INTO THE WILD...

  So after watching 'Into the wild' again i thought i would blog about it this time as it is definitely one of my favourite films! For those who haven't seen it, it is about a man who goes on a journey into the wild and leaves civilisation and society behind.
   The scenery shots throughout the film are incredible and truly mind blowing, as they show different aspects of life he visits throughout the movie and really illustrate the true focus of the film - which is nature. The different uses of cinematography overall make the film capturing for the audience. Also, the soundtrack in 'Into the wild' is very fitting for the movie and accompanies each shot successfully, which is what we are aiming for in our 2 minute introduction.
  For anyone who has not seen the film, you are slightly crazy.. but go and watch it, immediately!

CAST & CREW VLOG...

  Here is our vlog from the other day when we went out filming. We managed to get more time lapse shots and here we discuss our greatly successful day of shooting and some other plans we had for our 2 minute introductions.

IDEAS...

Here is the overhead shot from 'Inglourious Basterds'.. it is so effective, hence why we think it may be a great shot in our 2 minute introduction.

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  When discussing the idea of this shot, we thought the unforgettable scene in 'Schindler's list' was really inspiring, as we felt if I was walking down the road on a quite dull and dark day in a red coat would be really effective in the overhead shot and particularly noticeable to the audience.

 

'INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS' IDEAS...

  We watched the incredible 'Inglorious Basterds' in our lesson today. Here is a quick vlog about a shot we saw and thought was amazing and could perhaps include in our 2 minute introduction.. Yes, you may have noticed that we are missing our other member, Alice :(

STORYBOARD & MUSIC...

  Here is just a quick snap of our storyboard to let you know what we are planning to film and our overall story, including cinematography ideas and positioning movements. There is also a shot of various music ideas we think we are going to use in our 2 minute introduction as we feel these particular songs will successfully fit our genre.  

UPDATE...

  Here is just a quick vlog update with Ms Foster explaining where we are at for filming and so on...

TRAIN TIME LAPSE...

  Following up from the previous vlog, here is what we shot when we went out last Friday. We created a time lapse on the train, with myself standing in the same position each time, then just changing my clothes. Also if you look at each shot you can see Josh, who is our 'subtle' (we hope) stranger moving to different positions in the train carriage. We wanted to create this time lapse in order to show the running of days and the choppiness of this clip helps to do so. It was a really good day out filming and these clips will be used in our 2 minute intro.

 Here is a shot that Alice took from the day out filming. Let's call it proof! 

VLOG WITH THE STRANGER...

  Here is our vlog that myself and Alice shot with our subtle stranger - Josh. This is from our day out filming on the train. Was a really successful day out filming as explained.. don't mind the people that cross the camera!

HOMELAND...

  I thought that I would upload the opening credits from the amazing 'Homeland.' Every Sunday, I religiously tune into channel 4 for it, the opening credits never fail to grab my attention. The use of flashing images and simple text that seems to appear then disappear individually alongside the music and speech really caught my eye and sets the tone of the programme straight away as being eerie and mysterious. The opening credits are definitely one of the best I have seen as the simplicity of them will never tire.

SE7EN...

  Last lesson we watched the film 'SE7EN' with Brad Pitt, Morgan Freeman and Kevin Spacey. Having seen it before, watching it this time round it was very different. This is due to the fact that now having taken media, i notice certain elements within the film, that i would have not before. The camera angles used in this film are exceptional as well as the mise-en-scene, which at one point is the fencing in the police car. This gives the image of the psycho Kevin Spacey's point about humans and so on, gradually becoming right and understandable as the camera moves away from the fencing, slowly unblocking him.

  I think the opening credits in 'SE7EN' is one of the most important elements from the entire film as it sets the thriller genre and storyline from the beginning. The series of close-ups, eerie music and unusual fonts also help to do this, overall creating an enticing opening to a great film!  

                                                  

VLOG WITH THE TEAM...

Here is just a quick vlog on our ideas from the lesson and what will be taking place, shooting wise soon!

ONE MAN VLOG...

Here is my vlog from the other day about our day out filming. Don't mind the buzzing noise throughout... not quite sure what that is, woops!

FILMING...

Last week, we booked off our afternoon to go out and shoot some media. We headed over to Oakwood station and worked our way up the line, getting some interesting on and off the train as well as in the stations. Here are some clips that we got, that we thought worked really well and will definitely be used in our 2 minute intro's.

MINIBUS VLOG...

Here is our spontaneous little vlog that we done in the minibus that Ms Foster kindly drove to Oakwood in. It is just explaining what are plans for filming were that day.

OUR PITCH...

Here is our plan for our 2 minute introductions, that we pitched to Ms Foster. We are all on board with the idea of it and i can't wait to start filming!

 

PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 4...

On friday night I went and scared myself silly by watching Paranormal Activity 4. Aside from the well known fact, that it isn't an incredible film, some of the camera shots used were good. The handheld shot was prominent throughout the film as the main character, Alex was documenting her whereabouts.  It's a good way of showing the emotions of the character as well as making the audience feel as if something is behind the character in view, or allowing someone to suddenly to appear behind her in the camera, as Paranormal Activity 4 continually does so. Overall, I thought it was really effective and should definitely be used in our film introductions as it places the audience right into the action of the film.

FLIP FILM VLOG...

Here is our vlog about our day out shooting with the flip camera.

TRUCKING SHOT...

This is an image of how we achieved our tracking shot of Alice. It worked really well as it allowed us to get a steady and smooth shot. We were pretty lucky to come across this trolley and could be a handy device when filming our introductions.

PRACTICE FILM...

We finally got our new equipment for media and so we went out to practice with it. Here is our practice film using the flip camera, which was suprisingly clear and got some good shots. We tried out various shots in different places and then once back at school edited them together, turned it black & white (with a hint of sepia and colour, but lets look over that factor) and edited in music. I think it turned out really well and was great fun and can't wait to start filming our 2 minute introductions.

BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD...

Last night I went to the cinema to watch 'Beasts of the Southern wild' an American fantasy drama film from the Sundance film festival. Which is about a little girl and her father who live in the Mississippi swamps, referred to as the 'bathtub' as their land is going to be covered in water when the storm comes. The story is about her relationship with her father, as well as her connection with nature and shows how they live in the wild, away from all technology and communication when compared to the buzzing cities within America. Aside from the little girl being majorly cute, i loved this film for its storyline as well as the amazing use of cinematography. The scenery shots within the film were beautiful, as well as the close-ups used to show the nature. The whole film came across as if it was filmed with a handheld camera as it was quite shaky, this made the film seem more realistic as well as the camera having a very soft touch effect on it, sometimes fuzzy which went well with the scenery and colours shown within the film. I would recommend anyone to go and see this film as it is definitely my film of the year, which was clearly evident to the cinema as i cried through half of it!

PRELIM EDITING VLOG...

Here is a vlog we filmed after editing our prelim's speaking about how it went...

PRELIM VLOG...

Here is a vlog  about the topic of our prelim as well as camera angles...

PRELIM...

Here is mine, Alice's & Lucy's final prelim, fully edited and finished. Enjoy!

MCDONALDS SAYS 'GOOD MORNING'...

I came across this advert whilst watching television and it immediately caught my eye. Aside from McDonald's using one of the greatest and catchiest songs in their advert, I also really like the use of the different shots repeatedly used, showing different people, as well as the use of the split screen into 2 and 4 parts. This advert can be looked at for inspiration for our 2 minute introductions as it would be really helpful.

LAST YEARS FINAL FILMS...

In our last lesson we watched the last years film introductions. I particularly enjoyed this one as the ideas were original, with the consistency of the bike riding, whilst the seasons and weather gradually changed, as well as addition of the upbeat music. From watching all these different films I am really inspired and can't wait to start the planning and filming of our introductions.

RENAULT ADVERT...

I thought I would blog this advert as every time it comes on the t.v, I can't help but watch it for some reason. I really like the use of short clips of different scenes, as well as the interesting camera angles used. This advert may help to get inspiration for our introduction...



I chopped this particular clip of the advert as i liked how a tracking shot was used as the car ran along the road to show the setting as well as the interesting angle used of the girl in this clip as she is hanging her head out of the car.

Finally, i chopped this particular section of the advert as i thought the way they kept the same shot, but changed the outfits of the subjects and their objects was really interesting and effective and could definitely be used in our media work.
 

FAVOURITE FILM...

Again it is really hard to think of what my favourite film is as I have a couple, but 'Garden State' definitely springs to mind. Zach Braff and Natalie Portman are the main characters, they both play such strange but captivating roles, I also love the film for the soundtrack and feel this is such a large aspect in any movie and Motion Pictures manages to succeed in every media aspect here. It's such a great film and it is one of those movies I can watch over and over again!

ONE OF MY FAVOURITE ACTRESSES...

It's really hard to determine who my favourite actress is, but Carey Mulligan is definitely one of them! She can take any role and character and make it her own. Each character she plays, for example in 'Never Let Me Go' and 'The Greatest' is really unique and original, making her such a good addition to the film industry.

      

A LITTLE BIT OF INSPIRATION...

I have posted this advert as I think the overall idea as well as the camera shots are really original and could be used in our introductions. The use of the split screen is very effective at showing two different periods of time, alongside the music working really well with the advert. All aspects in the John Lewis advert work really well together and is well thought out, something that is an inspiration to our media course.

ECS AS AND A2 MEDIA STUDIES COURSE BOOKLET

This post is of a booklet that I will be using for the next two years, to help me throughout my media studies, in order to succeed in my media course.

FILMMAKING TECHNIQUES

This video is from Ms Foster's blog. It shows filmmaking techniques that are used in media, therefore will be very helpful during my studies.