Evaluation

I have made a video about being individual and how women don’t need to change themselves to fit in and that they can still be themselves.

My first idea was based on a person going for an interview and not getting the job because if their looks. That idea was too difficult to act out with what I had, so I needed to change my idea and I came up with the individuality idea. It still has a similar idea but the whole set out is different. Also I was not going to have any sound other then the laughs at the end of the film. However as I was editing the film I decided that it would be better with a soundtrack as it would tie the piece together more.

I think that my audience understood my idea of the film because all the questionnaires have the same reason and it is the one that I intended. That people can be individual.

Next time I would have better camera skills as some of the shots were a little shaky and not as smooth as they could have been. The lighting changed at the end because I had used two cameras and the first did not have white balance.

Strengths in my video and instillation I felt was that meaning. It was a good idea and each person asked understood. So that meant that the meaning was clear. Also the soundtrack was a strength; it was made on garage band. The audio was meant to be the laugh at the end and that was it; however music made it more complete. My audience all mentioned the sound as something they liked. I think it was edited well and all the relevant parts filmed were put in and in correct order.

Weaknesses of my film, was mainly the filming. My first camera when it filmed something, the play back was jumpy. I had to get a new camera and film the scene again. This time I had done white balance. The lighting was different because the first camera had no white balance. When on the computer the footage was fine so I used it for the ending to my film as it was the best footage of the scene. Also my filming is a bit shaky and not as smooth as it could have been.

In conclusion I think my idea was good and people seemed to understand and enjoy it. My weaknesses can be worked on and improved for next time.

exibition

task 2.3 written diary.

Production.

I did all my filming on Wednesday 26th November. I could have been done earlier, however my first scene didn’t play back correctly on the camera. The tape was new, so I thought the camera was the problem. When it was played back on the camera the picture was jumpy and didn’t play right. So I got a new camera and re-did the scene that I had shot. Afterwards my filming when to plan. The only other problem was the actresses; at times they were not concentrating and laughed a lot so the filming took longer then planned.
When I filmed with the first camera it did not have white balance. The second one does so at one point in the film the lighting is different.

Post-production.

Originally my film was going to have no sound; however I decided that as I made my film it would be better with music played over the top. I had lots of scenes with laughing and times where the people were not paying attention. I had to edit all these out. I found that the editing went well put I did have to cut out a lot. I didn’t have many problems with editing. The only thing was the white balance before where the lighting is different and I can’t edit it out.

4.

The space in which a video is shown can change or effect the way the film is viewed. If a film is shown in a comfortable environment, he viewer will be more comfortable and at ease when viewing the film. If the video is meant to be anxious or frightening, an exhibition space could be in a dark room or with obstacles that the viewer must pass before watching, this makes the viewer feel more scared or anxious even before they have viewed the film so the effect pay off onto the video. A happier calmer film would be more suited to a well lit, spacious comfortable room.

Also whilst at the Tate we saw a few films and some had separate room and others you had to walk through to reach the next room. With doing this the viewer has a choice to watch or not. When the have to walk thorough they are more likely to stay and watch if it interests them, others wont be watched unless people specifically want to go into the room and view it or see what it is.

An example of a separate room is Jonas Mekas's piece, States of Flux. Where most people walked past it as they either didn’t notice the room or didn’t want to go in and see what was there. However Susan Hiller's PSI Girls, was in a room that you needed to walk through. Also it was a large darkened room with comfortable seats and 5 large different coloured screens that immediately catches people’s attention. The clips are also from known films such as Firestarter and Matilda. So people recognise them and stay to watch the film more then they may do with others.

Treatment

Btec National Diploma in Media (Film and TV)

TREATMENT (drama)


PROGRAMME TITLE: Untitled

DIRECTOR/
CAMERA OPERATOR: Sarah Vaczi

DURATION: Max 5 minutes

FORMAT: DV (digital video)

AUDIO: non-digetic, audio to be added in after.

OUTLINE OF AUDIENCE:

I want the audience to be mainly women, because they are the more frequently pressured to change to fit in. however anyone who wishes can view my video as it will get the message out faster and hopefully it will stop people changing how they look, simply to fit in.



OUTLINE OF STORY:

outline of my story is 3 girls that look like clones with similar outfits, make up and hair. they then ruin the look and transform into their own unique look with their own choice of clothes, hair and make up. whwn it fades into the girls in their own styles they are holding a sign each one has I one has 'am' the last has 'me' making the saying 'i am me'.
it goes to a black sceen saying we are all individual we are all unique we are all perfect. it then fades back the the girls all laughing.


CHARACTERS:

3 girls all in the same or similar outfit and the same make up and hair. then they change to their own style and make up.

My film idea

Visuals in my film, I am hoping to have are 3 girls with the same make up and look, they ruin the look and then it changes into the same girls with their own look and style.

Audio will be Diegetic. the only sounds will be what is on the tape, such as the laugh at the end. there will be no speech.

The premise is about how people want to all look the same and how we should be unique and have our own look and do what we want with our stlye without feeling wrong and silly.

Thoughts that I hope people will be left with will be that they don’t need to copy the media representation of people.

Doll Face Review

This will be my 5th review on an experimental film. Last week we watch the film called Doll Face.

Doll Face was made using CGI technology by Andy Huang in the 21 century.
Visuals were a simple room with a television and a box. From the box came a robotic arm and a face. The TV screen changes to show a human face of which the robot copies by applying make up. In turn the screen moves and the robot follows changing its appearance again, soon the screen is to far away and the robot struggles to reach it and in the end destroys its self. The main colour was grey or silver with the biggest splash of colour being the face.
Audio will have been non-Diegetic as it was created on the computer the audio will have been added after. The sounds used matched the visuals with when the robot moved it created sounds. Such as when it moved toward the television and moved the arms. Also when the television moved away. When it moved to far and the robot couldn’t reach it the box gears clanged as the robot struggled to move further then it physically could.
The premise was mainly the media and how people strive to be like what they see. They push themselves and change themselves to be like the people on screen. They can be perfectly fine, before and them the aim to change or want to change so much that they end up destroying themselves.
Thoughts I was left with after viewing the film were varied. At first I was amazed at the craft, skill, time and effort put into creating the film fully using CGI. After this I was thinking about the premise and how it is telling us that we shouldn’t try and copy what we see in the media.

6

Audience, and audience interpretation of the work

In the group each person can have a similar idea or a totally different one.
For telling lies and Doll face the class generally agreed on the premise of the film.
Most thought telling lies was about people and how we all lie and doll face was about the media and how we want to be like the people on television. Where as Koyaanisqatsi got mixed interpretations. Some people were very negative and found it hard to understand and therefore got bored to fast. Some however liked it. They liked the craft and the way the clips had the speed changed. The premise understanding was similar. Those who were interested thought it was about the human life and how we go by with out noticing the world. Those who didn’t like it think there was no point to the film and found it hard to come up with a meaning because they had not enjoyed watching the film and didn’t fully understand it.

It is not important that everyone who watched a film has the same view; different people see things in different ways. Everyone has their own opinion and it does not matter that they do. Criticism from viewers can help people to create a better film next time as they take into account what people have said works and doses not.

The relationship between an artist and the audience,should be good. the artist has an audience in mind and makes the film suit the audience. the artist has certian things in the film with a certian audiance. for example if the intended audiance was for children of a very young age the film wouldnt have lots of violence etc.

5

How these works might inspire your own work.

I like all the films that have been shown but I think Doll Face may inspire my own work the most. I think the media industry and people are a good subject. The way people have this obsession with being perfect, they must look right and dress in fashion or risk looking out of place and being a ‘miss fit’. On occasions people have tried to change their looks and made themselves worse off. Also the CGI technology is a very creative way of doing a film.
Telling Lies could inspire me because the only visuals see are the words, the rest is the dialogue. The limited visuals let the viewer concentrate on the words rather then being distracted by other unnecessary images.

My main idea for my film is based on the media and how we crave the perfect look, we don’t see the individual uniqueness about ourselves. Soon if people continue we may end up all looking and acting the same because it is what we see as perfect and that is what everyone wants. People will end up looking like clones.

3

Narrative and non-narrative structures

1001 nights has a structure, but it is not the start, middle, end one. Each woman has a story and they tell it, then it moves onto the next woman. The structure follows along the screen letting the women speak starting from the left side of the screen.

Telling lies has the start middle and end structure. The man gets woken up by a phone call, the middle is the main conversation and auguring, the end is when he finally gets off the phone and his mother calls again asking why he put the phone down on her at the very beginning.

John smith's girl chewing gum has a simple structure. It follows the film and the day that is seen, it has a start middle and end structure. At first the audience thinks the director is giving all the directions to the cast on set, however as the film progresses it becomes clear that the video has been recorded and the speaker is telling the story of what is seen, he narrates.

2

The use of technology and techniques and styles.

Koyaanisqatsi, was made in 1982 whereas Telling Lies was made in the 21st century. Just from the dates you can tell each film will be different as Koyaanisqatsi wont have had the technology we now have that telling lies could use. Koyaanisqatsi will have had many different scenes or clips and then edited them to change the speed. The craft aspect is where it has to change and be edited many times before you get the final product. Technique is mainly the speed of the piece and how it is made to fit in time with the music.
Doll Face made in the 21st century by Andrew Huang and was produced using computer generated imagery or CGI technology. The film is heavily craft based as it will have needed lots of work on the computer for it to be created. As it was made much later then other films such as Koyaanisqatsi, it can use the better technology and create something fully animated and computer generated whereas it couldn't happen before.
Telling lies is more modern and the craft would have been how the text would have to show at exactly the right moment otherwise it would not make sense, the fact that the word on its own flashes up shows more techniques and precision, rather then a page of text that the viewer follows.
however when each of these films were created and filmed, they were modern at the time. Effects for Koyaanisqatsi made in 1982 would be greatly different to Doll face as it was made in the 21st century where there is a better use of technology and more effects. the same goes to styles and post production, Koyaanisqatsi would not have had as much technology and also the budget for the film would have been much lower, than films such as doll face.

1

Discuss both past and current artists and works
The films I will discuss are :Koyaanisqatsi by Godfrey Reggio in 1982, Telling lies by Simon Ellis, and finally 1001 nights by Jananne Al-Ani in 1998

Visually, Telling lies and 1001 nights are similar. Both have a plain black background. 1001 nights with 5 women and telling lies with the text appearing on screen. Opposite to those two is Koyaanisqatsi as it is much more visual, it has lots of different clips that are then made faster or slower.

Audio in 1001 nights is diagetic, the audio was recorded when the scene was filmed. Telling lies and Koyaanisqatsi are non-diagetic. Telling lies had the speech recorded and then the text was added either before or after the speech. the last film, Koyaanisqatsi has only chanting at the start or end and this was also added in after.

Each film differs, the main difference between them are the meaning or premise, Telling lies is based on how people can say on thing and mean something else, 1001 nights is about war and fear and koyaanisqatsi is about life in general and how we all rush around too much, we let the world pass by without paying any attention.

1001 nights is mainly concept, because the film is visually quite simple. 1001 nights has only minimal changes, where the speaker opens their eyes whilst the others remain closed, however there is a deeper meaning of wars and fear to the film. On the other hand i would say Koyaanisqatsi and Telling lies are both concept and craft. Telling lies, has a meaning where people lie even when they say something to another you cant tell if it is true or false. But the making of it would have taken lots of preparation as the speech needed to be typed up and changed into the lie when needed. Koyaanisqatsi has the meaning of life and how we run past it to much without stopping to give it attention. Then all the editing of clips making them faster or slower to match the music, which was specially made for the film. That give it a craft essence as well as concept.

Concept and Craft.

We got told that these two words were important to understand.

Concept means, what is the meaning behind the piece. It is like modern art, you can have something simple that anyone could do but the artist has a deeper meaning to it. the concept is that meaning.

Craft is something you made or in a film it is one that took lots of preparation and is more visual rather then simple with a deeper meaning, Craft is the production of it. the way it was made and put together is the main thing.

Video

The second film we saw was called Koyaanisqatsi, by Godefry Reggio in 1983. It is 1 hour and 23 mins long.
We only saw about 20 mins.

There were a lot of visuals, some included fire, traffic, city, people, and everyday life in general. Most clips were made faster or slower than normal speed. The end of the film is similar to the start. At the start and end it is slower and the middle is faster.
Audio is non-diagetic, the backing music was specially made for the film, and it is the only audio on the film apart from some chanting at the very start and end. The chant is simply the name of the film.
The premise of the film is about life and destruction and how we live on the world. The speed of the film can show that we run about to much and don’t appreciate life as much as we should.

Another film was girl chewing gum.
visuals are a road and building with people walking past. clips are in sepia tone.
audio is non digetic as the actual speech is narative. the viewer at first thinks it is a director on set telling people what to do but asb the fil goes on ut becomes obvious that it in narrative.

Experimental Videos.

On friday we watched 2 films, and had to analyse them.

the first was 1001 nights, by Jananne al-ani in 1998, it was 6 mins long.
visuals were simple, it was a plain black background with 5 women in a row. they all had their eyes closed unless they were speaking.
Audio was diagetic, there was no music and the audio was not the best.
the premise was about war and fear.

Videos

This afternoon we watched some experimental videos. Some were professional, some done by sudents from last year's class. we got told to pick two that we think were best

The first film, a professional one was Telling Lies, by Simon Ellis.
It was about a phone conversation between several people. the video was simply a black background with the audio and text that was spoken, it included a lot of swear language, mostly in the text and not the actual speech. With the text on screen it would match what was said, and other times it would give the true meaning. If the person speaking was 'telling lies' the text on screen would say what they really ment to say but wanted to keep it hidden or secret. At first it was just the main guy, who was woken up, that lied. As the video went on more people began to lie aswell.
Audio was non-diagetic, as the speech would have been added in after.
the premise is mainly that people lie about what they say and sometimes we can tell they are, other times we cant. the text makes the lie solid as it gives us the true meaning.

The second film was done by a student last year, called Ludias.
It was a bunch of clips all put together with differnt sounds. there were people in the film making the noise, such as humming, banging a door and all this was done in a way that put together it had a good beat and music to it.
As we could see the people making the sounds, the audio was diagetic. The premise was to get people to take all sounds around them and appreciate it.

Brighton photos

This image I took myself, is a part of the burnt down west peir.

I like it because it shows the darker image of spikes and wire and also the sunlight which is a complete contrast.

I like this second image because it was very detailed and still simple. I don’t think Graffiti is that bad, in the right place. It also shows a different side to Brighton, rather then the traditional family fun day out at the seaside.

Experimental Video.

What is experimental video?

To me, it means going against the normal ways of creating a video. They use all types of filming, clips and styles. They simply experiment. Experimenting can be done by the filming style or in the editing. Filming, they can use a tripod to keep it steady or walk around to get the video. By experimenting with the angle it can totally change the outcome of a video. Editing can cut out unwanted clips but can also add various effects to change to video. New Technology Allows people to create affects whilst creating a video.

Simply put experimental media and video is when people experiment whilst they film.

What I expect to create from this assignment is a video that is different and not what you would normally see. I would expect to do a lot of editing and use different technology and techniques.