Production log

I haven't had the chance to get as much work as I should have with lots of coursework deadlines. I am trying to get the Digipak done, by the end of this week, but i am working on my time managment

Conventions in the real world text.

Having used many magazines and music videos for inspiration, I tried to use the stereotypical conventions they used in order to make my project fulfilling to its genre, whether it was a pop magazine or a pop music video.

During AS I made sure to have mood boards and plans that helped me stick to the basic conventions of a pop magazine, for example, in pop magazines the role of a female artist is to look like the typical girl next door, so that girls aspire to be like her and men want to be with her. This may look simple, however when shooting I had to make sure I had my mood-board or photos with me, so that my artist could try conveying the same kind of poses and body language. This was hard as some of the actions did not look as well as it did when my model tried to pose, so I had to work with it and try a variety and range of poses.

 So for example I had a photo of Taylor swift in top of the pops magazine, she was posing in a playful cute and cute manner, I had to get my model to look similar. 

Whilst editing I had to look at many magazine for help on the positioning, for example with the masthead, I had to see where most pop magazines positioned it, I found that most pop magazines position it at the top left hand corner or centre of the top. I also realised that the masthead could not interlock with the photo, so if my picture blocked out the masthead it would cause confusion as we would not know what the magazine was called.

The buzzwords in my magazine had to look jampacked but not too busy, it had to look like it was fun and bursting with information, however i had to make sure it still looked classy and poppy at the same time. So when i was doing my buzzwords, i had to postion them carefully, by having too many it would take away the attention of the masthead and image. I also had to make sure i colour co-ordinated correctly as most magazines stick to the three colour scheme, mine was pink white and black. I had also placed a banner and price tag, as they are the typical conventions of ALL magazines not just pop magazines. 

Prior to shooting the actual pictures and editing, I had to make sure that i knew what i was doing, and that i was planning and reflecting my work well, so when i was in the planning stages of the actual project, i needed to have moodboards to lay out my thoughts, i made sure i had plenty of moodboards. I had a moodboard for colour scheme, the reason being because i wanted to see what each colour connoted and symbolized, and which three colours meshed well together. I also had a moodboard for typography/masthead, i went on the site dafont.com to gain a variety of fonts, i realised the masthead said a lot about the magazine, so i couldn't just settle for photoshop, i used one that outlines my magazine well and looked cute and pop-related.

My photoshoot was all studio shots, so instead of taking photos outside, I stuck to more professional looking photographs, when i waas analysing top of the pops magazine, about more than half of the pictures were seventy percent studio shot, as outdoor shots looked cheesy and not as real as it should look, this proved to be true with my target audience, as i handed out surveys, and this was proven true.
 

My interpretation of Scream.

Due to large amounts of film being based on a certain genre, there are many types of clichés and conventions that apply to films of these genre (e.g. romance films often have slow running towards each other or kissing, action films tend to have get away vehicles conveniently appearing when necessary etc). Often Parodies of these films are made and make fun off these convention since they are commonly seen and everyone knows them (e.g. Austin power parodies spy films like 'James Bond', 'Galaxy Quest' and 'Space Balls' parody sci-fi films like 'Star wars' and 'Star Trek' etc). When it comes to horror films one of the most famous parodies is Wes Cravens 'Scream' in which a murder is going around killing people due to his knowledge horror films and how to get away with the murders. The film itself has many moments where it out-right take the piss out of many horror conventions but there are times when then films takes and more subtle approach and this is mainly towards horror theories rather than conventions but what exactly is 'Scream' mocking?
The first thing that is made aware in the being of the film is that 'Scream' is specifically mocking 'Slasher’ films' like 'Friday the 13th' and 'Halloween' in which the killer goes around killing people one by one rather than say a monster like the old 'Frankenstein' and 'Wolf man' films, or films that have a bigger emphasis or drama rather than horror like 'Psycho' or 'Carrie'. This is made aware in the opening scene where a girl gets a mysterious call from someone who is spying on her and eventually ends up killing her by stabbing her to death and then gutting her... nasty. The main parody point of the ‘
Slasher’ genre is when one of the characters in Scream highlight that there are specific rules to surviving a horror film like not saying 'I’ll be right back' or not having sex since these conventions appear in almost every ‘Slasher’ film and the audience knows exactly what ‘Scream’ is saying since every time one of the above rules is disobeyed in a horror film that character(s) dies shortly afterwards. This also happens during the film since whenever a character goes somewhere by themselves or has sex or even drinks a lot they die, which further emphasises the rules that 'Scream' mentions.

Post production

The post production is a long process, its basically after we have the footage/pictures part. The main focus is to perfect what we have. To better it and make it presentable and to the best of our abilities. I used Adobe premeiere to cut up all my shots and syn it in with the music.
I had to have a lot of practise on it before i could actually start my video as i was completley clueless and oblivious to what i was doing. Youtube Tutorials helped me immensly, so i knew how to utilise the tools and use it for the right reasons, instead of pressing random buttons and hoping one of them would work.

I absolutley thought that Photoshop was largely easier to use than premeire as there wasnt as many tools, also the fact that i took GCSE photography, which enabled me some knowledge beforehand. I still found it a little difficult to remember everything about "layers" and the whole process, however after doing it for a while, i got the hang of it.

I used a site called ipiccy and picmonkey to airbrush my pictures. It helped a lot as photoshop took a lot more time than this site. I mainly used the blemish remover,shift icon and colour editer.
Post production to me is when you try editing and perfecting what you've got. You have an overall view of the work you've done, and it's the basis of improving and reflecting over your work. Also part of the post production is uploading everything on the blog, which i seem to forget quite a bit, After we stop filming or taking pictures, we have to make diary entries explaining what we've done and how we've done it, we could either just type it up or film ourselves.
When i was doing my prelimary task, we had to take pictures, and then edit it. The editing part was what made the pictures in to respectable looking magazines, so without the photoshop it would just be a picture.

Research and planning

Research and planning –

During my research and planning stage I learned to use a lot more formats then Microsoft word and Power Point. I had been so used to word as I was comfortable using it in high school, I had forgotten and been oblivious to all the other formats. So Miss Baker informed us about prezi and slide share so i began using a variety. In order to make my work look more versatile and have more of a range of my work presented. I found Slide rocket, voki and even other websites such as ipiccy and picmonkey to edit pictures. I utilised windows movie maker too, to make mini clips. When showing presentations.

 
I realised that i had to be more innovative and creative so Voki was really good. Voki was visually pleasing, entertaining and gave out the information that I needed to produce. It was aesthetically pleasing too. When making my production log diaries, i had to use my webcam to film myself as it was the easiest machinery available to film myself, this was quite daunting as i had to film myself talking (Which everyone hates)

Research and planning helped me to do my photoshoot and music video, as i had something to fall back on when my shooting wasnt going as planned or if my photos did not turn out right. The planning essentially gave me a boost, so if i wasnt comfortable with the pictures i had taken i could always go back and look at my inspiration and storyboards for help.

Digital technology and creativity

The first task we were given in as was the Preliminary task; we had to create a ‘Haydon Magazine’.We were given the school camera and presented with Photoshop. The reason for doing the task was to show our abilities and have practise with the formulas and technology presented with us.

The school camera was a DSLR Cannon 550D, I had to use the school camera to take photographs, due to the fact that my own camrera was going through some technical problems to do with the aperture and speed.
 I thought my pictures showed potential, however my editing skills were beyond mediocre and amateur at the beginning, it looked as if it could do with a lot of airbrushing
 Photoshop was extremely helpful for my DigiPak and Magazine advert as I was presented with plenty of tools and implements which helped me create a magazine; it was a matter of knowing the tools which was okay as I had created a magazine beforehand last year. Since I had taken photography, I was familiar with shutter speed and aperture. I think I possessed the skills to take a picture, and actually was pretty proud of my chosen photographs.

After finishing my first draft to the magazine, I had to record myself through the webcam at first explaining through what I did and how I did the magazine.
I practised using the DSLR as i wanted to get as much experience as i could, this enabled me to create the best pictures of my ability.

    Creativity is used in my blog through the use of softwares and individual sites I used like IPICCY and the use of my
videos that I found online which helped boost my individualness. I used prezi which is like powerpoint but more please visually.

I liked using different formats, so that my blog didnt look completley plain and had a splash of versatility. I remember beforehand using the same old resources, so i think i've added more range and creativity by having this.
Voki was great to use, as it is entertaing and helps produce the information. I used windows movie maker, to make a lot of clips. I found it resourceful, as it was easy to uitilise and the icons were easy to naivagate.

I think Creativity was vital, as i needed to make my blog look aesethetically pleasing, so i needed as much formats possible.
At the start of the year, i found myself just using the same old formats, for example. my work was bombarded with word and powerpoint, so it looked quite bland. Voki was very helpful, it gave out information and also provided a more entertaining way to look the information.

Recording myself speaking was quite hard, as i detest speaking in front of a camera, however it boosted my creativity as i added in clips and pictures which helped my analysis.
Indesign was really helpful as it made the whole magazine process easier, i could add in columns and the tools were basically made to help make magazines, it was easier to do the magazine on indesign than on photoshop.
I thought alot about costume in my shoot (Mise en scene), so i made sure my artists were made to look like popstars, i had to go shopping and take pictures of clothes that would look good on my model, i made a chart showing how each outfit looked on the models chosen, which i think showed creativity.

Scream - Postmodern

HW

A2 AS - CREATIVITY USED ON C/W

Matrix

The Matrix ---- Postmodern

There are many reasons the matrix is a post-modern text. Perhaps all centred around the concept of challenging reality and questioning what is real. This theme has been referenced to the controversial theories of Beaudrillard. He tends to question peoples acceptance of the ‘truth’ and asks as to whether something is true and real to someone who does not directly witness it. This supports his theory that the same event is different to every individual and that our acceptance of reality is completely true only to ourselves.

Co-incidentally an inter textual reference is also made in the first film as the lead character Thomas Anderson a.k.a Neo is shown reading a book by Beaudrillard. This comparison shows one way that the matrix conforms with an idea of post-modernism by supporting and even referencing a renowned theorist.
The film itself focussed around typical science fiction elements, concentrates on a dystopian future where humans are in war with machines, similar to the long running Terminator film series, which has been a major success and iconic in sci-fi film history. A major selling point of the series is the extreme stunts and action scenes. Although fairly insignificant on the surface, the thought behind it was to include seemingly impossible events and theories.

This is a challenge on the perception of reality with the concept of two worlds. The real world, a desolate wasteland operated by machines. Or a virtual world called the matrix which its inhabitants perceive as real, but is in fact a fictional representation based on memories of the human race.

The Matrix

 

Blade Runner

 

Scream - - Postmodern?

Post-modern Movies of today.

10 MUST-WATCH POSTMODERN MOVIES

August 12, 2013 · by Natasha Harmer · in Article, PDP. ·

I love postmodernism although I don’t really know why. I love films that are self aware, satirical and cleverly critical of their own medium in particular. So here are ten must-watch postmodern movies (in my opinion)…

(This isn’t a top ten list by the way, in no shape or form will The Matrix or Pulp Fiction feature…I don’t like either film, but if I were to do a top ten list based on thebest postmodern films rather than my own opinion, then they would have to go on it.)

1. Scream 

“There are certain RULES that one must abide by in order to successfully survive a horror movie.”
Wes Craven, ignoring the fact that since Scream his only contribution to the horror genre  is the atrociously shit film My Soul to Take, cleverly mocks the horror genre and points out everything wrong with stalk and slash films (mocking his own franchise A Nightmare on Elm Street in the process). Scream is a brilliant postmodern horror film and is very clever. The characters use their knowledge of existing horror films to muddle through their own real life stalk and slash scenario with hilarious outcomes. The entire film mocks and celebrates the genre and points out all the stupid conventions that we would otherwise overlook. As Sidney Prescott puts it “ They’re all the same. some stupid killer stalking some big-breasted girl who can’t act who is always running up the stairs when she should be running out the front door.”

2. Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang

An homage to film noir,Kiss Kiss Bang Bang is an underrated, under-watched favourite of mine. Film noir films were often based on crime novels, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang is similar to Scream in a way, with the characters using their knowledge of a set of fictional ‘Johnny Gossamer’ crime novels. The film is also reminiscent of buddy comedies like Lethal Weapon and the chemistry between the two lead characters (played by Robert Downey Jr and Val Kilmer) is brilliantly funny. The film pays homage to these genres rather than mocking them, and it has a self aware/hyperconscious feel throughout that refuses to let the audience just sit back and let the film wash over them; Robert Downey Jr narrates the entire film, makes mistakes in his story, comments about how much of a terrible narrator he is and continually reminds the audience that what they’re watching is a film and not reality, which is a common feature of postmodernism. It has to be watched to be understood (although the story makes very little sense, and I’ve seen the film about five times!…another postmodern feature is that the story doesn’t necessarily have to make sense, which seems like a bit of a cop out but there we go!)

A stunning scene that pretty much sums up what hyperreality is

3. The Truman Show

If you’re a reality TV show hater like me, this one might be an interesting watch. It’s also a bit of an eye opener for those media illiterates out there who watch reality TV and genuinely believe it’s reality (wisen up you lot!) The Truman Show tells the heart breaking story of a baby adopted by a TV company to make a reality show about his life. Truman (Jim Carrey…one of few of his performances that aren’t ridiculously irritating) has grown up in a little town and has never had the opportunity to explore the world around him. He’s never had a reason to doubt his reality until one day a set-light falls from the sky. The message in the film is a strong one, and anyone familiar with the theories of Baudrillard will get the impact that hyperreality in the media has on society (you can also read my earlier article on hyperreality, if you like) Definitely one to watch, The Truman Show will really make you question reality. As the producer of The Truman Show (the TV show within the film) says ‘we accept the reality with which we are presented’.

4. The Cabin in the Woods

This is very much a Scream-influenced film although in this case it actually changes the genre rather than doing what Wes Craven did and mock how crap the conventions of horror are without making an attempt to improve or change them (bit of a cop out). The ending is surprising and alters traditional horror conventions with a Hostel like theme in which people are killed in the name of entertainment for an office of weird sickos placing bets on who dies first. Although for some it might be too far fetched,  the whole idea is very clever and like Scream, The Cabin in the Woods mocks the genre conventions with a hyperconscious script and characters.

5. Easy A

This one isn’t as well known as a postmodern film but it’s got some great postmodern elements in that I thought were worth mentioning. The best one by far is the reference to Can’t Buy Me Love, a well known 80′s rom com with Patrick Dempsey. In it there’s quite a famous scene where Dempsey‘s character stands on his ride-on lawn mower under the window of the object of his affections with a pair of speakers to play her a song and get her attention. In Easy A they replicate this scene and Emma Stone‘s character talks a lot about various rom com films. One of the more clever rom com’s I’ve seen in a long time, very funny and Emma Stone is easily one of the best comedy actresses at the moment!

6. American Beauty

I previously didn’t think ofAmerican Beauty as a particularly great example of postmodern film, but it’s one of my favourites and one of the best dramas I’ve ever seen and loosely it is postmodern. It explores the way the media tells us what beauty is, and is about a man pursuing a high school girl because that’s what the media has told him beauty really is. It brushes over true beauty too and how we should look closer, but the main theme of the film is pursuing this perfect life that the media advocates; the perfect marriage, beauty, riches and the idea of the perfect, happy life. It shows the detrimental effects that this media ideology has on society and individuals in a clever and very moving way. This film is a must-watch even if you’re not interested in postmodernism.

7. Tropic Thunder

A film about a film, one of the most enjoyable types of postmodern film, in my humble opinion. Tropic Thunder pokes fun at the big-wigs in the film industry and the idiots that blindly follow (ie the actors) and also again express what Baudrillard (the theorist) fears to be society’s dependence on the reality provided by the media. It shows the actors unable to distinguish between reality and the film set which is something that Baudrillard fears to be happening to the audience too. Tropic Thunder garners comedy from the different types of people in the film industry, and the stupidity of a lot of them. It exposes the film industry in a way that didn’t happen before the postmodern movement; back when films presented themselves as a reality and didn’t include the audience or expose their medium. Exposing the film as just a film opens up a dialogue between audience and text known as breaking down the fourth wall; think of the fourth wall as the curtain between the audience and the workings of the film itself (ie: the bits that we don’t usually see like the camera) when it’s taken away, the film exposes itself as just a film and allows the audience to interact with it differently, which is what postmodernism is all about. Tropic Thunder dabbles with all these ideas and makes a very funny action comedy out of it.

8. Be Kind Rewind

Be Kind Rewind is full of silliness that parodies loads of films all at once. When they have to recreate lots of famous films after wiping videos in a video store completely, Jack Black and Mos Def make some stupid costumes and reenact famous movie scenes, one of the funniest being their reenactments of Ghostbusters. It’s an out and out parody of various different films and it’s laugh out loud funny. Not full of integrity like a lot of postmodern films and certainly not one for a chin-stroking critic or someone looking to find deep meaning in a film but it is very funny and shows that those knowing winks and nudges to the audience can be really successful comedy tools.

9. Zombieland

10. Shaun of the Dead

I thought I might as well do the write up for these two together, since the idea behind them is pretty much the same. Both these films are parodies of the zombie horror genre. Both make fun of zombies and serious zombie films with a humorous script that makes light of the end-of-the-world situation. Zombieland was branded the American version of Shaun of the Dead but as a huge fan of both films I don’t think that’s entirely fair. They’re both very different despite their similar premises, both with different yet equally enjoyable and relatable characters and totally different sub stories. In Zombieland much of the humour comes from Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson)’s quest to find a twinky in the post-apocalyptic world, and his rage (mostly aimed at the zombies) comes from his dismay at not being able to locate one while Shaun of the Dead‘s humour is mainly down to the two bumbling characters and Shaun (Simon Pegg)’s desperate attempts to get his girlfriend back. Shaun of the Dead, in my opinion, trumps Zombieland with the inventive killing methods, and Pegg and Frost‘s skit trying to kill zombies with records and discussing which records they did and didn’t want to throw is comedy genius.Zombieland is every bit American; it’s bigger, more colourful and shinier but Shaun of the Dead wins. Regardless, they’re both very different and both brilliant parody films in their own right and definitely need to be on the must watch list!

http://natashaharmeryear1.wordpress.com/2013/08/12/10-must-watch-postmodern-movies/

Chomsky criticism >

Chomsky on science and postmodernism.