Archive for ‘November 2009’

Module:1 Introduction To Screen Media Practise #7 The Storyboards

no comments
Posted on Wednesday, 25 November 2009 by smashing_grandpa

As Promised here are photographs of the storyboards for both of my myth films some of the Narcissus ones are blurred but they are clear enough to understand.

PANDORA








NARCISSUS










I will be beginning production within the next fortnight, I will upload images of production.

Rob.




Category: , ,

Module 1: Introduction To Screen Media Practise #6

no comments
Posted on Wednesday, 18 November 2009 by smashing_grandpa

Rob Here, Just a quick note to give the second draft of the Pandora Script. Any feedback would be welcome. As you can see, it actually looks like a script and contains all of the neccessary details, unlike draft one which was the voice over- which I have cut down greatly.



FADE IN: EXT: DAY LIBERTAS CITY WASTELAND
The wasteland outside Libertas with the huge city in the centre, there is fog over the land.
NARRATOR
The city of Libertas, in this rich sprawling dystopia our story begins here, in the most impoverished area with a girl called...
EXT: DAY LIBERTAS CITY GATES
Just outside the city gates the streets are full of rubble and debris, there is a light mist between the high rise ruins.

EXT: DAY LIBERTAS CITY POOR DISTRICT
Beyond a ruined motorway overpass, lies the poor district of Libertas, in the centre of the ruined area of the city.

INT: DAY SCHOOL ROOM
Pandora finishes an exam by writing her name on the front; the handwriting is very artistic and shows individuality.
NARRATOR
Pandora.
As she stands up from her seat, everyone else in her class turns suddenly to face her, even her teacher. Everyone else has a white mask on their face, giving one consistently blank expression. She paces up to the teachers desk and puts her paper down and leaves.

EXT: DAY LIBERTAS STREETS
She walks alone down streets past groups of Libertans, as she turns to look behind her, they all suddenly turn to face her so she quickly walks home. When she gets home she types the key code into the keypad and enters.
NARRATOR
She lived amongst the faceless Libertans, A single light in the darkness. The Libertans removed all signs of human emotion from public view, cementing the world to a cold existence.
INT: DAY PANDORA’S HOUSE
She throws her bag onto her bed and opens her laptop. She tries to just surf the internet but every site she tries flashes up as ‘BLOCKED’. Her father comes to the door silently and places a large box at her doorstep, we never see his face to see whether he is human or Libertan. She stands up and walks to the door, grabs the box which the audience can see clearly marked ‘contrabanned’ and she tips the contents out upside-down onto her bed, it is full of her laundry. On the top of the pile of her laundry is a small black rubix cube- like box with one blue square. She glances at it knowing that she shouldn’t ever do anything with it but as it was only a black box it could cause no harm. She places it at the far end of her desk from her laptop.

INT: PANDORA’S ROOM DAY/NIGHT
Every day and night the cube would move inch by inch closer towards her at her laptop, eventually ending beside her laptop.
When she places her hand on it accidentally, she picks it up and slams it on the table- frustrated at the blocked sites on her laptop. She looks at the cube and knocks it down the length of the table and onto the floor. It bounces and when it lands still it begins to solve itself, clicking and whirring around. Pandora hears the loud clicking and spinning sound, out of the top of the cube rises a small black USB flash drive.
She grabs it and instantly places it into the USB slot on her laptop, thousands of apocalyptic images flood the screen penetrating into Pandora’s mind as she struggles to turn away. She tries to bang keys to make it stop, pull out the USB stick and cut the power lead. Nothing works, as she pulls the power lead the screen cuts to black- with ‘100% UPLOADED’ on the screen.
FADE TO BLACK

I have also completed the storyboards for both of my myth videos which I will scan in and post in due course.

Rob.




Category: , ,

UP!DOWN! RECORDS

no comments
Posted on Tuesday, 17 November 2009 by smashing_grandpa

Rob Here,

Just Another Update About Non- University Related Projects. This has been a long running project of mine, I run a blog for a friend in the US, sharing all of the albums of his old band, I have produced all of the recent artwork for the albums as well as mixed and cut some of the songs and edits themselves. The band is called Smashing Grandpa and they have 6 albums, 1 compilation and 6 singles. You can also follow the twisting story of the band from start to the end. R.I.P. There is something for everyone within thier music, it is all instrumental, influenced by chiptune/ classical music with an industrial twist.

ALL OF THE ALBUMS ARE FREE AND COMPLETELY LEGAL TO DOWNLOAD, AS I AND MUTEANTOWL (My US Comrade) OWN ALL OF THE RIGHTS TO THE MUSIC AND THE ARTWORK.

The blog is here:  http://updownrecords.blogspot.com/

It is also there----->
in my blog list.

Enjoy.



Category: ,

Module 1: Introduction To Creative Practise #2 Final Brief

no comments
Posted on Thursday, 12 November 2009 by smashing_grandpa

Rob Here,

In reference to our 'blues' project, we have completed 3 briefs of research alread from secondary research, sketches, mood boards, photographs and sound recordings. Today we were given out final brief- to create a channel ident for the new channel 'MTV Blues'.

Now an ident is very short, perhaps 15 to 30 seconds. There are hundered of them to be seen at 

http://www.e4.com/estings/ (including one I produced for college...)

I am perhaps interested into doing an animation for the video because then I will have many more possibilities, I am always wanting to use various types of filmaking and developing my drawing skill.

For my previous animations a method I have found particulary interesting is graphic animation (cutout) as it doesn't require extensive art skills or modelling talent. This style was commonly made popular by Mony Python- used because of ease of use and the ability to add surrealism to any peice.

Here are a few of my initial ideas:

Cutout animation changing moder stars to old blues stars, swapping heads- usinng the cover versions and original tracks.

Some animation of the Logo (design one myself) possibly using older scrawled handwriting representing old and modern font for the present.

From these ideas it is clear to see that I really want to show the connection between the past and the present, the past of the blues as heavily influencing modern music. I want my ident not only to just tell the audience what channel they are watching but visually tell the audience something about the blues.

Til next time, Rob.  (I think that is going to be my regular sign off...)



Category: , ,

Module 1: Introduction To Screen Media Practise #5 The Treatment

no comments
by smashing_grandpa

Rob Here,

I have completed the second draft of the treatment/ synopsis documents for both of my myth videos. I didn't feel that I wanted to upload the original version and the second draft is much more concise and the ideas in it have been developed further.

So here they are.


­­­­­­­­­NARCISSUS

Tagline: Looks Can Kill.

Premise: A man with looks that can kill falls in love with himself. The film is a romantic drama film with a cartoonish tone.


Synopsis: Narcissus walks through the street where everyone thinks about how much they love him. Ameinias is in the crowd and she instantly falls in love with him. She follows him and gives him some flowers, which he snaps, some chocolates, which he drops and a card which he screws up and throws. He gets so fed up he presents her with a sword and she kills herself on his doorstep. Whilst falling into the underworld she prays that narcissus would one day know the pain of unrequited love. The next day narcissus walks by a pool, he sees his reflection in the pool and falls in love, he becomes so obsessed by his image he dives in to get it but drowns.

Notes:

Characters: Narcissus is a very good looking young man; he is very narcissistic and would react to situations in an egotistical and carefree way. Ameinias is an impressionable young lady; she is very dependant and has an addictive personality she becomes obsessed by Narcissus.

Visual Style: My film will be shot completely using silhouettes, this is so that the ‘beauty’ in the film need not be an issue with the audiences personal preferences, as they will be largely featureless, letting the audience imagine ‘good looks’ of their personal preference. The silhouette will be placed of an image of raging fire, which represents the love and emotions and also the typical Greek oracles that imagined images in fires to tell tales.

Sound Style: As the requirements for this video mean that I can only have 2 lines of dialogue, I want both of the characters to say ‘Must Have Him’. Ameinias when she first sees Narcissus and Narcissus at the end when he falls in love with himself. I will therefore also use text on screen to show their thoughts (not other speech). The sound will be used to create an atmosphere and large environments, with crowds of people and sprawling city as the actual images will be very limited.

Intended Audience: My intended audience would be for a largely mainstream audience, from age 16 to 40. Who have a specific interest in graphic novel films like ‘Sin City’ and the short cut-out silhouette of Lotte Reineger films.




and the Pandora one:


PANDORA

Tagline: Some boxes need to be opened.

Premise: A girl opens a box, releasing horrible things into the world. The film is a drama film with a very dark tone.


Synopsis: Pandora hands in a paper to her teacher in a silent classroom, all of her peers look at her as she stands up. She walks home along quiet streets. At home she sits alone and writes on paper and uses her generic laptop to research, although what she needs is blocked. Her father comes home with a large box, marked ‘Contraband’. He hands it to her, it is full of her clothes from the laundrette. She tips the contents out on her bed and a black box falls out, left in there from the contraband items. She places it on her desk where she leaves it for days, but it edges closer and closer to her every day, down the desk. One day she tried to open, it she pushes it, pulls it and pokes it, but nothing happens. Then she slams it one the desk, it begins to solve itself- until a blue square appears in the middle at the top. Out of it rises a small USB drive, she places it in her PC and apocalyptic images flash on screen. She pulls it out, taps all of the buttons and even cut the power lead, but the horrible images are uploaded for everyone to see.

Notes:

Characters: Pandora is the only human in the world; she reacts to situations in a nervous way because of the control in her society. Libertans are everyone else on the planet, they react to situations in a very controlled submissive way.

Visual Style: My film will be based around the dark film noir style, but with shades of blue. Using high contrast and glow effects to extenuate bright areas. With the dark gritty style similar to that in the Saw films and darker modern blockbusters. The city location will be very white and plain, the Libertans keep everything clean and straightforward.

Sound Style: The sound will feature a primary voiceover commentating on the action in a documentary style. The sound will be exaggerated diegetic sound, either recorded on set or dubbed over. I will also use other sounds to add disorientation such as layers of static and other eerie noises. Using such modern common sounds like the click of an ipod, at various speeds so that the younger audience can begin to hear the sound differently in this situation.

Intended Audience: My intended audience would be for a largely mainstream audience, made up of teenagers and young adults who have a specific interest in films like ‘Equilibrium’ and darker Hollywood films.





Category: ,

Module 1: Discourse #2 Presenattion Research

no comments
by smashing_grandpa

Rob Here,

For my discourse brief I have to produce a presentation on a specific director addressing thier specific style of directing in relation to the theory of Authorship.

The director I have chosen is Christopher Nolan.



Director of The Dark Knight, Memento, Insomnia and The Prestige to name a few. I chose him because of the trademarks within his films and the common elements between his inspirations and his own work.

Here are a list of a few sites that I have found useful in the first stage of my research:

http://christophernolan.net/
http://www.slashfilm.com/2008/07/17/interview-christopher-nolan/
http://www.thelondonpaper.com/staying-in/film-dvd-s/christopher-nolan
http://www.bbc.co.uk/films/2005/06/15/christopher_nolan_batman_begins_interview.shtml
http://www.whysoserious.com/
http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/filmblog+christopher-nolan
http://www.fandango.com/christophernolan/biographies/p240025
http://cinemaanalysis.blogspot.com/2008/09/dark-knight-perfection-justified.html
http://www.theasc.com/magazine_dynamic/July2008/TheDarkKnight/page1.php

I also found this interview which answers a couple of the questions I want to raise, It is especially good at giving his opinions of his own work and his process for developing ideas.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfxMugfQQ8c

Just a little bit from my working method in this module.





Category: ,

Mulletproof- My New Webcomic

no comments
by smashing_grandpa

On another unrelated note, I have just started my own webcomic 'Mulletproof'.



I will update the comic every monday evening, with a new comic. I already have tons ready to be uploaded but there will be many more in due course. I just saw this as a good opportunity to tell the world of blogging about my other projects other than university and video production.

The link to the comic is here: http://mulletproof.thecomicseries.com/

Check it out.

(PS. Version 2.0 of the blog design is up, much clearer and modern than the old darker one)



Category: , ,
Newer Entries »
« Older Entries