Production Diary
I started my mind map and began developing ideas for my idents. I added images to it which show my initial idea for a music channel ident. Im finding it hard to come up with two more ideas which are different and original because of all the idents that have already been made. I want to come up with 3 ideas that are all different, where one uses just graphics, one only live action, and the other a mixture of both, so that I have a clear understanding of which one will be most successful and creative.
It took me a while to come up with my idents but I eventually came up with three initial ideas which I could easily make successfully. Hopefully they're clear enough to the audience and interesting enough to keep them watching.
Ive decided to go with my first idea which is the music countdown ident. I just think I can create this one really well and make it very successful as its not too difficult, but in the edit i'll be able to add lots of fine details which will enhance the quality and make it look more professional. I do like my other two ideas but i just feel like they wouldn't turn out the best quality. Also im not the greatest at effects so I wan to orientate my ident around live action.
My Ideas ITV Guitar Pick
This is a mixture of live action and editing. Its set on some form of stage, in frame is a guitar amp, and the bottom of a mic stand. The performer then walks past with the guitar and his pick and places them on the amp, then walks out of shot. the camera then tracks up towards the pick which has the itv logo printed on it. at this point it fades to the logo on a one colour background.
Reality walk through
For this ident I will have the female actress sat in her living room, the would then get up and open the door into a completely different set which has similar aesthetics to a reality TV show, she will then walk through other doors and she will enter different reality TV settings which are famous and well known. Finally she will sit back in her living room with her TV remote in her hand. The camera will pan 180* to an over the shoulder shot of her TV which will show the itv logo in a separate ident, in essence we have "ident inception".
Musical time travel
This ident will be all editing and will consist of many different music stars from past to present, all merged together in a slow paced montage to their music. It will show their iconic logos which are all different and unique which will add variation to the ident and it will make it easier for the audience to recognise the musicians. It will be in chronological order from the oldest artists right up to the current up to date artists. It will show the development of music through time and give an idea of the types of programmes that will be aired on the channel.
This ident is very suitable for sports fans because it shows lots of balls from different sports i.e. a football, tennis ball, rugby ball etc.
This ident clearly targets children due to the colours, the cartoons and there's a child in the clip having fun.
The purpose of an ident
-To keep you watching
-To promote/sell a product
-To be persuasive
-Creating a brand identity
-To break up the programmes
-To map out the TV schedule
Watch
-Practical set
-After Effects
-Pre visualisation-animate
-Text graphics and voice overs
BBC
-Green screen and crew
-Animals and cast
-Animate in post production
-SFX
This ident has been created in an animation software using text graphics, transitions and sound FX.
This ident has been filmed by a cast and crew at a certain location and then edited in post production to add effects such as freeze frames, slow motion, text/logo graphics etc. This specific ident is being used to promote a TV series.
Opportunities
A good ident design can create many benefits for both the designer and the channel. the designer will benefit from a well made ident because they will be paid very generously if it matches the channels requirements. It also means that other channels will be interested in your work and will want to hire you to create their ident, therefore earning you more money and making a name for yourself within the industry. The more idents you are commissioned to make the bigger your portfolio will become, which will impress future employers.A good ident also benefits the channel because it will increase viewing figures and keep them watching. It also allows the channel to change their aesthetics to appeal to a wider audience.
Limitations
There are many limitations you may come across when given an assignment by a company. The main one and most frustrating in my opinion is how vague the companies brief could be. They probably don't know anything about your editing software therefore wont know what you can create and wont go into a lot of detail when discussing their idea. They could also be vague when giving you feedback. If they don't like your ident they will tell you, but they might not tell you how you should change it because they don't know themselves. The timescale you're given could also be an issue. If you return to the employer with an ident which is longer or shorter than they required, they'll tell you to change it or they'll find someone else.
Rubbish idents
This ident would probably have been good quality in its time, but compared to the quality of modern day editing and software this is a very poor and un interesting ident. The effects used here are very limited which makes for a boring clip. Also the colours used are quite un appealing to look at.
This ITV ident is quite meaningless in my opinion because it doesnt have anything to do with the programmes that it plays, and it also uses very dull un interesting colours. The text graphics are quite hard to see due to them being the same colours as the background, and its also quite faint.
For me this ident is too simple and it doesn't have any 'eye catching' aspects, which is important if you want viewers to keep watching the channel and stay interested. This has clearly had a few difficult limitations, which is probably why it isn't very interesting and enticing.
Analysing a suit of idents-BBC 4
Design elements 1st Ident 2nd Ident 3rd Ident
Key colours-Lots of variation because of the different programs, mostly bright (8 secs), after every hand transition. Black and white colour scheme, very plain and simple. Black logo. Colours are bright but only blues and yellows used. The colour is from the bees and the sea instead of block colours.
Text-BBC 4 logo- Connotates the simplicity of life being straight forward and realistic. different colours shows the difference in variety of programs. The BBC logo was the only text in the ident. Again very basic and simple. Text consists of the logo in the centre of the screen and a roman numeral 4 in the corner. Font is simple.
Speed-Fast Moving. The birds in the background and the splashing water are fast paced and moving quickly but the logo in the centre is stationary but slowly increases in size. This ident was slow and had hardly any movement in it. this gave the viewers time to understand and work out what the images symbolised.
Space-Lots of space around the logo making you focus in on the channel name. Lots of space around the logo to show the clip in the background. Logo is still big enough to understand what it says. The space is used very well in this ident because you can see each image clearly and the logo is in the centre of the frame. I think the logo could've been made bigger as people with sight problems may find it hard to read the text.
Purpose
Whats it used for-made to sell a variety of programmes-because of footage-Style is unexpected-trying to prevent you from changing the channel. I think this ident is used to create a calming feeling within the viewer. Maybe to promote wildlife documentaries that the channel airs. Creates an element of confusion and anxiousness, makes you want to find out what sort of programmes they show. Its used to be witty and make the audience work out the pictogram. This is a clever way to keep the audience from changing the channel.
What audience is it targeting-Audience targeted is adults, educated. The audience targeted is 30+, wild life enthusiasts. This ident could be targeting a wide audience, but i would narrow it down to older people aged 40+.
Creative
Most creative elements-hand transitions are creative-lots of sound effects.To me the clip looks like a reflection off the water of the birds flying, due to the ripples and bubbles right at the beginning of the ident and throughout, and also because of the fact that the birds look like theyre flying upside down. The sound effects used i.e. the voices are very unusual. It is quite creativebecause it uses pictures to describe the letters in the logo text. Also the sound fx used are quite creative because they use the sounds of each picture. I think there couldve been more movement in this ident as it is a bit stationary with makes it a bit boring.
Which ident was most creative-I think the first ident was the most creative because it included a lot of clips/shots, colours and sounds which kept the audience interested and curious as to whats going on. I think that the second ident was probably the least creative because there wasnt much going on, it was quite confusing and also it didnt have any meaning behind it. It was also quite boring due to the shots and the colour scheme used which was very plain.
Which is better at targeting its audience- The first idewnt was best at targeting its audience because it shows lots of different aspects of the channel which will interedt different people therefore creating a wider target audience.
Suitable for a specific genre- The last ident would be best for targeting a specific audience because it seems quite formal which will interest older people.
A multi camera set up is a type of production where multiple video cameras film or broadcast a show simultaneously. It means that you can capture the action from more than one angle, giving you more footage to choose from.
A single camera production is when one camera is used to take all the shots one by one. This method of production is a lot cheaper than multi camera but it is more time consuming.
The following web links discuss the advantages and disadvantages of working in a multi camera production.
After looking at these websites, I have came to my own conclusions about the pros and cons of working on a multi camera production.
Pros
Time Saving-You will save masses of time if you use multi camera as not every shot has to be taken individually
Continuity-You will run in to less errors due to continuity as the scene you are shooting will only have to be acted once
Editing-You wont have to spend a huge section of your budget on editing as most of it will have been done during filming by the vision mixers
Cons
Less Flexibility-Due to the fact that there is so much camera/recording equipment around the set, you will be limited to a shorter shot list i.e. you may not be able to do an 'over the shoulder' shot in case you capture any of the equipment
Lighting-It will be harder and take longer to light a multi camera production as more of the set will be seen and the lighting has to look realistic on every camera. Also the lights will have to be places strategically in order to avoid any shadows being cast on the set
Expenses-A multi camera production is much more expensive to run than a single camera. This is down to the cost of things like location, crew, equipment etc. Although you may get a better result for your show, and it may be easier to shoot, the cost will set you back quite a bit and may prevent you from improving the quality of other aspects of your production such as actors/presenters, costume/set design
The following links are different types of multi camera production set ups:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iIeFZCSrgKA
In shows like mock the week a multi camera set up is needed in order to show all the guests. We see at 0:37-0:40 that the camera switches from Dara O'Brian to one of the teams as he introduces them and the same again at 0:40-0:43 For the other team. For the vision mixers to switch between cameras in this way takes a lot of concentration because they need to get the cuts correct for it to be successful. Also most of the conversations during the show aren't scripted, meaning the vision mixers need to be on the ball and ready to follow the guests as they talk.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2xdYQ2jB3s
During a football game the cameras have to constantly be switching to follow the action. The production companies have cameras set up all around the pitch and also above in order to capture everything they possibly can. We see from 3:29 the camera is set on the player taking the free kick and at 3:33 the camera switches to a wide shot of the rest of the players and the net so that they don't miss any action and have complete coverage of the game.
Throughout this news channel the camera is mainly set up as a mid shot of the presenter, so she can talk directly to the camera about the news. Also she will be reading off an auto cue. However when another presenter is shown on the screen in a different location at 4:49, the camera switches in order for the viewers to see both people as they speak. This part of the report will also be partially improvised so she wont need the auto cue to read off.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASQ3m11W2N4&spfreload=10
On this show they have cameras set up on each of the participants so that when they talk the audience can see each person individually. we see at the very beginning, from 0:10 to 0:15 the camera switches onto the guests as the host introduces them. This will have been scripted aso that when he says their names the audience know who he's talking about. The hard thing about this show is that most of the discussion isn't scripted, so the vision mixers have to be ready to switch the camera onto the person talking at any moment.
I think that Mock the Week and The Talking Dead made the best use of multi camera production on their shows, as they have to be quick and precise about their camera changes in order to film the person who is talking. Also they use many different cameras in various angles which means the show isn't set on just a few simple shots and wont get boring and tedious to watch. I think the news report could possibly be shot using single camera production, due to the fact that there isn't much movement of the cameras and the programme isn't fast paced, so the production team have time to move the cameras and switch the shot if they want/have to.
Topic-The Walking Dead- The set will have images all around with the main characters, also names of major locations will be put all around the set. Target Audience- People that are interested in the films/tv shows that are discussed will be a big part of the audience. People who want to hear different opinions on films/tv shows that they like or dislike. Age range and gender could be very wide spread depending on whats being discussed on the show.
Constraints-there will be some constraints regarding the people who are reviewing and debating the films/TV shows as we need people who know what they're talking about, and can hold a conversation for the extent of time which we need. To make sure this doesnt happen we will get our guests to research and back up all their arguements and knowledge about the chosen subject so that they have enough to talk about, and so that they make sense to the viewers.
Genre-Review show- Presenters and guests will discuss and critique a selection of TV series, new film releases, actors/actresses, directors etc. The typical conventions for this programme would be to have a guest who really loves a certain film/TV show to defend it, and also someone who despises and ridicules the same film/TV show in order to have a debate showing both positives and negatives.
Guests/Crew- In this show we would require a presenter, at least two participants to give their opinions on the chosen topic, vision mixers, Director, Production managers, camera operators and sound technicians. We would need to have a fan of the film/TV show in question and also someone who dislikes it. A bonus would be to also have someone involved in the show on the panel to answer any questions etc.
VT Needed- For our VT we could have one of our presenters go out into the public and ask their opinions of the show in question. We could have someone dress up as a zombie and prank people as our topic would be the walking dead.
Characters were detailed and well designed, looked difficult to make, the villain had a 'sick nose'
The colours of the characters clothing stood out, bright and eye catching
A good set, "10/10", was well constructed
Could've made the set a little bit brighter so more of the detail could be seen
Our aim was to make a stop motion action fight scene. We wanted it to create tension amongst the audience, be exciting, and have slight elements of comedy in it and i feel that we achieved this due to the humorous nature of the sound effects i.e. the shouting, the growl etc. We created tension in the build up the the fight scene and also in the second part when the hero was pinned down. I think the design of the characters and the set was the best part of our stop motion because they were both very detailed and added a lot of realism to our animation, which makes it more enjoyable to watch. The weakest part of our stop motion would probably be the movement of the characters. Although we did get some good actions from the models the play-doh made it difficult to move them as it would fall apart very easily. Our target audience would be 15+, mostly male, and fans of action films. I think we have targeted them successfully because we have a wide range of the common action features i.e. fighting, an attractive girl, blood, weapons etc. We used a wide range of sounds such as fighting SFX, an upbeat soundtrack and voices. I think the fighting sound effects are the most successful because we've synced them really well to the clips and it adds a lot of realism to the fight.
Mini focus group
Narrative
- The narrative was clear and easy to understand
Character design
-The design was well good. Face expressions and body features were very clear.
Colours
-colours looked good and looked like it was night time, it was clear the colours fitted the mood of the animation.
Set design
- Set design was really good, again it looked like night time which was what we were going for.
Improvements
- To make the battle screams of the character longer to fill some silence. Heighten the volume of some audio tracks so sound is clear.
Target audience
Target audience was well targeted and achieved.
Self evaluation of stop motion
Our final idea was to make a stop motion about two characters, a hero and a villain, who fight over a women. I believe that we achieved what we set out to make and also included extra genre aspects such as comedy. In my opinion the best parts of our animation are the sound effects, because of the quality that they were synced to the action, and the quality of the set design as it looks realistic.
In my opinion the weakest part to our animation would be the movement of the characters, because at some points of our animation they don't look as life like as they should due to the difficulty of moving the play doh without it falling apart. Also at points you can see fragments of our hands when we were moving the models but none of our audience noticed it do it wasn't a major problem. Are target audience was 15+, action fanatics, and mostly male. I think we have targeted them well because of the content of the animation.
In this shot example we see the two characters fist fighting, this doesn't target children as we don't want to promote violence towards them therefore this animation is a bit strong for people below the age of 10. We used two different types of sound. We used soundtracks and some sound effects from the internet. We also used some custom made sound effects that couldn't be found on the web. The sound track that we used is one from the game halo to add intensity to the animation. The sound effects were used to create speech noises like in morph and to add sound to actions the characters made. I think the sound effect used for the girl is really good because it makes her look and sound really panicked and scared which is the what our group wanted her to look like. I also liked the villains laugh as the hero crawled away because it creates tension for the viewers.
Evaluation of public viewing
The most common answer about the storyline was that is was very easy to understand and follow. The audience said they could recognize the narrative developing.
In terms of the characters we had very mixed views, some saying they recognized the hero, villain and female victim, others saying that they couldn't recognize which was the hero and villain. The over all response we got was that you could tell who was who.
The most common response about the colours was that they suited the theme and atmosphere of the animation, 6/7 comments of the colours were positive.
Most comments on the set were positive and said it looked good and again reflected the theme of the animation. Some people said we could of made the set a little more gritty to but the urban feel across to the reader.
The most common answer for what we could have done better was to make the movement a little smoother so the animation looked that much more professional.
Every person we asked about the audience replied with the same answer, which was that it targeted teenagers well, we also got another comment that says it targeted teens but people also up to the age of 30.
I am pleased with the comments that we got from out viewing as it proved that we successfully created the animation that we had set out to make. Each person that watched our animation understood the narrative and could tell us what was happening throughout, meaning that it was clear and easy to follow. I agree with the comment on the set that it could've looked more filthy and dirty to give it more of an 'urban feel', because this would've added slightly more detail and realism, but it was still detailed enough that the audience could tell what we were aiming to do which was create a derelict, rundown landscape.
In comparison to our animation, this one is quite similar i.e. we see two characters fighting and there are weapon involved. However our models are more detailed with things like clothing and facial features, and we have a set for our characters to fight in making it look more realistic and exiting. also this stop motion has used quite a small range of camera angles as appose to ours which had lots of different quick cut shots. This detail makes a huge difference in making the animation enjoyable, because if there are multiple shots which are all moving fast, the audience are kept on their toes and aren't getting bored sat watching the same thing for too long. The movement in this fight scene is slightly smoother than the movements in ours which effect the realistic quality of the animation, and if we had had a little more time to film we could've achieved this, but overall the movement was still quite life like.
Our stop motion motion has a fight theme with a hero, villain and a female victim. The villain has kidnapped the female victim and the hero is trying to save her. It will be set on a city street were the two characters will fight.
Beginning 30 seconds-
This will see the characters meet on the back street. The hero is going to walk onto the street with the sound effect of walking. The villain is going to hear the hero and turn and smile. We will the zoom into the faces of each character and freeze showing there names. We will then see the two characters start to run towards each other and jump to hit each other. The screen then cuts to black.
Middle 30 seconds-
The hero and the villain become tangled in a fight to the death, trading blows with quick cuts and multiple angles to create tension and suspense. The fight will switch between slow motion and normal speed, and at certain points we see freeze frames of the characters i.e. the hero punches the villain or the villain dodges the hero's attack. We will see shots of the female victim looking confused, the camera will also be shot from her perspective as she watches the fight happen. The lens will go in and out of focus to show that she is slipping in and out of consciousness. Then the camera is on the girl as she looks to her side and spots a pole with a dangerously sharp edge.
End 30 seconds-
The third half we see the hero losing the fight to the villain. The hero will be shown on the floor with the villain over him the hero is about to be defeated by the villain. All of a sudden the villains expression changes from menacing to complete shock as he looks down to see a pole piercing through his torso. He falls down to revile the female character standing behind him breathless and falls to her knees. We cut to a shot of her on the side we hear the hero standing up and walk to the woman and he puts his hand out for her and he lift her up and walk of in to the sunset. We cut to the villain who is lay on the floor all of a sudden he open his eyes.
Target audience and genre-
Our target audience are males over the age of 15, this is due to action/fight theme of the animation which stereotypically is watched by males. The animation is aimed at people of 15 because of the violence and blood which we plan to include in the animation. Research shows that when men look to watch a film or a show they look for things like; nudity, sex and violence. When men were asked what do you look for in a film car chases and action scenes were at the top of the list.
This list clearly shows what different genders look for in a film and proves the point of why men would rather watch an action film than a rom com. This is because they have different interests for women and prefer to see a punch rather than a kiss.
When we think 'action', we think of guns, violence, explosions etc. The reason why these aspects are appealing to male audiences is because of the adrenaline feelings that we get from them which creates excitement, and keeps us interested. Some of the top action films that are most popular are things like Terminator, Aliens, Die Hard. These films where so successful because they had interesting narratives as well as the main principals of action films. This results in the film being constantly interesting and not become boring due to it being repetitive. Another appealing aspect of action films which draws in the male audience is female characters. When theres a female involved (preferably good looking), most men will find the film more interesting because theres something attractive to look at.
These are popular films with males 16-25 this supports why we are using the action genre.
Design- The colours we are going to use are going be dark because this will create a mood for the audience. most action scenes are filmed in the dark so this could be clear the audience something bad is going to happen.The scene will take place on a street on the set there will be broken down cars with smashed windows, street lights, houses and old buildings. The set will have images of derelict buildings stuck to the box, with two broken toy cars at each end of the street, the street lights will be made out clay and lit using after effects. The characters design will be reminiscent of the film sin city, meaning the clothing will be dark and mysterious. We will have fast, loud and intense music over the top. this will add elements of excitement and tension drawing the audience in. We will also have sound effects such as punches, grunts, shouting, footsteps etc. This detail will make out animation that much more realistic. Analysis of a similar product-
We will be using the same idea of two characters having a stand off and fighting. We will also be using clay in our animation so we will be watching many claymations to pick up ideas and tips on how to make out characters look as realistic as possible. Like in this animation there are two main characters fighting, a key difference between the two will be that ours will be made on a set.
S What are the principals of stop motion production?
The principals of stop motion are quite simple. If we're looking at the time aspect, the number of frames you take in order to move your model/object determines the time it takes for the action to happen. The more frames you have, the more realistic and life-like your model will move, resulting in a better quality picture. Where as if you take fewer frames, your models movements will look robotic and jumpy causing it to look unprofessional and rushed. When animating your model you should think carefully about overlapping and follow through. If you look at something living such as humans, we move multiple parts of our body constantly, so when you're trying to make a model look realistic you should think about these movements i.e. swaying or swinging its arms. This will help drastically in creating life like characters in your stop motion. Another key factor to a realistic model is arcs and poses. poses are important as people don't stand in static positions when doing things such as communicating, for example a common pose would be to slouch especially if in an informal situation. Also if there's any diagetic sound on the set i.e. doors opening and closing, your model should react to it as we do.
the target audience for Warriors Dance would obviously be towards prodigy fans, but also people interested in stop motion because its a really good idea and upcoming animators will use this clip for inspiration.
The Golden Voyage of Sinbad-Centaur vs Griffin
In this clip we see the claymation models straight away. As soon as it appears you can tell that the animators have spent a lot of time creating detailed movements of the model and they have thought hard about the principals of stop motion to make sure it looks as realistic as possible. At 0:12-0:15 we get a good look at the Centaur and its constantly moving around, as appose to standing in one spot. This effects the audience into thinking that the creature could actually be animatronic or a costume because the movements are so realistic. Also the animators wanted to show that the creature feels threatened and its movements help the audience to believe this. They have also used a lot of overlapping movement such as the swinging of the tail, and the arm movements which gives the model a much more life like appearance, resulting in a better quality picture for the audience which keeps them interested. The scaling of the model has been done really well to make it look much bigger than the human actors, and to combine the live actor with the animated model which is hard to create but very effective.
Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were Rabbit
This film is clearly aimed at children aged around 5+. I think this because of the amounts of dialogue within it and the narrative may be too complex for any younger child to understand. The detail that has gone into making these models look realistic is unbelievable. When animating these characters, Nick Park (the creator) spent hours and hours moving his models millimetres at a time, taking thousands of images per frame, meaning he would get the smoothest and most life like actions and movements as he possibly could. The outcome of his dedication resulting in his audience believing that they were watching a computerised animation as appose to claymation. To have this effect on the audience proves that the creator achieved all the principals of stop motion and took them to the next level.
The Prodigy-Warrior's Dance
The animators of this clip have done very well to combine real life movement with their animated objects. At 1:20-1:25 we watch the cigarette packets transform into human like figures as they fall off the shelf, but at the same time the other packets that aren't changing are falling in real time as appose to stop motion. This effects the vision of the audience making the paper models movement look more realistic. The combination of real life movements such as fire, cars, lights etc and the models i think is a really effective idea and i'll be incorporating it into my animation. The fact that the stop motion characters are embedded into the real life movements adds a huge aspect of realism to the video.
Old vs New
Looking through my timeline you can clearly notice the development of stop motion over the years. The degree of detail put into the latest stop motion animation compared to older animation is mind blowing. Its clearly recognisable when we put two of my clips together i.e. the Clangers and Corpse Bride, that the animators of Corpse Bride spent vast amounts of time making sure the movement of their models was as life like as possible, also the facial expressions and body language plays a crucial role in adding realism to the characters and we can tell the animators have paid a lot of detail in making these factors as effective as possible. In my opinion the animation that has covered the principals of stop motion the best would be Wallace and Gromit. The amount of detail on the models is quite slight, but that isn't an issue because of how fluent their movement is. Nick Park made sure he used all principals of stop motion to his advantage such as overlapping movements.
Genre, style and audience
There can be a wide range of audiences within stop motion due to the different styles in which it can be created. The more popular use would be claymation, seen mostly on children's programmes as they enjoy the cartoon aspect of the characters, also the simplicity of the character design in children's claymation means they can understand the characters much easier as there's less for the children to process. This means it's easier for them to enjoy. A lot of stop motion is now used in advertisement as it's different to most generic adverts and will draw consumers in, meaning better promotion for the product. Its also used a lot in modern tv, because it's much cheaper to create sets and characters as they're not as big as a set for human actors nor do they take as much time.
A camera operator has the job of setting up equipment, planning shots, and making sure there are no technical and lighting issues. The camera operator will use film or digital video cameras, and they will follow instructions from the production’s director or the director of photography. As the camera operator you would also be responsible for things like choosing the correct lenses for the shot and the positioning of the camera in order to get the best quality footage possible. If you were to apply for this particular job role, your employer would be more interested in your technical and practical experience in the field as this would determine your level of skill and reliability, however taking college/ university courses to develop your skills and understanding of the job role is highly recommended and its also impressive to have the qualifications to back up your experience. These courses include:
City & Guilds Diploma (7501) in Media Techniques (Level 1, 2 and 3 Award, Certificate and Diploma in Media Techniques (7601) from September 2010)
BTEC National Certificate or Diploma in Media Production
BTEC HNC/HND in Media (Moving Image)
degrees in media production, media technology or photography
trainee courses run by the GBCT (camera guild).
If you were to work in a production team, you would hold most control over any trainee or secondary camera operators to ensure that they have full understanding of their tasks in order to maintain a flowing and successful production. However the camera operator is quite far down the list when it comes to being in charge.
The income of a camera operator is quite irregular. If you're freelance there would usually be a paid fee for each contract, which you would propose. Although if you are with a production company, rates can be widely varied. You could however negotiate your income based on the type of production and also by the quality of your previous work.
The working hours can also be very irregular. You would be expected to be reachable 24/7 and your company would need you to be flexible and able to work at short notice, especially for news programmes.
Job Role: Editor
the role of an editor is to assemble all of the raw material and compress it into a professional finished product that is suitable for broadcasting. This is done by editing in post production. The raw material can include video footage, sound, special effects etc and your level of knowledge and skill will determine the outcome of the product, therefore the better quality editing you can produce means more job opportunities, and building your career. The director will work closely along side you to achieve the best results. Its common that most editors are employed as freelancers to begin with, moving from job to job in different companies and industries. In some cases you may have a little artistic license and freedom to edit however you believe the finished product should look, but in most cases you'll be given a strict brief to work to. The length of time that you work is all dependant on the size of the production and the how many people you have on your team.
You should have advanced knowledge on how to use different versions of editing softwares, as there are many throughout the media industry and will vary depending on the scale and expense of the production. You or another editor may have been designated with the role of 'editor-in-charge'. They will have a team of other editors which they will delegate jobs to in order to meet deadlines and bring peoples differing ideas together to create the best quality edit possible.
An editors salary:
This is the average salary for an editor but this can easily decrease or increase depending on your level of skill, previous work, and size of the production.
Job role: Director
A directors duty is to come up with and decide how a film/TV show is made. It is up to the to bring all of their initial ideas to the table and explain the concept of the production in order for the rest of the crew to know what they're working on. As a director you need to have exceptional communication skills in order to manage and delicate your team. Your production manager will help you with this but you are still in charge and need to have quality leadership skills. Your time management is also a huge responsibility as the director because you must make sure you give yourself and your team enough time to make the production the best quality it can be. Also the cost of your production is an important factor because for example if you've spend the majority of your budget on cast and set but not left yourself enough to make a good quality edit, all that time and money spent on set is wasted as the final product turns out to be average. This is why budget management is very important if you as a director want your production to be successful.
A director would need to have a university degree to some extent of media production and directing, but like any job in the media the employers will look more for experience in the field. If you're not applying for a director job straight into a company but instead starting as a freelancer, your experience and knowledge of the industry is key to making a beam for yourself, as people will only invest money, time and effort into you and your productions if you have a good reliable skillset to back you up. If people don't think they can make profits off your work then they won't invest in you and it will become extremely difficult to become successful.
A director is the head of the whole production. Although there are other head roles within a production to ensure it runs smoothly and efficiently, the director is in charge of all that goes on because it's their ideas and work that's being made. Their main and most important team members are probably the production managers, as they will feedback all the information about progress, issues etc within the production period, and work with the director to solve and better the production. A directors salary will vary depending on the scale and success of the production. If they have the budget to make a huge blockbuster film and it is a success, then they will be paid handsomely with the royalties they own in connection to their production, however if the film is. Bust and they don't make the money that was targeted, then their salary with rapidly decrease along with their opportunities to work on other option pictures.
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Thursday 3 July 2014
The Shining Task
Reviews We meet Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson), a man who plans to live for the winter in solitude and isolation with his wife and son. He will be the caretaker of the snowbound Overlook Hotel. His employer warns that a former caretaker murdered his wife and two daughters, and committed suicide, but Jack reassures him: "You can rest assured, Mr. Ullman, that's not gonna happen with me. And as far as my wife is concerned, I'm sure she'll be absolutely fascinated when I tell her about it. She's a confirmed ghost story and horror film addict."
Danny: Is he reliable? He has an imaginary friend named Tony, who speaks in a lower register of Danny's voice. In a brief conversation before the family is left alone, Hallorann warns Danny to stay clear of Room 237, where the violence took place, and he tells Danny they share the "shining," the psychic gift of reading minds and seeing the past and future. Danny tells Dick that Tony doesn't want him to discuss such things. Who is Tony? "A little boy who lives in my mouth."
Tony seems to be Danny's device for channeling psychic input, including a shocking vision of blood spilling from around the closed doors of the hotel elevators. Danny also sees two little girls dressed in matching outfits; although we know there was a two-year age difference in the murdered children, both girls look curiously old. If Danny is a reliable witness, he is witness to specialized visions of his own that may not correspond to what is actually happening in the hotel.
Evaluation of the actors performances
I think that the performances we see from the actors/actresses in this film vary in believability quite a fair amount. I think Danny does very well in portraying the character of a confused child who is very curious to find out what he sees and hears in his visions. Towards the end of the film, it shows that he is very afraid of what he is hearing from his father, and when i watched it i felt disturbed to watch his facial expressions because the fear he was showing seemed too real.
Wendy on the other hand shows a far less believable character because her expressions and movement, i.e. the way she would run away, seemed to stereotypical of a horror film it just seemed quite 'cheesy' and the fear wasn't as believable as the fear shown by Danny.
Jacks character was very believable to me as someone who was experiencing some kind of mental breakdown. i feel that he played the role very well because in the parts of some scenes when he was looking very sinister and creepy, I found myself looking away from the screen as I thought his expressions and actions were very disturbing. This proves that he was successful in becoming this character and making him believable. Cinematography and Mis en Scene high/low angle-when jack is trying to get to Wendy up the stairs, he is made to look inferior as he is in a high angle shot, and Wendy is made to look superior as she is in the low angle shot, when actually it's jack who seems to have the power and controll over Wendy. Close ups-Close ups are used a lot through out this film to show the fear in the characters faces. This camera shot is used a lot on Danny when he experiences his visions, because it draws our attention to his facial expressions which tell us how he is feeling. Camera Movement-Themagority of camera movement used in this film is tracking. It is used a lot to follow Danny around the corridors of the hotel to make it seem as if you're there with him. Also, when we are tracking Danny, we are at the same level as he is because Kubrick wants us to feel as young and defenceless as as him to create more fear for the audience.He also liked to zoom in to a characters face when they are showing fear, which makes you ignore the background of the frame and focus on how the character is feeling.
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