Wednesday 12 January 2011

The Walt Disney Slideshow

Just click on the link -
http://www.scribd.com/full/46755177?access_key=key-15qylenbn7pbrxf9i62n

hello

Hey,
Finishing off some revision for the big media mock tomorrow afternoon.
Havn't blogged all holiday! -and felt I should.
I have made a small movie slide showing time with friends etc. Will upload that soon.
Also in the making of a music video which is very exciting!! :)

Monday 13 December 2010

How was 'Alice in Wonderland' marketed by Disney?

Alice in Wonderland is a 2010 American computer-animated/live action fantasy adventure film directed byTim Burton, written by Linda Woolverton, and released by Walt Disney Pictures. The film stars Mia WasikowskaJohnny DeppHelena Bonham CarterAnne HathawayCrispin GloverMichael Sheen, and Stephen Fry.
http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi975438873/
 The film Alice in Wonderland was first made in 1951, the 2010 version was made to view in 3D. Having the film in 3D was one of the ways Disney marketed Alice and Wonderland because of the recent film Avatar in 3D which was a huge success, there was a huge appetite for the 3D experience. Also being a Disney 'classic', the orignal version was very much liked therefore people would assume that the second more modern version would be just as good if not better.
The famous actors such as Johnny Depp who played the Mad Hatter, Mia Wasikowska, Helena Bonham Carter as the Red Queen, and Anne Hathaway as the White Queen, all helped to market the film as they are all well known as 'good' actors. They even put Johnny Depps name on posters etc to help promote the movie.
Big Posters full of fun bright colours of costumes, settings and make-up attracted people and the different trailers as shown in my link above helped people to see how 'fun' the film was. 

Friday 19 November 2010

Props Narrative Stucture

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.


The Villain - The Queen, who tries to kill Snow White.

The Hero – The Prince, who saves Snow White.

The Donor- The Forester, who was sent to kill Snow White sets her free.

The Helper – The seven dwarfs who keep her safe at their house.

The Princess – Snow White who is the fairest of them all, she is the step-daughter of the queen and the daughter of the king.

The Dispatcher- the animals who tell the dwarfs that Snow White has been poisoned.

The False Hero – The queen as she dresses up as an old woman to trick Snow White into eating the poisoned apple.

Monday 8 November 2010

Todorov's Narrative Theory

  State of equilibrium
  Disruption of that order
  Recognition that the disruption has occurred
  An attempt to repair the damage
  A return or restoration of a new equilibrium




An example I used was from the film Toy Story 1


Firstly there is the state of equilibrium where all of Andy's toys are happy, this is before Andy's party.


Then there is the disruption (disequilibrium), Andy got a new toy for his birthday, the toy was called Buzz Light Year. Woody and Buzz Light Year become very competitive for Andy's attention.

Next is the Recognition of disruption. Buzz light year believes he can fly and is in fact a real space commander. Woody quickly becomes very jealous of Buzz. Woody then pushes Buzz out of the window, all of the other toys lose trust in Woody and start to dislike him.

As an attempt to repair disruption Woody tries to save Buzz and be friends again with the other toys.

A return or restoration of NEW equilibrium, Buzz and Woody work together and set a firework they very fortunately land in through the top of the car, and are back with Andy on their way to the new house.

Thursday 14 October 2010

Preliminary Task

Preliminary Task
The preliminary task I have just completed was a very useful way of learning how to operate the camera, edit on the computer and to work as a team. The preliminary task was to film someone enter a room, sit down and have a conversation using filming techniques.
The filming techniques we learnt were how to use the 180 degree rule, the over the shoulder shot used for conversations, a camera following someone, and using continuity where one action moves into another, for example filming someone walking through a door showing both sides of the door. We also learnt to zoom, how to use tri-pods and make use of the room we were in. The 180-degree shot is best understood by imaginably drawing a line down the centre of the frame and keeping the camera on one side of the line but able to move it up, down, left and right but cannot cross the line as that changes the audience’s perspective of the shot. The match-on-action is where an action is continued into the next for example in this task an exterior shot of the character opening the door which moves to an interior shot of them entering the room. The shot/reverse shot is normally where one character is sitting down and looking at the other character that is off screen. The shot then switches to them, looking back at the original character. This is how most conversations are filmed.
We learnt to use the editing tool on the Mac computer called Final Cut Express. Whilst using Final Cut express, I came across a sound adjustment tool; this was very useful in making an unwanted sound of a plane in my film much more quiet than before.
During the preliminary task we started to learn from our mistakes, such as practical issues. The whole preliminary task including the filming and the editing was very time consuming. Sometimes rooms were not available, therefore in the future we need to make sure we had a room booked so we did lose any valuable time. Other issues were unwanted sounds. We need to make sure that the surrounding areas are quiet before filming, as sometimes there were children’s voices in the background.
For the storyboard we wrote a basic script and planned it out on an A3 piece of paper showing each shot; this was extremely helpful for when we started to film. There were some issues with filming the shots as when we came to edit we found that I was standing in Holly’s shot, we must make sure that there is nobody in the shot that isn’t needed. Also occasionally there was a reflection of the person filming in a glass window or door, we would need to make sure the person filming stood at an angle where they would not be seen in a reflection. Another issue was the heights of people; I originally used Kayleigh to knock at the door and Shereen to answer but because Kayleigh is considerably taller than Shereen, Kayleigh blocked her out. We decided to switch them around so Shereen was to knock at the door and Kayleigh to answer, this worked much better.
For our films most of us used props, such as an X Factor ticket and a clock. The clock was filmed hand held so it came out a bit shaky; I should have used the tri-pod, as sometimes the handheld camera movement was too obvious.
Overall the preliminary task was a great way to learn how to use filming techniques, learn from our mistakes and understand how to use Final Cut Express on the Mac computer. We had a camera operator come visit us one lesson and he gave us tips on how to improve our film techniques. First of all we showed him our preliminary videos and he told us what we did wrong for example having too much room above peoples heads, this was very helpful. It would be great if he could come and visit again to give us advice with our actual first 2 minutes of a film.