Soundtrack 1

The Audience

There are different ways for an audience to listen to soundtrack.  There are multiple way to watch films these days. Some watch films in the cinema with likely 5.1 surround sound. This means that you can hear all of the sounds from the correct directions to create an all around feeling. This can make it feel like parts of the film are happening behind you, or objects are moving past you. Rumbling effects can also be used to create a tense feeling among the audience. When watching a film at home on a TV the sound is a lot different. Most TVs have stereo sound so it doesn't have the same impact as a cinema experience. Unless the TV in question has a surround set-up you won't get the same affect.

- Provide research to explain your point. Define the differences between 5.1 and stereo, or acoustic differences.

The Sound
Find a video clip
Where and how are the sounds recorded? (Foley, ADR, on set?)
Why were they recorded in those places using those methods?
What do those sounds tell you about the character, the story or the themes? What impact do they have on you?
If those sounds had been recorded differently would they have had the same effect?
Internal diegetic sound only the character can hear. Voices in head, own heartbeat etc.
External everyone can hear it

Idea sessions

We started thinking of ideas for our fmp. We started with 3 ideas and elaborated each idea with mind maps.


The first of my 3 ideas was a film based on an RPG.

I really liked this idea but found that it was quite difficult to make. I would have needed a large amount of After Effects work and it would have taken a long time. I also needed to gather a large amount of props and made a large amount of custom costumes. I would have also needed a fair few actors and my friends wanted to do it but are not always available. I also realised that the story was way too long for a short film and was nearing on feature-length. I also needed a lot of time for character development and basically creating an entire rule book for the game-style


Second is about an evil teddy bear
Here is my mind map for this idea.

 This was my favourite idea because I think it was most likely the easiest to make and cheapest to make. I am also best at writing for odd films instead of dramas (Because they have a lot of dialogue). Some of the ideas on the mind map were dropped but most were adapted to fit into the film.




And third is a drama about a character we developed in an ideas session:

We were given questions that we would need to answer when thinking of a film idea. We can think about the characters, relationships, setting, and storyline.
Who?
Why?
Before?
After?
Tensions?
Fear?
Want?
Obstacles?
1st image
Making a character.
We looked through the sections for character details on Celtex. We filled out the sections in small groups to design a character that could be used in an fmp. Our group came up with this:
Arabella Smith
25
Long hair - down to her butt - gingery red.
One brown, one green eye
5"9
9stone
Musician
Moody
Cat obsessed
A mentor role
Goal: Famous musician
How: Stay true to the music, write meaningful music etc.
Family: mum died due to alcohol. Lives with Dad
Habits and personality: Nail biter, High school drop out but genuine.
Likes: Helping people, cats
Dislikes: Alcohol
After doing this, we were able to create a character that we could use in a film. I decided that this character would work perfectly for a drama but I did not want to make one. So I did not use this idea and ended up dropping this character.

Production diary

02/04/14 - Had a small production meeting with the actress. We measured up for making the costumes. We decided on the material we are going to use. I also went through the plot with her so that she knew exactly what she was doing. She is looking forward to drowning the teddy bear and destroying the toys. ... Which is a little suprising for a young girl but at least she's enthusiastic.

05/04/14 - Script is officially finished. It's been proof read and improved as much as I can.

16/04/14 - The first dress has been completed and i'm very happy with it.

18/04/14 - The teddy bears were made and are ready for filming.

19/04/14 - Village hall is booked for filming.

21/04/14 - The second dress has been finished and it looks good.

23/04/14 - The mini stage and shadow puppets have been made.
               - The shot list was also finalised.

25/04/14 - Booked a shotgun mic out for the weekend for filming.

26/04/14 - Tested mic and found it had an acid leak and was unusable. I had to resort to using the camera's sound recording.

27/04/14 - Full day filming. All the filming is complete and it all went very well.
               - This is the shot list after filming. Each shot was highlighted after it was complete.

30/04/14 - Watched back footage and am really not fond of the dialogue. I have decided to complete cut all lines and make this film silent. Using overlayed titles to portray the lines. I chose to do this for creative reasons because I feel like the style and story of my film becomes less serious and effective with dialogue.

02/05/14 - Started editing and put together my clips in order.

09/05/14 - The rough cut is complete to be giving to someone to have the music composed. But Final Cut Pro's export did not work and created a green, grey, pixelated version of my film that was freezing every shot. I can not take it home for music to be made.

14/05/14 - I was finally able to export a working version of my film for music to be made this weekend.

15/05/14 - I started colour grading my film and completed that process.

16/05/14 - I continued to make the silent film titles and continue with any written work that needed doing.

Research

Ideas -
My first idea was a fantasy that I was writing with some friends and it was very structured and would have worked well as a short film. But I decided that I didn't want to rely on busy people for this film. So I came up with my new idea after hearing a song. The song is about something messing with your mind. I wanted to make a film about something tormenting someone. It became a teddy bear.

Plot summary -
A young girl owns a teddy bear that she cherishes. But when her back is turned it sets out to torment her. Still oblivious that the bear is causing strange goings on she tries to figure out what's going on and is determined to stop it.

Why is this your best idea?
I think this is my best idea because it won't require a large amount of time to film. It will be easy to organise because there is only 1 actress. The props will be made in a short amount of time. I think this idea is very much my style, quite dark.

Visuals (camera, lighting, production design etc) - When it comes to the visual style of this film I would like to make the colouring very stylised and focus on making a vintage theme. The camera work will focus on the costume design, she will wear vintage dresses and have her blonde hair in interesting up-dos. The lighting will be done to make it look like lamps are producing most of the light. And there will be some stylised shots using spotlight to outline important visuals. When structuring this film I thought it best to not include a parent as a proper character. I will only include the arms, legs and voice of the parent.

Sound design - The sound in my film will not be highly layered. I intend to have the music all composed for the film so that it fits the moods and visuals to the best it can. There is only a small amount of dialogue because there is basically one character. The story will be told using visuals, music and small amounts of atmospheric sounds. I will record the sound on location and will make the music using an analogue tape set up.

Logistics (pre-production, scheduling, budgeting) - Scheduling of the filming has to be thought out well. There will only be one day filming in a village hall and a lot will need to be done. Some of the house scenes will have to be done after the village hall shoot because of a photo needed for some scenes. Most house scene will have to be shot before visiting the village hall because the original teddy bear will be ruined after filming there. Planning this film has been quite simple because I made sure that it is all fairly easy to film. There will be some elements added in post production using after effects, such as drawings on a wall. Budgeting is something that will be quite easy to plan for this film. I have supplied all of the equipment I need. I have ordered £600 worth of equipment that should help get this production looking the best I can make it. I will need to book out the village hall for one days filming which could cost around £70. The costumes for this film will be made and supplied by a family member who will make custom dresses for my character using the fabric we already own. When it comes to props I will be spending a very small amount. I do have to buy a large glass bowl which shouldn't cost much. 2 teddy bears will be custom made to my design by the same person making the costumes, also using fabric we already own. I bought a goblet prop for only 50p; I want to spend this amount on most props and not too much money.

Similar products - There was a game released a while ago called Naughty bear. It's about a very violent teddy bear, that kills other teddy bears. The idea of your cuddly teddy bear coming alive is an idea I've always found interesting. There are films like Chucky where a toy comes to life with the mind of a serial killer. Mine is only like this in the sense of the toys coming alive. When people think about toys coming to life most automatically think of Toy Story. Although this isn't quite the same. In the first Toy Story film the toys rise up against the bully to scare him. This is the most similar product that I've found. Toys coming alive to scare their owner.

Audience research - When I compare my potential audience to similar product's audience I have a varied range that I have to narrow down. The game audience are likely into the messed up but non-gory violence. I won't have any physical violence in my film, only mental. An evil teddy bear sounds like a horror film aspect, but I intend to make this film a dark drama. I didn't want to make a horror, but I wanted to make something dark and interesting. I may attract horror audiences with this film even though there are no real jumpy moments or gore etc. I think it may attract those who like other dark fantasy films, like the works of Tim Burton or Terry Gilliam. I don't think this film would be too dark for a young audience. It may not be good for very young children in case they become frightened of their own toys. But older children who are at the age where they want to watch horrors but are not old enough to may enjoy dark stories like this. Although because there isn't any real action in it, it'll appeal to mature audiences who are interested in the storyline and cinematography.

Codes and conventions of chosen genre - Fantasy/dark drama - Fantasies are about the unordinary. And there are also dark fantasies, which is what Tim Burton is known for. Terry Gilliam is known for fantasies but some of his are dark. For this film to be of the fantasy genre there had to be something unreal about it. Mine is the teddy bear coming alive and the girl turning into a bear. That is enough to make it a fantasy. The dark drama part of it includes the girl dealing with the strange things happening. My film will be quite dark and be lit with spotlights to create a lot of shadows. The sound in my film will be fully music and I will use piano, guitar and strings to create a dark feeling and also hopefully portray fantasy.

Issues? - copyright, moral, legal, ethical - I am to have no copyright problems. I'm using my own music and imagery. The props in my film are mostly hand made and none will be affected by product placement. The costumes in the film are also handmade and won't cause any problems.

Genre theory

A film poster with no obvious genre.

We were given 20 minutes to make a film poster that didn't convey a genre. When making mine I decided to find a portrait of someone that did not look like he would suit a particular genre. I found this picture of an old man and his expression of either amazement or confusion means that we don't know what could be causing his expression. I gave the film a title of simply 'no' so that it did not give away anything about what the film could be. I put a green line under the image, above the text so that there is a simple divide. I chose green because it's a simple colour that I thought could be fairly neutral. 

We were given 2 statements about genre and had to choose one and argue it's case. 

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"Genre is an endlessly flexible tool for artists and audiences to understand and define films. It allows filmmakers to connect with the audience most likely to enjoy their work."

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"Genre is a barrier to creativity, and a straight-jacket to prevent experimentation. It is the enemy of interesting."

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In a world where genre doesn't exist it is very difficult to find out whether a film is to your taste or not without a general theme or term. It does mean that you could be more curious to go to see the films when you don't know much about them. Although here in a world with genre we may avoid films that we may really enjoy just because of the genre. Looking at the 2 statements, I found it difficult to choose one. I do agree that genre can be a barrier to creativity considering that filmmakers may not be able to go with the choices they want because they have to stick within the expectations of a genre. I do believe that most filmmakers may not stick within these expectations if they are creative enough to do what they want with their film. I do think that many companies and filmmakers can use genres to help promote and gain a large audience using iconography. I think if I have to choose between the quotes I'd have to go with the first one because genre can be incredible useful to ensure you attract the audience you are intending. 

Critical theories notes

Alice in Wonderland.

Auteur theory

Tim Burton
Stripes
Recurring actors - Johnny Depp, Helen Bonham Carter
Recurring crew - Tim Burton works with Danny Elfman when it comes music for his works.

Feminist theory
Advertisement focuses on Hatter, Alice is offside.
Bechtel test- Pass. The White queen and Alice talk about potions, fighting a monster etc. And the White queen and Red queen discuss who is meant to wear the crown.
Showing how females were treated in the past and how she changes that and fights for independence. Wonderland could symbolise her fight for equality as she fights a monster wearing armour and becomes a partner of a trading business; becoming the first to trade with China.

Psychoanalytic

ego - Alice
Super-ego - the real world - telling her how she should live.
id - wonderland - Throwing up both good and bad ideas

Then the super-ego and id swap roles. Now Wonderland is telling Alice what to do and she rejects the real world's ideas.

Bringing childhood memories back with uncertainty (the uncanny) - Fighting the Jabberwocky, brought to life from Carroll's poem that many remember from their childhood. Also beloved animals now insane and creepy. Especially the march hare who is a scrawny, crazy character that probably can't be trusted.


I think the Hatter almost represents the writer of the original story - Lewis Carroll.  The way he looks at Alice, asks her to stay and is captivated by her could represent Lewis Carroll's attachment to a young girl called Alice Liddell. In the original story and other adaptations the Hatter does not have an attachment to Alice. She is older in this version and he talks about her in the past and is proud of how much she has grown up. Also Lewis Carroll's attachment with Alice Liddell included dressing her up like a doll for his photography. This could relate to the Hatter making Alice her dress when she is shrunk.
I also think that when Alice shrinks down and her dress becomes loose that maybe this references the young Alice Liddell who Lewis Carroll used to photograph. These 2 photos show the dress that Lewis Carroll dressed Alice Liddell in and the dress of Alice's remaining undergarments when she shrinks in Tim Burton's movie. I think the strange off the shoulder, baggy look could relate back to the young girl. Because in most versions of Alice in Wonderland, when she shrinks he dress shrinks with her but this time it doesn't and she is left with this strange look. When you see her memories of wonderland when she was young she is wearing her ordinary dress and is in the same place and the same size and Alice when she has been shrunk.

Flying text

I made a composition with the settings DV PAL Widecreen Square Pixel. I created text in after effects that said 'Coming'. We then added a 3D camera with a 28mm lens and made the text a 3D layer. Though effects, generate I added a ramp to the text and changed it from linear to radial. I then adjusted the hue to make it a faded yellow/gold. Then using key framing and the z-axis I made the text move from behind the camera to in front, then slow down and then fade away, using  position and opacity. I then added a solid layer as a background and added ramp to that. I made the background a blue and red.

Psychoanalytic theories

Psychoanalytic theories in film consist of using psychology practices and theories to analyse a film in detail. We can analyse the characters, storyline, colours, actions, dialogue and even the smallest details such that can be in the set or what is supposedly 'unimportant' props. 

We started by learning who Sigmund Freud was. He was the founding father of psychoanalysis. He believed that the human mind is made of 3 parts. These 3 parts are The ego, super-ego and id. The Ego is the 'self' - the organised part of the mind. This deals with demands coming from the other 2 parts. The super-ego is the controlling part of the mind that gives orders to the ego and limits what the ego can and can't do. Last is the id. This is the subconscious. All desires and needs come out of here to the ego and the ego decides whether it is a good idea or not. We looked at an episode of Trap Door and were told a theory that an ordinary person had come up with. Burk is the ego, the self. Him upstairs is the Super-ego, giving Burk demands. The trap door is the id. Ideas come out of the trap door. In this episode 2 monsters came out. The orange one saw itself in the mirror and ran back to the trap door - like it was being shown that it was a bad idea. The yellow was was used to Burk's advantage to solve his demand. This shows the ego selects ideas from the subconscious that are either good or bad. 

We looked at another of Freud's theories 'The Uncanny'. This is where something that could remind us of childhood or past that comes back now unfamiliar. This could be represented by such films as; Child's play and IT. We have the child's doll coming alive and killing and in IT we have a happy, bright clown being evil. Freud also said that there are moments of familiarity that also feels foreign making an audience feel uncomfortable. An example of this could be used with a mirror, as they look at themselves but there is something foreign about them. This is shown in Black Swan when she looks in mirrors and sees the changes happening to her. There are a lot of horror films that could back up this theory but there are other films that use the unfamiliar in a different genre. For example we have Big and Teen Wolf. Both about a person changing and being scared and unfamiliar with themselves. - Becoming older overnight and becoming a werewolf. 

We then looked at Jacques Lacan who was a philosopher. Lacan talked about the 'Mirror Phase'. This is where a child realises that they are not one with their mother. They are not connected with the universe, they are one on their own. Lacan says we seek the 'objet petit a' which is a person or thing that will complete us. He said that we search for this thing to that we can reconnect with out real self and find that sense of wholeness - but it doesn't actually exist. 

We all pick a word out of an envelope and were asked to find and image - if we could, of an object to represent the word and a location to represent the word. 

The word I picked out was Gratitude. 

My object was a bunch of flowers because I think it is a common sign of gratitude. It is a common gift for those being thanked. 

The location I chose was a cosy home. It's something that a lot of people have but may not be grateful for but should be. 

We then made a quick synopsis or scene breakdown to symbolise our word using the object and location we chose. -

A character who realises that their family mean a great deal to them and that they are very lucky to have what they do. They want more but then realise gratitude is something they never consider. - Giving flowers and gifts to family with thanks for still being there. And spending time in their nice, cosy home that makes them feel content and grateful to have. 

Set extension 2

This set extension started with the people walking in France mov. and I used the track motion option and after it had finished analysing I created a camera. Now, I took a still from the clip and put it into photoshop. I added the mountain image to this still and feathered out the areas that I didn't need. I then saved the image and added that into after effects as a comp. I opened the comp and deleted the still background so that on the original comp the mountains were now added into the moving image. I made the layer 3D so that it tracked with the mov. and changed the positioning so that there were not any gaps at the top of the image. I then adjusted the colours of the layers so that they matched more - I made them slightly red. 

Camera Projection

We started by creating a new comp using the Night sky layer and then added all of the other layers in the correct order above the night sky. We then changed the camera view from active camera to Top. Here we could see the layers from above. We set each layer as a 3D layer. We then moved 3 layers on the z axis because x and y would move them left, right, up and down. The z axis puts the layers back to look like they are in the distance. The night sky was the furthest, then sand, then the pyramids. We then put it back into active camera and then resized the layers so that they fit in the comp again. We then went into the layer menu and made a new camera layer. We then changed the camera settings so that the 3D camera's lens was 35mm. We then went back into Top view and changed the camera's point of interest and put the anchor of the furthest element. We then selected the Orbit camera tool to look around the 3D space. 2 seconds into the timeline we set a key frame in the camera's transform, position settings. And then went back to 0 and moved the position of the camera using the z, x and y axis'. We then key framed depth of field. By turning depth of field of and increasing the aperture in the camera options, we can make the background layers out of focus. Then 2 second in the timeline we decreased the aperture so that as the camera rises over the wall the layers all come into focus.