John's Short Film- Silent Film

This short film shows my attempt to get into my car, which is locked from the outside.

I manage to get a passerby to help me but, I still end up locked out and I collapse from embarrassment.

I then get kicked before the movie ends.


I wanted to shoot my film with my car,  as I thought with sped up footage, combined with my quick moments would make the emulate early comedy films, since they had sped up footage too.

Using a tripod and other 'actors' I kept the frame still and never changed angles.

The scene where I fell down, I left one of my feet up on purpose because I thought that could add more comic value to the scene.

The Lumiere Brothers- Research Task

                                                        The Lumiere Brothers- Research Task




Who were the Lumiere Brothers?

• The Lumiere Brothers were a filmmaker duo consisting of Auguste and Louis Lumiere, who were best known for making the first motion picture movie ever as well as making the first cinema ever though use of a projector. 

When and where did they live?

• They were born in the mid 19th Century in France and started their filmmaking history there before going to other counties such as the UK and Argentina. 

Who ruled their country?

• France at the time was ruled by a president, called Felix Faure after the king and queen hare was removed and replaced by presidents. 

What was happening around the world in that time?

• Utah becomes the 45th U.S. State 
  Yukon Gold Rush 
  First Modern Olympic Games 
  Dow Jones Industrial Average first published 
• Second Jungle Book 
  First Race Of Gas Powered Cars
  First Slot Machines
  The Radio or "Telegraphy Without Wires"
  Oscar Wilde 

What were their films about?

• Their films were about realism, basically putting non-actors on camera along with realistic and normal environments while the camera rolled in place.

How long were the films and why?

• The Marjory of their films lasted about 52 seconds since they were limited by technology at the time, they couldn't move the camera and editing did not exist at the time.
• Also their films had to be done in one take so any mistakes were either reshot again or they just had to keep it in.

What can you say about the cinematography and other aspects of the film's language?

• A lot of their ways of making movies included; Winding the camera by hand until the film had ran out, employing random passer by's to act to keep the film realistic, they couldn't move the camera so, all shots were done in one take and, there was no sound effects so, only music in the background helped the audience figure out a story for themselves.  

John's Script

John's script from jburden93

Film Language: Sound: Music 2

The use of music of in films:




Music in films are very important to not only tell a story but they can also influence characters moods and development also, it can enhance the scene.


Back when films were silent, music was used heavily to move the film along, it helped tell the story plus when something happened to a character, the music would change to fit the mood.

Music is usually made for the film in question but, sometimes songs made by singers can be used if it fits the tone of the film. The lyrics of a singer could imitate how the character is feeling or what's going on in the film.


Characters sometimes can break out into a song if the dialogue alone can't explain how they are feeling or if they want to express themselves better.


Music can also help people remember certain films, long after seeing them. Examples would be the theme song to Star Wars or the soundtrack to the first Grease film. Audiences old and new always seems to remember the soundtrack to the films well and it helps pass the films on from generation to generation.

The environment is also important to the music score, depending on where the film is set, it must have the appropriate soundtrack to it. So, a horror film will have slow, eerie music while an action film tends to have faster paced music and Sci-Fi has futuristic music to make it sound like the movie takes place in the future. All these things help to make a movie more believable and it helps fit the tone and mood of a movie.    

Media Film Studies- Mise-en-scene 2

Analysing Peaky Blinders: Opening






Setting:

• The show is set in a poor area of Digbeth in Birmingham, during the height of the industrial era of the 1900's. 

• This show was actually filmed on location, despite not actually being filmed in Birmingham, due to too many changes in the city. The creators used an area in Glasgow to recreate the industrial environment.  

• The setting indicates a lot of poor people along with a more powerful rich people, possibly suggesting to the viewer that the genre is a historic/crime drama.

• The scene is very busy, complete with poor people walking around quickly and there's thick smoke engulfing the area, making the environment unpleasant and dirty.  

• A lot of the streets are not really roads but cobbled streets, much of them in disrepair and some parts of it are not even completely paved over.

Props:

• A lot of the characters have Irish hats, which could be used as a weapon to injure someone. These hats were common for gangs during the early 1900's.

• The lower class people have a lot of run down shacks and sheds, their clothes rack outside and basic, along with buckets for collecting water and food.

• The lower class people's objects just about meet the bare minimum for surviving, with fireplaces, clothes racks and buckets to collect water.   

• The horses are used to show power to the richer, since the horses have a tall, powerful stature.

• There were scenes that showed off people carrying carriages without someone inside, maybe showing us they might either live in it or that people used them for carrying goods across town.  

• abandoned boats where just outside the town, suggesting that goods to the town are limited and cannot reach everyone.

Lighting:

• The look of the show is quite grainy, with an old style effect which enhances the look of the 1920's Digbeth making the show appear more brown.

• A lot of the scenes are very dark looking, with heavy shadows and buildings covering up the sunlight, making the setting very dimly lit.

• The only natural source of light is the sun, which only shines though certain parts of the streets, the other places of light include spotlights, street lighting, and lit fires.

• The shadows, combined with dim lighting, makes the town look as if it can barely function, as well as giving it an almost abandoned look to it.

• There is also a smoke effect in every scene, making it look like the industrial industry has had a huge part in making the townspeople look dirty and the town itself, since all of the buildings are covered in patches of dirt.

Casting:

• This show is notable for starring actors and actresses who have had a lot of success in big Hollywood films.

• The two most known actors in this are Cillian Murphy and Sam Neill. Cillian plays as the main protagonists, who runs a gang, known as the Peaky Blinders.

• The casting in most BBC programmes don't usually have top end actors in their shows so, this is quite a big thing for this programme.

• When looking at what the peaky blinders actually looked like in the 20's, the cast do bear some resemblance to the actual people involved.

• The stars would have had a lot of experience at this point and in a show like this, they needed the best in the business to deliver a realistic look at the gang wars in the 20's.

Costume and make -up:

• The poor people all seem to wear very old clothing or clothes that are made up of rages, all of which look dirty and unclean.

• The more wealthy all wear suits, smart clothes and look a lot more composed and powerful compared to their poorer counterparts, who all look fragile and weak.

• The richer class all stand out more, looking clean and smart, along with wearing different colours to further stand out, whereas the poor people only seem to dress in either dirty white or grey.

• The gangs and richer people all wear the Irish hats, which for the gang could be used as a secondary weapon, thus making us know who belongs with which group.

• There are also people who wear signs on their necks asking for help and a lot of people carry around cheap looking baskets.

• The poor people look unclean and scruffy, whereas the richer look smartly dressed and look clean.

Movement:

• In the opening, a lot of the richer people move at a slow pace and act casual, showing off their status as much more powerful people.

• The poor people rush around the area, constantly in a hurry to get what they need, never slowing down while looking scared and panicked.  

• The main character along with his horse looks very calm and cool minded, he knows what he is doing and oozes confidence, helped by his horse, which gives him a bigger stature compared to most of the people.

• The rich people don't see any reason to hurry or speed up, opting to take their time, taking to other people in their class with a slow walk, looking threatened to the poor people.  

Dietetic sound:

• The environment in the area is very noisy, there seems to rarely be a quiet moment in the town, aside from night times.

• There's numerous people shouting for money, fights, horses hooves banging the ground, the sounds of factories working the background, as well as the occasional wind noise coming though the town.

• The voices of the people are accent thick heavy for the richer people and more scared or toned down for the poor people.

• The voices of the people can make us see if the person originally belonged to a rich family or was possibly raised from a poor family or, even lived somewhere outside of Birmingham. 

• The sounds also make us think the area is not very civilised, it's so noisy, people can barely sleep and many would end up with loss of hearing.

Framing and composition:

• The scenes tend to include many items scatted around the place, like the outside washing line, the barrels and broken pieces of old walls.

• The houses are run down, lack windows and some down even have doors. This makes the poor area seem barely able to have a lifestyle.

• The streets are also in need of repair, this would make rain collect in the holes, potently creating many puddles during rain fall.

• The objects in some scenes are all over the street, some barrels are knocked over, and a lot of important objects like buckets are left outside.

Film studies-Mise-en-scene in Horror films

Analysing The Blair Witch Project: Trailer

Lighting-

• In this trailer, the film starts off in a quiet suburb with natural, normal lighting, indicating that nothing out of the ordinary will unfold.

• During the later stages of the movie, the lighting becomes more dark, less colourful, with heavy de-saturation, black and white shots, almost completely black frames and bouts of barely see able objects, along with touches to light up the scene.   

• This trailer also uses dark light on certain individuals, indicating that those people might have a hidden truth yet to be discovered. 

• Some of the scenes look a lot more terrifying due to the use of dark colours in almost unseeable scenes.

Setting-

• In the first scenes, the trailer shows young adults in a quiet suburb looking to shoot a film. Overtime, as time goes on, the film starts to turn gloomy, with dark scenes, abandoned houses and an empty forest. 

• In the trailer, the suburbs act as a safe-point for the characters. The Forest acts as a danger for the characters, as well as hiding what could be behind the shadows, ready to jump out at anytime.

• The abandoned house shown in one shot acts as a place of danger, since the character would have no idea what's been left behind or what's possibly inhabited the area.

• Other scenes showed off various paths in dark scenes, showing that the path could led to danger or maybe something bad happening to the characters.      

Costumes-

• The film trailer did not show any monsters or creatures but, it did show civilians dressed up in normal, winter like clothing.

• There were two people in the trailer, dressed a bit more older fashioned clothing, look out of place compared to the young adults. 

• The costumes on the main characters makes them look fragile since they are not prepared for what may come out of the shadows.  

• The clothes on the young adults look like they came out around the 1990's, around the time the film was made, it was released in 1999.

Props-

• The main props in the trailer was to shown to be a camera for recording, a house, an old book and torches.
  

• The camera in this film is used by the young adults, filming their own documentary, with us seeing the action though this camera.

• The abandoned house is used to make viewers believe that there's more to the story than what the film is showing us so far.

• The book in the film is the reason why the young adults in the film go out on this adventure, they are trying to see if an urban myth is true.  

Facial Expressions-

• The young adults look quite excited in the first part of the trailer, looking forward to shooting their documentary. 

• Overtime, their excitement grows more into despair then into fear and anxiety.

• One girl is seen crying in the trailer, showing that something tragic or scary had happened, either death or something coming after the group.

• They start to fear that there is no way out from the forest once they start to lose themselves.

• They now believe that there is something chasing after them towards the end of the trailer, as they start to run away from the area.

First week!!!

My first days at South And City College:

My name is Jonathan Burden, I'm 21 and I'm currently studying Level 3 Media 90 Credits course. I chose this course because I have aspirations about possibly becoming either a video editor or a cameraman for filming vlogs or maybe even films.

I love making short films on a variety of subjects, including gaming, photography and places to visit. I make videos each week with my own video camera with a small stand and even my own portable microphone. People told me I'd be a good video editor, as well as a good speaker due to me speaking with good speaking skills.

I wanted to do media years ago. Unfortunately, I did not meet the required grades at the time so, I had to do other various course to build up my qualifications until I finally decided to join this course.

My initial thoughts on this college are pretty good. I like the area, minus finding a place to park, I also like the interior of the college as well as all of the felicities such as the common room, the canteen and the library.

Overall, I look forward to hopefully ending the year with a strong merit and to advance to uni.