When you forget your ID badge

We used a variety of shot types because there are a huge amount of shot types in the action movie genre - which we were trying to replicate. This is why in filming we included the ceiling shot, wide shot and the countless other shots in the fight scene.

We opened with a panning shot to introduce the collage as the setting and then continued with an over the shoulder shot to make Thomas look bigger than Curtis. I then used the mid shot of Curtis to make him look dominant and minimise the silly running scene. After this we used the shot of Curtis doing his karate kick and mixed it with a difference scene to make it look as though it had connected with Thomas.

Throughout the resulting fight scene Kiri made sure to jerk the camera whenever there was a punch to make it look more violent.

I didn't show it in this clip but we also had shots from above (the ceiling shot) and long shots near the door. In retrospect i should have taken the time to use these shots and create a better film.

This is why most of the shots were mid shots - they were easiest to do when in the middle of a fight scene. On the other hand i did include a low angle shot and a high angle shot so this might compensate.

Hellsing ultimate shot analysis

This aerial shot is used to establish the scene area - in this case the quaint charm of the english countryside is contrasted with the creepy haunted church. This combined with the violin music tells the audience what to expect. 

This close up shot was used to show Integra's power and to establish her as a major character, her expression is completely calm in the face of the policemen and the famous lit glasses show her seriousness and determination. 

This is one of the many introducing shots of Alucard, it is a low angle mid shot that is tilted at an angle. This was likely taken in this way to show that he is more powerful and imposing than the other characters and this is highlighted by the fact that he is walking away from the camera showing that he is almost indifferent to the story.

This is a crash shot zooming in on anderson after he is called to fight. This shot and the shot after it demonstrate the power of anderson by drawing him as a dark silhouette.

This is where the crash shot stops turning it into a close up shot of anderson's face. This further advances his menacing presence since it draws all attention to him. Furthermore the fact that most of his features are in shadow and that his eyes are hidden gives him an inhuman quality enhanced by the cold blue of his glasses. Anime shows tend to have a lot of these close up shots because they require less detail and drawing so require less time to draw, in this way the budget can be saved for the fight scenes or important parts of a show.

This is a long shot of Alucard and anderson getting ready for a duel to the death. It is an important shot because it shows them both as characters of equal importance, the vampire and the paladin. The similarity of their hight in the shot as well as the equal shades and contrasts of colour also show their equality in this scene.

Skills development plan

Interactive	Use of font in everything - 2.5/5 layout and presentation - ⅗ Colour - ⅘ Infographic construction/knowledge - 3.5/5 I think i need to learn more about fonts and the unique placement of every one, i have a decent knowledge of the history of font and the construction of a font family but i still need to learn the significance of font in advertising and i need to be able to identify types of font with sight. On the other hand i have a decent amount of knowledge concerning the importance of colour, how it influences our minds.
Moving image	Cameras - 2/5 Pre Production story ideas, writing scripts etc ⅗ Filming - ⅗ Editing - ⅘ What i need to improve on: i need to learn how to work a camera more efficiently and how to use the buttons what to press. I feel i have strengths in editing so i need to get better at other skills like preproduction and filming.
Media theory	Knowledge of branding techniques (e.g. unique selling points) - 4/5 Knowledge of research techniques (e.g. primary research) 5/5 I learnt about research types and methods in my A-levels and revised them very thoroughly so i like to think i know them inside out. I also have some knowledge of branding technique in advertisements and products. E.g. brand loyalty with products like nike.
publishing	Skills with photoshop tools - 4/5 Range of tools known - 4/5 Knowledge of poster designs (what makes a poster good) - 3.5/5 What i need to improve on: i need to study other film posters to discover what makes them eye catching. However i think this is the module i am most confident in, i have strengths in constructing posters and a relatively broad knowledge of posters and branding techniques like synthetic personalisation.

Dawn of the iron creature design process and self evaluation

My design process - upload images of at least one poster in progress and write about what you did, your ideas at each stage, etc. (100 - 200 words)

I wasn't sure what i wanted to do for my poster in the first stages, i looked at many different franchises trying to find something i could blend together in a comedic way but it seemed as though every mashup idea had been exploited already. I researched some of the older famous posters looking for something that might not have been looked at and eventually found the dawn of the dead poster. It was famous and recognisable but also relatively easy to edit unlike many modern posters, i thought of a funny movie i could spin it with and came up with the iron lady.

I spent the first part of the design process editing Margaret and the poster in order to fit her head into the poster correctly. After this was done i used the brush tool to make her look like a zombie, i tried to replicate the style of the original poster trying to strike a balance to make her look recognisable while still clearly a zombie.

After i had finished this editing i started cutting out the text of the original poster, this was relatively easy to do since the word "dead" was against a black background and "room" was against a red one. However the most difficult part of the poster was replicating that old font style used for the title "dawn of the dead". Because the poster is so old the original font wasn't on the Internet so i ended up downloading the closest font i could find which replicated many of the elements. However even with the original font it wouldn't of looked quite right. At this point i had the finished poster although as i mention in my evaluation of the work it still has many faults.


self evaluation - reflect on your performance over the last 6 weeks: what was our knowledge of photoshop and posters before we started? what have you learnt? what would you do differently next time? (200 words) 

I've learnt alot over the last 6 weeks, at first i knew almost nothing about photoshop, but over the course of lessons and trial and error I've learnt the basic keyboard shortcuts - which i use regularly, how to liquefy pictures and manipulate them. I've learnt how to remove a character from a picture entirely without disturbing the image and leaving a massive white gap. I've learnt how to correctly use the quick selection tool and magic wand tool, this has helped me to remove parts of images and I've often used it in combination with other tools.

assessment of my final design

Final design and evaluation upload your final design and critique/assess your own work: how does it approach the styles and conventions of film posters? how could it be improved? what did others say - did you agree or disagree (200 words) 

I have mixed feelings about my final design, while it is good it still has a multitude of flaws. For example though i tweaked it a lot over the course of the project my inserted font still doesn't fit in seamlessly with the original poster's font. I think my previous posters were better because they had an air of professionalism to them, but i think this poster lacks this, it looks less organic. Furthermore the subject might have been too political and could even offend people, however all comedy has an element of this so i feel this justifies my film choice. Margret also doesn't look zombified enough, i could have made the poster more impactful if i had desaturated her skin and hair and added more zombie features. Another gripe i have is the fact that around Thatcher's face are white eraser marks that i cant get rid of because i didn't correct it at the time i made the mistake. To fix it i would have to redo the entire poster so i left it. On the other hand i still think i achieved my goal in that the poster is original, eye catching and funny, furthermore the artwork isn't perfect but it works nonetheless.

peer review - purple is a bit bright, gore doesn't look very good, i would say these are valid criticisms that should have been addressed

Primary research on posters

This is the famous poster used for the award winning film pulp fiction, it would've been shown in most of the current cinemas since it was so critically acclaimed. It is also sold in current branch stores like HMV and other retail shops that distribute DVD. The poster is designed to look like an old fashioned short story magazine, this is where the term "pulp fiction" originates - it was a byword for old fiction magazines. The poster's font is in the style of these old magazines and the poster's colour scheme imitates this as well with striking yellows and reds attracting attention. Furthermore because Uma Thurman is looking directly at the viewer of the poster the illusion that she is looking directly at the individual is created when of course she isn't. This is likely to attract more customers since feels more personal in addition parts of the poster are whited out in a realistic attempt to make it look faded and old and this enhances the artistic merits of the poster.
Its size is probably quad.
The poster is probably relatively economical because of the relative lack of detail in comparison to for example the star wars posters which have a crazy variety of colour and detail.

Inherent vice is similar to pulp fiction in ways, it's bonkers storyline and well made characters resemble the previous film. But the posters are very different. 

Inherent vice is presented in the neon blurs of the 1980s, it would've likely been shown in most cinemas and it is in most shops selling DVD such as HMV. 

There is a great deal of complexity in this poster, this combined with the excessive use of colour means it isn't very economical but it does a good job of portraying the film to the viewer. We know who the main character is and the supporting cast around him. The imagery suggests and tantalises on details and plot points allowing you to make your own interpretation. This is in stark contrast to the pulp fiction poster which only shows one character and none of the storyline behind it. 

The poster's size is one sheet. 

Final design assessment

Final design and evaluation upload your final design and critique/assess your own work: how does it approach the styles and conventions of film posters? how could it be improved? what did others say - did you agree or disagree (200 words) 

I have mixed feelings about my final poster, while i think it is good it still has a multitude of flaws. For example though i tweaked it a lot over the course of the project my inserted font still doesn't fit in seamlessly with the original poster's font.

I think my previous posters were better because they had an air of professionalism to them, but i think this poster lacks this, it looks less organic.

Furthermore the subject might have been too political and could even offend people, however all comedy has an element of this so i feel this justifies my film choice.

Margret also doesn't look zombified enough, i could have made the poster more impactful if i had desaturated her skin and hair and added more zombie features. Another gripe i have is the fact that around thatcher's face are white eraser marks that i cant get rid of because i didn't correct it at the time of the mistake, to fix it i would have to redo the poster so i had to leave it.

On the other hand i think i achieved my goal in that the poster is original, eye-catching and funny, furthermore the artwork isn't perfect but it works nonetheless. 

Colour wheel

These are most of the pictures we took for the colour wheel, i say most because i found that pictures we had thought were lighter or darker outside were changed on the computer. For example we were sure we had found each pastel colour but in reality we had only found four. However i would argue that we found every colour because there were highlights and contrasts with many of the images and the lighter colours could likely be found in these somewhere. As the image might show we also found a number of colours showing up regularly and that others were much harder to find. Greens and reds were very common to the point of frustration, while pinks and violets were difficult to find. We took 183 photos in total.

The issue of gamut

As the picture above illustrates, the human eye can see a huge variety of colour but the colour pallets for cameras and TVs aren't as advanced and can only render a certain amount of the spectrum Therefore the colours from this gamut spectrum are said to be "out of gamut" and so cannot be shown. As a result black is often used in gamut spectrum's to compensate for the colours that aren't being shown. This "kicks" the hues into darker hues allowing for a more accurate picture that can be labelled full colour.

The difference between colours in 1970s and 1960s + 2016

In the 1960s everything was happening at once and because of drug culture and psychedelic trends most of the colours from this time were highly saturated and contrasting hues with a huge diversity of hues. 

On the other hand in the 1970s people had calmed down and colours went brown decreasing in saturation and diversity.

I think that the colours of 2016 are varied but in terms of popular culture we have a broad range of colours, i think this is a result of new technology and the nostalgic drive for the retro of other decades like the 1960s. However i also think we still have less colour than the 1960s. Perhaps these colours could be associated with 2016 white contrasted with black, also blues and pinks?

There are 256 colours in a gif

Primary and secondary reasearch pros and cons

Primary research

Pros
Directly applicable to project.
More valid and less likely to be a correlation.
You can freely choose the method and focus of research.

Cons
Can be biased.
Can be expensive.
Possible risks e.g. doing an interview with dangerous individuals.
Time consuming.

Secondary research

Pros
Cheap.
You can learn from other people's mistakes and carry out your own primary research more effectively.
You can access a range of perspectives.
No risk.
Less time consuming than primary research.

Cons
Secondary research can be biased.
Secondary research will never be totally applicable to your project because your project is new and secondary research is old. as a result it can be used to support primary research but often not take it's place since the secondary research could be loosely related.
Primary research gives a project more credibility.

Living frame by frame video and evaluation

An evaluation of my short film

I feel that i should have taken more pictures. Every segment of this short film felt jerky and slow in comparison to other photomation films i have seen that played at 60 photographs per second. I don't feel i need to reach that standard but i still should have taken more to make the film smoother.

I also feel that much of the picture quality was poor or unfocused, particularly in the segment with the writing on paper. These shots were poor because i didn't have a steady hand with the camera in my phone so perhaps a tripod and better camera might have aided this problem.

In terms of the actual content i feel the piece is fine, simplistic and amateur in many ways but easy to watch nonetheless.

I feel that the music I implemented is spot on fitting the atmosphere and theme completely and making the piece much better. However i also feel that my editing of this music and the other sound effects was poor. The overall sound in the film was too loud and the cutting of the music to fit the film was substandard. The sound effects were ok though not the focus of the piece at all.

Next time i will have to  work harder to make my work as good as it can be.

Behind the scenes

I originally wanted to do three scenes instead of the two i ended up with in this short film. The rejected scene was going to have me slowly being engulfed by books but i realised i didn't have enough paperback to create the effect i wanted. I had planned to be swimming in a sea of books, but i think that's better left for fiction.

I had many ideas for the short film which didn't come into reality, here are a few of them:

My Interests:

Video games

Books

Meditation

Films

Book fluttering past, poetry, animated words , first person filming, third person filming, animation through slowly building a picture, timelapse of meditation or gaming or reading, dominos with film cases and game cases?

Life in my room

Room slowly being covered in books, me buried in books. Me dancing though that's embarrassing, me writing - timelapse or perhaps an animation, reading in a variety of positions in my room

Sound design

Ambient dance music or instrumental - perhaps Eple from Royschop?

Sound effects - the rustle of book pages and the sound of the sea? Me moving around - footsteps

In the animation of the first scene - me reading books playing games ect - my mother had to film me and since she didn't have alot of time and sadly wasn't very skilled with a camera so she didn't take enough pictures for parts of the animation to be more fluid.

Mixing the audio for the film was hard, the sound effects were easy enough to implement on their own but making it quiet enough when combined with the music was pretty difficult. Furthermore when i added the actual music to the piece i had to edit it thoroughly because while the animation was one minute long the music was four. As a result i had to cut large parts of the music track and edit the cut music to reduce the jarring effect.

my data poster and reflection

I wanted to do something intricate and detailed for this poster but quickly realised that the facts could become hidden in the splurge of colour and dimension, so i decided to try something simple instead. This is why i went for the stick figure approach, but in retrospect what i dislike the most about this poster is it's lack of detail. It gets the message across easily enough but i would've liked it to be more dramatic and interesting. I suppose the benefit of this is that it stands out and is easy to understand - something an infographic must do. But there are many beautiful infographics that also put their message across with clarity so maybe i could have drawn inspiration from them.

Steve homework questions 1-8

1. Research and show images of six different examples of type in different places that use the same - or similar typefaces. Describe what they are and where you found them.

These fonts both come from disaster movies and both use a similar impact style font, the san andreas font is slightly thinner and they have different graphics layered onto them. However they both share bold lettering and dramatic spacing, though because the san andreas film is a high profile hollywood disaster movie this effect is extended further than the disney film.

I found these images on google images.

These two fonts are similar and it might be because they are both trying to express style and elegance through the thin ascenders and long x height.

I found these images on google images.

These two fonts are similar - they both have the slanted design in their font and brand as well as and thick eye catching lettering. This font might be to indicate speed and friendliness, furthermore the colours used are in bright contrast and both are easy to spot, the colours used for both fonts might be seen as friendly and exciting.

I found these images on google images.

2. Distinction between typeface and font:

A typeface is the design of an alphabet, the crafting of every individual part of the words and letters i.e. their serifs, x height, ascenders, descenders ect. This all together makes a typeface, this can be arial or garamond for example. However a font is a subset of that typeface, it is in the same style but it is done in a different way e.g. bold arial or italic garamond.

3. difference between serif and sans serif:

A serif is a semi structural detail often used for decoration in parts of letters and symbols. A good example of this might be the times new roman font which utilizes many decorative serifs.

On the other hand a sans serif font has none of these decorations and might look more plain than a serif font, an example of this might be ariel.

4. Generate a short word that can be used to show the following parts of a typeface:

Powerfully - This was originally in pinyon script font but blogger doesnt support this font so i have to present it like this. This is also the reason for the unedited pictures becuase blogger doesnt support cropping either.

Ascender - p

Descender - y

X-height - the whole word

Serif - P

Upper case - P

Lower case - F

Point size - the whole word

Ligature - R&F

Baseline - power

5. This image illustrates the estimo type family.

6. The difference between kerning and tracking:

Kerning is a tool for adding or taking away space between pairs of characters. The tracking tool lets you loosen or tighten a block of text.

You can do it on indesign through a tool in the top left of this screenshot.

7. Find out and explain leading, write a blog post that includes a screenshot of how you can do this in indesign. Use images to illustrate your discoveries.

Negative leading refers to less than normal spacing in fonts and text, positive leading refers to more than normal spacing in fonts and text. It is often used to create dramatic visual impact in headlines, advertisements, posters, etc. This tool is most often utilised through software like Adobe PageMaker, Adobe indesign, or Quark'Xpress.

8. Explain what a grid is

Two kinds of grid are available on indesign: a baseline grid for aligning text and a document grid for aligning objects. These tools can help you space a project correctly to make it look professional and neat. On the screen a baseline grid resembles ruled notebook paper and a document grid resembles graph paper. You can customize both of the grids, this makes them flexible and the customisation is easy to use.

Statistics and why they are important.

Demographics are effectively categories you split the population into, for example life expectancy, age, death rate, birth rate ect. These categories can be used on any section of the population.

This is important for media as you can find your ideal audience in a given area through these facts. For example if a country or area has predominantly elderly people they will have a different perspective on film than younger people.

Another example of this is in other statistics. Statistically valvo have the safest cars, this is a unique selling point that they pitch their cars on and so they have identified their ideal audience through statistics.

Statistics can also be used to find the ideal way to market your product and who to market it to, for example amazon tracks what it’s users look at on their websites and then using this data pushes adverts that might appeal to the user. Through this they sell more products and have to spend less money on advertising and therefore marketing. This also increases sales.

These statistics can also be used to measure trends and new opportunities for marketing . for example using statistics on purchases you can prove that art-house films sell less than action movies or that the romance genre is a bigger market than the sci-fi market in the publishing business.

All the factors and methods mentioned above increase the sales of a product or piece of work, for example if you identify your ideal audience then you can work in favour of them and perhaps gain a loyal following who will follow your brand. If you find a unique selling point in your product you can distinguish yourself from competitors and outdo them. If you can lower market costs you can get more profit ect.

An assessment of the audio in my silent film

We used the audio of our own running footsteps and scuffling shoes in order to create the illusion of realism in the silent film, i feel the actual sound and my placement of it was effective but the recording was flawed. This is because i recorded it at a low volume and so had to amplify the sound in the editing process, though as a result i was able to hear it i feel it damaged the audio quality. Nonetheless the asset sounds realistic and contributes to the quality of the short film.

Another native sound asset we used was the door slam and yelling sound effects. Unlike some of the other sound effects recorded in the collage the door slam sound effect didn't need to be edited in volume since it was loud enough. I feel this is likely the best sound asset we recorded in collage since it was striking and fitting for the chase even though we didn't actually slam the door. This added to the film's atmosphere, furthermore it also had background noises in the audio file - we accidentally recorded snippets of conversation when we opened the door. However i feel this error added to the realism and effectiveness of the audio file.

The yelling sound effects were also decent. because they were done in a silly manner the sound effects added to the comedy of the film though they weren't realistic in any way. 

I also added some sound effects from the Internet like the punching sound files. I feel that these both added to the realism of the film and the slapstick comedy since they were generic noises you would find in iconic old comedies like woody Allen's "banana". I feel these definitely added to the quality of the short film and were essential, i feel my placement of them in the film was adequate as well.

Furthermore i also used the sound of rumbling thunder and hellish noises in the scene of the film where "Jesus" calls god to punish the other characters. I feel these noises enhanced the moment, making it very dramatic and consequently completely ridiculous since the scene is so bizarre. However i probably overdid the SFX in this section of the film because i wanted it to be as ridiculous as possible, this led me to look for more and more over the top noises on the Internet and as a result i might of overstretched the joke and as a consequence altered the tone of the film for the worst. 

The many tools of photoshop

When you open up photoshop for the first time the array of tools and features can be completely overwhelming. It can take years of experience to learn how to use photoshop to it's fullest extent, but there are a number of tools that are approachable no matter how experience you have.

The magic brush and quick selection tool are easy to use and have a wide range of applications. For instance if you wanted to move elements of a photograph around, you can also use it in combination with other tools to create interesting effects. For example if you used it with the hue tool you could manipulate a specific area of a photograph.

Another useful tool is the blur tool. You can use it to make pictures pasted from the Internet blend into the original photograph more easily by blurring it's edges.

I've found the brush tool to be one of the best tools on photoshop as it allows you to make intricate details and changes. This helps alot with poster design and if you use your imagination and some hard work you can make something look really professional.

Application of research to my poster design

I wasn't sure how i wanted to present my poster, it was for the shining but i didn't want to use that cliched axe scene where he peers through the door shouting "here's Jonny' etc. It's lost it's fear factor for me after seeing it so much.
So i thought about what else i could include, and the overlook hotel immediately came to me, after all this is where the story starts and ends. I looked up creepy photos of hotels until i found one that fitted the poster. I then scrawled the famous word "redrum" across the hotel to mark it distinctly as the hotel from the shining.
I got the picture from the Internet and then made it fit with the photograph by adding details like the blood dripping from the words. I think that throughout the process of making the poster i was aiming to unsettle the reader rather than terrify them. I wanted to create something chilling rather than gory so i settled for small details that hinted at a wider story such as the bloody silhouette in the doorway, the blooded footsteps and dried blood.
I didn't want to overcrowd the photo either. I included the title and credits in a white frame around the poster as a finishing touch and i think this gave it a classic feel.

If i could change anything it would be to include more detail and perhaps make the silhouette figure slightly bigger since he is hard to see from a distance. Despite this i am pleased with the end result.

Comparing different briefs - differences in wording, layout ect.

comparison of creative briefs



This musical brief is done in a formal manner, the writer gets straight to the point introducing their client briefly and then immediately getting into the details of what they need and the details of this. The author doesn't bother trying to big up their client they just get straight to the details of what is needed in the brief expecting the reader to do their own research. Its as if there is no question that the reader will sign up to do the project. It was clearly written by a supportive worker for the musician in contrast to the other brief that could have been written by anyone in the pet support industry.

Both briefs get into the fine detail of what is needed for the project highlighting everything and anything that could be overlooked. This is to prevent any misunderstanding and to make sure the product created is as close to the client's vision as possible. In this way they are both good briefs but you might say that the music brief is less stylised than the pet brief. This brief has a manner and tone to it which might suggest more thought was put into it's presentation. Furthermore the pet brief looks better because of it's font and colour scheme which is clearly designed to fit with the tone of the brief. In this way it is arguably designed better than the musical brief.

However a major error in the pet brief is the lack of any specified deadlines for when the project needs to be finished. It is possible that this was included in a separate document but it isn't on the brief. This is unprofessional and poor.

The power of sound in cinema

Antropoid assassination scene

This scene creates tension through a slow buildup of sound.

The sound of the watch ticking is always in the background sending the message that time is running out. We hear "normal" sound effects e.g. the sound of traffic passing, people talking.

This calm and pleasant background is in sharp contrast to the situation - an assassination of one of Hitler's generals, and the certainty of slow torture until death for the men involved.

Against this we hear the car approaching with the violin note slowly building until they step out into the road. At this point the atmospheric note becomes almost painful listen to.

The tension created by this sharp music becomes amplified by the lack of explosive movement in the film, everyone is watching the car and you know what is going to happen but nobody moves.

All the other sound is deadened by this noise.

The impact of sound on early cinema.

The impact of sound on early cinema.

Early sound in cinema was clunky, impractical and in some ways even damaging for the actors and filmmakers.

Sound was first introduced as music and sound effect for films that had the correct wiring. Then actors started to dub over the silent films or speak into microphones as technology progressed. These were called "talkies". between 1920 and 1930 sound became an integral part of the cinema, after this time any cinemas not wired with sound systems went out of business.

It was a difficult journey for filmmakers, actors and crew members alike to adapt to this drastic change in the filming process. As Thompson and Bordwell said in 1979 "Microphones were insensitive and hard to move; it was difficult to mix sound tracks; and scenes frequently had to be shot by multiple cameras in soundproof booths". Most early "talkies" were even more static than the earlier silent films because the actors had to keep in range of the static microphone and camera. Furthermore the microphones were omnidirectional picking up any noise on the set, this meant that the cameras had to be kept in soundproofed booths because they whirred when filming. Furthermore though the booths had wheels they couldn't be used in film because they caused too much noise, this made films even more static. On top of this all sound had to be recorded on the set, this meant that the soundtrack had to be recorded near the microphone with the orchestra and instruments there on set!

There were also many other issues with silent films for the actors, many successful silent film actors hit a snag when sound was introduced. John Gilbert was a famous silent film actor but his talkie films were unsuccessful because his voice was seen as obnoxious. He became an alcoholic and died of a heart attack as a result of poor health.

However after working through the rough patches sound has become a mandatory part of cinema all over the world.