EVALUATION-Visual Kandy

Evaluation:

I was looking forward to commencing this brief as the main draw for me into digital media was movie title sequences and channel "Idents" although at the time I didn't know they were called that! I just referred to them as "graphic things" so I was excited about getting to use after effects as I'd never used it before!

I chose to do "custard" because I like cartoons and quirky fun things so I thought I could do something similar to my Treesprite story that I did for the interactive brief, which I really enjoyed because I got to use my own narrative and was able to go wild and create my own thing.

I started with the idea of using the ingredients used to make custard, I knew that I would stick to this idea no matter what so there was no point wasting time going through lots of ideas, although I did think about different ways in which I could do this, (as you can see from earlier posts) I thought of pouring ingredients into letter shapes, making a custard pie and filming it, etc but in the end I decided I wanted a little story that would appeal to kids, so I chose to have an egg getting slaughtered and then mixed in with flour etc and the word Custard to appear from the mixture, I was never 100% on how I was going to implement this aspect however.

I thought the slight dark humor involved would appeal to older kids and the brief stated that it wanted a fun and chaotic Ident and logo.

I did have to change things at the end, because I found my entire script was over and done with in about 12 seconds, so I had to improvise and add the "flour clouds" into the mix that would then become the word custard instead of the egg yolk, I'm glad I did this however as I think it looks much better.

I know this all comes down to having an animatic and wish I had done a better one with the sound then I would have a better idea of timing, this has made me realize how important this part is, I did have an experimental movie that I did on pencil but it is not a fully realized animatic with sound.

I did do a little research on the "tweens" and found that most shows aimed at them are documentary style, cooking, arts and crafts, animals, discovery etc rather than ben 10 and fosters home for imaginary friends, (although I like kids cartoons I had to remember that older kids just want to be grown up and so cartoons are probably considered very "un-cool" for them) this is why I came up with the idea of cooking some custard because it would be real life footage as a pose to a cartoon, and it would have some kind of instruction and "coolness" to it, (cause I would have made making a custard look cool!) but then I really wanted to have it as a cartoony graphicy look, my reasoning being that it would be easier to create the writing using graphics instead of attempting to do them using moulds etc, plus I didn't have the money to get these made!

so maybe if this was a professional brief and I had funding I would have gone with the first idea, (live film footage) and would have involved some kids in the process so that it felt more like it was "their" channel and involved them in some way.

But I am happy with the result of my ident and I can see it being used on a kids TV channel, but maybe one aimed at younger viewers, but to be fair the brief was a bit odd in that it came across as being a show for younger kids in the way it was presented and even the title, but then it went on to say it was for tweens? this just seemed a bit mismatched anyway and as it was a fictional brief I felt a little improvisation would be ok.

With regard to using the software, thankfully I found it quite easy in comparison to other packages we've worked with, I had to view a few tutorials on "video co-pilot" before I could even start a project so thank you to VCP for having such clear and concise tutorials that I had no trouble following, they are stars! and I didn't even have to pay them! how ironic.

We had a 2 day introduction in to the software at college as usual and then you are expected to find out the rest yourself, which I did, and am glad I did, I don't feel this justifies the expense of the course however and am a little put out that when I asked for help on a couple of occasions I was not given it. However on other occasions I was helped by the technicians and Matt did come and see how my work was going a few times and offered a bit of help too so I am thankful

for the effort.

I am very happy with my attempt considering it was my first time and I had no training, I am looking forward to using after effects again and want to explore the software package in more depth and would like to experiment with live footage and fonts next time I use it.

I previously wanted to go down the "Flash" route but am not so sure now as it seems I can do the same in AE.

Having now done a bit of everything and with the decision of what we want to specialize in coming up I would say I definitely drawn to motion graphics as I thought I would be, and would like to learn a hell of a lot more! but I am also still interested in 2D animation which I can do in AE of Flash.

If I had to do this brief again I would produce an animatic that demonstrated timing, sound etc and I would experiment with more ideas, but again to be fair I would need more time to do all of this, or maybe now that I know the software a bit better I would feel more able to just get on with it instead of feeling a little lost and unmotivated as a result of not knowing the software.

Finished Ident! well pretty much....

Well I rushed toward the end, with the 5 logo,

I had completely forgotten about that! I like

how it comes into the sequence, but the square

box around it doesn't look good, if I were to

go back and tweak it I would remove that box

and just have the word 5. I would also have the

eggy custard word drip down over the five logo.

However I don't think I will be tweaking it anymore,

I doubt it will affect my mark, but maybe this is

something I could return to later if I want it in my

portfolio?

But right now I have too much other stuff to get on

with and would just like to move on!!

Tweens research

Well I haven't really blogged since returning to college, so here is my first year 2 blog-post! the brief is "visual candy" and we have to create an ident for a fictional tv channel that is 20 seconds long and meets all the criteria as set out in the brief.

Of the 5 channel choices, I am drawn to the pre-teens kids channel "custard" which requires a chaotic, energetic and visually dynamic channel ident to display between shows etc and to identify the channel with.

The brief also involves making a new logo for the channel, I cannot look at previous examples as this is a fictional station, however I have looked at some logo's for some other childrens TV shows such as:

Cbeebies is a channel from the BBC that is aimed at pre-schoolers, under 5's. It shows puppet based shows that revolve around song and dance, numbers and colors, ie: tweenies, teletubbies, night garden etc.

CBBC is the regular CBBC channel that is aimed at 6-9 year olds or there abouts, content is more vocational and looks at the environment, cooking, arts and crafts, gadget shows, animals and generally more documentary styled programs.

The cartoon network is aimed at children aged around 8-12 but rather than being educational or documentary themed it is totally random cartoons that are often gross out humor, ie: Ed, Edd and Eddie, Rem & Stimpy, ben 10 etc.

I would say alot of teens and even adults like to watch these shows!

This is the old Nickelodeon logo (above)

and other variations below, this channel shows alot more live shows such as i carly and the troop, their are some CGI based shows, (Jimmy neutron) and traditional cell shaded stuff like spongebob, fairly odd parents, fosters home for imaginary friends etc.

more variations on the logo used for the channel and some for marketing, print, etc.

There is also a Nick Junior channel aimed at younger viewers and a Nicktoons channel which is purely cartoons, wheras Nick Junior looks at pre-school entertainment such as arts and crafts, puppet based shows, music and dance etc similar to Cbeebies.

There is also Jetix, a channel which to me seems to be aimed at boys who are probably aged between 6-11 or in other words "tweens" as all their shows are definitely "boy" orientated, ie: batman, iron man, dennis the menace, storm hawks, galactik football etc.

There is the Disney Channel which is aimed at a variety of age groups, they have sections for boys, girls, teens, pre-schoolers with playhouse disney which shows winnie the pooh, mickey mouse etc and the tween aimed channels air stuff like hannah montana, high school musical etc. which are basically updated versions of grease, mandy comics, etc.

There is also the Discovery kids channel which focusses on animal shows, documentary's, history programs etc. It's basically an encyclopedia put into media rich TV shows for kids!

I was thinking of these information type shows aimed at tweens in line with the custard brief, and I immediately thought of shows such as Art attack, that cooking game show hosted by leslie something? was it called splat? shows about construction and deconstruction, that's the kind of stuff that they like at that age so my initial idea was to look at making an Ident that focussed on actually making custard in a cut down compact little film that would end with the word custard being formed from the ingredients, so that could be the kids making the custard and taking it out of the oven to find it was made in the shape of the word or it could simply be moulds made to hold the ingredients separately, each as a different letter.

The only problem I had with this was that it would have a home-made budget feel to it, and I don't feel that this will work for the brief, most Children's TV channels use graphics for Idents and logos, (see above) this allows them to be clear, concise and clean cut whilst at the same time being colorful and chaotic adding movement and sound to grab attention and add dynamism.

Another thing I noted whilst looking into these brands is that their identities are very STRONG and clear on what they are, each one is instantly recognizable and they each stand out from each other and are very different in relation to adult TV logos and graphics.

The other problem I have with this brief is that the name Custard relates to Cbeebies, Milkshake and that kind of thing so anyone would instantly assume that it is a pre-school channel rather than a station for older children to watch, so will my cute characters appeal to this demographic? They appeal to me as an adult, and I'm sure what with brands such as Tokidoki and harajuku lovers being very popular now with young adults and teens alike that this look will be appealing, I just need to make sure the overall execution works and them I'm sure it will be ok as there will be the construction/making elements involved and a little bit of quirky fun and jokey violence thrown in which our youtube/facebook generation of kids will definitely appreciate.

Pet Society is a very popular facebook game based on the also popular and somewhat revolutionary in it's time "animal crossing" game for the nintendo gamecube, although it is an over 13 years based chat site, the game also appeals to younger players, there are also similar games available for the DS for children in the tween age group that are similar in gameplay to this and so I feel that if they like this sort of thing that my storyboard can work.

Channel 5 logo

I have been looking at a few channel 5 logo's to use in the brief and just decided to go with the standard "FIVE" one as it seemed more official to me and familiar.

I did like the colored logo but felt it would take alot more to get it in, and I do not have the time at this stage to do what I would want to with it.

More storyboards!

Here are some new storyboards and ideas that I have been thinking about, basically I want to have more of a narrative involved so have decided to start with the eggs being shown in their box, but some are missing, a hand appears and takes one of the eggs, (I think it would look interesting to have a "real" image of a hand, rather than a hand drawn one, similar to the collage techniques used in some of the monty python films) the egg looks scared as he is set down only to see the remains of the other "missing" eggs lying around, he looks around nervously for a second or two before the "evil spoon" appears which then proceeds to crack him open, the remains spill onto the floor and then the word "custard" comes into play, via one of the methods shown above. I have decided to leave out the other ingredients and focus on the eggs in favor of narrative, I feel that although it would have been good to have the other ingredients thrown in as it would have had more of a connection to the brief title, it wouldn't have worked as nicely narrative-wise, and was only added in for the sake of it, I think to stick with the eggs as a storyline is much better, and I like the story, it has undertones of horror that I think will intrigue young audiences alike. Of course I will be asked why an egg? how is it relevant to custard? well you need eggs to make custard, and what you are seeing is in fact a part of the "custard making process" it's just been characterized and simplified for the sake of children's entertainment! The brief is to make something wacky and appealing and I think that's what I've done.

with regard to sound. I want to have an annoying zany beat with children's voices shouting "CUSTARD" at the end when the word custard appears onscreen and the channel 5 logo.

I have arranged to record this sound at my children's school and will then import it into my project!

Test movie

This is just a test film of how my finished work may look, or to give an idea of timing, this basically starts with one egg rather than the 4 needed to make custard, he is highly characterized and expressional. He is then cracked open by a vicious spoon and becomes a splatter of egg, (also characterized) who then looks up to see a bag of flour falling on top of him, this is followed by some sugar and salt, vanilla extract that all becomes a ball of mush, this then explodes into the word "custard" on screen.

I would like to start the film by showing a box of 6 eggs that is then opened and then one egg is picked for slaughter as such, the other eggs can look scared, relieved etc. I could even have some missing already, and then when the new egg is selected for slaughter he notices other bits of egg shell scattered around him and gets a bit nervous....

Visual Kandy Custard storyboards

BUDDHA FRUIT!

Aren't these the coolest fruits ever? results were attained by using a buddha shaped mold and putting it around the pears as they are growing. created by Gao Xianzhang, A Chinese farmer. you've gotta love the Chinese!

I wonder if this will take off? will they start creating tele-tubby shaped fruits to encourage children to eat? Xianzhang has spent 6 years perfecting his technique and has cropped 10,000 pears this year alone and is planning to export them to britain and the rest of europe soon so look out for baby buddha pears! I think I will buy some and try to preserve them as they are far to cute to eat! 

Watchmen The Directors cut movie review

After waiting for a couple of weeks for my US region 1 directors cut to come through the door, (I did not see the film at the cinema and had no intention of watching the cut down UK version) I finally got settled down to watch it last night! and what a treat it was! I did not find the film dragged, It was not slow or boring at all as others have put it, I found the pacing to be spot on and in line with the comic and the motion comic film which I watched before this. I would definitely recommend watching the directors cut if at all possible because I can't imagine how the film could work without vital scenes such as the comedian rape scene, Hollace death scene, the scene in which Manhattan tells silk spectre 2 that he has no link to the world anymore without her- all these scenes show vital character development and should not have been cut out, I would be very annoyed watching the UK version without these scenes and am glad I watched this first, I think the UK version would have ruined the film to an extent, however for non fans of the graphic novel it may just work out ok as they will have no knowledge of these scenes, I still think they are important however but then again this film may not appeal so much to non-fans as they may find it harder to follow as it is a confusing story the first time around. OK i won't talk about the plot because everyone knows that the plot is good, that it broke standard superhero conventions, that it took the comic genre to new heights, that is the comic of all comics, and that is it a non conformist post modern tale I will ever be thankful for. But there is no need for me to harp on about the plot, let's get to the characters... The Comedian played by a guy that looks like a chubbier and less attractive version of Robert Downey Jr is exceptional as othes have pointed out, he completely nails the role, for me it felt as though he WAS the comedian from the graphic novel and that he had simply stepped from the paper pages to the big screen, yes he was THAT good! and I love how despite the character doing some terrible things we still feel some kind of connection to him and get that feeling of loss at his death, (this is not a spoiler- the whole plot revolves around his death, which happens at the start of the film) and even find him likable despite these flaws, they only serve to make him more human than what we would expect from a superhero character. For example in the scene where he shoots the pregnant women, (again I may as well mention this as several others have, plus it does not give away anything of the plot) in Dr. Manhattans presence, it's as if he "wanted" Manhattan to stop him, so although he did it, it was a compulsive action rather than a pre-meditated act, and a part of him probably hoped he would be stopped, but the fact that he wasn't only serves to push his F*****d up view of society and the world even further into chaos. (this scene also gives insight into Dr. Manhattan and his growing detachment/conflict with humanity) the Comedian for me was the best character in the film, followed by Rorschach. Rorschach was also exceptional and I couldn't see him being any other way, I did imagine him to be taller and sexier but we all know he is meant to be ugly under that mask, no matter how intriguing his voice may be, I still found him a likable character, they cut out some of the scenes when he was locked up and talking to the doctor, but obviously they have to cut some stuff and at least they left enough of it in to give you some idea of who he was. there's nothing else I can say about him really, I felt he handled the role well, it's a shame they didn't explain about how he got the mask and became Rorschach, I felt that part was also important but they left it out, they could easily have done it in a few minutes like the dog scene? Osimodus (sorry about spelling) at first annoyed me, because he was a scrawny, stuck up looking ponce! in the book he is a greek god type figure with long hair, however he did grow on me and I liked him by the end feeling he gave a good performance with what little screen time he had, I didn't like his cat, it should have been red. It looked a little CGI heavy for me, couldn't they have filmed a real wild cat? (tame of course) then changed it with CGI rather than the entire animal being CGI? anyway that is a minor... Night owl and Silk spectre, I liked night owl, he even looked like the guy in the comic, nothing amazing but he did the role and that's that, decent acting, no complaints, silk spectre, hmmm, some people are going to think I'm being bitchy here but I'm not, I thought she was very pretty at times, (with the fringe) but felt she could have been sexier, her body was too straight, she had bad skin, (covered with make-up) but I didn't dislike her, I thought she was OK, but in the book she is meant to b every young and absolutely beautiful, much more beautiful than Janey and clearly younger, however I felt her and Janey looked the same age, which annoyed me a little, maybe they should have just made Janey look older and less beautiful then the difference between them would have been much more obvious, Dr. Manhattan even says himself that Janey is getting older every day, however she still looks as young as silky to me? Silks mother was very pretty, in fact she was stunning! not at all the old chain smoking hag in the book, she was far more beautiful than her daughter so again this makes me question the actress playing silk spectre 2, surely she should have been absolutely stunning? anyway looks aside, they were all OK in their roles. Dr. Manhattan was great, but I felt they should have kept in more scenes about him from the book, I feel his character in this movie was let down the most in terms of development, his inner conflict with loosing touch with humanity and being in different times all at once is much better handled in the book, but I would have thought it fairly easy to convert that to the big screen? the scene in which he goes to mars and we are shown a glimpse of what time is like for him was touched upon in the film but they didn't do it right, they cut out vital parts, they did not focus on the picture of him and Janey that he carried in his hand and took to Mars with him, the one that he kept dropping, (anyone who's seen the motion comics will know what I mean) it's such a hauntingly beautiful scene that tells you so much about him with a few words and images, yes it would have taken about 5 to 10 minutes to portray but it would have been worth it and it would have given us so much more of who Manhattan was. thankfully the directors cut has more of his discussion with silky on mars, I can't imagine how disappointing the UK version must be without this... By the way, the love scene involving Manhattan and Silk Spectre could have been better handled, but again it's a good scene to have in and gives us a bit more insight into Manhattan and his relationship with Silk.) The only other thing I can talk about is the ending. It didn't really bother me that they had changed it to a more linear one for film, perhaps the original ending would have seemed silly? I don't know why they changed it but I remember reading somewhere that it was because the original couldn't be done? why not? Anyway I thought the new ending was ok, it had more emotional impact, I won't say why due to possible spoilers, and it tied things up in a more round-about way, It would have been cool if they did both endings, rather like Will smiths "I am Legend" and DVD viewers could have been treated to an alternate ending, it would have been good for fans as this ending was clearly for newcomers who may not like the comic ending. Overall I think this was an excellent adaption, probably the best adaption ever! and as close as possible as it could have been! I have read reviews complaining that the fight scene in the Alley involving night owl and Silky was too long and OTT, so because I had read this before watching it, it came to mind when watching it, however I cannot decide if I think it is too long or not, yes it may have been more effective if it was shorter and less violent, (I don't mind violence at all and personally find censorship is a pain in the butt, but sometimes some scenes don't really need it whilst others definitely do need it to be effective such as the rape scene for example) I did think hmm, superheroes breaking peoples limbs? would they do that? maybe it was to empathize their thrill at returning to the old ways again? Another scene brought up in previous reviews was the love scene between the 2 of them, (owl and silk) yes this was a bit laughable, and the music was dumb, but I wouldn't say it ruined the film or anything! maybe it was meant to be comical? either way it is not detrimental to the plot so I wouldn't worry about it too much as others have, but each to their own, other's won't be bothered as much as i was about Janey being young or Silk not been hot enough etc. (and I am not a lesbian! I just think she was meant to be young and beautiful, in a natural way, not covered in make-up, Janey seemed to be more naturally beautiful than her but in the book she is an aging nagging wife type etc and the young girl is enticing etc, you know what I mean! if you had a solid gold or platinum rock, would you chuck it away for an piece of silver?) anyway I would highly recommend this film, to fans and non-fans, despite the slight ending change I still think fans will like it, some non fans may find it confusing, but it beats Batman, spiderman and all the rest out there, this is a superhero film for ADULTS and nothing else comes close, I am so glad they did not sell out and make it a 12 or a 15 just to generate young viewers as Raimi's "Drag me to helll" did! Superb film and I will be watching it again soon! PLEASE CONSIDER GETTING THE DIRECTORS CUT IF YOU CAN- I wouldn't want to waste anytime on a cut down version, yes in some cases films are better cut down but not in this case, watchmen is a complex story which needs at least 4 hours to do it justice so at the very least get the 3 hour plus version, and for those who find it boring to sit through a long film and moan about it dragging I say give it a miss then and stick to Emmerdale farm rather than watching something you simply cannot appreciate and then bashing it because you don't have the attention span!

DRAG ME TO HELL, JUST DON'T FORGET THE POPCORN!

That's exactly what this is, a "Popcorn" flick, not to be taken too seriously, (obviously) I did find it good in parts, but it didn't scare me in the way Japanese horrors do, there was no tension or build up of any kind, but then again that was not the point, the film was marketed as a return to "old skool scares" and on that, It delivered, in a way.

The editing was good, the effects were OK in parts but very cheap CGI looking in other parts, (for example in the shed when the old women comes at her, yet again, we see some horrendous CGI- but I won't say what for so as not to spoil) I really wanted to enjoy this film, and I was until I couldn't bare the noise from a group of teens sat to my left anymore, from the moment I walked in and noticed them I knew they were not going to shut up, (they were running around, shouting at each other at the top of their voices, throwing things etc etc) 20 mins into the film they had still not settled down and were driving me f****** mad! (every little thing that happened they had to make a big noise over it, for example, a fly goes into the girls mouth, and the group of teens must have shouted and made stupid jokes about it for at least 5 minutes) this became unbearable and completely ruined the enjoyment of the film for the whole cinema, as unfortunately no one had the guts to tell them to shut up, and the teens knew this and reveled from the fact! even bragging about it and making fun of the situation. Anyway back to the film! It had some really good scare scenes, I don't think I jumped, no I didn't, there was not enough suspense for that, except one scene in which the "devil thing" is coming up the stairs for her but all you see is it's shadow, that scene was quite good, and if the film had concentrated more on the "lamia-the demon/devil thing" rather than the old gypsy women the film would have been alot better, I feel the old women was rather over-used and I was getting a bit tired of her running at the girl like a zombie, (as in running with her arms aimed at her throat) only to vomit in her mouth or suck her chin, really very nasty rather than scary, but of course when the yukky event had finished the girl would be all clean and vomit free!

There is a fly in it a few times but it's significance is never explained, nor does it really do anything? Justin Long as the boyfriend and professor/tutor is wasted, I feel anyone could have played this part and Justin is still very young looking and didn't really fit the role that well, although he didn't do anything wrong mind, I just feel an older not as well known for being "funny" actor would have been better.

The twist at the end is predictable, it would have been good to have shocked me but I knew what was going to happen half-way through the film.

I will still buy this for my DVD collection when it comes out as I found it very entertaining and would be great to watch with a group of friends! It's just not what I expected, so maybe that's what set e up for disappointment? watch it as an entertainment popcorn flick and you'll enjoy it a whole lot more, just don't go in expecting greatness or you will  feel like you've been dragged to hell and back! (haha)

p.s. watch out for the stupid "goat" scene, which is the point which ruined it for me completely, and there is also a "Freddy krueger" rip-off.

Evaluation for video part 2

Video Part Two, “In a minute” Evaluation by Kelly Bruce.

 

I was excited about doing the 2^nd part of the video module as I wanted to get a better understanding of filming and using the camera, as for the first part of video early on in the year I felt my video could have been a lot stronger.

This time I would get to work in a group as last time I had been limited to working alone, as I had started the course later than the rest of the class.

I chose to work with Hoi Kam and Katharine as I was working with them on the second life brief and we all felt we worked well together and it would be worthwhile to continue as such, we had even given ourselves a group identity of 3K, and were going to have this in the credits of our film, but for some reason I think that part was forgotten! But nevermind!

At first I secretly wanted to work on my own as I had an idea and wanted it all to myself, for the fact that I just didn’t want anyone else to try and change it so maybe I was being a little selfish but as it happens I told Katharine and Hoi Kam and they both really liked it and along the way we did change things but as a team, my initial worries of having my idea completely altered were all for nothing! And I am very pleased with the result of the video and felt that we all again worked very well as a team.

To keep things organised I wrote a script, which we all read, but to be honest we had talked about the story so much that we all had a clear understanding of how it was going to work out in our heads! And because of this communication everything went to plan on the day of filming and we got everything done pretty quickly!

We did change things along the way slightly, for example the first scene was meant to be filmed twice so that we could use special effects and have the ghost on screen with the student at the same time and for her to replace her reflection in the mirror, however due to time and technical limitations we decided to not use special effects, but to just opt out of showing certain aspects of the film in the camera to give the effect we wanted in a different way.

In the 2^nd scene we were going to use special effects to have the ghost’s reflection follow the student through the reflective surfaces of pictures, glass etc. but instead we found a small square indoor window and decided that the student would stop here so that the ghost could make an appearance behind her though the window instead!

I had intended on playing a part in the movie having felt that if I wasn’t in it then it wouldn’t feel like my work, as my past videos have always had me in them, but playing the director was a good decision as I got to direct the actors who were very professional and much easier to work with than my mum! (Last video) and I also got to oversee what was going on and decide how I wanted the camera’s to operate etc.

But I made sure to take on board any ideas that Hoi Kam and Katharine had changing things here and there so that we were all happy.

I think the key to our project being successful was the cooperation and communication between us, which proved to be very effective, and helped us with time management.

We edited the video together, and Katherine did a great job on the title and credits, (she also helped me with the camera as I was unsure how to set up the tri-pod and silly things like that!)

I am a little disappointed that we were not shown any advanced video techniques in order to improve on the first attempt, besides a ten minute introduction or demonstration on how to set up the correct lighting for ‘green-screen’ use we didn’t get any further tutorage, something that I feel would have been useful, however I am sure if I had spoken to my tutors I would have gotten some extra help but as I was in a team did not need to worry so much as we all pulled together and helped each other so It’s not like there was no support, and we were assisted as much as possible with getting the footage off the tape although this was a tad frustrating as the AV suite was always too busy for us to get into, it’s a shame we didn’t have any dedicated time allocated to us as a year, but we managed without it ok once we got a tape player into the studio.

With regards to the sound, we used a soundtrack from an "Anime" however this was a mistake as we cannot enter the video into the one minute film festival because we would need copyright permission so I changed the sound by getting some "royalty free" sound effects from "sound-dogs.com".

The effects we used were “add noise” and “blink” to get the flickering, which I am not 100% happy with, it’s not the look we were after, we wanted a more static-like TV interference effect but were limited with time and unfortunately had no training in after effects which I have heard that we could have done all that and more in such as making the ghost scenes play backwards to give a creepy effect, I only wish we had had a full 2 weeks training induction for that but I’m sure we will next year so that is something to look forward to!

Overall I am very happy with the outcome and look forward to advancing my video skills in the next year working both alone and in a team.

 

PRESENCE

Here is the finished Video! I have spent the last two hours faffing about with the noise filter, but have decided the video with less noise is better as we will most likely loose quality on a bigger screen anyway. In fact I wish I had the version without noise now!

RUBBERDUCKZILLA!

I F****** love this tv ad! it's hilarious! 

one minute video

So today we began filming! I decided not to be a ghost in the video, as I didn't feel my face looked right for the part and that gave me the perfect opportunity to get behind the camera instead, this way I was able to direct the actors and control the camera at the same time. I felt alot more confident with using the kit this time around, and feel it was used alot more professionally in comparison with last time I used it.

I still wasn't sure what I was doing with the white balance and settings etc but Katherine was a great help to me with this, taking care of the settings for me. I am a little  disappointed  that over the year I have not had tutoring with this, I would have thought that the second time round we would be shown advanced techniques, however all we got was a ten minute "presentation" on how to set up the lighting on green screen, nothing practical and no advanced editing tips.

But anyway, I did Hoi Kam's make-up, (she was now going to take-over my bathroom scene) And we got to work! filming went really well for the day especially considering how busy the college was, people were walking past constantly in the hallway, a guy even walked past right in the middle of filming and we had to cut! but side from that one ignorant person the rest waited for us which was nice, and the teacher for the room at the top of the stairs we were using allowed us to occupy the space for a while. 

It was fun having Hoi Kam as a ghost walk around the college, she got alot of looks and one guy jumped when he saw her on his way out of a classroom! that was funny.

The last scene had Hoi Kam quite far in the distance so I had to shout "action" for her to come into the scene quite loudly! (i felt a bit stupid doing that but oh well!) Here are some pictures from the days shoot! (above)

Make-up designs

I have been thinking of some ideas for my ghost character, and started by covering myself in powder! after ten minutes of powdering my face I gave up, it wasn't going to get as white as I wanted it with just talc!

It just didn't seem enough, so I darkened my eyebrows... then I added more blackness to my eyes, and more. but still look like a twit and not a scarey monster! 

 Maybe if my hair was still long and black it would look better, I can't possibly be a scarey ghost with a new haircut and color! lol

brought out the red lipstick for blood! a little better I guess, maybe the pale ghost looks just doesn't work on me, so I can be the "clown" ghost and Hoi Kam the "pale" ghost! 

well hopefully we will be able to edit the video afterwards to make it scarier.....

(will add pics tomorrow as server keeps crashing)

Stage one, still not scarey enough...

OK, so I add more "blackness" to the eyes, still not scarey...

Maybe some blood to the lips? nah still doesn't look right!

Scared yet? hmmm. maybe you are, but it's still not the right look! am glad I decided to "opt out" of being a ghost and let Hoi Kam do it all because she was Awesome and had the right look!

New Storyboards!

Here are the finalized scripts! here is the script we are going to be following: 

(Hoi Kam is the camera in this scene)

Camera: set up opposite door in Ladies toilets, facing door.

Action: Katherine comes in and walks across the room toward the mirror closest the camera, here she stops and fixes her hair in the mirror.

Camera: camera pans toward katherine, (from behind, but staying at an angle so that camera is not caught in the mirror) now Katherine's reflection can be seen quite clearly.

Action: Katherine looks down to wash her hands, at which point Kelly ghost will appear in the mirror and be seen to be looking at her, (jump scene) Katherine does not look in the mirror again but turns to dry hands, (hand dryer is to the right of the mirror)

Camera: camera will pan slightly to show Katherine drying her hands, but at the same time the reflection of ghost kelly will still be there (out of focus, focus on Katherine) staring at her.

Action: Katherine turns and walks straight toward the door without looking back in any of the mirrors. Kelly ghost will follow her from her initial place to the last mirror, (she cannot go any further as she is only in the mirrors) Kelly ghost will glide behind her on roller skates.

Camera: the camera must only follow the mirrors at this point, the actors cannot be picked up in "real" life as the viewers will then see kelly ghost out of the mirror and she is only allowed to be seen in the mirror for the effect to work.

The camera will need to be inbetween the actors and the mirrors but also at an angle following or in front of the action so as not to be picked up in the mirrors.

Action: as kelly ghost and Katherine get to the last mirror, kelly ghost reaches out and touches katherine's hair, (all seen in mirror) Katherine turns but no-one is behind her, Kelly ghost is stood staring at her from the last mirror but Katherine never looks in it.

Camera: Camera will need to be stopped and adjusted "before" the hair touch part so that it only picks up the hand touching the hair, this is so that when the hand pulls away kelly ghost has a chance to get out of the scene into a cubicle without it being caught on camera, even if the camera is stopped it still won't explain her being there one minute then gone the next when the camera is turned back on, so it's better to use the hand only for this bit then when it pulls away, (just before Katherine turns) there is no issues with continuity. 

Action: Katherine leaves the room.

Camera: cut scene as door shuts.

Scene 2! (Kelly is the Camera in this scene) 

Action: Katherine is now walking down a long corridor, midway down she stops to look at some posters on the wall to her left. (we will need to put these in place) there are 2 small windows just above this area with steps behind them. 

Camera: Camera will be following Katherine down the corridor (hand held style to give the feeling that she is being followed) and will stop and pan follow her when she is detouring to read the posters.

Action: Hoi Kam ghost appears in the first window above Katherine, Katherine does not notice, Hoi Kam ghost stares at her, when Katherine moves slightly, Hoi Kam ghost moves across to the next window and opens mouth? (we could make this look all black and scarey using special effects)

Camera, same position, just follows the action.

Action: Katherine turns away from the posters to continue on her route, however Hoi Kam Ghost is now stood with her back to Katherine at the other side of the corridor, (eye lift scene style) Katherine does notice her but avoids her and keeps walking, Hoi Kam ghost turns slightly with awkward cracky movements.

camera: follows Katherine again but focus is more on Hoi Kam ghost who is directly in the camera as it turns, (jump scene) after filming hoi Kams turn with Katherine walking away out of focus Camera turns back to Katherine, full focus.

Action: Katherine is now a bit further down the corridor when her phone rings, Katherine gets her phone out of her bag.

Camera: fades to black as Katherine is picking up her phone.

Voice 1: "Hello?"

Voice 2: "ggggggggggggaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrr"

Tone: "beep beep beep beep"

the credits for the film will be playing at the same time as the voices, credits fade in and out, eerie music in the background.

For sound we are going to cut all sounds out and have an ambient musical score playing softly, with bangs etc for jump scenes. the sound will fade at the end for the voices.

Breathing Pets!

when I first saw these I thought they were hideous, they freaked me out as they looked like dead stuffed animals, I thought they were a little morbid, then when I saw the breathing ones I thought they were just bloody ridiculous, but then something strange happened, I saw one in the corner of the room in it's bed in someone's house and thought it looked fantastic! (they look better in the corner of a room than on a stall with hundreds of them!) I couldn't take my eyes of it and decided there and then I was going to get one because I'd like a dog but can't get one because i'd never be able to look after it! and not too long ago I was looking at robotic pets but they are WAY too expensive, so here is a nice cheap alternative! Oh I forgot to say that that they "breathe" up and down to look like real sleeping pets! weird huh? but they are so cute!

New Animatic

Here's a new animatic I have done for the one minute horror video, this time with the girl walking down a corridor, I really enjoyed making the animatic, more for the editing, I love putting things together! the only qualm I have with this one is that I made the girl go too far down the corridor for the final effect so it is very tiny to see as a result! but I can't be assed doing it all again! but I might continue to make these little horror animatics as I really enjoy doing this kind of thing! It get's all my creativity flowing again, something that hasn't happened since the interactive brief. :-(

Of course I have strayed a bit from the plan as there's no way we can pull off the end bit, but it's just to give viewers a feel for what we are hoping to achieve, so the final film will be similar but not "exactly" the same.