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The First Meeting with the Client

We then through our college tutor was able to have a meeting with the main members of Travel Training at the Solihull Council building. I dressed smartly for the occasion wanting to come across professional and made sure I was polite but also confident. I did want more of a managerial role as I was sidelined in the research role and wanted to be able to show my skills in being able to manage a team in a client environment, however I feel I still communicated when necessary and helped my team and felt the meeting went well. In the meeting we was able to take a lot away about what they wanted. They wanted 2 videos that were both 5 mins long, one being a story about a parents, aiming at parents of children who had not yet done travel training but was considering it, aiming for them to be at ease nut what other parents had said who’s children have completed the course, and what goes on on a day to day life of a travel trainer and there student. We also found the deadline of when they wanted the videos by and what they wanted out of the film.

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Next step with Travel Training

We researched into who and what Travel Training in a group, each giving individual jobs to members of the team, this was done with the site Trello, where we was able to professionally organised the team. Once we had found the information that we looked into we posted it on the boards so everyone could see and read it. I looked into the different disabilities that the children had and how that may effect the shoot and the logistics of it which I thought was a high importance being if that information i gathered was wrong it could effect the shoot. I also had a good idea of what they were after as I had watched there previous videos uploaded to YouTube and felt confident in how they wanted it to look and feel before they had even told us themselves. I had taken the idea of their own video but also other videos similar by other Travel Training teams.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bhni_-vwqfQ&t

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4g5VSvrPsHA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qr3hm7NqN-c

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Beginning the Client Project

We was given the brief that for our module we will work with a client to produce a video for them, we firstly was told that we was working with Solihull Council on producing multiple short advertisements promoting Travel Training, which is a part of Solihull Council that looks into the care and well being of students with learning difficulties be able to access public transport and be able to go from a to b on their own and feel able and comfortable to do so with their parents help and consent. 

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What have I become?

                                               About the film

For my first year on my university degree I had to produce a 90 second film, which a difficult task having a film consisting of 90 seconds. Initially ideas of what I might like to do and I am able to gain ideas and inspiration from songs, so I began listening to one of my favourite songs, Johnny Cash – Hurt. From then I began to slowly build a picture of my film, where it will be set, what will happen and in the intentions. When researching about the song I found the connotations to be regret and remorse and I wanted the audience to take away the ideas that they shouldn’t regret life or have any mistakes because they do not know how long they have left. I watched 90 seconds films on short film websites such as https://www.depict.org/ and https://www.shortoftheweek.com/ and took inspiration of films that followed the genres of horror, Sci fi, action and drama. My intentions for the film were to make it engaging and gripping, to have the views attention solely on the screen and to have them engrossed with the storyline. I hoped that it would look as it does in my head, but as many people have said that doesn’t always happen. I feel my idea started from nothing and that it became a film that I am proud of a I now understand the foundations for a film through research and focus groups to find out what an audience enjoys in a film. In the near future I am hoping my film will be submitted to film festivals and upload my video to websites such as YouTube and Vimeo to show my film off and hopefully may attract attention helping me in the future. I would like to hope my film is seen as a worthy attempt at a film and that the next 90 second film I produce is even better than this one, which I’m sure it will be.      

                                       About the Film Maker

I’m Matt Hargreaves; I am 19 years old and would aspire one day to work in the media industry as a high responsibility in a motor industry working for their media department or  being a motor journalist, mixing my passion of media and cars together. I have completed multiple videos in my time at the college over the last 3 years and will be making even more in the next 2 years. I have produced a 90 seconds film last year and a documentary and in the process at the moment in solo producing a television episode. My interests are camera work and cinematography and I enjoy having a managerial role in organising other people such as crew and cast members.

                                             Collaborators

The main collaborator I wish to acknowledge is Amy Weale who helped me in the production stage of my filming, assisting with the crew as a camera operator and in my cast an actor as I only had a small crew and cast consisting of me, my runner Ryan and Amy. I also acknowledge Ryan who helped in the setting up of my film as a runner.

                                            Where next?

In reflection I am pleased with my film, there are many ways I now see how my film could have been better and improved, however I cannot do anything about this now and will have to take this onto my next production and take what I’ve learnt into the future. Every production I’ve ever done I have always learnt and use skills from the last to build on the next production. I have learnt skills on planning where the film is being shot. I had to contact the woods team and organise a time and date and if I wasn’t a student, I would have had to pay a certain amount of money to film there. I would have not known that if I hadn’t contacted the woods. I am learning to build contacts with people for future projects to make them easier. I have tried for 3 months almost to acquire Johnny Cash’s song Hurt and it has been the slowest and most annoying process. I have learnt if I will do this again in a future project, that I will either employ someone who has the skills to, or carefully choose a different song as with Jonny cash sadly passing in 2003, the company that own that song has been passed around multiple times and is difficult to find the actual owner of the song who I have now found out is a joint ownership between Universal Music and Interscope Records. What I think successful is that I have actually produced a 90 second film because I feel the making of a film that short is very difficult and to have a final product that is a film and 90 second I feel is an achievement for me. I also feel the cinematography is professional and I feel having a song that is a worldwide known song from Johnny Cash and that I contacted the official owner which is a massive company is also a success. I am going to take my creative and professional development and use it on my future projects to help me build on my skills

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Inglorious Basterds Scene Analysis

In this Blog post I will be analysing film language in a scene from the film Inglorious Bastards by Quentin Tarantino. I will explain how meaning is created by using micro elements from Mise en Scene, cinematography, sound, editing and performance. The film is about a group of Jewish United States soldiers on a mission to assassinate Nazi soldiers in WW2 and portrays a revenge story, set in WW2, including an substitute history which the western civilisation dreamt of.

One of the main camera angles used in the film is an eye level angle. This angle is used to create a sense of comfort and security amongst the audience. However, this is not the case in this scene as the tension builds the audience are at eye level with the characters. This enhances a sense of realism, in other words, the audience are drawn around the table and are invited into the scene making it hard for them to leave.

Another shot used is a two shot. This shot consists of the two characters facing each other across the table, and is used to create a relationship between characters within a scene. The two characters in this scene are what is known as the protagonist and the antagonist facing off amongst a table, However, throughout this two shot scene, there is a third character present amongst the background who appears to be watching in on the confrontation, which emphasises the tension the audience senses whilst watching because the audience can connect with this character as he is adjacent to them and commands the same view which the audience holds.

Tarantino has also used a considerable amount of over the shoulder shots, which have been used to show characters facial expressions while conversation is occurring. This gives the audience an idea of the character’s perspective within the conversation which adds tension knowing the characters emotions are changing. This shot also establishes the distance between the characters which other shots do not give as this shot increases tension amongst the audience. The camera is close to the characters faces that the audience may feel that even though an over the shoulder shot is being used, the characters are looking directly towards the audience, connecting with them on an emotional level.

Finally, the most effective camera shot used by Tarantino is the close ups and extreme close ups of the characters faces and sometimes also different props, all adding to the tension. He used close ups and extreme close ups of the characters face to create tension by showing the characters emotions through there facial expressions. This is used to show the uncomfortableness of Hicox and the fear he has, and of Hellstrom, the use of the close up shot allows the audience to perceive what he is thinking, and allows the audience to participate by deciding what he is thinking. Inevitably this shot shows the facial expression of Hellstrom when he finally releases Hicox isn’t being truthful to him. The shot shows the clear difference in his facial expressions, giving the audience more tension and fear.

The setting for this scene is in a tavern underneath a small village in France called The Louisianne. The bar is to represent the fact the mission itself of the film is that they are undercover and below the radar and gives the feeling of paranoia and fear. The bar is small it holds a nostalgic and traditional look of German architecture in early 1940s, which allows the audience to connect with the scene and also allows the audience to interact and imagine other parts within the setting. The room its self is claustrophobic adding to the audiences feeling of tension nevertheless, the spiral staircase in the corner of the room, foreshadows the events which are about to take place, representing that the situation is spiralling out of control. There is also a sizable amount of red across the room setting, including: uniforms, certain drinks, blinds and signs connoting to the fact of danger.

The costumes appearing within the scene are all from the historic era. All soldiers including the protagonists are wearing Nazi Uniforms, which heightens the fact that the protagonists are shown to be undercover. There is a distinct difference however between the antagonist Nazis and the undercover Basterds, the Basterds uniform looks smart and ordered, whereas the Nazi soldiers uniforms are informal and open allowing the to differentiate between good and bad. The uniforms are well presented in their design and are replicas of the uniforms worn by actual Nazi Officers in WW2.  The one main difference in the characters uniforms however is that of Major Hellstrom. Major Hellstom’s uniform is black which gives the audience the impression that he is evil and he is to be feared, but also the impression of power because throughout the scene he commands the situation. Alongside the black uniform, a large deep red Nazi armband is worn, the colour red appearing once again adding danger and fear toward the scene and the audience watching. [1]His uniform is not from that era in history however as that uniform is from the 1930s and would not have been wearing it; he would have in 1944 been wearing the same uniforms as the other soldiers. The French barman and his daughter both wearing white showing their innocence in the situation, and allowing the audience to determine they are safe, also one Nazi soldier who is a female is possibly shown to be innocent also.

There is an extensive use of props used within this tavern scene, including the close up on two handguns and is the first the audience see of the weapons until the gunfight towards the end of the scene, where a massive number of weapons appear from nowhere. All weapons within the commence of the scene are used for a reason, the Nazi Majors handgun for example is an iconic WW2 German gun, alongside the British’s solider also has an iconic gun which are popular for British spies to be in possession of such as, James Bond. However, the British gun is made under the same manufacture as the German soldier’s weapon, sticking with the fact that the Basterds are pretending to be German. The card game the cast plays is another traditional and iconic German factor; the card game adds to a highly suspenseful atmosphere and which heightens a sense of realism and reality which the audience can connect with. Finally, the prop which turns the scene completely on its head and allows the main antagonist to enter, is the record player.  This prop is used throughout the beginning moments of the scene to create an atmosphere for the audience and for them to set the scene; this is promptly turned off when the Major arrives. The record player resembles the Major in the scene, as the major was listening in on the conversation amongst the Basterds until the record player is turned off, resembling that the Major has total control within the setting.

The main two actors in this scene are Lt. Archie Hicox, played by Michael Fassbender, and Major Hellstrom played by August Diehl. The Major in this scene, immediately interrogates the British spy from the moment he enters the scene, the tension between the two begin from the moment the Major appears to investigate the Basterds. The Major is already aware that they are all imposters but keeps this under wraps and does not show any knowledge of it until the final moments of the scene. The Major’s character toys with the Basterds as he is knowledgeable of their true identities, which his character hides well, but if when looking deeper into the remaining chapters within the film it is revealed. This is uncovered by a flashback of Hugo Stiglitz, played by Til Schweiger, being whipped which implies that it was the Major performing the violent attack.

The lighting in the tavern is shady and dark, which matches the overall theme of the scene, there are dim lights placed around the tavern, mainly on tables directly above the characters which lights the table but not the characters completely. The aim of this is so that the audience are aware of and can see the characters although, is not overpowering, and enhances natural light within the room which emphasizes the realism, which is present within the scene.

In this scene, the sound is natural, nothing is overpowering and it is made to be as realistic as possible. Throughout the first half of the scene there is ambient music which is played from a record player in the distance, however is turned off by the Major leaves the room in silence. The silence only enhances the suspense and sense of danger throughout the scene because, the only sounds which can be heard is individual noises made by the characters within the scene, which is crucial for the plot. An example of this is when the major aims his handgun at Hicox underneath the table; the distinct sound of the hammer being pulled back instantly intensifies the scene from a slow build up to an almost conclusive ending. Therefore, all the sounds in the scene are diegetic; you hear everything which is portrayed on the screen which is done so the audience can solely focus on the narrative tension.

[1] IMDb. (2009). Inglourious Basterds (2009). [online] Available at: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0361748/goofs [Accessed 15 Dec. 2017].

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4dpLBM4rBPM

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Packwood House Evaluation Blog

For this part of my Blog entry I am going to discuss my input and analysis of the work I have done into creating a sound scape for a working live client at Packwood house. As a class of degree students we had to produce a sound scape for multiple large rooms in a very longstanding and remarkable house which would be an amazing experience but also a challenge. Our aim is to present an immersive Christmas experience that can be enjoyed by people of all ages, that tells a story of Christmas in the 1930s at Packwood house.

We first started by all discussing as a team what the brief was and how we was going to about it. We had research of Packwood, so we could see what the space looked like and gave us our first insight into our task, and Graham Baron Ash who was the man who lived there in the time period. I feel this helped me that I then could begin brainstorming ideas for sound scape in my own time. The team was split into parts that would go about to make a pitch to show to our tutor and then finally be shown to the National trust. The roles in the team were mainly researchers; these jobs were to research the technology we will need in the up and coming months, and then research on Packwood itself and also on Graham Baron Ash. I however was logistics, I had to make sure everyone in the team was able to travel to Packwood house safely and that everyone could get there. I also had to make sure any equipment that was taken was taken with care and professionally done, and also working out the travel expenses. If I did not do this the whole team would not know the timings of when to meet either at college or at Packwood and any equipment needing to make its way to Packwood would not be able too without me. I wanted to get a better understanding of logistics to be able to use them in my role of the team. I read up on someone else’s blog who had to do a project on filming. He gave me some key fundamental structures of what logistics needed to be carried out. In my project I did not need to carry out all of what he discussed but gave me information on logistics that I will use on further projects of my own.

In our group, our Team leader and Organiser began to construct a mind map of all the main ideas for the Packwood project. After producing this we had a production meeting discussing everything we had collated and decided to split the group into 2 teams, one team of 4 would look over the smaller rooms such as the Parlour, the Drawing Room and the Study Room. The other group which I would be in would collate more ideas on the larger rooms, such as the Great Hall and the Entrance Hall. We all gave ourselves action points to go away and research such as the sound effects that we would be using and the songs that would accompany them.

We have a budget of £1000, which is actually only a quarter of what we antically were hoping for as we discussed it between us as a group and thought £4000 was enough for everything as the Great hall, the main entrance area and the Hallway were all so large we needed roughly £1000 for each but now we only have £1000 for everything meaning we are going to need to budget everything. This is a problem as we was hoping to buy some high definition professional equipment for the house so it sounds realistic and authentic as possible but now we are going to have to lower our budget on the equipment, which might not give such an impact as we previously hoped for, so we began to research cheaper alternatives which were still to a professional standard. We find that Samsung do high quality wireless Bluetooth software that would be perfect for the Entrance Hall and is in budget, so order several small wireless speakers and one larger sound bar. For the other rooms we thought a wired system would be best and went for the brand JVCs small high quality speakers and these would go into all the other rooms such as the Dining Room and the Drawing Room.

As we gave our ideas week on week to Packwood they contacted us to tell us that because of the Budget situation that removing the Long Gallery and to concentrate on the other rooms. These did give us more of an opportunity on making sure the other main important rooms had the right amount of attention to detail. We made a pitch to show to our tutor and to Packwood of everything so far to give them a rough estimate on how complete we were on the project. We discussed in this all of the things we were doing to produce a professional soundscape, our safety rules and our plan of how when we finish our soundscapes how we would come to Packwood and set up the equipment ready for Packwood’s Christmas theme to be shown off to the public. And finally shown them the story and plan for all the rooms so they could have an idea of what we were planning and match any decorations to them or vice versa.

We reconvened as a class once again, and split the rooms up between ourselves and my room which I did mainly on my own with some help acquiring the sounds was for the Dining Room. I firstly used a website called https://www.audioblocks.com/ where I used the sounds already brainstormed in previous discussions and some of my own input that hadn’t been added in those discussions. The editing software I was using to edit my soundscape was called Logic Pro X. before I begin editing I wanted to know how to use this software as it was a my first time editing it there, I was more familiar with Soundtrack Pro but this is the newest up to date editing sound software on the market. I looked on the internet before starting my edit how to use the software to give myself a basic knowledge on http://www.musictech.net/2016/03/logic-pro-x-the-beginners-guide/. I opened up Logic Pro X and began finding and downloading the stock sounds. I had to join up free to the Audioblocks free trail but cancelled once I was done and would highly recommend it and use it again as the free trail gave me a massive amount of different sounds. I would also highly recommend Logic Pro X for sound editing software and look forward to getting to use it more, however it is expensive and I am fortunate to be able to use this equipment at my University Centre. I used sounds of ambience such as a low volume bar sound and plates and cutlery to create the feel you are in a bustling room of people about to engage in eating Christmas dinner. It took a few hours to be able to download all of the sounds and place them onto the track.

On top of the sound effects being used I changed the song chosen by my other colleagues for my room as I completely disagreed with the choice of song. They had chosen ‘In a Merry Mood by Barnabas Von Géczy & Orchestra’ (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5DiBC5UAanQ) as the song was too upbeat and the environment the song was going to be played in did not match. I researched songs on the internet that were from the 1930s and fitted in with the Christmas theme. I found a song I thought was ideal called ‘The Christmas Symphony by Shep Fields and His Orchestra’ (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Cw1T9UUZWg). I thought this song accompanied the ambience and atmosphere that the sound effects had and I chose this song to be in my soundscape. We then gathered everybody’s soundscapes and listened to them giving one another feedback helping each other as a group to tweak and change them till they were ready. Once we had done this and changed the soundscapes where necessary we organised them onto different colour coded memory sticks.

The day had come for the installation of the speakers and all the equipment we was going to use at Packwood. I made sure that I and another number of my colleagues who was helping me and the rooms around me were all there on time to make sure we met deadlines. The National Trust members greeted and guided us into Packwood where they had prepared the equipment for us. We had decided on the equipment just over a week before the installation date with the budget of £1000 and sent the list over to Packwood where they kindly ordered and took delivery of the equipment. We split the equipment up on everyone room and begin the installation. I and my colleague who assisted on the Dining room located the only plug socket in the room. With procession we had set up the speaker system, however we had a problem. The wires connected the main part of the system to the speakers were too short to spread the speakers only around half a metre away. This problem had to be overcome at that present moment because there was no time to change it. We listened to the sound of the speakers and because of the speakers being surround sound speakers they fortunately sounded professional enough to cover the room. If I have a project like this again in the future I will take charge in researching my own designated room, as I did not choose my rooms speakers and would have researched more into the length of the wires so make sure the room fitted them. The speakers themselves however we good quality so I cannot fault them and they were simple to set up only take me and my colleague minutes to have them properly working. Because we had done this and had the all clear off the National trust that they were pleased with that we decided to support others. One of the groups either were not there at the time or late, so we decided to assist by taking the speaker systems to their rooms as they had the same speaker system as us. Because of the deadline and me and my colleague wanted to be as first and professional as possible we took it upon ourselves to set up the systems in the rooms, because of our prior knowledge of the speakers both rooms were once again ready to go and tested meaning we had set up 3 out of a possible 5 rooms.

4 out of those possible rooms were using the same JVC speaker system as I had and Packwood asked me if I could design an instruction guide on how to operate them. I felt immensely proud of what I had achieved in such a short period of time. We had completed the house in less than 2 hours of arriving and an hour later I had produced an instruction guide to send to Packwood so that they could use that every day and easily understand the technology.

Overall in my Packwood house project I feel I have had an extraordinary experience being able to work with a live client, in a place that is open to the general public. I feel honoured to have my work displayed there and have others see it. I have learned a large amount about planning, deadlines and sound in general and I feel I have conducted all of them to a professional standard. I would take planning into even more consideration for my next project as the planning was a massive whole month project and I would like to be more involved in more group project’s in the coming years and would feel able to lead a team as I feel that I have leadership qualities in stressful situations.

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Experimental Blog

For the final part of my Blog I am going to discuss my last project which is to undertake research into something I feel I would like to learn more about in my practical work. I looked firstly into reading some text books on media practices and the industry. I enjoy using text books as well as finding information on the internet as there are hard sources of information and I feel more comfortable reading them and take the information in better which benefits me and my learning. I had looked through two books until I was told of a book, which is also in our course guide to read was [1] The Guerrilla Film Makers Handbook. This book held a wealth of information on everything on filmmaking in the modern age. I delved into the book and found a page which was called Line of Action, or also known as the Axis action or the Directors line.  I then decided to conduct more research into the line of action by searching for it on the internet. I found multiple YouTube videos explaining the technique and how it is used and how filmmakers break this rule. One video I found helpful in understanding this more was a video by [2] FiveMinuteFilmSchool, and by  [3] a BTEC extended diploma YouTube channel. They gave me enough information on this that I felt confident to experiment on this, firstly though I will explain what the line of action is and why some filmmakers break it.

In a recent filming project for a Documentary I used a large amount of different scenes, and in them I used a variety of camera angles. One of the main scenes I used was in an interview styled setting where I positioned the camera in an over the shoulder position, where it only had the subject talking over my shoulder, I had the camera slightly off to the right and had them looking at me and not the camera. I used the rule of thirds and had the camera position as professional looking as possible for an interview having the subject slightly to one side allowing a space for where they are looking at me. The only downside I had with using these certain shots where I wasn’t shown is the audience doesn’t know who they are answering questions from. Now this may be a good point because they could feel as if they are the one asking the questions adding to the realism, however I feel in an informative interview where the audience gain information from such as in mine documentary they would of better to see the person asking the questions. The one thing I never thought of when doing both my pre-production and production is actually having me in one of the interview scenes. When I next come to producing a documentary styled interview scene I will take it into consideration of having the two cameras used as it overall gives a more skilled and entertaining appearance to the interview. With only using the one camera is lacked the attention that the scene needed, however depending on the type of interview it is I will use either one or two cameras where I feel necessary.

Here are the camera angles and shots of my last documentary. As you can see I have used only one camera showing the interviewee, the camera in the correct position able for the interviewee to look into the space. I was proud of my rule of thirds and overall look of the scene, however I would add an over the shoulder to give more of a feel that someone is asking him and the audience can here that connection.

The Line of action is an essential element in film making and film editing called continuity editing. This is used to make the scene look natural and to create verisimilitude. This technique is familiar Hollywood as they choose to use cemented codes and conventions without breaking rules such as the 180 degree rule. A massive box office success that broke the 180 degree rule was a scene in [4]‘Indiana Jones Raiders of the Lost Ark’. The film had no choice but to break the rule in this scene because otherwise important action cannot be seen from the present side of the 180 degree line. The shot has Indiana on his house entering on the right side with room on the left of where the audience can see where he is travelling. Then in the next shot the line of action is broken by changing the directional action as to be able to see Indiana jump onto the truck we need it to cross the line. This is a shot that works well as otherwise the audience would not be able to the other side of the action.

Another film that chose to do this was ‘Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence’, where a major turning point in the film has caused for the rule to be broken. Jack Celliers played by David Bowie, challenges the main Commander of the Japanese concentration camp. He challenges Captain Yonoi, played by Ryuichi Sakamoto; in this scene the camera crosses the line of action on Celliers, the beginning of the shot does not break the rule being it showing a close up at low angle, but in a few short moments in the confrontation the line is broke and the camera angle changes to the opposite side but this time a much closer shot on Celliers facial expressions but also a high angle shot, showing now he has lost his power he had in the previous shot. The line breaking and the camera moving to the other side of the line also shows his state of mind, that he is becoming insane and wants to die.

   There is a rule in film making where there is a 180-degree rule and you should not break this, however some directors break this on purpose, they break the line of action which then creates disorientation for the audience. As you can see in this image there are two cameras 2 and 3. The line through the middle of the two characters is the line of action. They are both over the shoulder shots of the two actors and both show each other at each other’s eye line. The character is shot 2 is looking into the left of the screen clearly towards the other character, now in shot 3 this is the same, however the character is looking right into frame at the other character, this is following the line of action. However, if you see camera x that is breaking the line of action and when camera 2s actor is looking into the left, so is then the other character in camera x which makes it disorienting for the audience and is hard then on the audience to feel their surroundings, they have to become an active audience to try and figure out what’s happening, Instead of a passive audience member.  The filmmaker can use any camera angle they choose, as long as it is on the 180 degree side.

I decided to choose a location that is used in a number of documentaries and this is inside a house in the living room. For the Line of action to be shown I had to set up the cameras behind either actor with an over the shoulder shot being the choice of shot. I found this part simple because I could have both cameras on the same 180-degree line so they are not crossing each other’s path way. This rule I feel was easy to follow and gave a realistic feel to the filming. Once I had shown the effect of the rule being followed I changed the camera from being in the 180 degrees to outside it, breaking the rule.  I found this a lot more challenging in the fact that both cameras had to be positioned so neither was in either ones shot because to achieve an over the shoulder shot they had to be moved multiple times for me to get the shot which looked professional. The challenge I had to overcome was difficult but I have learned the process of breaking the line and placing the camera on the other side, and it gives disorientation to the audience.

Here are still images from the interview. This is an over the shoulder shot of the two actors conducting the interview and is following the 180 degree rule being both cameras do not go over the line. The interviewer is slightly higher in the one shot but the interviewee is slightly higher in the other, showing in different shots power changes.

In these shots however the 180 degree rule is broken, in the shot where it is broken the camera is extremely close to the interviewers shoulder, I found conducting this shot hard because as you can see the camera is slightly in shot. I did have to try multiple times for the camera to be out of shot, eventually I did manage to achieve a good shot where the camera was not scene but it did take time to perfect it and the environment did not help because there was not a large amount to move, so next time would definitely plan the area I want the interview to be conducted in and make sure I can get the camera angles right without the camera being in shot.

Before Breaking the Rule

After Breaking the rule

Overall in this project I felt condiment on using the 180 degree rule and it gave me more information on the convention used. It also gave me more information on breaking the rule and how this is used in films and the meaning it has. I will be taking everything into consideration when I next produce a documentary styled film or any piece of cinema or film where I can use or break the line of action.

[1] The Guerilla Filmmakers Handbook. (2006). 3rd ed. London, United Kingdom: Continuum International Publishing Group Ltd., p.275.

[2] FiveMinuteFilmSchool (2014). 180 Degree Rule - Five Minute Film School. [video] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTNUq-stj6M [Accessed 3 Dec. 2017].

[3] BTEC Level 3 Extended Diploma in Creative Media Production (TV and Film) (2014). The 180-degree rule and the Line of Action. [video] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJ6yo1JwHKA [Accessed 3 Dec. 2017].

[4] 36, T. (2016). The 180-degree rule - Example 36 : Free Download & Streaming : Internet Archive. [online] Internet Archive. Available at: https://archive.org/details/the-180-degree-rule-example-36 [Accessed 5 Dec. 2017].

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Digital Billboard Evaluation

For this part of my blog I shall be evaluating my process of designing a Digital Billboard. My initial ideas were to design a billboard on a passion of mine which is the Famous British Spitfire. I also have a massive passion for cars and the car industry and thought about combing these two ideas to produce a digital billboard advertisement, which advertises cars but also the history of the Spitfire. 

I brain stormed some ideas to start with and had to take multiple things into consideration. I firstly proposed that I use Jaguar Land Rover for my car manufacture because in the Second World War Spitfires were made in the Castle Bromwich Factory, not far away from me, but now they produce the new top of the range luxury cars. I thought about combing those two factors and having an advert which showcases both.

First idea that I had is the one above, not exactly that one but that is the best way of showing my idea as it has never been done before. My idea was to have half of the billboard with this archive image of the spitfires being made back in 1940, and then one the adjacent side having a picture of the same place today with the jaguars lined up, to show that the world has evolved from making the best planes in the world to making what some may say the best cars in the world. I also had the same idea but this time instead of in the factory it would be outside of the factory shown underneath. Also underneath is my final idea and that was too take the front side of a Spitfire and the rear end of an iconic Jaguar such as the new F-type and the famous E-type, this was the only idea I had which would not need to be done in the Castle Bromwich factory, however would still be a difficult task under the circumstances that I had to acquire footage of both and the time frame I had to it in.

 To do what I wanted to be as authentic as possible. I wanted the real Castle Bromwich factory where those spitfires were being made. I used multiple factual websites to give me information on the Castle Bromwich  factories such as [1]‘The Spitfire site’ and the [2]‘BirminghamPost’ With this I have the massive issue of actually being able to film there, I thought this was highly unlikely but decided to get in contact with jaguar Land Rovers Media Enquires team. I sent them this email, however the never got back to me unfortunately.

“I am contacting you regarding a certain project I have on my University Course which I’m studying at Solihull Colleges University centre. I have had to design a Digital billboard for my project and need to generate a short form of advertisement which I want to intertwine my love of cars and Spitfires. Due to my passion for cars and spitfires I feel that Jaguar Land Rover would be the ideal place for me to conduct my project. My Initial idea was that because the Spitfires were made in the Castle Bromwich Factory and that factory is still being used to this day producing the brand new Jaguars that I could incorporate both of those ideas together and have a product where half of the screen is an archive picture of the factory line with the spitfires down the one side for as far as the eye could see, and on the adjacent side a line of the new Jaguar cars being built showing that over nearly 80 years have passed and that the factory and innovation of new technology is still transforming ”.

I waited two and half weeks for them to get back to me in regards to me email but I received nothing unfortunately, which I was very much disappointment about as my idea was my passion and I couldn’t fulfil it, I did however think that It was a massive task that I had given myself, I took from it ideas and inspiration and a thought that in the future I may get another chance. I decided to have to rapidly brainstorm an idea. I wanted to stick with my idea of a Jaguar and thought of an advertisement for one of their cars which a close friend’s father owned. I prepared myself on what I was doing felt confident in this, however agreeing on a time of meet at the location of his own home did not live up to expectation. He unfortunately cancelled on me due to miss calculating dates and meetings so I was then back to square one with time slowly running out and my deadline approaching.  I was to stick with the same idea I had planned but with a different car, sadly not a jaguar but still a vehicle.

What I have learned from the first stage and the later stage of planning is that preparation is key, and when I have a project like this in the future I will plan even more ahead of time and I will have already produced a backup product if the first one doesn’t come through, as what has happened with my first project. However, I did predict that it would happen and did begin to brainstorm other ideas while waiting for Jaguar to contact me back, and then once I had not heard back from them I commenced with my back up. In the prospect of undertaking another project much like this one, I will have a backup in place from the beginning, definitely if I feel something like this could happen again. Because I had to change ideas, even from the manufacture of car, I had to change the Mise en Scene. Because I was using a luxury car such as a Jaguar I wanted the background of the video to fit the same criteria with a historic and impressive feel to match the history of Jaguar. Jaguar use large space and have a targeted audience at more upper class and an age range from 30 plus. I had to change from that idea to a car with a more urban feel. I needed to construct a background that matched the car; the lighting and colour scheme also had to match so I chose the urban environment of Birmingham.

My plan was too use a series of photos in a clockwise motion going around the vehicle to seemingly look as if it a video, and give them affect to how the lighting and weather was on that specific day. I had chosen a black fiat 500 and thought because of the urban nature of the car a multi-story car park would be perfect. I thought a skyline background would also contrast well with the car. I found a car park that would do this well and did a risk assessment on site to deem it was safe to film. I firstly positioned the car where I thought looked well and took the photos; I used a variety of low angle shots, medium shots and one or two long shots. I used the low angle shots to give the car a powerful presence, I then used the medium shot to have the main focus being the car, but with the background clearly visible to give a contrasting effect and to set the scene, which brings me onto the long shot which is too show the setting but also the main source from a distance. I was pleased with of my images that I had taken, I feel however with more time, because of the pushed deadline I felt I was rushed on what I wanted to do, but in the final product I was more than pleased with the outcome. On the way to the shoot I had found a landscape billboard that I thought this advertisement

Because I had used a mobile device for the images I decided to stay with the device for editing and choose to use an app called ‘Inshot video editor music, cut’. I found this application easy to use and professional in the outcome. It had everything I needed to produce my Digital Billboard and had everything I was familiar with on editing software which are usually considerable amounts of money but this being free easy to get your hands onto but also professional in the tools it offered me. It was easier to get to grips too than Premier Pro and the top selling editing software’s. The obvious downsides being that it would more complicated if you was filming on a DLSR and you wanted to edit on there, there would be ways but not as easy as filming on the mobile device and editing on it as well. Phones are becoming cameras and computers combined, with superb megapixel cameras and fast editing applications, it is what I thought to be an ideal tool for a project which was behind d on time and brought me up to speed.

When I was brainstorming ideas for the Fiat Billboard advertisement I looked into advertisements they have previously done. I found that Fiat in there advertisements for Fiat 500s use a variety of bright and attractive colours to draw the audience in such as reds and yellows. 

I compared this to Jaguar advertisements and the colours were a lot less vibrant, the colours of the cars were darker shades such as different shades of grey, darker shades of white and black. However they did contrast this with the Union Jack which made the Union Jack stand out. Jaguar uses the heritage of the name and brands it in that way, with examples being the poster advertisements, but also television adverts with iconic British actors. [3]They did this to entice followers of these actors to interact more with the advert which advertised the UK for its famous actors but also there automobiles. 

Fiat on the other hand tries to connect more with the younger audience, which is Fiats main target audience in the 21st Century. In their advertisements the actors they use are in the age range from around 17 -30, all aimed at the target audience. In my billboard I didn’t want an actor and want it to be focusing on the car for a short advertisement and the background and lighting.

In the editing part because It was a free application I did not have a massive amount of options, however the options I had I thought were the main factors of editing. I placed all the shots together that I had taken which then added up to 25 seconds of footage in a video; however I want it to be much shorter. I wanted it to have a large number of shots together showing the car in a montage effect so made the shots all 0.5 seconds long. Once I had done this, I dimed the lighting on all of them and gave them a grey look to emphasise the Urbaneness of the car and surroundings. The main edit is the ‘glitch’ used which I wanted to add to draw the audience in as it is an unusual edit to have in a advert and emphases the urban meaning of the advert and the car. Once I felt my billboard advert looked complete I then exported it and saved it onto my computer.

Overall I felt I had achieved a professional Digital billboard that I was proud of. I did have a large amount of problems in the time I was planning and creating my billboard, but I overcame them all and made sure at all times my billboard looked professional and I met deadlines. I will ensure on further projects my planning is made weeks in advance and that I have ideas that I can see becoming a reality.

[1] Spitfiresite.com. (2017). Castle Bromwich Spitfire and Lancaster Factory in Pictures — Historic Photographs | 1943 | 1944 | 1945 | history | Lancaster | Spitfire Mk. II | Spitfire Mk. IX | Spitfire Mk. V | Spitfire Mk. XVI. [online] Available at: http://spitfiresite.com/2012/07/castle-bromwich-spitfire-and-lancaster-factory-photos.html [Accessed 4 Dec. 2017].

[2] Post, B. (2017). A 70-year history of the Castle Bromwich assembly plant. [online] BirminghamPost. Available at: http://www.birminghampost.co.uk/business/manufacturing/70-year-history-castle-bromwich-assembly-3940359 [Accessed 4 Dec. 2017].

[3] British Villains - 2015 One Show Automobile Advertising of the Year Finalist. (2014). [video] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7gR7EYjcP8 [Accessed 4 Dec. 2017].