Evaluation video (Preparation)

Becoming increasingly interested in the different ways in which I could present my evaluation. Be it in a normal word document, straight forward but a bit boring and doesn't show off my potential skills. Be it in a presentation, but then on what? Powerpoint?! I don't think so, deserve something more extravagant. Video presentation then, just showing me nothing else? Well that was my original idea, but then I decided to get a bit more ambitious. I thought, why not go one more step and try something I've never tried before? Green Screening! Always wanted to, never got round to it. Now seems as good as ever.
I looked around for a green screen to actually film on. I researched the various gradients of green that would be ideal. I found that it doesn't really matter as long as its a constant gradient throughout the shot without any variations as this can cause errors to occur. With this in mind, I trawled the internet in search of a suitable screen. Many youtube videos told me that normal felt from your local fabrics store would do the trick. However, this being Norfolk there are no fabric shops which would sell me the necessary amount for a reasonable price or quality. So I looked online and found a "professional" green screen which I could buy to use.

My Green screen. 1.8x2.8m 

Having settled on the screen, I then needed to find some suitable software which could carry out a green screen effect. I knew imovie would do it but when I tried it out it seemed to infantile to achieve it to the level of quality I wanted it. So I continued to look. I also knew Motion 5 would do it, but I knew very little about the software itself, so before buying it, I did some research into the programme. I found this rather handy video which explained a lot to me about the abilities of Motion:

Having been convinced by the video on Motions abilities to complete green screening, I went ahead and bought it.

Now all I needed to do I to decide how to present the video. I looked around at other film interviews and found this:

Looking at others similar to this, I found in all of them the front cover of the film or at the very least the title of the film would be shown up behind the people involved in the interview. I decided that this would be how I could use my green screen. I would use it to flash up perhaps parts of the film behind me but also maybe the cover of my film (pretending that it had been fully completed).

Sound

Reflecting back on the process of how I would do the sound for the platform scene at the very beginning of my video, I looked at many different avenues for which I could sort it out.

The problem with the audio captured by the camera when we were recording was that there was too much white noise captured from the background. It meant the audio for this section of the film would not be suitable and so I needed to find a way around the problem.

I thought about going and recording the sound on a different day on the platform with a better microphone and audio software, however I did not have the necessary equipment compatible to do this.
I then considered using a preset sound file on my video editing software to use instead. Having imported it into the video however, I found the file was way to 'busy' to be suited for the empty platform shown in the video and looked weird to my eye, hearing so many voices and goings on with nothing happening in the video, meaning this file was unsuitable also.
I then decided to completely mute the diegetic sound on the video as nothing was suitable and could not be replaced. Instead, I decided to record my own music piece to place over the top of the video, which I later decided to continue onto the rest of the video. I recorded it using Midi devices and the final product can be heard on the video.






Screen shot of Midi recording, using Garageband on Mac. 
Total tracks: 6

Comments and Feedback

Ok, so now I have completed my video which shall appear on this blog shortly, it is now time to begin to evaluate it:

Having completed my video, I decided to post it up on my Facebook account for my friends and family to see and comment on. After two days, it received over 34 likes and 11 comments.
In all the comments however, there were no posts about how to improve it. Many of the comments were simply praise, with no areas for improvement. This leads me to believe that to the 'untrained' eye that the video is as good as it can be. They all understood what the video was about, the flashback to some point in her past was clear and that she has been taken over by the number Pi by the Evil Professor Hawk.
For the people who knew the people featured, they all thought the casting of both Rory and Fionna was perfect for the roles they were playing.
I received no negative feedback about any of these areas of the video from the public viewing and this leads me to believe that the video is fit for purpose, delivers its message effectively and is well presented to the audience.

Discussing with my fellow Media Students, a few of them noticed a few irregularities concerning the two different train scenes.

 In the first scene, Lucy is shown to be sitting looking out of the window as the image super imposes on her eye, sitting in a seat with a wall behind it.

 

However, in the second scene, she seems to have change seats and is now wearing headphones when she wasn't before.

However, I had anticipated these queries. I explained how this would be part of how the film would move on from this point. I explained, how this was to show how she had been somewhere without the viewers knowledge, how she had changed trains and had put in her headphones. For what reason they then asked. I explained how this would have been the scene where we would then learn what affect the Professor was having upon Lucy. She had just been travelling to a targets home. She had left the train at the point where the flashback had begun, the idea for this was to express how the Professor was still controlling her even then. She had broken into the home and murdered the target (I could not be more exact in how, where or when as I only designed it to be an outline of what would have happened from this point). She had then boarded the train just as the flashback ended, put the headphones in as a method of hypnosis applied to her by the professor. So when the final shot comes on, this then explained the irregularity. 

Film Music

Now I have completed my editing of the actual video, it is now time for me to begin work on the film music which I plan to go with it.
The idea for this will be to add suspense to the video and create a further sense of panic within the viewer. I hope to achieve this in a number of ways:

• To create a tempo beat which would match the heart rate of my main character, this would then emphasise the feeling of panic within the character. I've researched the human heart beat to be 65bpm, so have set the tempo of my film music to be 65bpm also to match. 
• The increase in heart rate would then be mirrored in the tempo of the piece, so as our main character gets more agitated, the faster the music gets.
• Strings are usually used to create an extra feeling of dread/tension in the viewer, thus I hope to use the string sounds to create a typically dangerous sound for the piece.
• As this video is called 'C.O.D.E.S' it seems fitting that there should be a short of rhythm running underneath the music, like morse code. This would add to the idea of the control being hidden within the psyche, that the code is controlling you on a far deeper level. 

I believe these effects added to the music will complete the overall feel of the video and ultimately help to increase its effect on the viewer and the improve the idea of the message trying to be put across.

Small details

In preparation of the final shoot, I have researched the necessary material for the various smaller details of my video, in particular Professor Hawks presentation on 'C.O.D.E.S'.
Within the presentation there would need to be shown some sort of number sequences and series for the whole story to be based upon, numbers and series which can be used to control a persons subconscious. I searched for Maths most famous and most commonly used number sequences and series in everyday life. I searched for sequences used most in everyday life so as to create a psychological aspect to the audience that maybe its everywhere, hidden within their own lives these sequences and series play huge roles in their own lives. Eventually, I happened upon the following website:

Famous Mathematical Sequences and Series

On this website, I found sufficient sequences and series for which I thought suitable for the role of the Evil Professors arsenal of control series. The fact also that some were recognizable series such as the Fibonacci Series and the Square Numbers Series full filled the criteria for some series to be recognized by the audience, but also others not so well known such as The Lazy Caterer’s Sequence and Magic Square series intentionally creating a atmosphere of mystery and unknown which is also what I would want the rest of the film to be about.

I also did some research into the title of the film, C.O.D.E.S. The title is meant as an Anachronism, standing for a certain method of controlling the mind of a chosen victim. I wanted at least one of the words to refer to some part of the brain which could potentially control the body. So again, I researched the different parts of the brain and their functions in the control of the body and I found this website:

Key Brain Vocabulary

On the website, I found two potential areas of the brain which could be suitable for my anachronim.

Cerebrum: The largest and most complex part of your brain. It controls all your conscious thoughts and learning, including setting goals, your memories and your decisions to act.

Cerebellum: The part of your brain below the back of your cerebrum and behind your brain stem that regulates your balance and helps you coordinate your muscles and control your body movements.

Both these words would be suited to go at the beginning of the anachronim. I decided to use Cerebrum rather than Cerebellum as it fits better with the type of genre the film is set to be, that rather than a physical connection to the victims body, it would rather be verbal communication which would be used to achieve the control over the victim and so controlling the part of the brain which controls the thought processes and decisions to act seems most appropriate.

From this, I wanted the rest of the anachronim to be about control of the Cerebrum using number series/sequences. After a little deliberation I riddled it down to as follows:

C.erebrum O.rdering (by) D.irective E.nigma S.eries

I believe this break down of the title suitably covers the essence of the film.

Preliminary Video

Ok, so I have now finally finished my preliminary video. Our Brief: Man opens a door, closes a door, dialogue occurs, the end. So that's what this is:

We set it in our schools music department as this we thought would be the most suitable area and would allow us to create a partial story line. We casted a boy and a girl (Courtney & Ollie) to create a more even mix of actors and so create a more relaxed mood. If we casted two boys/girls, the scene may have been seen to be more of a bully situation (in our opinion). However, with this mix, we consider it comes across as a more friendly environment between two friends. We did 6 takes in all, two in the opening corridor and 4 in the main piano playing scene. We changed the camera position with each take so as to ensure best camera coverage of the action and make the final video more interesting with more camera angles/shots. The idea being the more material we hold, the easier it is to edit into a decent video. The end result we believe is an effective video full filling the set criteria.

Previously in the year, we had completed a similar task with maybe a little more intricacy. It is a scene from the film 'Love Actually' where Bill Nighy is being interviewed about his new song 'Come on and let it snow':

The scene went with great success for us and really helped broaden our ability to blend different shots and audio together into one product. We set it in our schools music studio for extra effect from the real film. We intended to cast two male actors for the roles, but unfortunately we were only able to get one so had to make do with a female actress for the interviewee, which actually turned out just as good.

Extended film opening ideas and thoughts.

This post serves to update current basic ideas for my 2 minute film opening and the more real life technical parts of it e.g. time set etc and methods of creating my video.

For my film opening, it's actually based in two time era's, one at present day during my main character's life and during their past both merged together. For my film opening, I intend for the establishing shot to be set during present day, about half way through the sequence of events which the whole film would then portray with flashbacks inter-twined with it of when the troubles of their life began which the rest of the film would then show. These two sequences would then continue, how the character then continues on from the establishing shot and also where they go from their first trauma scene. By the end of the film, the audience will fully understand each of the characters actions in each situation due to knowing their past and what might cause them to do what they do.

The target audience for this film would be a more mature audience, maybe 15 to 70. Basically, all ages with a comprehensive understanding of how people work and how important past experiences affect future decisions. The venue I would imagine this film being shown in would be a late night, wide scale cinema picture, not quite a blockbuster but a definite multi-viewing film.
I have completed a short target audience research which I have put into a video as shown below:

I asked my interviewee's:
1. What is your favourite film?
My interviewee's showed no definite preference towards one particular film and what type of film I should aim for, suggesting to me that audience's are open to any type of film, meaning I can have free choice.
2. Was it on DVD, at the Cinema, Streaming or on TV?
All of my interviewee's saw their favourite films on DVD, suggesting that DVD is still one of the most popular media sources, rather than the more modern streaming technique, telling me to design my video for DVD release.
3. What is your favourite genre?
Again, there seemed no clear favourite genre among my interviewee's, so suggesting to me that I can have free choice of genre.
4. What do you consider to be typically in the opening 2 minutes of a film?
The general consensus from my interviewee's is that it should be intriguing, provide some form of enigma (a clever idea which makes the audience want to watch the rest of the film) and that should provide an idea as to where the film is going to go.
5. What is your opinion on flashbacks?
Again, all my interviewee's considered flashbacks to be good, so long as they were made obvious e.g. by de-saturating the video, adding a date etc.
6. What do you think of my idea? (As described above)
They all thought it was a very good and interesting idea, all that they thought would be required in a film. For that reason, I think I will take it further into my final 2 minute coursework piece.

While I do not intend to use Stop Motion in my film opening as I do not consider it the correct genre for the media type I enjoy, I have still done some research into it. My attention has been brought in perticular to the work of Jan Svankmajer. My favourite video I found from him:

I thought that this is possibly the most impressive piece of work I have ever seen. I like the close attention to detail he uses in his animation and the way he is able to make the dolls literally come to life. However, bearing in mind the amount of work he must have inputted into just one of his videos means it would be impractical for me to do anything similar if I had any hope of reaching my desired deadline for completion of this task. I also do not like stop animation, while I find it very impressive and have a lot of admiration for, my interests lie firmly within the realm of real time video, just because I prefer that area of film, I find it more aesthetically pleasing. Hence I shall not be using Stop Motion in my final video.