we were going to play the song i need a hero by Bonnie tyler during the slide show on the clip where ryan starts to pray how ever there has been a hicup and it doesnt seem to want to work

sadly we could only develop the pictures A4 size but we all agreed if we could we would of wanted to print them A3 as the bigger the image is the easier it is to see the facial expressions. As we made sure every emotion displaced was exagrated

amazingly enough, Ryan showed up at the day of shooting, mind you he was still complaining about everything. Hannah gave me a phone call to let me know he was coming so me and charlotte decided it might be more comicaly plus maybe even a political statement if the superhero was a women who was saving a helpless man. Using role reverse. I think this was a good move and it was very successful

My first idea was to take a series of shots and create a flicker book. However to make it more interactive me and charlotte thought maybe creating an over size comic strip which would be on the walls of a room so that people would have to walk around the room to get to the end of the story

to make it cheesey me and charlotte have decided to make a cardboard cut out bomb as showing in cartoons...
http://www.bradfitzpatrick.com/stock_illustration/images-new/technology/cartoon-bomb-clipart.gif

to add to this and relate it more to Roy Lichtenstein we made more cartoony items which would feature in the photographs.

Inspiration came from Roy Lichtenstein's Pop Art work

http://ginavivinetto.files.wordpress.com/2008/08/roy21.jpg

http://www.leninimports.com/roy_lichtenstein_gallery_1.jpg

http://images.easyart.com/i/prints/rw/lg/1/3/Roy-Lichtenstein-Masterpiece--1962---Silkscreen-Print--133899.jpg

thought as the article was a bit daft we would make out piece comical and the best way to do this is making it cartoony and cheesy

good news finally got hold of Hannah, she said she still couldnt get hold of Ryan however she wouldnt mind dressing up as a superhero. I guess im going to have to be the director plus an actor in the play as we need someone to be saved

dilema- me and charlotte came up with an idea: either a comic strip or a flicker book, photo installation. based on a superhero saving someone. We were hoping Ryan would be the superhero thinking thats not much to ask as he hasnt contributed at all but no luck.

the other two members of your group Hannah and Ryan havnt bothered what so ever to reply to my emails on facebook about the project. it seems me and charlotte will be doing everything

Group Project

Me and Charlotte were looking at articles today.
3 of our favourites
1 about a japanese man who suvived all the atomic bombs from the WW2
2 was about england needing a superhero
3 was about terrorism

Opening scenes of films

The Dark Knight

From the very beginning of the film the themes are introduced. It starts by the alteration of the Warner Brothers sign, it is usually gold with a sky blue cloudy background however it is now blue/black with a dark cloudy background. By doing this it has set the scene to imply the themes of evil that are central the film. After there are flashes of the "Joker's" face and body. The joker's face is meant to create fear in the viewer. There are smoke explosions showing mystery as its the unknown, through the smoke the shape of a bat appears however it is distorted and the clouds disappear around it to make it more vivid. The film goes straight into an action shot with tense music creating the on edge atmosphere, giving the feeling that something dangerous is about to happen. The camera starts with a wide shot narrowing down to where the action is about to begin, scaring the viewer by the loud sound and smashing glass by the villain.

I think this is very effective as the viewer knows what to expect. The film is an action film and it is established from the first scene.

Plot Synopsis Of Science of Sleep

Life seems to be looking up for shy and withdrawn Stephane (Gael Garcia Bernal) when he is coaxed to return to his childhood home in France by his mother with the promise of a job. Wildly creative, his fanciful and sometimes disturbing dream life constantly threatens to usurp his waking world. But his joy is muted when he discovers that the job is actually a mundane copy setting position in a tiny office with three co-workers, including one (Alain Chabat) hungry for someone to entertain him and a boss who would prefer to be perpetually left alone.

However, that disappointment is overshadowed when Stephane meets his new next door neighbour, Stephanie (Charlotte Gainsbourg) and her friend, Zoe. Initially mistaken for an injured furniture mover upon first meeting the two young women, and too shy to correct them, Stephanie then must pretend that he doesn’t actually live next door in order to continue the growing friendship with Stephanie.

Stephanie is not nearly as adept at lying as he is at creating and the girls soon learn the truth. Initially attracted to Zoe, he is quickly drawn to Stephanie as her imagination easily matches his own. He enlists and engages her in his various creative projects and inventions and joyfully begins to let her into the confused but colourful world of his mind. And almost inexplicable charmed by him, Stephanie somehow finds the key to the heart of Stephane’s fragile artist. As their relationship blossoms, the confidence he exudes in his fanciful dream life begins bleeding over to his real life as it never had before with Stephane finding success, dispatching villains and looking toward a happy, magical future with Stephanie.

However, just as he finds popularity with the successful publishing of a calendar featuring his illustrations, he becomes distraught over the perceived rejection of his feelings by Stephanie. But did she really reject him? Or through his insecurities, did he simply imagine the scenario which has left him romantically adrift yet again? Unable to bear the prospect of a waking world without Stephanie’s love and with no satisfying solutions coming out of his dream world, Stephane faces a dilemma he may not be able to depend on the science of sleep to help him solve.

Michel Gondry's previous work...

The White Stripes- Dead Leaves and The Dirty Ground

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zh7UFi2b9xU

I really like the special effects in this, it’s a man walking around an empty house and it seems he keeps seeing memories of things which happened in the house before, but you can distinguish between the present and past as the past is transparent.

Chemical Brothers: Let Forever Be

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ti4ip8zQyrc

I like the clever way the girl keeps getting duplicated, especially the alarm clocks in the beginning.

Air France commercial

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmNztYfInOA

This is very cleverly done, I like the way the plane just appears between everyday things, my favorite part was when the women is doing yoga and you see the plane between her fingers.

Interview with Michel Gondry

The amazing mind of Michel Gondry

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWso3bxjKXc&feature=related

Michel Gondry - Camera Trick

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=II0er7TmkS8&NR=1

Its very clever how Michel Gondry creates his techniques, it seems that the room itself his set has been set up for the trick. That all the objects are just images to make the room seem like a kitchen and they have a perspective making the objects look bigger in the foreground.

What I learnt after my first editing session...

I think it was handy and has helped me understand the program final cut pro, I'm quite proud of what I've created in the last few hours as I'v never used this program before. I'm still not sure yet about how to add audio to clips. I tried putting my video on blooger however it was too big and wouldnt fit.

19 February 2009

Science of Sleep

I'm still not sure what I think of the film yet, I found it very confusing and difficult to follow. The main character was different from most movies. He was unsure of himself all the time and wasn't very confident. I don't think he led the movie through very well.
I did like the beginning of the film. All the splashes of paint, and retro fonts. It reminded me of Dali's art work and his surrealism. His work was based on dreams and the freedom of the mind and so if this film so the begining really helped set the mood.

Mise en scène is everything that appears before the camera, namely:

• the setting
• the costume and make-up
• the use of figure, expression and movement by actors
• the lighting

The style scale

Formalism, expressionism	↔	Realism
Form over content - how things are shown is most important, and beyond a usual representation of reality. Expressionist films are highly stylised, and are characterised by oblique camera angles, distorted shapes, bizarre settings, high contrast lighting and the surreal and subjective.	↔	Content over form - looks like real life - the intent is to make us forget it is a representation. This is the dominant style of most films, and is sometimes referred to as "the style of no style."

Setting

Setting gives a sense of place and time. Whatever the film is, you should always analyse the set because it provides important clues about the nature of the film, such as:

• where the action takes place
• when the action takes place
• the mood
• the characters
• the genre of the film.

Costume and make-up

Costume and make-up can be considered as part of the set, because they indicate:

• the period
• the state of society
• social class
• cultural backgrounds
• character traits.

Changes in cosutume indicate changes in charecter, e.g.:

• rich to poor
• taking off clothes as lowering defenses.

Clothing might also be a trademark.

Figure, expression and movement

• Body language
• appearance
• facial expressions (very significant in close-ups)
• sound elements.

The way a character stands and moves is important.

• If they are the foreground they might be considered more important.
• If they move against a stationary background attention is drawn to them.
• Even distribution of characters makes for a balanced shot, whereas uneven distribution is unsettling to the eye.
• Positioning of characters within the frame may even indicate emotional distance.

http://www.bustertests.co.uk/answer/mise-en-scene/

Diegetic Sounds

Diegetic sound is sound that the characters in the film can hear (e.g.
the character is listening to the radio)

Non- Diegetic Sounds

Non-Diegetic sound is sound that is only for the audience to hear
(e.g. A soundtrack over an action sequence)

http://www.123helpme.com/view.asp?id=149722 has some good examples of both.