160MC: Cabinet of Curiosities: Character Profile

Above includes our ‘character profile’ which we produced as a team. During discussion time we decided to make our character a “Jane Doe”. We also decided to include her having a diary, which we’d acquire as ‘evidence’ upon us taking the role of the ‘investigators’. We further decided to focus on the aftermath of our characters departure. Possibly taking out some interviews with the characters Mum or Uncle (this will create more emotion and distinguish to the audience that the character has gone “missing”). Furthermore we’d use the characters diary as the main piece of evidence. Further making sure that we focus on some of the missing pages of the diary, which may have been written on the date of her disappearance. Thus raise some red herrings for the audience to think about and ponder over.

Upon collating our character profile one of our team members thought of the following idea: He thought we should all include some of our “Cabinet of Curiosities” discreetly into our story. Thus we’d include the ‘objects’ as part of the character. For example we may include the theme of pressure or loneliness into our story, to jewelry or letters. The following (discussed above) were actual ideas which were included in some of our “Cabinet of Curiosities”. We all came on board for this idea as we felt it would really merge all our ‘collections’ together in a very unified way.

160MC: Cabinet of Curiosities Project: Location Mood board

For the location of our project we brainstormed it within our ‘Character Profile’. However I thought I’d go round Coventry to see what places I could find. Below are some of the images which I collected. For me these represent a sense of isolation and also lonliness which fits into our “Jane Doe” character.

160MC: Cabinet of Curiosities Project: Research (Mood board)

Research Document (below):

Cabinet of Curiosities Project Research

Above was the research I did upon getting the brief (centered around someone who has gone ‘Missing’). These sources all include someone going missing/those affected by the departure of a particular character and so forth. Whilst the secondary research includes books that I have read regarding “missing people” and “crime”. These books in particular offered a very ‘real’ and ‘realistic’ insight to those who go missing. Thus can be used towards our final presentation (i.e sequence of events/the aftermath etc.)

Furthermore from my primary research one thing which was evident in all texts chosen (minus the newsroom) was the feeling of ‘grief’ and ’emotion’. This is because in all the films or trailers grief is at the centre of each of the films/tv shows. Whether that’s from the victim’s family or their friends and so forth. Thus in this way the audience are immediately captured by the story. This is what we’ll be going for in presenting our piece, making sure to project some kind of emotion either towards the character or against them. This is so that we can create more of a raw and hard-hitting experience for the audience in how they react to our piece.

As for the ‘newsroom’ image. This image was included as it makes up part of our final presentation. This is because as a group we hope to start our piece in a news bulletin, in order for our story to develop from there. This may then be followed by us as a group discussing the case as the ‘investigators’ as such. Putting our own views into the case and what we feel to be the ‘right’ outcome (e.g pronouncing the victim dead) etc.

160MC: Cabinet of Curiosities (Mood board)

Mood board
Source: Google images

My mood board represents objects/tradition(s) which are close to me/are of interest to me too. This mood board is a collection of sorts which come together as my “Cabinet of Curiosities”. One particular image in my collection which is of interest to me is the idea of loneliness. I find loneliness to be very dark but also intriguing. for me it lets out a lot of emotions in me. For example I’ve never been lonely but I’d still feel something for those who are.  This is because loneliness can shut a person down and can make their happiest days turn dark. Thus its hard to come out of. For me I’d put this idea of loneliness towards my groups “Character Creation”.

There is also “tradition”(which is very important for me). For example how one should abide by tradition and follow customs which are required of them. However what if an individual couldn’t follow tradition or found it hard to, what then? Would they still be accepted by those closest to them? Where would they find their safe haven?

160MC: Preparing for our Cabinet of Curiosities Project (Day 1)

Today we organized ourselves into groups of six, for our 2^nd project. Before assigning ourselves into groups we were guided into the ‘Cabinet of Curiosities’ by our lecturer Clifton Stewart.

Notes attached below:

After this session we brainstormed some ideas revolving around our ‘Cabinet of Curiosities’ (see sheet below):

We then decided to brainstorm our own ideas individually (after the session) around the rough concept we’d thought of. Which would fit around someone going missing.

This was because this project requires us to come up with a character, thus we need to brainstorm them from the inside and out.
Notes below:

I also took the liberty of creating an agenda for us all to work around. However I thought it be best if I organize one session to see how that goes, in order to schedule all the others after. Thus we decided that we’d meet the next day in the morning. In order for us to bring together our character profiles and to compare notes too.

One thing from the session, which I thought was very inventive, revolved around our character, owning a diary. However upon their departure from their surroundings (i.e. when they’d go missing) their diary would keep writing new passages by itself. Thus adding the enigma of “What’s going on?” to “Is the character still alive?”

Another thing, which was discussed, includes our actual presentation. One of our groups members ‘Liam’ thought of doing our presentation as a ‘Jeremy Kyle set-up’, this was then expanded on by the group. For me I felt a quick-fire session would be good, as it would really engage the audience. Furthermore we’d all be (as a team) in the audience asking questions for our character to answer (this may be after he/she is found). Thus will create more of an intense feel to not only our character but also the audience’s reaction as a character can come to life as such. However upon analyzing this idea one of our team members ‘Eddie’ felt this particular set up could get really confusing. Not to mention we’d have to draft this particular presentation idea by next week. For which we’d need to possibly get an actor, draw up an in depth character profile for them to learn off by heart completely, bearing in mind costumes and accessories too etc. Thus as a group we felt we’d think about the idea and discuss it tomorrow again. To see how we could make it more do-able in the time we have/amend it slightly to make more sense and come up with new presentation ideas at the same time.

Creating Narratives: The moving image + montage (160MC Week 5 Lecture)

Creating Narratives: The moving image and montage

Today our lecture was on ‘Creating Narratives’, which was pitched by our lecturer Clifton Stewart.

To begin with we were shown a picture by Augustin Rodin titled ‘The Thinker’.

Source: http://media.npr.org/assets/img/2011/10/27/rodin-thinker_custom-1895de670b182714b789d3d71d447e5a33084cdf-s6-c30.jpg

The reason we were shown this picture was because it represents ‘thinking’. As the majority of our ideas come from thinking. However upon viewing this image I began to associate ‘peace’ and ‘tranquility’ with it too as theirs a sense of calmness, which carries the photo along. Further representing ones ideas to be in a calm and neutralized space.

After this we were briefed on where ideas stem from (with some reference to films). These included:

Social Networking sites: Facebook, Twitter

Newspapers: The Daily Mirror

Personal Experiences: Silkwood (Meryl Streep), Touching the Void

Songs: Stand by Me

We were also shown a diagram, which represents “the social media web” (link below):

The Social Media Web

The last topic of discussion mentioned having writers block. For this the solution included finding ‘the cure’. This being things that would stop us having writers block. For example:

Visual Stimuli

Paintings

Photographs

Items/Objects

Whilst this was being mentioned we briefed upon ‘Originality’. This was because ideas can be borrowed and manipulated in various ways. However one cannot take an idea and claim it’s there’s, if they’ve sourced it from somewhere else. No matter how different they have made the final piece. This is because it may come back and bite them, leading to a law case which they’d mostly likely use especially if they are going against a big law firm. Thus its best to work with the system, giving credit where necessary.

We were also shown various images which we had to place under a particular narrative. For example a picture of an island with a boat may equate to someone being stranded etc. Furthermore in approaching “Montage’ we defined it as “the process of selecting and joining shots together. One prominent example can be seen in Alfred Hitchcock’s ‘Psycho (1960)’ in “The Shower Scene”. The video below showcases some of Hitchcocks work, showcasing “Montage”

Hitchcock and ‘Montage’

To conclude this particular workshop really dwelled deep into “Narrative” and “The Formalities” behind it. Thus taught me how to really organize my ideas and how to “Work Within the System” and not against it. It also taught me what things to look for in images/objects, which may spark creativity in various ways. Furthermore showing me how many ideas can be re-formulated in 5 years or so. Making it back on our screens just in a different form as such.

References:

1. http://media.npr.org/assets/img/2011/10/27/rodin-thinker_custom-1895de670b182714b789d3d71d447e5a33084cdf-s6-c30.jpg (Accessed 29th of October 2015-Google Images)
2. http://image.slidesharecdn.com/bigdatabigideasbigimpact-150218005331-conversion-gate02/95/big-data-big-ideas-big-impact-25-638.jpg?cb=1424394857 (Accessed 29th of October 2015-Slideshare-+Genius)
3. Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDhFk-9hAQI (Saxon Brack: Accessed 29th of October 2015)

105MC: Representation (Worksheet)

Below is the completed worksheet which was completed by me after the session (26/10/15)

Worksheet (below)- Includes background information.

Rough Notes (inc. Final Notes on Task 2 at the bottom)

Task 1 (Final notes: full diagram, below)

Conventions of both films:

Technical Conventions (music): Dramatic music is played in ‘Lift to the Scaffold’, which adds to the intensity and the emotion of the film. Whilst ‘Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs’ features very up tempo music (i.e 15:52-18:00). Thus adds to the type of film it is as it’s a Disney film.

Genre Convention(s): Both films feature some sort of ‘romance’ in a particular way. For example ‘Lift to the Scaffold’ shows romance to be deceiving, murderous and in some ways deadly (regarding the character Florence’s actual husband). Whilst for ‘Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs’ romance is fuzzy and inspiring as such, which adds to the type of film it is even more. This is because it appeals to young audiences thus features mild romance. Whilst the other film (L.T.T.S) features the dark side of romance and so forth.

Source: http://disneyparkhistory.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/snow-white-3.jpg

Source: http://blogs.warwick.ac.uk/images/michaelwalford/2007/07/06/jeanne_moreau_4.jpg?maxWidth=500 “Lift to the Scaffold”

In seeing these two films (/trailers) I can determine (regarding how the media use representation) that the films fitted in to those times. For example ‘Snow White’ features the female to be in a very domestic role which elevates what the 1930’s was all about (to some people). Whilst “Lift to the Scaffold” features the main female to be very emotional and manipulative in some ways. This is some ways could represent the 1950’s. Which was very well known for the Hollywood Icon that was ‘Marilyn Monroe’. Monroe’s hairstyle became very iconic in the 1950’s onwards. Thus comparisons could be made how the character of ‘Florence’ looks in the film as she could represent Monroe in emotion and stability. Considering that Monroe’s relationships were publicized heavily in the media.

105MC: Representation (Workshop/Lecture Notes)

Lecture (notes)

Reflection:

In todays workshop we went over ‘Representation’ (see notes from top). During this workshop we thought about the effect of the representation or those represented at hand. We further considered how different images can mean different things. This can be further seen when these images are cropped in a certain way, leading to a different reading by the audience compared to the un-cropped images.  This led to the last task which involved us thinking (as a group) of a fictional/non fictional character. Our first choices included a character from ‘The Vampire Diaries’ to ‘Kim Kardashian”. However due to some friction in the group between the characters lying between ‘fictional’ and ‘non fictional’, we decided to go with ‘Cookie Lyon(s)’ from ‘Empire’ (see image 3 at the top). However during this activity I also brainstormed one of my own characters which I’ve watched on television, this being ‘Mr Khan’ from ‘Citizen Khan’ (starring Adil Ray)- Notes also in image 3.

After our workshop was over my group stayed behind to do the task set. During this task we discussed and evaluated the activities at hand (mostly verbally). This was then followed by our four o’clock lecture. This lecture proved very interesting as there were some opinionated characters in the lecture hall. Our lecturer Steve liked this as he admired this particular students fire and passion relating to a particular section of the lecture. This being Miley Cyrus’s Wrecking Ball music video compared to Rihanna’s Pour it Up music video. This student believed that Miley Cyrus was a slag however Rihanna wasn’t. This sparked a lot of criticism and a clash of views between some students. As how can one deem one to be a slag and not the other, when the other one is acting even more sexually. Thus this session was very insightful and also heated. For me this was good as I heard different opinions being voiced throughout the lecture about these two music videos in particular.

Class, Struggle and Power- ‘8 Mile’ (2001)

Source: http://kkkino.net/_ld/3/51520491.jpg

What if you had nothing to start off with but you had talent? What if you had a hard time voicing that talent? Would you give up? Would you keep trying?

The movie ‘8 Mile (2001) starring Eminem and the late Brittany Murphy focuses on exactly this.

The main focus of my essay will be on the themes of Class, Struggle and Power.

First off, ‘Class’ is depicted through the main character ‘Jimmy B’ (Rabbit) (played by Eminem) and his surroundings. For example he lives with his mum and her boyfriend (who he went to school with). He also has a job that involves him working in a factory on a wage which almost gets him by. As for his surroundings ‘Rabbit’ lives in Detroit. A city, which is made up of African-Americans (who are most prominently involved in the rap genre). Thus when ‘Rabbit’ takes centre stage he is shunned by the African-American community due to his attitude and of course his colour. Thus Jimmy ‘Rabbit’ has a lot to prove if he wants to win the rap battle and also if he wants to be respected by the African-American Community. Will he make it? Or will his talent never see the light of day?

The second theme is ‘Struggle’. Struggle can be seen in the late Brittany Murphy’s character ‘Alex”. Alex wants to model but she has to get her ticket to New York first. That’s why she’s working where ‘Rabbit’ is in the hope that she’ll be able to get out of Detroit. Thus struggle for her comes from money to the place where she lives, as she wants to leave Detroit. Furthermore she mentions to Rabbit: “I got out of there as quick as I could”. Here she talks about her family, where she may have struggled in fleeing from her home due to family circumstances. Rabbit’s mum (Kim Basinger) also faces struggle in the film as she faces being evicted from the trailer park. Thus has to come up with the money, which she tells ‘Rabbit’ to organize in a very vindictive way. He then answers back and says she should get it from her boyfriend but she ignores what he says. She then further goes on to say that if he wants to live here (Rabbit) he’ll have to pay to make his way in her trailer.

Finally ‘Power’ can be asserted through music. This is because when each of them rap (i.e Rabbit) they bare their soul. This is because their rap reflects them, thus is a part of who they are. The reason I believe ‘rapping’ or ‘music’ represents power is because it stands for change. Change in society, change in the individual to change in the community too.

Thus to conclude this essay I believe this particular film to be very insightful and also meaningful too. This is because it involves Eminem’s character breaking free from the things which bound him down. Considering that all he wants to do is rap but finds it hard to in a dominated African-American society. Thus has to break through the conventions of society in order to prove himself and to bring about ‘change’ at the same time.

Evaluation of my 4-week project

These last 4 weeks have taught me a lot in terms of production values and working in a team. This project has not only been challenging but it’s also been fun. It’s helped me to try things that I wouldn’t have had the courage to try before. For example filming a whole scene for the first time, working on promotion and compiling together some elements of a script. Furthermore it’s true what they say, there is no “I” in “Team”. One thing, which I’ll treasure, includes the material that I filmed. Considering my footage was used near the end where the ‘victim’ has an out-of-body experience (which I filmed). Thus was very pleased with the outcome of the shot, as I’d never properly filmed a full sequence before that moment.

To start off with I will be talking about my groups final product (please follow link to see full video): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnGM9bweDQI

Upon screening our short film we received the following feedback. The positives were mainly towards the sound as the audience felt it was very well done and added a lot of meaning and character to our final film. Furthermore they liked the cinematography. In particular the opening scene as it had good exposure and was shot very well. They also appreciated the editing as they said it was very slick and polished. However some criticism was aimed towards the props, in particular the gun that the ‘killer’ used. This was because the audience felt that it was to ‘cliché, as many movies with action feature guns. This really made me think about this as I could understand this persons particular opinion as many associate guns with action etc. Thus for us to break past the stereotypes of the action genre we could have chosen another way in which the ‘killer’ attacks the victim’. Another thing which was brought up concerned the lighting. This was where the ‘killer’ points his gun at the ‘victim’. Here the audience felt the shot was not exposed properly. Considering you can only just make out the gun. Thus it would’ve been beneficial if we used a flashlight near Dido to expose the gun in a clearer light. They also expressed some confusion to the story as they didn’t really know who was narrating. Thus felt we included too many enigma’s in our story, though through engaging at the same time.

If I were to do this project again then I would definitely use more secondary research such as films, tv shows etc. In order to draw more of an evident inspiration from them to use from the project. However there was one film which I did use as inspiration before the project started. This film was ‘Before I Go To Sleep(2014)’ starring Nicole Kidman and Colin Firth. This film really inspired me as it featured many enigma’s within it. Which were used a lot in the final film which me and my group produced.

Another thing I’d do would be to maybe work in a smaller group. Considering that my group had nine people. Thus proved quite challenging at times in making sure all had a role as some were not very ‘enthusiastic’ to involve themselves more into the project. I’d also make sure to delegate the paperwork out to particular people. So that we could all work on the call sheet to the shooting log separately and then come together as a collaborative if they were any issues. This would save time and keep us very organized in keeping on top of the paperwork.

In assessing my own performance I would say that I was authoritative, organized and compassionate throughout. As I made sure that everyone was happy with what they were doing, whilst organizing group meets and staying on top of my production diary too. However for next time I’d say that I should learn to take a back seat once in a while. In order to let others take charge or even encourage them too. In order for them to boost up their confidence, whilst pushing them to also . Furthermore I’d print off all the production sheets right at the start in order to distribute them between everyone or even talk about them to the group. In order for them to know what needs to be filled out when. Considering that the paperwork we collect goes towards our grade. Thus is very important if we are to secure a high 2-1 etc.

Video stills (below)of main shots within film (which the audience liked):

For them these shots really emphasized the story at large as they stood out among the rest. Especially the second photo (left) as it gives the impression of a person being operated on. Thus sets the whole story into motion and brings in the first enigma of why the person is there in the first place. Furthermore the third shot with the newspaper cutting establishes ‘the villain’ in a particular light. Making it clear to the audience what’s gone down.