STAGE 3 - FMP
Context, planning and production
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Rationale
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Strengths: Technical/editing/processes. Reflection. Analytical research. Organisation and project management. Team work.
To improve/focus on in FMP: Explaining how own ideas have been influenced by artists work/existing media. Deeper reflection. Try using video/audio to reflect and explain project development.
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I personally think I have made pretty good progress on this course. I have learnt a lot more techniques on video editing than I already knew using Premier Pro and Aftereffects. I have also learnt a lot on photo editing using Photoshop. I have progressed with sound effects as I know how a lot of them are made and I know how to add them to a video precisely using Audition and Premier Pro.
The projects I enjoyed the most were probably the Stone Pillow project and the Look Book project as they
involved more filming and a good amount of editing.
I feel less confident using Photoshop as although I know quite a lot on it and how to edit the photo however there is still quite a few things I get stuck on and do not know how to use however, that is the same with all the other software however I feel more comfortable using them.
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The type of job roles I am aiming to specialise in are filming and editing job roles preferably freelance. I don't really want to go into TV and Film sort of camera work but something where I get to explore a lot of different techniques of filming and get to sort of be part of the action as I want to film things such as extreme sports and work for a sporting brand. I am also aiming to become an editor as I find editing pretty interesting and it is always a good feeling when you have finished something you are working on and get to watch the final project which you created. I also just enjoy filming and editing anyway.
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I can use the FMP to help develop a specialist project in preparation for these roles as I can use what I have learnt in editing and filming to put together a project which shows how well I can use those skills.
I can respond to the theme of "surfaces" to develop an innovative, original project that shows my creative passion by creatively using surfaces to create my project and make my project more interesting and meaningful.
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The coursework for each project has prepared me for the FMP by helping me learn new skills and the skills I'll need for the FMP. It has prepared me for the FMP by how to make my work a lot more professional, intriguing, interesting, entertaining, etc.
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My results for the stage 1 coursework projects were pretty good I had green and yellow meaning I had passed and was getting high grades. I got feedback saying that I am heading towards a merit. My results for stage 2 were even more greens and still some yellows my feedback was that my work was quite strong and again I am heading for merit level.
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The knowledge I have gained from my coursework projects is how to use Premier Pro, Audition, Photoshop, After Effects, obviously I don't know everything about them however, I can use this software and create a professional looking product from using them. I have also learnt more about the professional and business side of media.
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Diversity in media
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BBC DIVERSITY COMMISSIONING CODE OF PRACTICE
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The BBC understand that the licence fee payers that fund the
BBC need to see their lives, cultures, their communities, etc,
especially as they are paying.
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PRINCIPLE 1: BBC COMMISSIONERS WILL LEAD BY EXAMPLE
"We are a publicly funded broadcaster with a unique role in the UK creative ecology. We will use our position in the industry to lead change and ensure that anyone who makes programmes for us contributes to increasing representation, authentic portrayal and diversity."
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"All content makers are asked to adhere to the BBC Content Diversity and Inclusion Commissioning Guidelines, which the BBC commits to keeping up-to-date."
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PRINCIPLE 2: PORTRAYAL SHOULD BE AUTHENTIC
"To support the BBC’s Diversity and Inclusion Strategy, commissioning editors will actively engage with producers to improve representation, taking into account the genre, existing talent base, geographical location, the specific nature of the programme, existing portrayal performance and the types of decision that informs."
Content creators are expected "To strive for authenticity in all incidental portrayal of race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, geographical location, social class, religion and religious beliefs and disability for all role types, in line with our editorial guidelines."
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PRINCIPAL 3: CASTING SHOULD BE OPEN AND FAIR
"We are committed to eliminating all barriers during casting that exclude diverse talent to ensure we are open to all interpretations of a role and provide equal opportunities to the broadest range of talent."
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PRINCIPLE 4: A DIVERSE WORKFORCE MAKES BETTER CONTENT
"Richness of background and experience behind the scenes is just as important as it is on-air if we are to reflect the diversity of people in the UK and change the way we work and think. We want to see diversity at all levels from Runner to Executive Producer, from Personal Assistant to Channel Controller. We are committed to working with suppliers to support progression of diverse talent and retention of those already working at a senior level."
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PRINCIPLE 5: MEASUREMENT
"The BBC will monitor and report compliance with the code of practice annually for the previous financial year."
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Job roles
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Director of Photography (DoP): If I am filming with people on the course I will not take on this role as we will all want to do our own shots, however, if I film with people not on the course I will take on this role and also obviously, if I am filming by myself then I will have to take on this role.
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Mind map
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Initial Ideas and Requirements
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The dates:
Start 24/02/2020
Pitch 16/03/2020
Feedback 20/4/2020
Presentation 15/05/2020
Deadline 22/05/2020 5pm
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For my FMP I have been asked to choose something to do, I have chosen to make a music video, a short documentary or a short. This video has to be based around the theme of "surfaces".
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My initial idea is to make a music video. I want to make the music video bike edit styled however, this may be tricky to organise.
The documentary would be on "What is MTB to you?" or "What is MTB to me" this depends on who I get or if I can get someone as a role in my video. I would document and interview someone doing MTB to see what it is like to someone.
An idea I have for this is having music and Foley of a bike playing and occasionally throughout the video have voice overs. Another idea is to actually sit down and talk or interview someone and either cut to the music and bike clips or keep going back to them throughout the video, personally I think I prefer the first documentary idea where there is voice overs throughout the video.
The last option I chose is a short film, personally I think this is the best option for me because it means I can get be even more creative and a music video would have been the same thing apart from I can add more sounds to this as a music video focuses on the music. I also think it is a better idea than a documentary as a documentary would focus a lot on the documenting side and I would much prefer to get as creative as I can filing the kind of stuff I really enjoy, especially, as I know quite a lot about short films and bike edits as I watch a lot of them.
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Something I want to focus on the natural surroundings such as trees and the dirt and focus on the surfaces of them as that is the theme I have to do. If I go ahead with this idea I will focus on a lot of the natural stuff but mix it with a lot of bike shots, for example I can focus on the surface of a fern and then focus into the background which will could be someone riding their bike. I can have close ups of bark and/or dirt being fired up into the air of someone going round a berm and picking up the dirt with their back wheel. I think this is a good idea as it shows the surface of the dirt being stripped away from the surface.
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Similar to this but most likely
more of a close up and not as
much dust obviously.
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I think I will also get shots of whatever vehicle is used to get to the location of where it will be shot and I will film the windscreen and the side panels to show the surfaces.
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The equipment I'll need is:
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A camera
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Possibly a camera stabiliser/gimble
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Bikes
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Tripod (also useful if I do any self filming)
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Possibly a drone
I don't know if there is any new skills I need to learn however, I will need to put the skills I have learnt to test. I have created similar stuff before so I know quite a lot of the stuff and skills I need for this sort of video however, there is always skills I can improve on such as getting better or improving my camera angles. I could also improve the effects in my video and improve them from the effects I have previously used in past projects.
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I will use reflection and planning to ensure high quality work as with a reflection I can see what I need to do and what I need or can improve on and with planning that helps me have a general idea of what I want to do and this will shouldn't change, I may change shots and angles etc, however, the main idea should stay the same to ensure high quality work.
FMP PITCH
Thursday 19th March 2020
Surfaces:
Title: “Lost in happiness”
Genre: Short film
Target audience: Mountain bikers and people suffering with mental illness’s.
It targets my target audience as it is a short film on mountain biking and it targets the mental illness side of things as I am trying to intrigue people suffering with mental illness’s to do something to take their mind of whatever they’re suffering with as that is what mountain biking does for me.
The duration of the film will be around 3 minutes however it may more around 4 minutes as quite often once I’ve started shooting I’ll do more than planned however this is a good thing in my opinion.
My USP is that every single bike edit is different and intriguing in there own way and another point is the mental health side of things as I’ve never seen another mountain bike short film to help spread awareness of mental illnesses
What am I intending to make: I am intending to make is a short film on how Mountain Biking is therapeutic and can really help make your mental health positive. It gives you something to focus on especially when you’re in the moment as it is all you can concentrate on. It shows that even if you don’t want to do mountain biking if you do something you enjoy (often something active) it can make you happy and especially as you see yourself progressing.
The project let’s me develop a specialism ready for a future industry role as a freelance cinematographer and editor.
Cast: either myself, someone else or both
Crew: myself, possibly my cousin if he is about.
Another idea I have is called “My turn to Win!”.
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This is an idea that I came up with more recently where the idea is I have mental illness's in the form of evil beings who follow me as I'm cycling, however the happier I get and more I ride the weaker they get. I will edit these in AfterEffects as they will be animated.
Surfaces Mood Board
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This mood board shows things where I hope to get good surface shots of and things that I could.
The things I hope to get good surface shots of are parts of the bikes such as the top tube of the frame the tires as it will making an interesting shot doing an extreme close up of the tread. I also hope to get surface shots of the jumps and MTB features of the trails featured in the video such as the dirt on a tabletop (a jump that has no gap between the lip and the landing).
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I also think it would be good if I got surface shots of the bark on the trees and the ground. Most of my surface shots will be close ups or extreme close ups.
Project concept:
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My idea is to make a mountain bike edit.
It will be a short film.
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It will approach the use of surfaces through nature and bikes. I will get a few shots of surfaces on my bike such as the top tube and I will get a lot of shots of surfaces of the ground, dirt, mud, sand, jumps, trees, leaves, etc.
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It's theme and story will be MTB and basically just me, someone else, or two or more people riding to show how fun, challenging, rewarding and therapeutic it is. Obviously the other theme will be surfaces however, I am doing my video on MTB but I will be adding surfaces to it.
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Location Mood Board
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Research
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Brett Rheeder's Return to Earth Segment by Anthill Film shows the surface of the landscape incredibly well with the drone shots. They have also changed the colouring and contrast for some of the shots to deepen the colours and bring them out. The landscape is very vast so they get extreme wide shots showing the landscape and the weird surface of it.
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This shot is good as it shows the curved dip of the surface before the next jump.
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This is a segment from the film "Return to Earth" and the creators of the film are Anthill Films.
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They have created award winning short films and are well know through the mountain biking community.
These shots from "In Reach" has the first shot which is one of the riders finding a new line from jumping the jump, this shot uses rule of thirds as the rider comes back into the centre. It also shows the surface of the jump.
The second shot shows two riders both sending a jump but they land central in the shot and again shows the surface of the jump.
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A Trip on the Bronson
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This is a video for Santa Cruz with on of their riders, Josh Bryceland.
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This video is a very good example of real life X animation. There are two animated characters shown throughout the video and they are also shown as cameramen.
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A lot of MTB edits or short films have a wide shot of a trick and then a closer shot so maybe a medium shot or a close-up shot. Also a lot of the time the rider is central in the shot or at, at least one point during a shot they'll be central.
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Again with a lot of edits and short films they get more than one angle of the feature or trick.
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King Kruel, Alone Omens
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King Kruel, Alone Omens is a music video which the camera work is very well done and the composition is great.
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Here he is always central in the shot even from the first intro part. This is a really clever use framing as it shows he is alone, even through everything that's happening on the screen he is always the outcast.
When it eventually zooms out enough and the black frame disappears to show the people around him. The colours are really good here as they show that he is the only one wearing colourful colours and the whole video has a grey blue look to it which makes it seem more depressing and sort of shows how bad it is and really not motivational at all. Meaning that when you're alone or are the only one that can see something that's happening there's not really any point telling anyone as no one will listen, although he has shown that in the video.
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Red Hot Chili Peppers "Otherside"
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This shot reminds me a lot of the colours and
shots from Sin City where the red is shown quite
noticeably.
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The people then leave the shot and when the shot zooms out it shows him on a pretty grim beach along river possibly the River Thames. This again shows how lonely he is to then the camera tilting upwards, and showing the town or city he is in and it looks very dull and pretty lifeless, everything is where there is life is in the distant through the mist and this really emphasises how along he is. The composition work in this is very good and really clever.
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All of the shots above use symmetry in a certain way apart from the last and first but they all have rule of thirds.
The framed shots and the shots of the people around him show darkness around him and with the people they all look similar with their clothes so both sides of him and above and below shows symmetry. The same occurs on the shot of him by himself of the beach as everything around him is the same and he is still central. The symmetry leaves in the shot of the town however, leading line is used as the river leads you into the shot.
Rule of thirds is used in nearly every shot as he is in the middle third and then the bridge in the background is also the middle third and everything just seems positioned right, such as the tower block as it is not in the way but still very noticeable in the shot and if you look their first then you will go across the screen.
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Plan for this week (02/03/2020):
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I will make a mood board for the locations and what sort of location I want.
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I will do more research into existing videos and what sort of camera angles they use, music styles for different types of videos, colour, composition, etc.
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Throughout the video the various members of the band play instruments however, they're not actually instruments, John Frusciante is using a wire to look as though he is playing a guitar, Chad Smith is using some sort of clock tower for the drums and Flea is using power lines again for the guitar. Anthony Kiedis, the lead singer is shown throughout the video. At the top of the building.
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In this video it is very Picasso styled with the artwork in it. A lot of the things they did in this video were actually on a small scale however they have made things look a lot larger. They used green screens for a lot of this.
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The directors, Jonathan Dayton and Valerie say that they were not copying or inspired by the 1920 German silent horror film The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, however, it looks very similar. I think it is because they don't want to seem as though they're stealing someone else's work as they don't want to be seen as just copying.
The dragon/monster part although the fire is effects it looks as though it was stop motion. I think it was styled on German expression art and surrealism as surrealism isn't real things or, it is but they're sort of mixed with something else meaning he is hallucinating and the German art is very creepy styled and obviously if you're taking heroin it can be scary as so much can go wrong and people see things, etc, also to show that heroin and other drugs are dark.
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The darkness of the whole video shows you that drugs put you in a bad place as this song pays tribute to a former band member, Hillel Slovak who overdosed on heroin in 1988.
Metropolis
I think the director and production designer chose this stylised approach as at the time that was seen as amazing and even today people are amazed by the idea of it. It is an intriguing style and has a great fantasy feel to it.
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The directors took the drawn feel from the drawn parts of
the film such as the background and towns/cities.
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It is interesting how in the "otherside" music video they
made a lot of the stuff in the video when they could have
used effects although it is an old song it was only released
in 2000, so, although they used some effects a lot of the
set wasn't green screen or digitally done. Although
Metropolis has SFX it also has a lot of actual things that aren't SFX.
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Controversial Gucci Mascara Advertisement.
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This article is about a controversial advertisement for Gucci mascara.
The advertisement shows a musician Dani Miller who has a gap toothed smile modelling for the mascara. The photograph was taken by the photographer Martin Parr.
It was controversial as a lot of people don’t think it’s good for selling the mascara but others are seeing it as a good thing as it makes it not look like just “attractive” people can wear
the expensive product. The diversity it discuses is that it shouldn’t just
be “attractive” people modelling. As we all know the modelling industry
is full of trying to get the most attractive people they can to show their
clothes, makeup, etc, this is the hypodermic needle theory as they are
basically saying if you buy this product you’ll be able to be like the
model. However, Gucci have chosen Dani Miller, who has a what most
people would probably call “unattractive” smile, and this is meant be a
good thing which a lot of people want to happen more often however, a
lot of people think this is the wrong thing to do as they don’t think it will
sell the product, also some people thought it was a joke. Many people are in support of the idea as it shows a wider diversity of models and shows that u don’t have to be stunning to wear expensive things, doesn’t pressure woman into looking like models, etc. It’s really good for Gucci as it gives them a lot of attention and looks good for them as a company as they are being diverse and a lot of people are in support of this.
I think diversity in creating media is important because to get a wide ranged audience you need to be diverse, you also will have more people in support of your media, so a bigger audience, you’ll get noticed, and it’s just a genuine thing to do and will make you feel good, the people involved and you’re audience.
The issues of diversity I need to focus on in my FMP really isn’t much as it is planned to only involve myself and someone else I know. However I will show that it is a sport for everyone to do and the community is open to anyone.
Target Audience
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My target audience is people ages 16-18. As I am making a short MTB film
Reflection and problem solving
I think the problem areas will be getting people to help with my project and getting to the locations as one of the locations I hope to film is about a 30-40 minute drive away from me however, there is local locations I am planning to film at. I also think another problem area may be Photoshop because as I have said I know how to use quite a bit of it but there is a lot more I can learn however, I don't think Ill be using Photoshop much in this project. I also struggle a bit on After Effects however I have got a decent amount of knowledge about it because of the stone pillow project.
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In my coursework projects the most challenging aspects have been getting stuff done on time.
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I can learn how to use Photoshop better and After Effects and plan when to go and when to meet people, these are the ways I can try and solve those problems.