Props Research and Props List

Welcome back! Today, I will present props research and create a props list in which will feature within our film opening!

FORMAL PROPS LIST

Next time: I will present storyboard research!

Costume Research

Welcome back! Today, I will present our costume research and how our characters will dress during our film opening!

RESEARCH

Costume is a big part to the identity of each character in which, we have thought about a lot, but we'll get to that later on. Now, costume can determine the background of a person, personality of a person, lifestyle of a person and attitude of a person.

SUIT AND TIE



A suit and tie represents a formal and more sophisticated lifestyle in which the person is represented as more neat and more intelligent. Furthermore, this means that their status might be more higher compared to a person who wears a tracksuit.

EXAMPLE 'SKYFALL'



TRACKSUIT



There are two sides to this outfit, so let's talk about the first one. First of all, this outfit is seen as a very active outfit, the person wearing this represents good health by exercise and a sporty personality, in which would represent to the audience that this person is incredibly fit. However, the other side to this outfit can represent a lower class, more laid back, rebel attitude person. Basically the word 'Chav' springs to mind when you see this outfit, in which the audience can see which would allow them to suggest that the person is a rebel or in the film. to cause mischief in the film.

EXAMPLE 'GREEN STREET HOOLIGANS'

tracksuit seen first at (0:32)



GLASSES




Glasses can be worn to increase the look of intelligence of the character in which glasses are typically used to portray a nerdy character. Glasses are an easy way to differentiate social groups, having a group of teenage boys with big glasses can represent a nerd social group where as other people without these big glasses can be 'outcasts' of the group. Therefore, glasses are important when representing the overall personality of the character.

EXAMPLE 'DIARY OF A WIMPY KID 3: DOG DAYS'

Nerd first seen at (1:07)



A 'EMO' OUTFIT




This outfit comes from a sub culture in which I can happily talk a lot about. This outfit symbolises a really bad attitude towards life, education and other people around them. Grey and black is very dominant within these types of outfits in which represents an emotionless, dull, plain and rebel person.

EXAMPLE 'DONNIE DARKO'



FINAL COSTUME LIST

Next time: I will present props research and a formal props list for our main product!

Location Research

Welcome back! Today, I will present my location research, including an insight into our location and how the location will represent the characters. 

RESEARCH

When we initially discussed our film, we considered how our location will represent the characters in the film. However, since there is two characters, in which are male and female and are mostly featured in their bedrooms, you would expect these stereotypical locations for their bedrooms.

Here, you can see a 'girly' bedroom. Stereotypically, we would see this as a girly bedroom because of the use of pink and white within the room. This represents feminism in which is portrayed by the wallpaper and tidiness of the room. Furthermore, this particular bedroom would fit a young girl more than a teenage girl due to the lack of technology in which teenagers are exposed to constantly in today's society.

On the other hand, this bedroom represents a teenage boy. Within this, you can see that the bedroom is in a messy state in which is represented within teenage boys stereotypically. Furthermore, a dull colour scheme is used to represent the lack of activity that this teenager has due to the messy state of the room indicating that the teenager is in this room frequently. 

KICK - ASS



In Kick Ass, the stereotypical boy's bedroom is portrayed to the audience as the boy puts on his superhero costume on. Within this, you can see how messy the room is, the unmade bed, the clothes on the chair and the messy desk all stereo typically portray a teenage boy's bedroom.

LOCATION OF 'SOMNIUM'

Final Location List

Script Research

Welcome back! Today, I will present some research into scripts and present the script for our product, Somnium!

WHAT IS A SCRIPT?

By definition, a script is a piece of written text of a film. In which, outlines the movements, actions, expressions and dialogues of the characters within the product. It is important to create a script as without this, the characters would not know how to portray the character within the film. Therefore, creating a script enables the actors to be fully aware of their role in the film.

An example of a script layout...



An example from a real media product...

DESPICABLE ME 2

Now that I have researched into an example from a real media product, we, as a group, could conduct a script for our film opening 'Somnium'.
SOMNIUM SCRIPT



Next time: I will present location research! See you then!

Film Treatment

Welcome back! Today, I will discuss film treatments!

WHAT ARE FILM TREATMENTS?

Film treatments are almost the short story version of the film. It details all the events that entail within the film including camera shots and the setting of the scene. Film treatments are usually written to tell the overall story of the film so that when producing the film, we can be more structured with our setting and camera shots at particular points in the opening.

 Here is an example of a film treatment... 

The Star Wars

So, with the research out of the way, together we constructed our film treatment!

Here is our film treatment!

Somnium Treatment

Next time: I will discuss and present scripts!

Role of the Sound Editor & Film Score Composer

Welcome back! Today I will talk about the role of the sound editor and film score composer! I will also discuss the Wilhelm Scream and

SOUND EDITOR

The sound editor is the person who is in charge of selecting and arranging sound clips ready for the final sound mix for the film. There are 3 aspects to the final mix, dialogue, special effects and music. Now, if the film is funded heavily in terms of production then the sound editor will be allocated to one of these aspects, in which there could be up to 3 different sound editors depending on the financial backing. 

JONATHAN MILLER

An example of a sound editor is from my favourite film, Saw, Jonathan Miller. Miller is more tailored to the horror genre in which he has featured in the sound department for Saw, Evil Dead and The Hills Have Eyes II. In 2005, Miller was nominated for a Golden Reel award for his work as a sound editor. 

RICHARD KING

Another famous sound editor is Richard King, who has worked on The Dark Night, The Dark Night Rises and Inception. As a result of his work, he has won 3 Oscars and been nominated 22 times for other awards. 

THE SOUND OF INTERSTELLER

FILM SCORE COMPOSER

A film score composer is a person who creates an original, unique piece or collection of music for a film. In which, these pieces are heavily influenced off of the piece of film that it will be accompanying. Film scores are usually orchestral, instrumental or choral pieces in which complement the film to increase the dramatic aspect of the scene. 

HANS ZIMMER

Hans Zimmer is a film score composer in which he has created film scores for many films including Inception, Gladiator and The Dark Night Rises. Since 1980, he has produced film scores for over 150 films. 

THE SOUND OF THE DARK KNIGHT RISES

WILHELM SCREAM

The Wilhelm Scream is a universal sound effect in which has been used in almost 500 movies starting with 'Distant Drums'. The scream is used when someone is shot and falls from a large height or is thrown from an explosion. Because this sound effect is used so much, it started to develop into more of a 'joke sound effect'.

Here are a few examples!

Next time: I will discuss and present my film treatment!

Recording Sound on Location & ADR

Welcome back! Today, I will talk about a number of different aspects to recording sound; How to record sound on location, ADR, Foley, the audio codes and finally the impact of an inappropriate soundtrack! So, let's get started!

RECORDING SOUND ON LOCATION

Recording sound on location is a different method of recording sound compared to Foley. We record sound on location using the location recording kits provided. In which, contains a sound recorder and a mic with a windshield to soften the sharp sounds e.g. 'P's' and 'B's' in which 'clips' the audio. Finally, the kit also contains headphones to listen to the audio as it is recorded. 

Here is a step my step guide to recording sound on location!

On Location Recorder Instructions by Josh Birch

So, as you can see the process of recording sound on location is quite lengthy and it does have its drawbacks. For instance, if I wanted to record a conversation but the one person is on one side of the room and the other person is on the other side of the room, then I would need to use a boom in order to extend the microphone to allow the other person to be heard more clearer and louder. As a result, the sound recorder could dip the boom during recording in which would be seen on camera which would result into a continuity error.

ADR

When dialog cannot be taken from production tracks, they must be re-recorded. This is called 'ADR' (Automated dialog replacement).

The actor watches the film repeatedly until they feel comfortable to repeat the dialog perfectly in time for it to be then placed into the films audio. Then, they record the dialog in sync to the film in which must match the lip movements. This can be a long process due to the actors ability to sync the dialog to the film. Therefore, there is an alternative method called 'looping'. Looping consists of looping the film while the actor continues to repeat the dialog.



FOLEY

Foley derives from Jack Foley, who is a sound editor at Universal Studios. Foley artists match sound effects with the live action of the film. Using Foley is a great way of expressing subtle sounds in which production mics might not pick up. With these subtle sounds comes a sense of realism within the film. The Foley crew will include a 'walker' in which creates the sounds using particular objects, and a technician to mix the sounds together.



AUDIO CODES

Below, I have researched the appropriate audio codes using this website.

• Sound Recorder - records the sound on location.
• Condenser Microphone - external microphone that uses an XLR connection to record sound.
• Windshield - Prevents sharp sounds of dialog clipping the audio. 
• Headphones - Listen to the audio as it is being recorded. 
• Diegetic Sound - Sound that is visible in the film. 
• Non - Diegetic Sound - Sound that isn't visible in the film. 
• Parallel Sound - Sound that complements the film. 
• Contrapuntal Sound - Sound that that contradicts the film. 
• Synchronous Sound - Sound that matches the action - footsteps while seeing someone walk.
• Asynchronous Sound - Sound that matches the action however, not at the exact time. 
• Voice over- A narration that plays over the top of a piece of film.

EXAMPLES OF THE AUDIO CODES



Next time: I will discuss Sound Editors and Film Score Composers!