Kodak Lab

A Kodak Lab completes the process of developing a mm film from a physical camera. The whole process is manual which includes machinery making it a very physical process, complete opposite of the digital world. Firstly is to bring the exposed film into a dark room because until it gets into the bleach and chemical machine it is light sensitive and any overexposure will damage the film. It is put through a machine to check for any damage to the film that could've happened while it was in the camera and to check if the material is going to be fit to go through the processing machine without any issues, making the film ready for processing. The film is then hooked up to the next chemical mixture which oxidises the exposed silver halide on the film, fixing the images captured. Next, an acidic liquid stops the developing process from going on for any longer than it needs to be, making the film no longer sensitive and can safely be exposed to natural light. 

Microphones 

Microphones differ from one another in a way that air movement is converted into electrical energy. (Coil + magnetic incide) most important type are condenser microphones, also called capacitor microphone or dynamic microphones using a moving coil. Ribbon technology, a moving coil capsule: at the back of the transparent membrane you can see the wire coil, which is surrounded by a permanent magnet. Condenser microphones are best used to capture vocals and high frequencies. They are also the preferred type of microphone for most studio applications. They also dont need phantom power to work. Also known as capacitor microphones. The dynamic microphone is a good all round microphone which can be used for vocals, recording drums as well as guitar amps or for in camera interviews. It does not need a power supply and it is fairly cheap. Pre-amps amplifies the sound. Gives power to the microphone. It's used to make the quiet sound more loud and powerful. I would use ribbon microphone for narration as it captures the voice clearly and i would use hylercardoid microphone for outside filming. It is great for isolating audio. Also used for instrument recording.

Film Noir 

It is widely considered that the classic film noir genre took place between 1940 - 1960. Its widely regarded that "The Maltese Falcon" (1941) was the first major film noir of the classic era with "touch of evil" (1958) usually being considered as one of the very last film noirs of the original period.

Film noirs often have low budget meaning majority of the action takes place off screen. The main character is most likely to be a male anti-hero where he is a good person who makes bad decisions that appear to be irredeemable. There's always a femme fetale based character that is usually the main characters motivation, most often these dont work out well for the characters. The characters costumes are 40s/50s suits.

There are rules and themes for film noir (+ conventions):

 

- Setting:

Flashing neon lights, often interior, abandoned warehouses, dark and claustrophobic.

 

- Narrative Devices:

Voice overs and flashbacks, storylines are non-linear, tells you what has or will occur, voice overs are usually from the protagonist.

 

- Asthetics:

The aesthetics of film noir are influenced by German expressionism, an artistic movement of the 1910s and 1920s that involved theatre, photography, painting, sculpture and architecture, as well as cinema.

 

- Visual Style:

unbalanced or moody compositions, skewed camera angles, deep focus or depth of field camera work, ominous shadows, low-key or single source lighting.

 

- Lighting:

Chiaroscuro is an Italian term used to describe the technique of using light and dark in an artwork, particularly paintings. "Chiaro" meaning "clear" or "bright" and "oscuro" meaning "obscure" or "dark".

 

- Sound:

Sophisticated use of soundtrack was defining innovation of film noir. Saxophobe solos, piano and trumpet. Alot of dark jazz.

 

- iconography:

This genre usually contains Detectives, Police, Murder, Corruption, Criminals, The seductive female, Guns - silences, Knives, False love, Venetian blinds, Cigiratte smoke.

 

- Costume:

men wore suits and fedoras where as women wore classic dresses (seductive) and the "good wife" role wore modest dresses.

 

- Themes:

Moral Corruption, Guilt, Desperation, Paranoia, Pessimism, Ambiguity, Bleakness, Alienation, Melanchology, Disillusionment and Disenchantment. Protagonists are low-lives underworld violent, corrupt. Twisting Storylines. Narrative is complex with background music. Witty dialogue.

 

Censorship in Film

Let's begin with the definition of censorship, according to the oxford languages dictionary, censorship is when the suppression or prohibition of any parts of books, films, news, ect. That are considered obscene, politically unacceptable, or a threat to security.

In 1894, the silent film "carmencita" was banned from theatres in Newark, NJ by the cities major because of visible underwear.

In 1896 a film called "bedtime for the bride" was considered to be the first "adults only" film.

In 1897 "after the ball" is the first known film to feature nudity.

In 1909 the re-enactment of the massacre at wounded knee was made by the well known scout and hunter, buffalo bill. It was banned due to the sympathetic portrayal of Native Americans.

In 1939 the MPA board allowed use of the words "damn" and "hell" in films. Two months later a film called "gone with the wind" was released containing the line "Frankly my dear, I dont give a damn"

In 1974 the exorcist came to theaters and was a grossing hit. However, as time went by the film was unavailable for 11 years. It was said to have caused mental and physical health issues all around the world.

Between 1972 - 1979 the president of Uganda Idi Amin banned all foreign films on the ground that they contained "imperialist propaganda"

In 1974 the Texas chainsaw massacre was banned in many countries including Sweden due to the high fore and violence and cruelty. The ban was lifted in 2001. The same thing happened to one of the sequels "Texas chainsaw massacre: the next generation"

In 2011 the human centipede 2 was temporarily banned in Australia due to cruel, disturbing and sexually explicit content. A censored version was later released on February 23 2012

In 1976 Argentina banned The Great Dictator (featuring Charlie Chaplin) for mocking dictatorships.

Opening Title Sequences for Film

A title sequence (also called an opening sequence or intro) is the method by which films or television programmes present their title and key production and cast members.

A GOOD opening title sequence for a film is when it makes a good first impression on you, the viewer. A well-crafted title sequence introduces the audience to the tone and theme of the film.

Low budget films make one of two choices when it comes to their opening titles. They will either:

A) Go overboard and attempt to create a heavily animated After Effects style title sequence,

or

B) Will keep things simple and overlay text on the edit itself, or on a black background.

Majority of the time it is highly recommended to go for option B.

 

Saul Bass was an American graphic designer and Oscar-winning filmmaker, best known for his design of motion-picture title sequences, film posters, and corporate logos. 

Saul created iconic title sequences for popular movies such as: Goodfellas, Phsyco, Big, West Side Story, Atonomy of a Murder and many many more.

He also inspired other graphic artists to create something similar, such as: TRON, Catch me if you can and lost.

 

 

 

My personal favourite Opening Title Sequence is the one in Taxi Driver. This is my favourite because it has more of a meaning to the story. The ending of the movie is shot in the same way as the title sequence making the 2 scenes look like that they can easily splice together and this was intentionally done to show that the main character has not learnt his lesson meaning that he'll make the same choices except next time he might not be so lucky and he will truly suffer the consequences of his actions. I also like the beginning title sequence because it introduces us to Travis Bickle and it is unclear whether he is a villain or a hero, all we know is that the movie will take place from his point of view.

 

Another opening title sequence which I personally enjoy watching is Better Call Saul's title sequence. The title sequence of Better Call Saul is different for each episode of a season (making it refreshing to watch), but show the same clips from season to season, with decreasing video quality as the series progresses. There are ten title sequences, featuring various images from Jimmy McGill’s future life as Saul Goodman, all of it presented with the same terrible image quality of early VHS or public access television. Many of them feature archived footage seen in Breaking Bad (this was done to foreshadow the events of Breaking Bad)

 

Kylo Cooper is the creator of The Walking Dead opening title sequence (for seasons 1 & 2) even if you have not seen the show you must've atleast seen the title sequence as it is very iconic with the visual shots used and the choice of soundtrack too. I couldn't find much information about the creation of this but personally what I do like about this is when the visuals show a picture of Shane's face (a character within the show that later causes problems) the music takes a drastic turn becoming more sharp and intense. I believe this was done intentionally to foreshadow that character later becoming an antagonist for the main characters.

Text Poster

Here I played around with Photoshop creating this text poster. I used a combination of Paint, Gradient, Solar glare, lighting, text effects like inner glow and outta glow and other effects. The text says "i am the milkssiah" 

Story Narrative 

This was created in lesson with Premiere Pro. I was given footage, sound effects and a script. I recorded myself reading the script and used the audio to match up with the footage and sound effects they provided. They did provide background music but I didn't like any of them so i used a soundtrack of my choice (Amnesia: The Dark Descent - Main Menu Soundtrack) with all of this combined this is the result.

SWOT

 

Strength: my strength is that I have prior experience to editing and cutting footage together.

Weakness: my weakness is that I have no experience or knowledge on premiere or illustrator or other apps and i have no knowledge on how to use them on the computers.

Opportunity: an opportunity I can take is to look up tutorials online to gain extra knowledge that I wasn't taught in class or the information i forgot from class.

Threats: my main threats are having no experience on using Adobe apps on the computers where as everyone else does have experience.

Resilience 

Problem: Another lockdown

Solution: be positive about how it will turn out

Dolly Zoom

I've been tasked to describe what a Dolly zoom is in 5 simple words and give 2 examples of a Dolly zoom.

Camera moves back, zooms forward.

Or

Camera moves forward, zooms back.

 

One example of a Dolly zoom I've found is in the T.V show Breaking Bad (Spoilers for Breaking Bad) The Dolly zoom in breaking bad is moments after Hank dies when the camera does a Dolly zoom on Walter Whites reaction. 

Time Mark: 4:37

Another example of a Dolly zoom (and arguably the most famous Dolly zoom) is the dolly zoom from Jaws when the main character spots a person being attacked by a shark

Time Mark: 0:21

Personal Introduction 

I have been tasked to name 3 facts about me for a personal introduction that I would say on TV or infront of the class then i proceed to explain each fact for example i explain why I like something and i give my list of favourite things about that topic. After that i have to analyse each of them, what I've learnt from this and explain overall why I chose those specific facts.

 

-I like Zombie media 

-I enjoy watching films

-i enjoy playing games 

 

I said I enjoy Zombie media not because it is true but because I believe it could be used to pitch into a meeting, this was my script for a pitch meeting for a zombie movie:

"I could create a short film or even a feature length film about zombies. I can show a huge variety of scenarios involving the creation of the cause of the zombies or I could show the initial outbreak of the zombies and show what it could be like in highly populated areas or even low populated areas, and finally I can show the aftermath of a zombie outbreak so i can show what it's like a week after the outbreak or even a year after the initial outbreak or even a whole decade after the outbreak. I can focus on one of these scenarios or multiple or even all of them. The possibilities are endless."

 

I said I enjoy watching films because that's the whole point of the course, If I didn't like watching films then i wouldn't belong in the course. Now this may seem like an obvious point but I just wanted people reading this to know for a fact that this is THE course for me. I have many favourite films as i simply cannot pick one. My top 5 favourite films are (in no order):

1. Taxi Driver (1976)

2. American Phsyco (2000)

3. Joker (2019)

4. Hot Fuzz (2007)

5. Blackkklansmen (2018)

Those are just some of the many movies that I love.

 

I mentioned that I enjoy playing games and i believe this does relate to media in games can include scripts, camera movements, editing. Games nowadays are so in-depth that they require a crew as big as a movie crew or perhaps bigger. My top 5 favourite games (not in order)

1. The Evil Within (Both the first and the Sequal)

2. The Walking Dead (TellTale)

3. Crash Bandicoot (no specific game, mainly as a whole franchise)

4. Outlast (The first and the sequal)

5. Amnesia: The Dark Descent (as cliche as this sounds this is my favourite horror game)

And those are just the MANY games that I've experienced and enjoyed playing.

 

From this exercise i have learnt what it takes to research more into a topic that I already like and use that information to boost my knowledge on the topic and how to display that information in front of an audience. Overall I chose these facts because it's simple and straight to the point. Easy for people to remember and they relate to the course. It's easy to expand upon these facts with more information if the audience wants to know more.

 

How to take control in my learning 

I have been tasked to write down what i could do to take charge in my learning.

First of all doing the work independently is probably the biggest one as i can fully concentrate on my own without having to deal with a group that breaks my concentration.

Second way is to actually have passion torwards the subject, if i have no interest then i won't take in any of the knowledge, luckily I actually like this course and want to learn so that shouldn't be a problem, it can just be overwhelming at times.

Finally i believe music can be used to help me concentrate as it keeps my mind occupied but I dont have to focus on it making me work better.

Montages

I have been tasked to spot 2 examples on Montages in this video.

First example I noticed was a Rhythmic shot at the beginning of the Waves in the ocean and then it proceeds to show another montage in the same montage called a Tonal shot when they're all on the hammocks.

Second example is during the middle of the film called a Metric shot at the part where they battle each other and the montage feels like it's to the beat of the background music. This montage went on for a few minutes.

My favourite story

My favourite story is Taxi Driver,

Taxi Driver is about a man called Travis Bickle who suffers from insomnia and he takes the job of a cab driver who works at night in New York. As the story progresses he slowly becomes detached from reality as he fantasizes about cleaning up the filthy city of New York. He used to be a soldier in Vietnam so he has experience of using guns and he uses that to his advantage to help carry out his ambition. I love the memorable qoutes and the memorable scenes and the climatic ending. It was written by Paul Schrader, Directed by Martin Scorsese and the main character being played by Robert De Niro.

Gibs Cycle