Dave (at different Dutch tilt levels)
- Gary close up – ‘trouble? Wanna back out?’
- Close up Dave – ‘Course not’
- Establishing wide shot of Gary, Dave and Dealer at the table
- Dave pushing the chips into play
During filming we did find that the line ‘Course not’ did not work as it seemed like a more immediate response, whereas we wanted a pause for thought from Dave. Therefore, we decided to change the line to ‘No way’.
Monday, 8 February 2010
Tuesday, 26 January 2010
Tuesday 19th January 2010
After school Jack comes over to my house (Sonia has prior engagements and is getting final props such as Angel and Devil costumes. Matt has got prior engagements) for a camera masterclass. As we are using professional cameras, knowing the different elements of the camera and lighting and audio equipment will help in the film making process.
We learn about the shutter speed and how it can create a ghosting effect which we plan to use in the title sequence. Gain is another element we learnt about, along with lighting a shot.
Lighting:
1) Have a back light. Highlight something in the back of the shot to create depth. The back light can also be used to create a sort of ‘halo’ effect, or a white lining to the rim of the subject.
2) Have a side light (to light the subject).
3) A light lined diagonal to the subject (but out of frame) could create a ‘kiss’ on the side of the subject’s face, which creates depth.
4) Close the barn doors on the redheads slightly to create shape in the light and to soften the intensity of it.
5) Play with shadows. Create shapes in the picture with shadows and the light. Don’t be afraid to make the dark areas dark and the light areas light (but don’t over expose).
WARNING:
1) when turning on the redheads, make sure no one is looking in the direction of them as the light is strong.
2) DO NOT TOUCH THE BARN DOORS WHEN THE LIGHT IS ON OR IMMEDIATELY AFTER IT HAS BEEN TURNED OFF
Audio:
When using the boom mic, point the tip of the mic toward the speaker as it will get better sound (don’t just hold it).
Monday 18th January 2010
Monday, 18 January 2010
Music
- Theme from Sin City
- Cat People
- After dark
- Nothing else matters
- Planet Caravan
- If 6 was 9
- Voodoo child
- Sympathy for the Devil
- Sun King
- Blew
- Love buzz
- Dive
- Hairspray Queen
- Big Long Now
- The Little things
- Fraternity Suite
- The scheme
- Revenge
- Fox's decision
- Blind
- Wraith Marsh
Sunday, 17 January 2010
Schedule
Date | Scene | Cast/Crew Needed | Time | Location |
Mon 18th | Finalising Planning | Son, Matt, Jack, Jem | P2. | Media |
Tues 19th | Camera and Equipment Master class | Jack, Jem | AS | N/A |
Wed 20th | DAVE and GARY dialogue | Jack, Matt, Jem | AS | DR1 |
Thurs 21st | -Card Tricks -All game play and close ups pre-fold (including establishing shots) | -Jack, Matt, Jem, Son -Whole cast | -P2 -AS | -BB -DR1 |
Fri 22nd | Catch up | -Matt, Jack, Son, Jem (and anyone needed) | Lesson | - Media |
Mon 25th | Narration and Editing | Matt, Jem | P1, 3, 4 | Media |
Tues 26th | Editing and Uploading | Matt, Jem | P5, 6 | Media |
Thurs 28th | - Editing - Angel and Devil | Jack, Matt, Son, Jem | - P1,2 -AS | -Media -DR1 |
Fri 29th | - End of Dave and Gary dialogue scene - Editing | Matt, Jack, Son, Jem | - P3 -P5, P6 | -DR1 -Media |
Mon 1st | Editing | Matt, Jack, Son, Jem | P1 | -Media |
Thurs 4th | Any reshoots/editing | Group | P2 | BB/Media |
Fri 5th | Any reshoots/editing | Group | P2 | BB/Media |
Mon 8th | -Audience Feedback -Reshoots/reediting | Media Group | -P1 -P3 | -Media -BB/Dr1/Media |
Tues 9th | -Reshoots -Editing | Group | P5, 6 | Media/ Loc |
Wed 10th | Editing | Group | P1,2 | Media |
Thurs 11th | Editing/Catch up | Group | Lesson | Media |
Fri 12th | Editing/ Catch up | Group | Lesson | Media |