Monday 27 September 2010

Camera Shots!

This task was to learn different camera shots and angles you can take.


Over shoulder shot, Looking from behind a person at the subject. 


extreme close up shot, The shot is so tight that only a fraction of the focus of attention, such as someone's eyes, can be seen.
Canted angle, Sometimes the camera is tilted (ie is not placed horizontal to floor level), to suggest imbalance, transition and instability (very popular in horror movies). 
Low angle shot, These increase height (useful for short actors like Tom Cruise or James McAvoy) and give a sense of speeded motion. 
High angle,  The camera is elevated above the action using a crane to give a general overview. High angles make the object photographed seem smaller, and less significant (or scary). 

P.O.V point of view,  Shows a view from the subject's perspective.
Long shot, This is the most difficult to categorise precisely, but is generally one which shows the image as approximately "life" size ie corresponding to the real distance between the audience and the screen in a cinema. This category includes the FULL SHOT showing the entire human body.
Mid shot, Shows some part of the subject in more detail while still giving an impression of the whole subject..
Close up,  An extreme close-up, sometimes called a tight shot, is, as its name implies, a more extreme version of a close-up-for example, when the camera closes in on the face of a person and then comes in even closer to focus on an eye. A medium close-up emphasizes the principal subject but includes other objects that are nearby.

Thursday 23 September 2010

New York video

Today we were given a folder of animated pictures of new york, we put together a movie of about 1:30minutes from all these clips with different transitions between each one then put music to it, this is a link to my clip. 
http://vimeo.com/15453767


We had to create credits for the animation on photoshop which we then edited onto the video on final cut. We used different transitions for the credits to come in. I mostly used the push slide and box slide transition for the credits. I think this worked well on the video  and made the credits look similar to those fond during the beginnning of a film. I think if I was creating the credits again i would have taken extra to make sure they were all central to the screen when writing them on photoshop as some are in different positions than others. I'd also change the colour from white to something more eye catching as in a couple scenes it is hard to read the credits due to a bit of the background being white too. 
We created our music on garage band which I found fun listening to what kinds of music work together and which kinds don't.  I enjoyed experimenting with different genres of music for the clip. I decided to try find some feel good music to the video, something i could imagine being at a start to a good film to put you in the mood for it to start. 
When editing the video i added some effects so that scenes would play on top of each other, i am satisfied with the effects used for this. I think the technique where the state of liberty fades on top of another scene of new york is effective as I think it clarifies that the city is new york in america.



Stephen Taylor new york video from cmdiploma on Vimeo.

Monday 20 September 2010

Western video

Still images we made into a clip to help us when we make still image movies like anamatics. 
I produced this video in class today. I enjoyed this task although I think, in time i could improve my end product.  It was useful to practice  some of the techniques I had been learning in the last couple of weeks on both photoshop and final cut. If I was to attempt to do this task again i would wanted to create more of an allusion of one reading a book by adding more 'page peel' transitions and also created more scenes. I created the slides on photoshop then imported them onto Final Cut to edit. I also collected a few images from google and then 'photo-shopped' them by adding effects such as smudge until i was happy with them. Before creating this video we had to make a story line of about 6 shots in our books, a few of the scenes i created in my book were close ups of cowboys, i tried quite a lot of different ways of creating a cowboy on photoshop such as getting a stencil and using the pen tool and just having a go at drawing it on photoshop. In the end i couldn't get an image i was pleased of so i got them from google and photo-shopped them so it was more original while adding a cowboys hat in the corner of each slide to slowly dissolve into each slide as if it was the logo of the story.

Sunday 19 September 2010

This week

This has been the first week at Long Road with the level 3 creative and media diploma.
I've learnt a lot of things about filming, editing films and photoshop.
We filmed and edited a shoot out. We shot it on Long Road field in groups of four, the next day we edited the video on final cut, added music to it and i was really pleased with how the video turned out. I am now a lot faster using final cut than i was when i first started.

We learnt about Blocking. Blocking is a process which the director and actors determine where on the set the actors will move and stand so that the lighting and the camera placements may be set.

We also learnt about the mood board which i found interesting. A mood board is a creative tool, a process that enables you to develop and share the visual direction for the project. It's an essential activity for art and design directors.

During one of our lessons our teacher told us about 'Representation' which refers to the construction in any medium(expecially media) of aspects of 'reality' such as people, places, objects, events etc.

Spray can animation, logo design.

This was to help us on logo's to put at the start of clips we make.

  To make this i had to first create some logo designs on paper. I had quite a few idea's such as a computer screen with my initials on and some funky lettering for S.T media but in the end i went along with the spray can design. I had to design the logo on photoshop, i used the pencil tool to design the logo, yet used different layers for each bit such as the can, S.T and media. I tried to keep it as simple as i could as i think the more simple a logo is the more memorable or effective it is, sometimes that is not the case but that is my view. We then saved each layer separately by clicking off the other layers so only one was showing at a time then saving them by clicking on save to web & devices and setting it to PNG24. We imported each layer into final cut and started to edit the logo on there making this little clip. I enjoyed using the fade in tool as i think that looks effective yet i think i could improve the transitions but overall i am pleased with how it has turned out.

Friday 17 September 2010

Cartoon face

This is a cartoon face i made of myself on photoshop. First i found a picture of myself that i thought would be cool to make into a cartoon version of myself. This is the original photo.
There were many different skills i used on photoshop to create this face. First i used the pen tool, which is used for creating paths, I first used the tool by clicking at a point in my hair then clicking at another point until it made the outline shape of my hair, i then did this for my face, body, hand, disposable cup and background. If you click and drag, it will change the shape of your path, allowing you to bend and shape so it fits to how you want.
 I then filled in each section with colour by pressing Ctrl on the path, clicking fill and then choosing what colour i wanted for the different sections of the photo. I had to create lots of different paths for each section of the photo as i found out that in order to apply different colours i needed to create each path separately.

Wednesday 15 September 2010

Misfits analysis

The character Gary in misfits is a typical stereotype of a rude boy, with a shaven head, rude boy cap and poor attitude towards people. He is completely obsessed with himself and is easily annoyed. He has a short temper which is lost once in the programme after getting some paint on his hat.




The character Curtis is a serious runner, who's career seems to be over after being caught in possession of cocaine. He can not take the punishment seriously, believing he is hard done by and shouldn't be there.



The character Kelly is stereotypically a chav, wears a lot of makeup, talks in a chav like manner and makes little rude comments throughout. She puts her orange overalls on, leaving it undone and looks in the mirror a lot, indicating her constant concern for her appearance.


Simon is the outsider who is very quiet, he is seen as a pervert by Nathan, but says he tried to burn down a house. He puts on his orange overalls with the button up to the top which makes him look more upper class than the others. I think this shows that he is quieter than the others and doesn't really want to get into too much trouble despite apparently having attempted to set fire to a building.

Aisha is the prettier one, she talks on her phone when the man is talking and hasn't got much respect for people’s feelings. She puts on her orange overalls in a seductive way. She behaves in a provocative manner in how she talks but also shows she isn't sensitive when she says 'you screwed up big time' to the runner Curtis, which is probably a sensitive subject for him.



Nathan is the cocky, arrogant one who always seems to be talking, or trying to create a conversation by aggravating the other people. He'll make inappropriate comments, some of which personally amuse me.
I would say Nathan is the the self-appointed leader of the group doing community service.

 

In the second clip of Misfits, the representations of the characters have changed. Nathan in the first clip is very arrogant and self assured and has no regard for his mother's feelings, whilst in the second clip he seems like he cares more and appears to want to change. He warns her about the guy she is seeing and show her he is ready to live in his house again after being removed from his house with her.

Curtis in the first episode has got a negative attitude towards community service and feels as if he shouldn’t be there while in the second episode we watch him having fun and dancing with the elderly people showing a more relaxed side to his nature as he allows himself to enjoy himself.

Kelly becomes friendlier in the second episode because she is hurt by hearing what people think about her, she seems like she really cares what people think about her and therefore tries to change her personality for the better.

Simon the outsider seems more accepted and integrated into the group, because he makes more of an effort to socialize with the other characters. Being invisible is metaphorical for his everyday existence normally when he is extremely shy, but now he is actually invisible. He learns people need each other to survive, which is a valuable lesson for him

Aisha in the second episode realizes she doesn't like every guy thinking she is sexy after previously liking the sexual attention received before.

Near the end of the second episode of misfits you see them enjoying helping the elderly and dancing with them.
I think from the couple of clips of Misfits that I have seen, it portrays a negative stereotype of what how youth culture is in the 21st Century. Very few teenagers accurately fit that stereotype, obviously some areas have a higher crime rate than others due to the antisocial behavior of young adults. Overall teenagers the majority of young people do not behave in such an aggressive manner. I think they exaggerate each stereotype in the series, to create a more entertaining television series one can relate to.