Ollie Tristram

For this artefact I moved on from musical genre as I felt artefacts 1 to 3 answered what I had set out to discover - how musical genre can affect the audience's perception of film.

I decided to look into Foley sound effects and how that can affect people watching film. Personally I think Foley is most notable during fight scenes, because the hit sounds are most exaggerated here than in real life and generally people recognise this.

The way I have gone about it is to find clips from different decades and survey people as to whether the older clips sound more or less realistic than the newer clips and whether realistic Foley sounds can help the audience become more involved with the film itself.

Here is the video:


Here is the survey:
Click here to take survey

Here is a really quick and amatuerish design idea for the DVD menu that will go on the BCS promotional DVD. It's simplistic and in keeping with the company's colours, much like their website.

For the final version I would want to use much more professional looking fonts and buttons and possibly motion graphics in the background.

I have visited the website www.visit4info.com as well as YouTube to have a look at a multitude of different ads that I can draw inspiration from for my Simulated Client Project on file-sharing.

Here are a few that caught my attention and why:

The reason I like an advert in this style is that not only is it shot professionally, but it surprises you. It adds humour to the situation by showing the audience something out of the ordinary and they can relate to what they would feel like being at a funeral and then having a rugby streaker ruin it. Even after the streaker is seen we still don't know what the advert is about, and when the text confirms its for rugby everything falls to place in the audience's heads.



This is a very effective message making the audience feel guilty for breaking the law. It's hard to watch due to having a dead child on screen the through the whole advert which really shocks the audience into remembering it. With this message it is very personal as it only focuses on 2 people. File-sharing affects industries so something so direct would be much harder to pull off.



From the Hong Kong government comes a direct message that puts the audience into the crime world itself. Seedy clubs and sleazy people are seen thanking the audience for their contributions. It's intended to make the audience feel seedy and sleazy themselves. I feel it works in a way, because it does remind you that you are doing something illegal, but still you know you're not as low as the criminals seen in the ad, therefore wouldn't stop you.



Here is an example of a pretty poor student-produced advert on anti-piracy. It uses the same repeated message of comparing stealing other things, like shoplifting, is the same as stealing media content. However one way I think the message is affective is that it says it affects individuals rather than big corporations.

Related links worth visiting:

http://www.mredkj.com/other/sharing.html - A list of pros and cons for music file-sharing.

http://l3rady.com/2008/11/29/top-tips-on-how-not-to-get-caught-file-sharing/

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/08/19/file_sharing_gamer_fined/

http://www.ghacks.net/2007/04/15/how-logistep-catches-file-sharers/ - A short bit of info on how anti-piracy firm Logistep can catch you.

Last week we had a lecture on Copyright and it is a good idea that I post some info on copyright from http://www.ipo.gov.uk/types/copy.htm which is the UK Intellectual Property Office government website.

Copyright can protect:

• literary works, including novels, instruction manuals, computer programs, song lyrics, newspaper articles and some types of database
• dramatic works, including dance or mime
• musical works
• artistic works, including paintings, engravings, photographs, sculptures, collages, architecture, technical drawings, diagrams, maps and logos
• layouts or typographical arrangements used to publish a work, for a book for instance
• recordings of a work, including sound and film
• broadcasts of a work

The term of protection or duration of copyright varies depending on the type of copyright work. The term of protection in the UK for an original written (literary), theatrical (dramatic) musical or artistic work lasts for the life of the creator plus 70 years from the end of the year in which he/she died.

Similarly, copyright in a film runs out 70 years after the end of the year in which the death occurs of the last to survive of the principal director, the authors of the screenplay and dialogue, or the composer of any music specially created for the film.

TV and Film

For TV productions and films, copyright may exist on a number of its components, for example, the original screenplay, the music score and so on. If you produced the TV show or film then you would normally obtain the rights to, or gain permission to use, the works required to make the production. Films do not have to be original but they will not be new copyright works if they have been copied from existing films.

Music

Copyright applies to a musical composition when it is set down in permanent form, either by writing it down or in any other manner. With a song there will usually be more than one copyright associated with it. If you are the composer of the music you will be the author of the musical work and will have copyright in that music. The lyrics of a song are protected separately by copyright as a literary work. The person who writes the lyrics will own the copyright in the words. If your work is subsequently recorded the sound recording will also have copyright protection. The producer of the recording will own the copyright in the sound recording.

Work created for an employer

In the case of a written, theatrical, musical or artistic work, the author or creator of the work is also the first owner of any copyright in it. The only exception to this is where the work is made by an employee in the course of his or her employment. Where a written, theatrical, musical or artistic work, or a film, is made by an employee in the course of his employment, his employer is the first owner of any copyright in the work.

Last Thursday (12th March) we had a lecture on film titles. I hadn't previously thought much into the titles for my film, so this helped open my eyes a little as to what I can do to make my film look more authentic.

Now as a video dairy style operated by someone who supposedly doesn't know how to work a camera my advice was to keep titles as basic as possible. This even meant writing titles on using the camera (if it had that function).

My film is in a similar style to The Blair Witch Project, so for me to make titles and edit to suit that kind of seemingly uncontrolled style, it will benefit the look and feel of my film.

Unfortunately my trial copy of Photoshop has expired (again) so I cant show a still of what I mean and I've looked on Google and its hard to find a still of what I mean on their too, so you'll just have to use your imagination :P

I have managed to secure The Salutation Inn's haunted underground caves as the location for my film and last night I went down to be shown around them and took the opportunity to take photos of the caves. Its very dank and spooky down there and is the exact location I had in mind for my film, really adding to the realism for the story.

This (pretty much final) idea is a mockumentary on the Most Haunted-style TV programmes.

Narrative/Theme

A TV show, which features different groups of people every week and takes them to haunted places to the spend the night, has this week chosen a small group of students from a the university’s paranormal society. The students will also act as the presenters of the show.

Pre-production

The program will be scripted although I do want some of the scenes in the building to be improvised to add a more realistic feel. Also, apart from all the usual pre-production that is expected (character studies, recces, health and safety, etc.) I plan on having the actors and I spend a night at the haunted location for us to experience the same situation the characters in the film will be in, therefore helping the actors understand their roles better.

Structure

• Introduction by students on this weeks show
• Introduction of the location
• Tour round the location in the day with site owner telling stories
• Students spend the night at location
• Next day, students reflect on the night and a scientist gives his opinion on what occurred.

Characters

There will be 4 main characters of 3 males and 1 female (as we want more humour and less screaming). There is also a secondary character of the scientist.

• Character 1 (male): Cocky, cynical and outspoken, but when it comes to the night, is actually a scared little girl.
• Character 2 (male): Average, laid-back and curious. The character most people would relate to.
• Character 3 (male): Fairly sceptical, tells jokes and makes light of most situations. Will act as the main source of comedy.
• Character 4 (female): Typical girly-girl. But really wants to see a ghost because of a past experience with one, so a strong believer. Gets scared easily.
• Character 5 (male): Old man aiming to disprove any ghost theories.

Setting

• Outside University
• Inside and outside haunted location like pub.
• Interview room/computer room for scientist analysing footage.

Cinematography

All interview sections will be done using Sony Z1 on a tripod. As will the tour section, but probably be handheld for that. During the sleepover there will be a small, handheld, night-vision camcorder to film the haunted antics.

Post-production

The film will be edited using typical clichés like creating atmosphere using video effects to make the locations look darker and scarier than they actually are. There will also be fast cuts and direction changes in camera to add a disjointed feel to some shots, particularly those outside and inside the ‘haunted’ location.

Audio-wise, I plan on producing the title and/or credit music myself and using royalty-free atmosphere sounds and noise samples to add to the scary tone of the film, which is another cliché.

From the website that Adam gave us in the lecture last week I have just picked out the most important parts for when we come to write out our treatment/proposal this week.

"There are several key elements that make a treatment good and worth reading. The first is keeping it relatively brief."

"Another key is to keep the treatment user-friendly and straightforward."

"The purpose of the treatment is to describe the events of the story so that it can be visualized and brought to life. This should be done using the least amount of words possible."

"...the writer should highlight the major points of the story, the necessary details that are essential for the story to make sense...The writer should use it to urge the reader into asking for more..."

"The treatment focuses on the story's backbone, allowing it to be seen clearly..."

"include a solid opening that takes hold of the reader from the very beginning. There must also be a climax to the film that strikes and satisfies them. In between, there must be a protagonist (or main character) that the reader can relate to in some way."

"The story must also contain a central conflict around which all the action in the story revolves."

A 4 minute short from FourDocs called 'The Garage Wars' about a couple who have very opposite views on the man's layout of all the old bits and bobs in his garage.

My Opinion:

I love the way the two people have such contrasting views on the 'mess' in the garage and how serious they are when they try to explain why they do or do not like the state the garage is in. In terms of how the film has been edited, it was a clever, if not obvious idea to inter-cut both separate takes from the man and woman because it keeps the pace up hearing the opposite opinions so frequently. The camera is very straight forward, mixing in a standard handheld shot with an occasional low-angle shot through a couple of bikes - so simple, yet so effective. The general concept of the documentary is really original and it is interesting for the viewer to not only see all the weird and wonderful things in the garage but how the couple bounce off each other - they are like a comedy duo!



A 3 minute 20 second short which is completely different from the video above about a woman who found comfort in playing with snails.

My Opinion:

A 4 minute 30 second documentary about a chef who also performs street magic for pleasure as well as business.

My Opinion:

This is a much more traditional documentary, but what sells the idea is that this person at first seems like just a flamboyant magician, but we see that his actual day job is as a chef. It is an unusual mix that grabs the audiences attention as we want to find out why this guy wants to juggle these two passions. I think in places it slightly loses track and has some more irrelevant sections like in the nightclub for example, its not really related to either of his jobs, but in terms of interviewing and using the public as side-characters it is a good solid short documentary.

To do: In groups of 4 or 5 plan and produce a 4 min non fictional “character study” that entertains and informs the audience of one interesting character.
Presentation: Your group will present all the work you have done at the end of this non fictional study. To evidence your work every student will be expected to provide:

1. In your Journal: A Character study on your chosen subject, (research of subject) Research
carried out for film script project - (Stage 2).
3. A production file (group copy) containing production research and paperwork treatment ,
photographs, locations, script, storyboard, call sheets, schedules, VO, paper edit, book references
etc.)
4. On a CD: a 4 minute DV documentary with title and credits. [720x576 DVAVI 25fps none
compressed PAL].
6. In your journal - entries that document and reflect upon the work done during this module.
7. Completed group peer assessment form