In this video the group Skupina Studios talk about the strengths and weaknesses of the film making experience. The video outlines our struggles that we had to go through and also top tips from Ms Humpleby that allow us to look at the fails optimistically

Fairy Tale Challenge - Planning

As a group, we thought about many fairy tales, however we decided on Cinderella as our final idea as we know the story well and think that we would adapt this well to be a Neo Noir.

Casting 

Prince- Matty Levesley

Cinderella- Niamh Gallagher

Ugly step sister- Heather McDonald

Step dad- Jack Grimshaw

Extras- As we have a small group, we decided to use our friends and family to help us out.

Director- As a group we thought it would be best to all direct it and work together in a team as we didn't want just one person to do it. 

Camera-As there are different scenes requiring different actors we all filmed certain sections. We used a camcorder to record the film and an iPhone 6 for the still photos. 

Editing- Matty and Jack did gcse media studies so they took charge of editing the film and helped teach Niamh and I. However Niamh and I both did GCSE photography and now do AS photography so we edited the still photos as we are more experienced with photoshop, we also helped teach the boys how to use photoshop. 

Storyline

To transform Cinderella into a Neo Noir we had to change the plot slightly for example, in place of the fairy God mother is a 'pill' , instead of a ball Cinderella goes to a house party this is when the prince falls in love with her, Cinderella leaves her phone at the party and the prince asks the 'ugly step sister' who claims the phone is hers to unlock the phone instead of trying on the glass slipper. The ending is the most unlike the original story, in the typical story Cinderella and Prince Charming fall in love and have a happy ever after, in our film they believe they will have a happy ever after but sadly the prince gets shot by the Step Dad as he wants the prince to marry his real daughter the 'ugly step sister' who is our Femma Fatal.



This is our storyboard that Niamh edited. This helped us with filming as we had an idea of how the film was going to be made and what scenes we needed to have.

Storyborad from niamhx

Audience

If I Stay





Tangled




Ouija

Foley Sound

What is Foley Sound?

Foley is the reproduction of everyday sound effects that are added to film, video, and other media in post-production to enhance audio quality. These reproduced sounds can be anything from footsteps to breaking glass.



In this Video, it tells you how they do it and shows you.

Neo Noir

Previously i talked about Film Noir, in this post i am going to talk about Neo Noir.

What is Neo Noir?
Neo Noir is when a film uses elements of a story and characters from a typical Film Noir themes but with updated themes, content, style and visual elements. Some Neo Noir's just put a morden twist on old Film Noir's, however some are filmed in the future.


For example, the British TV series Misfits done a noir themed episode in which one of the main characters, falls for a femme fatale. You can see that this is a Neo Noir as there is a Femme Fatale and a everyman, which he is a bit of an anti-hero, in this episode is defiantly isn't a happy ending. However it's set in Britain instead of America. Also it's not all shot in black and white, only the scenes where we are in the femme fatales point of view. Our main character is black, which you would of never seen in a noir film. more important, there are zombies which makes this neo noir unique in it's own right. 

ACTIVITY 2: FREEZE FRAME

If I Stay

• In this frozen image i can see the two main characters. Adam talking to Mia and a blurred image of Mia in the background.
• In this image they use rule of thirds 
• 
  

ACTIVITY 1: Creating a Filmsynopsis

If I Stay

What is it about?

If i stay is about a girl called Mia Hall who thought the hardest decision she would ever face would be whether to pursue her musical dreams at Juilliard or follow a different path to be with the love of her life, Adam. But what should have been a carefree family drive changes everything in an instant, and now her own life hangs in the balance. Caught between life and death for one revealing day, Mia has only one decision left, will she live or will she die? If I stay is aimed at teenagers from 12 upwards.

My Top 10 Films

This is my presentation on My Top 10 Films, which was one of the challanges that was given to me, In this you will see what films i like and why i like them. I used Prezi to make this presentation, At first i was a bit confused how to start the powerpoint but then i got used to it and i think i will use Prezi again.

Sweded Film Script

OUIJA

(FRONT PORCH)

Heather
what’s going on? 

Lydia
I just don’t wanna go out tonight

Heather
Are you sure you don’t wanna come? 

Lydia
I'm good. 

Go, go have fun (voice over)

(TABLE)

Heather
Never feel like even after someone you love has died there’s still a way you can talk to them

Matt
you want to talk to Debbie?

Heather
Yeah

(FRONT PORCH)

This is where Debbie died

(DINING ROOM)

Matt
I don’t think this is a good idea

Heather
As friends we've gathered hearts are true, spirits near we call to you

If you can hear us, Debbie I miss you

Jakey
Calm down it’s an old house

Josh
this is a joke

Matt
Come on you guys who’s doing that?

Heather
Sarah cut it out

Josh
I'm not pushing

Ish
It just spelt "hi friend"

Matt
Okay this is freaking me out, I’m done with this

(BEDROOM)

Lydia
I found something. I found something. I want to get this on camera... 

(Camera) I found something in my house,

 Weird things started happening as soon as I found the board (voice over)

(LOCKERS)

Heather
Debbie found the board in her house, she woke something up

(TUNNEL)

Jakey
is somebody there? 

(LOCKERS)

Jakey
this thing, it’s haunting us 

(INDOORS)

Heather
Hello? 

(Scream)

(TOILET)

Jakey
it’s coming for all of us (voice over)

So who's next? 

Matt
Mmmm

(OUTSIDE)

Josh
how do we stop this?

(LIVING ROOM)

Cam
you have to break the connection or it will keep coming for you

(INDOORS)

Heather
we have to play the game again, one last time (voice over)

Everyone
as friends we've gathered hearts are true, spirits near we call to you (voice over)

(DINING ROOM)

Heather
Can you show us a sign? 

(Scream) did you kill Debbie?! We’re done. We’re not playing anymore

Josh
it’s not even real ok? Cheers to them

Everyone
(scream)

Sweded film

In Media, We got set a task to do over the summer holidays, which was to create a Sweded film, which is a short film that you re create from a film that has already been made. in our group we have pick the trailer of the horror film 'Ouija'.

In our group we only have me, Ish and Adam, We have decided to use our friends to play a part in the film.

Props
As we are doing the film 'Ouija', We needed to create an ouija board. So i had a large piece of white foam board at home, which i cut in half and painted brown and used a stencil to create the letters on the board.

This is the original Trailer that we are going to re-create.

Generic Conventions

Camera and composition: 

In a film noir, there are many different types of camera angles and use of composition makes them more engaging to watch. In most Film Noir, a common camera angle is low shot and high. Film Noir is often distorted and uncomfortable to look at. There is a lot of close up angles and they use depth of field as well. Reflections, views and faces obscured through objects.

Mise-En-Scene:
Film noir locations used the everyday urban settings to make what was happening seem even more real to the viewer. Moved from crime movies only happening at the wrong end of town and dodgy areas to everyday locations. They showed a lot of rain and damp streets. low key lighting is used and high contrast images for example dark blacks and whites.

Sound:
In Film noir the music was very dramatic and the sound was meant to compliment the feeling of pessimism and foreboding that was reflected in the films. In film noir the main sounds you would hear are:

• Downbeat music (jazz)
• Heavy breathing 
• Sudden noises
• Voice overs
• Use of quiet and silence
• Sound effects and ambience of the city 
• Often grating music

Editing:

Most film noir's are non-linear, which means they start at the end and then tell the story in flashbacks. They are often shot in day and for night they often use filters as its cheaper. Jump cuts and juxtaposition may also be used. 

Narrative:
The narrative's of film noir have progressed over the year, however a main occurrence of the sam variety still come up. These are:

• Voiceover narration
• Fast forward and flashback
• First person narrative
• Convoluted ending
• Elliptical
• Good cop, Bad cop

Characters

In every film noir there is always a Everyman and a Femme Fatal, however there are other characters which are:

• The Villain
• The Henchman
• The Girl next door

The two main characters you need to know about is:

The Femme fatal is a very seductive and manipulative women, they use men as a tool to get what they want, also you will seen in a lot of film noir moves that they smoke a lot and wear red to get the mens attention.

The Everyman is normally the man who falls in love with the femme fatal and does whatever she wants him to do, which can end badly and the ones that get all the blame.

 

History and Social context of Film Noir

History and Social Context of Film Noir

After the war a lot of films arrived in France from Hollywood that they had missed during the war when the focus was on sending supplies for the war. French critics noticed that a lot of these had similar dark undertones and a negative sensibility. 
WW2 Influence
The threat of the Nazi's during the war cast a dark shadow over Europe. That is reflected in the pessimism, depression and hardship in Film Noir. A combination if the mood political and social factors led indirectly to helping to contribute to the evolution and characteristics of Film Noir.
How it started
German Expressionism
It's a technique that was extremely used in Film Noir. It makes use of heavily stylized sets, lights, shades and shadows.
Why Film Noir?
The French film critic, Nino Frank created the term 'Film Noir' for this body of work in 1946. Frank and Jean-Pierre Chartier wrote the two earliest film articles that described Hollywood crime dramas from the 1940s as film noir. Film Noir started off as a cheaply made 'B' kind of movie, re-using old sets and giving breaks to new or little known actors and directors. 


In Film Noir the characters they normally have in every film are

• The Everyman

• The Femme Fatale

• The Villain

• The Henchman

• The girl next door

They will always have 'The Everyman' and 'The Femme Fatale'  for example in 'Double Indemnity' the everyman is 'Walker' and the femme fatale is 'Phyllis Dietrichson'. 

Media and Me

This is my presentation about media and me. I was set this task to learn how to use emaze. Its a short presentation about me and how experienced i am with media. this was my first time using maze, i struggled at the start but in the end i got used to what i was doing.