Preliminary Exercise

1. Who did you work with and how did you manage the task between you?

• Natasha, Ella, Joseph
• We had a meeting
• Did shooting schedule, storyboard, script, planning
• Switched roles. Me + Ella were actors, so Joseph + Natasha were mainly directing or sound/lighting technicians.

2. How did you plan your sequence? What processes did you use? What theories did you try to take into account?

• We did a walk-through to see if there would be enough room to shoot, the acoustics would be right, the lighting would look good and the camera could actually be placed where we wanted.
• Planning-paperwork (storyboarding+shooting schedule+script very important to know what we were doing)
• Levi-Strauss theory of binary opposites (normal vs. strange with Ella+I)

3. What technology did you use to complete the task, and how did you use it?

• Hardware:

1. Canon HDE Camera
2. Mini DV Tape
3. Shotgun Microphone
4. Tripod

• Software

1. PC based digital editing suite
2. Adobe Premiere Pro (razor tool to cut sections, output monitor and source monitor to see what is actually being shown, video and audio timelines to differentiate between shots, onboard titling software for text, rubber bands to edit sound and create fades, dragging and dropping etc.)

4. What factors did you have to take into account when planning, shooting and editing?

• Time management- make sure we can shoot and edit in the given time slots. Storyboarding and the shooting schedule helped with this, as we could work efficiently with a plan.
• Location-for camera, for tripod, for actors
• Restrictions-with the location as we had a classroom to work with, not a set. Also with time, as we had an hour to shoot and an hour to edit.
• We had to take into account what we are shooting and remind ourselves that there are requirements and not too stray too far from the brief as this would create more work for ourselves than is needed.

5. How successful was your sequence? Please identify what worked well, and what with hindsight, would you improve/do differently?

SUCCESSFUL POINTS:

• We met the brief and fulfilled all parts.
• The sequence flows.
• We had two match-on-actions (opening the door and me running away), so we gave a little extra.
• The sequence is 26 seconds, so it is short and not too long and boring, we fit everything in without shooting too much.

IMPROVEMENTS

• Immediately at the beginning, Ella walks in without opening the first door so it looks to rehearsed. We should have filmed from outside of the room first to look more realistic.
• I seem like a strange character, but we didn't really explain to the audience why that was. We could have explored character types more in depth.
• When Ella is talking, her hand switches positions between cuts which distracts the audience and takes away from the continuity of the sequence.

6. What have you learnt from completing this task? Looking ahead, how will ths learning be significant when completing the rest of your foundation coursework, do you think?

• 180 degree rule and 30 degree rule-makes shots look good on screen so they don't appear jumpy to the audience.
• This exercise re-inforced the importance of planning as the storyboard, script and shooting schedule were so helpful and reduced the time we needed to shoot.
• I learnt just how important it is to shoot EVERYTHING, as even the smallest details could be necessary, as we noticed when editing.
• I learnt about the roles in media and how each person has a responsibility that contributes hugely to the production of film.
• I saw how a walk through can be very useful, as if we hadn't done one, we would have wasted time when shooting on shots that would have been to hard to shoot.

Group 2C

Propp's Analysis of Stories: The Lion King

In The Lion King, the main characters that provide narrative functions are:

*The villain- Scar

*The donor- Rafiki

*The helpers- Timon+Pumbaa

*The princess- Nala

*Her father (in this case mother)- Sarafina

*The dispatcher- Nala

*The hero- Simba

*The false hero- Scar

In our board game, however, we did not show Sarafina as does not play a large part in the story. We showed the other characters by:

*Scar-if you land on a square with him, you miss a go or are sent back

*Rafiki- a drawing of him with the words "what will your destiny be" (magical, relates to how he is in the movie)

*Timon+Pumbaa- they take you across a bridge. This is an iconic moment in the film, which shows time passing as Simba grows from a cub to an adult lion.

*Nala (princess)- you marry her at the end of the game and win

*Nala (dispatcher)- you land on a square where she helps you to advance in the game.

*Simba- he is shown as the antagonist throughout the game.

Vladimir Propp also stated in his theory that there are 31 functions in a story. We identified some of these e.g.:

*Member of the family absents himself from home: Simba leaves

*Villain causes harm: kills Simba's father Mufasa

*Hero discovers the lack: Nala informs Simba

*Location shifts to the place where the lack is to be found: Simba returns to Pride Lands

*Villain defeated: Scar dies

*True hero recognised: Simba wins at the end

*Hero marries and ascends throne: Simba weds Nala

We used many different techniques to illustrate the theories. We drew pictures to show important moments (e.g. when Simba is born and held up over Pride Rock-iconic moment).

Also we made some squares with information in them (e.g. 'Timon and Pumbaa find you' or 'You marry your childhood sweetheart')

Furthermore important settings in the plot where established- Pride Rock is shown with a picture and a central square witch is the only coloured in one-this centralises Pride Rock as it is vital to the story.

EVALUATION

What made things hard with this theory is that it was written in the 1920s, so it is there is bound to be a problem when applying such an old theory to contemporary media. It was hard to demonstrate how the film used Propp's functions, as some seem repetitive or may not be exactly right. Also, the eight character types where supposed to be different people but in some cases the same character can fit into two types (i.e Nala = dispatcher AND princess).

Also, I found it fairly difficult to physically lay out the board game- i.e. what goes where? Where do we place crucial parts of the story on the board game? What goes in which box?

All in all, we tried hard to make our game look asthetically pleasing, make sense and follow the plot exactly, which I believe we achieved. However, I think that the one thing we failed to do was make sense of which character's point of view we played from... We had different counters, s a player could be Simba or Nala or Timon etc, but we seemed to have it from Simba's POV.

So, we may not have been the best board game creators but we completed the task and used Propp's theory accordingly. :)

HOMEWORK TASK 2: Todorov

Applying Todorov's Theory of Equilibrium
Tzvetan Todorov suggested that stories begin with an equilibrium where any potentially opposing forces are balanced which are then disrupted by an event. This sets in chain a series of events where problems must be solved so that order can be restored and a new equilibrium created.

1. Who are the agents: the protogonist (the main hero who propels the narrative forward) and antagonist (opposing agent).

The protagonist is obviously Lola/Mary as she is shown for the duration of the film, even though she can be quite over the top and dramatic we are made to sympathise with her as her world has been turned upside down. The antagonist appears to be Carla as in the first encounter she has with Lola she is extremely cutting and snide. Also later on she approaches Lola and is quite nasty about Ella who seems to innocent. She says that she "better stop before she gets nasty," implying that she can be even more mean.

2. Describe the Equilibrium. How is it represented? What kind of camera shots can you identify.

Immediately, we see how Lola is forced to move from her beloved home in New York to New Jersey . She refers to NY as 'the centre of the universe,' while NJ is 'another planet/Deadwood.' These two states are neighbouring, which shows how she can exaggerate. At 3:00 a LS is used when Lola arrives at her new house in the car. This establishing shot shows that the scenery is pretty and warm but how small Ella is in comparison to this new place. Even though she is with her family she does not fit in because she feels so drawn to New York. Afterwards a MS is used to show how Lola crosses her arms and disapproves of the situation, adding "Oh Mom."

Lola, although seemingly innocent, acts quite self-centred. We see this many times, in particularly from 3:41 to. Many shot types are used; an upwards tilt to show Lola's over the top outfit, a WS of her riding her bike down the street and a CU of her looking around the place. Her voice over is also played coincidently. So much is going on to make the audience focus on Lola although it seems that she thinks even more about herself, as she crashes into a tree by not looking where she is going.

3. Is the Disruption or Disequilibrium introduced or hinted at?

When she gets to school a WS is used to display Ella and Lola meeting each other. They mirror each other's actions and the shot order eventually goes from WS to MS to CU showing that th two immediately click and ill be close.

Contrary to this Carla and Lola's relationship is set up to look negative. We know this because as Ella and Lola are having a friendly conversation music is played while Carla ad two friends walk into what was a WS illustrating closeness. The camera then goes to a MS of Carla so that we focus on her as she seems to want as much attention as Lola. It is now clear that the equilibrium will be disrupted by Carla.

4. Are there any visual/verbal/aural clues that hint at what the hero's journey might be?

The band Sidarthur play an important role in the film. In this sequence all three main characters (Lola, Ella and Carla) have some connection to it. An ECU of a poster on Lola's wall is used while she describes the lead singer as "The greatest poet since Shakespeare'." Lola and Ella connect due to their love love of the band and Carla knows them personally. It seems as if they will all reconnect due to this common element shared between the girls, possibly causing friction as Carla is very rude, and appears to believe that Ella and Lola are not good enough.

Towards the end of the clip, from 6:52 onwards, Carla approaches Lola saying that she is sitting in her seat, as she likes to be "dead-centre." This remark seems almost scary, as 'dead' is such a powerful word. Moreover she criticises Ella's style, which proves that she is shallow-but her attention seeking, fashion loving ways seem to be just like Lola's so it is clear that the two will clash and become rivals. They are too similar in that they both strive for the top, but only one person can win.

5. From your knowledge of the film, how will the equilibrium be restored and what will be the new equilibrium?

As we know, the equilibrium is disrupted when Lola moves to Dellwood (which she refers to as Deadwood) and meets a friend and enemy. In the film Lola and Carla are constantly competing with each other. They both audition for a part in the school musical, which Lola wins then Lola beats Carla and a dance game. However the real challenge to Lola arises when she discovers Carla has tickets for Sidarthur's sold out performance. So that she does not lose out to Carla, Lola claims she also has tickets. The journey begins to the gig, where Lola and Ella fail to get tickets for the show but manage to get into the band's after party. They make friends with the lead singer, who at the end of the play turns up at Carla's party to see Lola. Lola tells her friends that Sid is here to see her but he claims differently. Carla is ashamed and ends up falling into a fountain but Lola helps her up. A new equilibrium is restored, as Lola and Carla are now friends: there is no antagonist or disruption to affect Lola.

Homework for week beginning 28 Sept Part 2

*Immediately at the start of the sequence we can see how the 180° has been used while the prison guard is in front of the bars while the prisoner is behind. This careful placement of the camera is used to ensure that continuity is maintained throughout so that is makes sense to the audience. Not only does this add to continuity but also to the plot which presents the wardens as being authoritative.

*use of shot ORDER- take the audience smoothly through the narrative in order to take the viewer across physical space steadily (e.g. 0:20 LS, 0:23- two shot, 0:29- Mid shot, 0:34- CU)

* There are many different cuts and transitions involved in this movie and rather than dissolving to the next shot at 0:57, there is a push to the side which such signifies a change in space and time, making it clear to the viewer what is happening.

*at 2:47 there is a good use of eyeline matching. As the prison guard opens the door, the camera is placed at a low angle and the prisoner looks up as the camera is placed at a high angle. Not only do their eyelines match from out of the frame, but the use of angles shows how one person is ranked lower than another and has less control in the situation, which adds to the sad mood created.

*At 4:00 there are a series of shots in which a football is kicked from one end of the field to the other. This used match-on-action cut so that on the first shot when the ball is kicked from the bottom LHS of the frame, on the next shot it is in the air in the middle then follows through to the next shot. This means that the sequence makes sense and prevents glitches or a ‘déjà-vu’ feeling.

*From 4:25 onwards we are shown a sequence where a number of players kick footballs across the frame whilst three men are watching at the same time. This is a prime example of matched cut, where the action matches up the last frame, because as a player kicks a ball across the frame the other men’s heads turn, following the ball. This gives the audience an awareness of spacing.

*In the beginning of the sequence we see how the film uses shot-reverse-shot in a conversation between two people. This is typical of a movie and appears across most music videos, adverts, movies and TV programmes. Further on in the sequence at 5:05 we see a different form of shot-reverse-shot where two enemy groups are doing different activities. The first group shown are predominantly black males who are running, the second group is a predominantly white group who are talking about the others. This displays segregation and tension amongst the men which is crucial to the storyline.

Homework for week beginning 28 Sept: Part 1

1. What did you think was the point to the activity?

*We learnt how specific shots can to contribute to the mood that we are aiming to create and how storyboarding may aid us in planning these shots.

*The point to this activity as to get us thinking about how to make shots flow within a sequence so that they make sense to people watching.

*This helped us to learn the rules of continuity, even by breaking them as this will mean we can learn from our mistakes.
2. In regard to your finished sequence, what worked well?

*We used lots of slow shots, which is good for the audience as they have time to take in all the information they are seeing without being rushed.

*We used a lot of shot variety and used shot order to take the viewer across physical space steadily, again so that the sequence looked good on screen and wasn't too jumpy.

*The second shot, a LA mid-shot is also framed very well. Furthermore, the pan around the subject is filmed fairly steadily.

*By using a range of different perspectives we are able to create a mood within the sequence, e.g. the first shot (LS tracking) exaggerates how the subject is alone. Also as he is in a field we get a sense of space.

3. What would you aim to improve about your sequence?

*First of all we notice that although the first shot is long enough for viewers to understand what is going on, it is far too long and results in the audience getting bored already.

*The 1st shot has bright, natural lighting but the second shot looks too dark and just looks irregular.

*Afterwards, we break the critical 180° and 30° rules which make the scenes look jumpy as we have shot from shots which have the camera places at opposite sides of the 'line'.

*Also there are a few glitches and breaks in the sequence which detract from the rhythm and pace.

*In the 4th shot there is an unwanted person in the shot, which distracts from the subject and doesn't make any sense.

*Overall the accident itself is too artificial, especially at the end when George jumps on the ground, but this is only because we had run out of time and believed that something was better than nothing.

4. What did you learn from doing this activity?

*The main thing I learnt was that storyboarding is important but also to test the shots to see that they work, as many of our shots looked good on paper but realistically were difficult to shoot. This also meant that we wasted time trying to plan new shots and did not have enough time-so timing is essential

*We already knew that continuity is important, but through this exercise we were able to see exactly how continuity is established (i.e. through the 180° and 0° rules)