These are the main film genre's, acording to http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/list/filmgenres
1.
Action and adventure
Animation
Bollywood
Comedy
Crime
Documentary
Drama
Family
Horror
Music documentary
Musical
Period and historical
Romance
Science fiction and fantasy
Thriller
World cinema
The Two genre's i might consider doing for my media coursework are Drama or Comedy
Drama
"Dramas are serious, plot-driven presentations, portraying realistic characters, settings, life situations, and stories involving intense character development and interaction. Usually, they are not focused on special-effects, comedy, or action, Dramatic films are probably the largest film genre, with many subsets. See also the melodramas, epics (historical dramas), or romantic genres. Dramatic biographical films (or "biopics") are a major sub-genre, as are 'adult' films (with mature subject content)."
Comedy
"Comedies are light-hearted plots consistently and deliberately designed to amuse and provoke laughter (with one-liners, jokes, etc.) by exaggerating the situation, the language, action, relationships and characters. This section describes various forms of comedy through cinematic history, including slapstick, screwball, spoofs and parodies, romantic comedies, black comedy (dark satirical comedy), and more"
A few example trailers of drama films are
The Beach (2000) Danny Boyle
August Rush Kirsten Sheridan 2007
Comedy films
The Hangover 2009 Todd Phillips
Happy Gilmore Dennis Dugan 1996
Tuesday 26 January 2010
My Sweded Film
This is my put together sweded version of hot rod.
Good Points
- I was very happy about the opening when the character is putting on his gear (One of my comments on the video which i uploaded on facebook said this point aswell)
- The song fits to the first half
- The crash works very well and the part when rod is sick works quite well too.
Bad points
- Some of the sound after it was exported has shifted so a few parts of the movie dont fit in with the sound.
- Some of the acting isnt that good
- The lighting is very bad
- The setting in my film dosent resemble my setting which isnt good.
I wanted the lighting and the background to be more like this but due to timing and location i was restricted.
Improvements.
- I would of filmed at a better time and not as been as rushed.
- Filmed more outtakes so i could get better clips
- Spent more time on editing in some parts
- Used a better location and would of liked to of done a much longer swede.
What i learned from filming and editing
- Using the tripod is needed to take steady shots but using the tripod can be annoying after a while
- Imovie is very simple to use but is quite limited
- Dont forget to export the film as a certain thing (e.g web/cdrom)
- The cameras dont have a very long battery so dont leave the camera on.
If this was my main coursework piece i would of spent alot more time on the filming then i did and done it many times to get very good results. Spent more time researching and planning where i will film as well. Possibly used better equipment.
From this task i have learned a few valuable lessons.
- Dont leave the camera on between filming.
- Dont film when its almost dark.
- Make sure my actors can act.
- Plan my time out alot more.
- Make sure i dont use copyrighted material (facebook declined me uploading the video under the copyright law)
As you can see from the below feedback, it is fairly positive and unfortunatly they isnt any negative feedback to tell me what i need to improve on.
Monday 25 January 2010
Task 2 - My filmic tastes
Last five films I’ve seen:
- Avatar
- The Hangover
- Aimee
- Die another day (james bond)
- Quadrophenia
Last film I saw at the cinema:
- Avatar
Avatar trailer
Favourite two genres:
- Comedy
- Action
Favourite all time films:
- Requiem For A Dream
- This is england
- Fight Club
- 300
- Gladiator
Favourite film of all time:
Requien for a dream
(2000)
Plot: The hopes and dreams of four ambitious people are shattered when their drug addictions begin spiralling out of control.
Directed by: Darren Aronofsky
Starring: Ellyn Burstyn, Jared Leto, Jennifer Connelly, Marlon Wayans
The above is taken from Wikipedia
I first discovered this film when my friend recomened me to it. I enjoyed Jared leto's role in the film fight club and i enjoyed fight club becuase it actually makes you think and uses very clever takes. Requim was this but better.
The director Aronofsky has a very distintive style that i love. During scenes mainly where characters are taking drugs it uses montages that work very well "Aronofsky uses montages of extremely short shots throughout the film (sometimes termed a hip hop montage). While an average 100-minute film has 600 to 700 cuts,Requiem features more than 2,000. Split-screen is used extensively, along with extremely tight closeups.Long tracking shots (including those shot with an apparatus strapping a camera to an actor, called the Snorricam) and time-lapse photography are also prominent stylistic devices" taken from wikipedia.
I also found the film very distressing and though its not a horror it was very scary to watch. It was one of those films where they wasnt a happy ending and in the end nothing good has happened, usually i dont like these films but in this case it worked very well. it would of destroyed everything the film aimed to set if in the end everything was fine and dandy.
The soundtrack was also very good in my opinion, the sound track suited the style and mood of the film very well. Clint Mansell — "Lux Aeterna is the name of song, its been used in many tv programs and films since its release.
The film received mostly positive responses from critics, with the film aggregator website, Rotten Tomatoes, giving the film an 80% "Fresh" rating, with the camera work and the individual performances particularly praised.
Nominated for Oscar. Another 20 wins & 34 nominations.
- Avatar
- The Hangover
- Aimee
- Die another day (james bond)
- Quadrophenia
Last film I saw at the cinema:
- Avatar
Avatar trailer
Favourite two genres:
- Comedy
- Action
Favourite all time films:
- Requiem For A Dream
- This is england
- Fight Club
- 300
- Gladiator
Favourite film of all time:
Requien for a dream
(2000)
Plot: The hopes and dreams of four ambitious people are shattered when their drug addictions begin spiralling out of control.
Directed by: Darren Aronofsky
Starring: Ellyn Burstyn, Jared Leto, Jennifer Connelly, Marlon Wayans
The above is taken from Wikipedia
I first discovered this film when my friend recomened me to it. I enjoyed Jared leto's role in the film fight club and i enjoyed fight club becuase it actually makes you think and uses very clever takes. Requim was this but better.
The director Aronofsky has a very distintive style that i love. During scenes mainly where characters are taking drugs it uses montages that work very well "Aronofsky uses montages of extremely short shots throughout the film (sometimes termed a hip hop montage). While an average 100-minute film has 600 to 700 cuts,Requiem features more than 2,000. Split-screen is used extensively, along with extremely tight closeups.Long tracking shots (including those shot with an apparatus strapping a camera to an actor, called the Snorricam) and time-lapse photography are also prominent stylistic devices" taken from wikipedia.
I also found the film very distressing and though its not a horror it was very scary to watch. It was one of those films where they wasnt a happy ending and in the end nothing good has happened, usually i dont like these films but in this case it worked very well. it would of destroyed everything the film aimed to set if in the end everything was fine and dandy.
The soundtrack was also very good in my opinion, the sound track suited the style and mood of the film very well. Clint Mansell — "Lux Aeterna is the name of song, its been used in many tv programs and films since its release.
The film received mostly positive responses from critics, with the film aggregator website, Rotten Tomatoes, giving the film an 80% "Fresh" rating, with the camera work and the individual performances particularly praised.
Nominated for Oscar. Another 20 wins & 34 nominations.
Friday 15 January 2010
Sweding
This post is explaining what a swede/sweding is, Show my swede and what i did to create it and lastly my evaluation of my swede.
The term "Sweded" comes from the 2008 movie Be Kind Rewind. The film is about a VHS rental store that has all the tapes erased. "Films that were erased and recreated are referred as being sweded. These remakes are unedited with only a single take per scene. The tapes are described as having come from Sweden as an excuse for higher rental fees and longer wait times" In responce to the movie many fans made viral Sweded videos. Here's an example
5 films i could swede the opening of.
- Fight club - Hot rod - Saving private ryan - Night watch - American pyhco
I first wanted to swede the film fight club, but after viewing the film Hot rod i decided that it would easier and funner for me to do that film instead.
Pitch
Hot rod is a simple minded comedy focusing on a failing stuntman and his attempt to gain the respect of his step father. My swede will be of the opening and a later scene because i because that i could replicate it very well while still keeping to the opening in the movie.
Hot rod (Plot)
Rod Kimble is a naïf, a slacker living in a small US town with his mom, his younger brother, and his stepfather whose respect he craves. He also misses his dead dad, whom he thinks was Evel Knievel's back-up. Rod, a man-child, believes that he is a stunt man. When his stepfather needs an operation, with help from his brother and his slacker pals, Rod hatches a plan to set a school-bus-jumping record on his moped. First, his crew and he have to raise money to rent the buses and build the ramp. Trouble is, Rod's inept at his chosen career. Looming failure is complicated by the return of Denise, Rod's next-door neighbor and secret heartthrob, who is home from college. Is public humiliation at hand?
I could make the opening more intresting by using really stupid takes that reference to the movie for example in the film the character Rod Kimble has a bike/moped so i could use a childrens bicycle. Also by linking different parts of the film to the opening i could make the opening more entertaining and funny.
1. Costumes
I am only going to use 3 characters, one of them wears a tight fitting polo shirt throughout the film so i decided that i would make my actor wear the same. The main character has a boiler suit with buttons on the front. i couldnt find a way of getting one but the buttons are a quite important piece in the opening of the movie so i found a button up jacket. The main character also has a few other pieces of costume that are important in the opening of the movie which i managed to make and get so they resembled to relavent props in the movie. They were a pair of converse shoes, a helmet, gloves, a cape and a fake mustashe.
2. Location and mise en scene
In the film's opening scene it is set on a road in a typical american street. I couldnt find anywhere that would look like it does in the movie so i filmed in a empty car park. ( they was also some safety risks with filming on a road). The mise en scene isnt very good in my swede. The films a comedy yet my swede has takes which in the distance you can see a graveyard. This wont help to put across a mood of comedy.
3. special effects
In the film the stuntman is sick after doing one of his stunts. i copyed this by making some porrige which in the filming looks very much like the sick in the film.
4. Props
They are quite a few props used in my swede. All the props mentioned in the costume post. for the main character aswell as a childrens bike. Some wood and a bench to make a ramp. A empty vodka bottle for the scene in the wood. A camcorder for one of the other characters and a few chairs.
Script
Edd - Did you secure the take off ramp?
Joel - No we didnt have time
Edd - ... Coool
Edd - Soul of an eagle
Jack - Oh S**t
Jack - How are you feeling?
Edd - I need to go to my quiet place.
Initial reflections; I found using the camera and tripod relatively easy. The cameras are easy to operate and on a normal tape can store a lot of video. The tripods are easy to set up and quite light so its easy to move them around. The problems with the equipment are
1: The battery on the camera can go quite quickly so i had to turn the camera often to save battery, this left me with not mainly takes.
2: It was tricky to pan with the camera on the tripod without the camera jumping around.
The software "Imovie" is very easy to use as well. It was quick to use and provided me with all the tools i needed.
From this task i have learnt a few things about filming making that i need take into consideration when i work on my main filming.
- The background sound can be a problem so i need to find a way to get around this. E.g using a boom mike.
- When filming my swede it was getting dark. If i am going to film in a semi dark environment i would need to find a way to get stop the film from looking gloomy. Unless this is what i want.
If this was my main production i would spend more time on the filming and take a larger variety of shots, Spend more time and effort and money on getting the perfect location and props. Instead of my makeshift reference to a cape.
In general from this task i have learnt that a few things are very important, Time planning and planning because this makes the whole filming, editing and evaluation run smoother.
The term "Sweded" comes from the 2008 movie Be Kind Rewind. The film is about a VHS rental store that has all the tapes erased. "Films that were erased and recreated are referred as being sweded. These remakes are unedited with only a single take per scene. The tapes are described as having come from Sweden as an excuse for higher rental fees and longer wait times" In responce to the movie many fans made viral Sweded videos. Here's an example5 films i could swede the opening of.
- Fight club - Hot rod - Saving private ryan - Night watch - American pyhco
I first wanted to swede the film fight club, but after viewing the film Hot rod i decided that it would easier and funner for me to do that film instead.
Pitch
Hot rod is a simple minded comedy focusing on a failing stuntman and his attempt to gain the respect of his step father. My swede will be of the opening and a later scene because i because that i could replicate it very well while still keeping to the opening in the movie.
Hot rod (Plot)
Rod Kimble is a naïf, a slacker living in a small US town with his mom, his younger brother, and his stepfather whose respect he craves. He also misses his dead dad, whom he thinks was Evel Knievel's back-up. Rod, a man-child, believes that he is a stunt man. When his stepfather needs an operation, with help from his brother and his slacker pals, Rod hatches a plan to set a school-bus-jumping record on his moped. First, his crew and he have to raise money to rent the buses and build the ramp. Trouble is, Rod's inept at his chosen career. Looming failure is complicated by the return of Denise, Rod's next-door neighbor and secret heartthrob, who is home from college. Is public humiliation at hand?
I could make the opening more intresting by using really stupid takes that reference to the movie for example in the film the character Rod Kimble has a bike/moped so i could use a childrens bicycle. Also by linking different parts of the film to the opening i could make the opening more entertaining and funny.
1. Costumes
I am only going to use 3 characters, one of them wears a tight fitting polo shirt throughout the film so i decided that i would make my actor wear the same. The main character has a boiler suit with buttons on the front. i couldnt find a way of getting one but the buttons are a quite important piece in the opening of the movie so i found a button up jacket. The main character also has a few other pieces of costume that are important in the opening of the movie which i managed to make and get so they resembled to relavent props in the movie. They were a pair of converse shoes, a helmet, gloves, a cape and a fake mustashe.
2. Location and mise en scene
In the film's opening scene it is set on a road in a typical american street. I couldnt find anywhere that would look like it does in the movie so i filmed in a empty car park. ( they was also some safety risks with filming on a road). The mise en scene isnt very good in my swede. The films a comedy yet my swede has takes which in the distance you can see a graveyard. This wont help to put across a mood of comedy.
3. special effects
In the film the stuntman is sick after doing one of his stunts. i copyed this by making some porrige which in the filming looks very much like the sick in the film.
4. Props
They are quite a few props used in my swede. All the props mentioned in the costume post. for the main character aswell as a childrens bike. Some wood and a bench to make a ramp. A empty vodka bottle for the scene in the wood. A camcorder for one of the other characters and a few chairs.
Script
Edd - Did you secure the take off ramp?
Joel - No we didnt have time
Edd - ... Coool
Edd - Soul of an eagle
Jack - Oh S**t
Jack - How are you feeling?
Edd - I need to go to my quiet place.
Initial reflections; I found using the camera and tripod relatively easy. The cameras are easy to operate and on a normal tape can store a lot of video. The tripods are easy to set up and quite light so its easy to move them around. The problems with the equipment are
1: The battery on the camera can go quite quickly so i had to turn the camera often to save battery, this left me with not mainly takes.
2: It was tricky to pan with the camera on the tripod without the camera jumping around.
The software "Imovie" is very easy to use as well. It was quick to use and provided me with all the tools i needed.
From this task i have learnt a few things about filming making that i need take into consideration when i work on my main filming.
- The background sound can be a problem so i need to find a way to get around this. E.g using a boom mike.
- When filming my swede it was getting dark. If i am going to film in a semi dark environment i would need to find a way to get stop the film from looking gloomy. Unless this is what i want.
If this was my main production i would spend more time on the filming and take a larger variety of shots, Spend more time and effort and money on getting the perfect location and props. Instead of my makeshift reference to a cape.
In general from this task i have learnt that a few things are very important, Time planning and planning because this makes the whole filming, editing and evaluation run smoother.
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