Wednesday, 21 September 2011

Commision unit - Pitch

Txt talk
The vast amount of technology that was introduced and embraced during the ten years that form the noughties is immense in comparison to every previous decade. Various forms of the introduced technology have led to people communicating in very different ways, many of which it would now be difficult to imagine day to day life without. One such form of communication is the use of text messages sent from one mobile phone to another. As this form of communication grew more widely used a seemingly endless list of specifically intended abbreviations, acronyms and combination of symbols was created that would later be broadly known as text talk.
My intention should this subject matter be commissioned for creation is to explore a number of interconnecting elements that the use and understanding of ‘text talk’ has had on the way that people communicate. These elements will include the social and academic impacts, generational opinions, professional opinions and posing the questions in order to discover and structure a well rounded view as to what the public as a whole think of the use of text talk in regards to whether it is a good or bad element of communication. Ultimately leading to a discovery of whether if normal people living in Briton are even bothered by its use or believe it to simply be the next eventual stage of the progression of the English language.
The way that I intend to present this to the audience would be through a mixture of interviews with professional individuals such as linguists, teachers and possibly representative from the English dictionary. I would also be keen to include a section where people that are aware but not necessarily frequent users of text talk would attempt to decode or interpret the meaning of pre set phrases written in text talk form which should keep the commission light hearted rather than hard hitting.

Direction unit - The series titles

After a long mornings editing the titles are finally finished who would have thought 10 seconds worth of titles would be so much effort. Hope you like them. 


Monday, 19 September 2011

Direction Unit - Opening title development

This is just a quick before and after now that we have the photos that we will be using for the opening titles to 'Directors 13'. 

BEFORE

AFTER

Sunday, 18 September 2011

Direction Unit - Character profile of Michael Westen

For the Performance workshop tomorrow we were asked to write a character profile and due to the fact that I forgot until about 15 minutes ago I have adapted one that I found on the internet. Luckily I think it would help anyone that doesn't know the character to have a far clearer understand than I would have been able to verbalise.

See below for the character profile of Michael Westen

Direction Unit - Idea development

I managed to find a spare hour earlier today so I took the short journey into the village of Loose where I intend on shooting for this unit. These are some of the images I took:

I have also got my four cast members confirmed provided I can find a date that works for all of us. Plus the crew which I am yet to arrange.


Thursday, 15 September 2011

Direction Unit - Idea Development

From the point that I finally settled on which scene from my selected series of 'Burn Notice' that I will be re-directing for this unit I haven't stopped progressing with ideas and decisions. Making numerous phone calls, making a number of deals and calling in a couple favours I have a cast that should everything run smoothly will be able to re-create the action within the scene. I have not yet arranged who will make up my crew but I am aiming for at least two people from the course to help me if not more. My ultimate goal is for this production to reflect all of the knowledge that I gained from the first semester combined with the added information gained via the workshops and lectures in this semester. Having written out the script along with an initial shooting script I am more excited than ever to get moving with this project. I will endeavor to take a walk to the locations that I have in my head as to where I would like to shoot the scene over the weekend to make sure that everything I have planned will be possible.

As part of the group responsibilities for this unit we had to come up with and create a title sequence that would be used across the series. I am happy to note that the idea that I proposed to the group has been meet with a great response and it has been agreed that the mock up clip I created will be adapted into the final opening titles over the forth coming week. Below is the mock up version I will upload the finished opening titles at a later date for you to compare.

Friday, 9 September 2011

Direction Unit - Project update

My chosen drama for the direction unit is the US TV series 'Burn Notice' which is now in its fifth series. I wasn't sure if the show would qualify as a tv drama because of the high level of action in each episode so to make sure I went to that always reliable website imdb which has burn notice down as an action and drama. I know that a lot of people haven't seen this series but it is a show that I have really got into over the past few years. So to give you a taste of what the programme is like here is a promo that I found on youtube. 

Commission Unit- Early Research

The following list is the basic outline of the research that I did in regards to events from the noughties that have the potential to be formed into a documentary later in the process.

-       The increase in texting, e-mail and social networking (Emoticon words without letters conveying emotional responses, such as smileys :-) )

-       Facebook launches 2004

-       YouTube launches 2005

-       The legalization of gay marriage

-       Technology increase in people’s lives

-       Has it come to a point where you can live without needing to leave the house?

-       Euro introduced 2002

-       Ways of Communications


Tuesday, 6 September 2011

Direction Unit - Project update

A mere week has passed since we received our direction unit brief and we have already completed two workshops. The first workshop entailed me directing a combined cast and crew of four. This was my first experience of directing a crew and I must say I really enjoyed it. The one element that I wasn’t so comfortable with was handing over control of the camera to someone else. When I got the footage taken during that workshop onto the computer it didn’t quite cut together just right like I would like to. This is because of, and which was highlighted in Simons lecture earlier this week I was editing my film whilst shooting and it is because of this I was limited to what shots I had available in the edit. I think that is what I will take away most from that workshop and when I have edited the clips I do have from that workshop together I will put it on this blog.
The second workshop was my first introduction to how to light a scene using three point lighting. Although it was a very informative workshop I wasn’t as interested personally in this workshop as I was in the direction workshop.