post 15 - Ancillary task

(Post 15) Ancillary task 1 practice

October 30, 2017

Ancillary task 1 practice

Recreate an existing film poster 

In groups of two we were given a film poster to recreate using what we had. For example our phones and laptops (of course some did not have these resources). We randomly picked a letter between A, B, C, D, E and me and my partner - Jack - picked the letter D leaving us with the poster 'Dark knight' with the joker holding a playing card. The image is displayed below.

To create this outcome, myself and Jack got a mutual friend to model for us in a dark drama room within our school premises. We wanted to use a dark room as the original film poster is very dark and we thought it would make the editing process a lot easier if the background was already dark. We then transported the image from my phone to my macbook to ultimately edit the photo on Adobe PhotoShop. We used numerous tools (such as; brightness and contrast, levels, curves, exposure, photo filters and many more) to try and create a similar effect as the original poster that we were copying from. Overall i believe the outcome we have created is some what similar to our chosen film poster the dark knight. The image displayed directly next to the dark knight original film poster is myself editing our poster - taken by jack. 

The photo displayed to the right shows me and jack with our original film poster that we got given. The image displayed to the left shows our final outcome. 

Post 14

What is your idea for the coursework at the moment?

At the moment the idea for the coursework is very vague and will definitely change loads. We haven’t really thought about the song all that much but we have decided that we don’t want to use the grime genre as we believe it would be too hard to work a music video into that genre of music. We have also decided that we will be using a song that we all like so that we can have four different views on how to film the video and what should be included in the video. If someone in the group doesn’t like the song, then they would become less involved and we believe that would reflect badly on the outcome of the whole project. We have been looking at different songs and reading into the lyrics to find a song where we can link both the lyrics and video together. When we decide on a song for the music video I will be shore to update this blog or make a new blog post on how and why we picked the song.

Who are you planning on working with or do you want to work alone?

In are group there are four people. Me (Jordan Rolf), Jordan Hayward, Jack Kirby and Luke Marchant. We decided it would be a good idea to work in this group for multiple reasons. Firstly, we all get on well with each other which means we will put in effort to help each other out with blog posts, filming and editing. We all also have our own special traits which we can contribute together to use in a positive manor.  For example, I have experience in editing and filming which is obviously very useful to use in media as that is what the subject consists of. We all have our own ways of contributing towards the team’s efforts which is exactly what we need to have a successful final outcome which is what we are all hoping for.

Where do you want to film?

Currently we are unaware of a filming location as we are yet to pick a song that we want to use. The location has to be dependent on the type of song we use as that’s part of the story. The location does a huge part in telling the story so it is important that we get that part spot on. I will update this blog post when we are decided on the location of the shoot.

Post 13 - Music Video or Short Film

Post 13 - Music Video or Short Film

We, as a group decided between us, that we would rather choose to create a music video over the production of a film because of our music interest and enjoyment of sharing skills in a music genre we all agreed would be suitable yet a genre we all had interest in. For me personally, I didn’t want to create a film for our coursework due to so many great films around on the media that its just such a high expectation to make it best to help people enjoy it as much as other amazing high quality and expensive films. Due to being amateur and also strict with costs, it causes a lot of stress to be perfect and worthy of the audience taking time out of their lives to watch it. Also, with films, the story lines are very much familiar. A good guy, a bad guy, a pretty girl who needs saving or even happy endings. However, with music videos there is so much more variety and less pressure around creating a good music video as sometimes the simplest and cheapest videos are regarded as the best. The use of lighting, actors and even props help create build a good music video, but in my opinion, As long as the song is good, then the music video does not need to impress that much as it’s the music that the audience is really after. The only negative to music video is music and videos change hype and fashion in the industry rapidly with new artists and technology that you have big competition. However we will adjust accordingly and have plenty of research and enjoy ourselves during the project.

Post 12

What went well? – When we were filming we had built up a plan prior to the filming date on the shots we wanted so that it made it easier on the date. We decided that this was a step we had to take to set ourselves in the right direction to improve on last year’s coursework. In the previous year we filmed coursework of the back of our hands. We decided that it really wasn’t the right idea to follow that procedure again as it hadn’t worked in the previous year. We felt like the plan would give us more time to focus on the quality of the shots and setting up the equipment and actors instead of actually working the plot out on the day. We also gave ourselves longer to film the project this time round in comparison to the hour we gave ourselves on the last practice task. We really didn’t take it as seriously as we should’ve last year so we have learnt from our mistakes.

What didn’t go well? – In majority the shoot for the film went surprisingly well. We used the equipment we had to the best of our ability and I really took time in the edit to focus on the look of the shots by adjusting all significant sliders to get the best out of the raw/original camera shot. The main issue was organising a day to film the music video on. We were all reasonably busy over the summer with all four of us in the group going away for different periods of time. This gave us very little if any time to film the music video. We decided to shoot on a Sunday in the end as on Saturdays none of us are available. However, the shoot had to take place after midday as we all play football in the mornings. This was the only real issue we ran into during the course of the process.

What will you do/not do next time? – In the next time of filming we will most definitely pick a song that the whole group likes. I feel like this will give us the best chance to produce a music video that we all enjoy. Therefore, the quality and dedication put into the video should transfer into the final product. Next time will we also be more precise on the filming date and organise it earlier on into filming so that we don’t encounter any issues on a final filming date.

Are you looking to develop on this idea for the actual coursework? – With the actual coursework we are looking to find a completely new idea. We believe that with a completely new idea we could form a piece of work that is much better than the preliminary. Seeing as we were set the nursery rhyme theme for this task we think that If we were to use an idea that is new to us we will put more effort into forming the idea and developing it into a well worked coursework piece that will make us proud. We have learnt that it would be in are best interests to work on a song that we all like which will allow us all to contribute ideas to the final piece.

 Were we brave enough, original enough and creative enough? – When asking about the level of braveness we took in terms of filming the coursework I definitely think we were not brave. We didn’t feel the need to take extreme risks and venture into new fields with this specific task due to the fact that it is only the preliminary. We stayed very safe in terms of location, camera shots and props. We left it very basic which in-turn also stops you from being original. We will definitely be prepared to take more advanced and dangerous risks when filming the actual task. We want people to be amazed with are final piece so therefore found there to be no need to go all out on the preliminary. There was also a lack of creativity due to all of the above that I have explained. When you don’t show a level of braveness it would be very hard to then work creativity in. However, like mentioned above I will be sure to push the boundaries of our abilities to get the most out of the shoot on the final piece task.