I've gained a lot of experience in cutting, speed altering, adding effects and generally mucking around with video and audio tracks. I'm going to put a lot of these new skills into use in our video, especially the fast cut beat matching.
Tuesday, 6 December 2011
Editing - Experience
To get some practice in for our music video, i've been editing some videos in my spare time in order to try effects, and increase my overall speed in editing. I've been using Sony Vegas while at home on my pc, and even put a few videos up on youtube.
Monday, 7 November 2011
The concept so far
1. Main antagonist wakes up, in an unfamiliar place, looking confused.
2. Camera angle stays focuses on main character, unmoving but background changes to a non desrcript house. ( but not a derelict house like the character wakes up in ) people are shaking him, shouting and trying to get sense out of him etc.
3. Main character pushes away / doesn't notice other people in the room. Obvious that he's hallucinating and his views are distorted.
4. This section is pretty random but the main idea is him ' escaping ' from the house, despite there being nothing in there, and the shots here will be crazy, fast paced and full of random stuff.
5. Eventually the character makes it out of the house, and for some reason decides heading towards an abandoned barn. Inside he finds what he think is some mentally unstable gent. And he's right! The guy kills the main character.
6. The camera now follow the killer around. Changing the main protagonist to this guy.
7. The new main character now goes mental. He / she is seen running around the apparently barren landscape, encountering strange situations and such like.
8. Last scene, The original main character reappears to scare the hell out of the new main character.
That's the basic outline.
2. Camera angle stays focuses on main character, unmoving but background changes to a non desrcript house. ( but not a derelict house like the character wakes up in ) people are shaking him, shouting and trying to get sense out of him etc.
3. Main character pushes away / doesn't notice other people in the room. Obvious that he's hallucinating and his views are distorted.
4. This section is pretty random but the main idea is him ' escaping ' from the house, despite there being nothing in there, and the shots here will be crazy, fast paced and full of random stuff.
5. Eventually the character makes it out of the house, and for some reason decides heading towards an abandoned barn. Inside he finds what he think is some mentally unstable gent. And he's right! The guy kills the main character.
6. The camera now follow the killer around. Changing the main protagonist to this guy.
7. The new main character now goes mental. He / she is seen running around the apparently barren landscape, encountering strange situations and such like.
8. Last scene, The original main character reappears to scare the hell out of the new main character.
That's the basic outline.
Wednesday, 2 November 2011
Set location, and our ramblings.
Here's a short video of a quick POV look around our set location, and a bunch of ideas me and Jamie came up with while we were there. Enjoy!
Our song choice
About time i posted the song we're going to use! I'm really looking forward to using this track now, and each time i listen to it i get different ideas.
Monday, 31 October 2011
Human Traffic questions
1. How can Human Traffic be considered a socialist realist film? You may wish to consider how the film makers technically communicate a social realism, what issues are raised and how they might affect the audience.
Many aspects of the film try to portay 'realistic' british culture. These aspects include camera shots and angles to social stereotypes and in some cases truths.
The story is based on the 1990's club scene, which in itself begins to make it a socialist realist film. The film takes events that have happened within this time period and try to recreate some of it.
Often cameras are pointed directly at main characters, and they talk straight to the audience. This both positivley and negativley effects the realism. On the one hand it gives people an insight into the thought proccess of people at the time, and on the other hand shows its just a fictional film, and not a filming of 'real life events'.
The charatcers themselves are very plain and somewhat boring people by day, with believeable jobs and personailities ( realistically, they all have flaws) and are quite relatable too.
The film also takes ideas that we still hold true in modern society. In the film two of the main characters are asked to answer some questions for a t.v show, and they answer very sarcastically, 'Oh yes, us young people need the media to tell us what to do, and when it does we just do exactly as it says' is along the lines of what young people today would say. This is a social issue that is often rasied, and is just as quickly shot down by people saying it has no effect on them. The film challenges this.
2. How does the youth culture depicted resist or subvert mainstream
society?
The film refers, and mostly focuses on the idea of ' Living for the weekend'. The charatcers put up with their average lives during the week in order to have a great time all weekend. Heavy drinking and drug use depicted as being a social norm.
3. How can you consider this film to be British?
The settings and characters are all completely british, and the events depicted are based on real events that happened within the UK at that time. The Youth culture is reasonably well displayed in my opinion. England is now renowed for drink and drug binges, all night parties and generally living for the night life.
4. To what extent are the characters in Human Traffic unable to express their identity?
To begin with, all the characters are extremely paranoid about one thing or another. This makes them very worried about revealing certain things about themselves and being open with other people, even their own friends. To counter this the characters use drugs in order to alter their personalities. This change seems to be the only one which allows them to open up and be themselves. This shows how unable they are to express their emoitions in a healthy way.
5. How is the social-realistic verisimilitude created in the text?
This is first created by the opening scene. This shows real footage of events that occured in the UK around the time this film was set. This gives us an idea of England at the time. Later on in one of the club scenes, a news reporter begins to start a serious report which then transpires into him becoming part of the scene himself. To begin with however he is telling the audience some of the going ons of the club.
Thoughts of the charatcers are often portayed to the audience through monologue to the camera of their imagined situations on screen such as Jip's re-written national anthem.
6. What anxieties does each of the characters have? Where do these anxieties stem?
Jip's anxieties range from sexual paranoia to fear of how other people see him. His Anxiety stems from bad experiennces in his past (mainly with women) and also because of his backround. His mother is an 'escort' and this presumably gives Jip a connection between Sex and his own mother, which would obviously put him off. His mothers situation also causes him more obvious worry for her saftey and wellbeing.
Moff's anxiety is not created from his backround directly. He is brought up with a middle class family who are wealthy, well mannered and have upstanding jobs. Moff's distaste for this lifestyle drove him to begin taking drugs and this is where his paranoia stems. Moff takes such a huge amount of drugs his mind begins slightly warped and becomes extremely paraniod and anxious.
7. In consideration of the effects and uses and gratifications model, does Human Traffic promote drug usage?
The film gives a very balanced view of drug taking. On the one hand while the characters are taking drugs and on a high, they constantly reinforce how great their lives re and how good they feel. They also suggest how it makes their lives bearable and 'everyone does it'. This may well encourage drug use.
However, they also depict how thr after effects are awful, and the 'come down' becomes almost too much. The drugs are also shown to make them to some degree even more paranoid, especially in the case of moff.
The film is reasonably balanced in this way, however it could wel encourage drug use. If people know the ups and downs and decide the good outways the bad, they may well try it.
Many aspects of the film try to portay 'realistic' british culture. These aspects include camera shots and angles to social stereotypes and in some cases truths.
The story is based on the 1990's club scene, which in itself begins to make it a socialist realist film. The film takes events that have happened within this time period and try to recreate some of it.
Often cameras are pointed directly at main characters, and they talk straight to the audience. This both positivley and negativley effects the realism. On the one hand it gives people an insight into the thought proccess of people at the time, and on the other hand shows its just a fictional film, and not a filming of 'real life events'.
The charatcers themselves are very plain and somewhat boring people by day, with believeable jobs and personailities ( realistically, they all have flaws) and are quite relatable too.
The film also takes ideas that we still hold true in modern society. In the film two of the main characters are asked to answer some questions for a t.v show, and they answer very sarcastically, 'Oh yes, us young people need the media to tell us what to do, and when it does we just do exactly as it says' is along the lines of what young people today would say. This is a social issue that is often rasied, and is just as quickly shot down by people saying it has no effect on them. The film challenges this.
2. How does the youth culture depicted resist or subvert mainstream
society?
The film refers, and mostly focuses on the idea of ' Living for the weekend'. The charatcers put up with their average lives during the week in order to have a great time all weekend. Heavy drinking and drug use depicted as being a social norm.
3. How can you consider this film to be British?
The settings and characters are all completely british, and the events depicted are based on real events that happened within the UK at that time. The Youth culture is reasonably well displayed in my opinion. England is now renowed for drink and drug binges, all night parties and generally living for the night life.
4. To what extent are the characters in Human Traffic unable to express their identity?
To begin with, all the characters are extremely paranoid about one thing or another. This makes them very worried about revealing certain things about themselves and being open with other people, even their own friends. To counter this the characters use drugs in order to alter their personalities. This change seems to be the only one which allows them to open up and be themselves. This shows how unable they are to express their emoitions in a healthy way.
5. How is the social-realistic verisimilitude created in the text?
This is first created by the opening scene. This shows real footage of events that occured in the UK around the time this film was set. This gives us an idea of England at the time. Later on in one of the club scenes, a news reporter begins to start a serious report which then transpires into him becoming part of the scene himself. To begin with however he is telling the audience some of the going ons of the club.
Thoughts of the charatcers are often portayed to the audience through monologue to the camera of their imagined situations on screen such as Jip's re-written national anthem.
6. What anxieties does each of the characters have? Where do these anxieties stem?
Jip's anxieties range from sexual paranoia to fear of how other people see him. His Anxiety stems from bad experiennces in his past (mainly with women) and also because of his backround. His mother is an 'escort' and this presumably gives Jip a connection between Sex and his own mother, which would obviously put him off. His mothers situation also causes him more obvious worry for her saftey and wellbeing.
Moff's anxiety is not created from his backround directly. He is brought up with a middle class family who are wealthy, well mannered and have upstanding jobs. Moff's distaste for this lifestyle drove him to begin taking drugs and this is where his paranoia stems. Moff takes such a huge amount of drugs his mind begins slightly warped and becomes extremely paraniod and anxious.
7. In consideration of the effects and uses and gratifications model, does Human Traffic promote drug usage?
The film gives a very balanced view of drug taking. On the one hand while the characters are taking drugs and on a high, they constantly reinforce how great their lives re and how good they feel. They also suggest how it makes their lives bearable and 'everyone does it'. This may well encourage drug use.
However, they also depict how thr after effects are awful, and the 'come down' becomes almost too much. The drugs are also shown to make them to some degree even more paranoid, especially in the case of moff.
The film is reasonably balanced in this way, however it could wel encourage drug use. If people know the ups and downs and decide the good outways the bad, they may well try it.
Wednesday, 19 October 2011
Models
The Hypodermic Needle Model
The hypodermic needlec (syringe) model is a model of communications suggesting that an intended message is directly received and wholly accepted by the receiver. The model is rooted in 1930s behaviorism and is largely considered obsolete today.In short this theory suggests that if someone see's something in the media they will take in the message and / or replicate actions based on this. The ideas are 'syringed' straight into your head.
The "Hypodermic Needle Theory" of direct influence effects was not as widely accepted by scholars as many books on mass communication indicate. The Hypodermic needle theory was not based on empirical findings from research but rather on assumptions of the time about human nature. People were assumed to be "uniformly controlled by their biologically based 'instincts' and that they react more or less uniformly to whatever 'stimuli' came along".
Two-step flow
Also known as the Multistep Flow Model is a theory based on a 1940's study on social influence that states that media effects are indirectly established through the personal influence of opinion leaders. The majority of people receive much of their information and are influenced by the media secondhand, through the personal influence of opinion leaders
Uses and Gratifications model
With the rise of mass media in the last century, critics worried that its power could destroy freedom through manipulating consumers. Different approaches to the study of mass media offer support or fail to offer support for these fears.
Uses and Gratifications Theory is a popular approach to understanding mass communication. The theory places more focus on the consumer, or audience, instead of the actual message itself by asking “what people do with media” rather than “what media does to people” (Katz, 1959) . It assumes that members of the audience are not passive but take an active role in interpreting and integrating media into their own lives. The theory also holds that audiences are responsible for choosing media to meet their needs.
( information sourced from wiki)
The hypodermic needlec (syringe) model is a model of communications suggesting that an intended message is directly received and wholly accepted by the receiver. The model is rooted in 1930s behaviorism and is largely considered obsolete today.In short this theory suggests that if someone see's something in the media they will take in the message and / or replicate actions based on this. The ideas are 'syringed' straight into your head.
The "Hypodermic Needle Theory" of direct influence effects was not as widely accepted by scholars as many books on mass communication indicate. The Hypodermic needle theory was not based on empirical findings from research but rather on assumptions of the time about human nature. People were assumed to be "uniformly controlled by their biologically based 'instincts' and that they react more or less uniformly to whatever 'stimuli' came along".
Two-step flow
Also known as the Multistep Flow Model is a theory based on a 1940's study on social influence that states that media effects are indirectly established through the personal influence of opinion leaders. The majority of people receive much of their information and are influenced by the media secondhand, through the personal influence of opinion leaders
Uses and Gratifications model
With the rise of mass media in the last century, critics worried that its power could destroy freedom through manipulating consumers. Different approaches to the study of mass media offer support or fail to offer support for these fears.
Uses and Gratifications Theory is a popular approach to understanding mass communication. The theory places more focus on the consumer, or audience, instead of the actual message itself by asking “what people do with media” rather than “what media does to people” (Katz, 1959) . It assumes that members of the audience are not passive but take an active role in interpreting and integrating media into their own lives. The theory also holds that audiences are responsible for choosing media to meet their needs.
( information sourced from wiki)
Monday, 10 October 2011
Location visit
Me and Jamie are planning a visit to our first potential location in the coming week. From this visit we hope to gain a few pieces of informaiton. Namely – ownership of the building, wether or not the neighbours will go mental if we use it and finally if the building will fall on top of us ending in our untimley deaths ( although perhaps producing an awesome and realistic music video in the process ). We'll take a camera along and post whatever we find out on the blog!
Tuesday, 27 September 2011
Brainstorming
Me and Jamie have been brainstorming various ideas, and taken a lot of inspiration form the likes of prodigy and pendulum videos. Our main ideas include upbeat pacey editing and action.
Our first idea was along these lines - A man explores the abandoned house...after it seemingly to house nothing interesting in particular, he begins to leave. As he gets to the door something grabs his attention. This leads him to look around the house ad in each om he finds something....well, mental - for lack of a better description.
Another idea wasn't exactly fleshed out but we thought it would be a good idea to do a free running / street sport video. This was thought up because of the pace of the music.
I'venow thought of another concept which i will add to another post...
Our first idea was along these lines - A man explores the abandoned house...after it seemingly to house nothing interesting in particular, he begins to leave. As he gets to the door something grabs his attention. This leads him to look around the house ad in each om he finds something....well, mental - for lack of a better description.
Another idea wasn't exactly fleshed out but we thought it would be a good idea to do a free running / street sport video. This was thought up because of the pace of the music.
I'venow thought of another concept which i will add to another post...
Potential location
Me and Jamie have found a possible location in the area. The house has been abandoned for a good number of years, and it looks the part for a possible concept. However the issue we are having is discovering the ownership of the house and the potential structural danger. However, if we could use it, it would be a great location for at least part of the video.
Monday, 26 September 2011
Tuesday, 20 September 2011
Inspiration for concept video
The decision was made between me and Jamie that as we wanted a fast paced video ( and one with no lyrics ) so the idea of a concept video was taken on, we had various inspirations, many of which from the band ' Pendulum '. I'll post a few of these now.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)