So, last tutorial session we got asked to find any object we wanted and write about its aesthetics. I chose my trusty DreamCast controller, 'cause even though the console flopped, I still love the old thing :3
It's a large controller, but it's not chunky, so you can hold onto it easily, and it's got bright coloured buttons so you can learn the controls by colours, not just by the letter written on the buttons. It's got a geomtric layout, with a circle in the centre and triangles on the sides. I also realised that it looks like a spaceship from a video game. The main controller in a pale grey, but helps other parts of the controller stand out. The analogue stick and the directional buttonss have gaps around them, so it's shadowed and easier to see.
The back part's got a gap so you can either have the wire facing up or down. The way the holds on the controller are raised make it so your hands easily place on the right parts (like the index fingers on the shoulder buttons). It's also got a bulge on the back to placing the VMUs (memory cards) into it. This also helps the fingers wrap around the controller.
I've only just realised that you can directly upload video to blogger, so here's my lamp pixilation from earlier that I only posted a link to :3
You can submit this with the rest of your work to improve your marks, right?
I'll post my analysis on an object once I've decided what to look at. I figured either a PlayStation controller or DreamCast controller (doubt anyone else'll choose that XD)
Yesterday we got to the studio and got filming. It went really well, apart from having to use a lower quality camera that ended up blurring for a second during the one take we got right.
Here's some pics for the filming session.
I'll post more details about it tomorrow along with the uneditted footage and the finished film.
"Roles: Donna: Scripting and character profiles Hayley: Storyboarding and Lighting assistance Cliff: Lighting Tom: Booking equipment and studio and Camera duty (We all have roles in the movie) We all have each others phone numbers in order for us to communicate with one another. Our workload is pretty much the same as the roles written above, I have produced all of the information below whilst the others are doing what it says beside their names.
Character Profiles:
Character One - Played by Cliff Cook Name: John Thompson Age: 21 John is the main character in the movie who has been betrayed by all of his three closest friends.
Character Two - Played by Donna Massam Name: Jeniffer Saunders Age:21 Connection to main character: Ex-girlfriend His ex girlfriend Jeniffer gets drunk one night with John and Daniel one night, John passes out because he's too drunk, one thing leads to another and she sleeps with Daniel - Afterwards she realises that it wasn't a mistake and that she has feelings for Daniel and wants to be with him (Daniels feelings are mutual). She admits everything to John and leaves him
Character Three - Played by Hayley Jennings Name: Jade Cunningham Age: 20 Connection to main character: Friend Jade was friends with both Jeniffer, Daniel and John. When she finds out what has happened between Daniel and Jeniffer and as her and Jeniffer are best friends she stands by her and Daniel, despite John never failing to be there for her.
Character Four - Played by Tom Pearson Name: Daniel Jackson Age: 20 Connection to main character: Best Friend Daniel gets drunk one night with John and Jeniffer one night, John passes out because he's too drunk, one thing leads to another and he sleeps with Jeniffer - Afterwards he realises that it wasn't a mistake and that he has feelings for Jeniffer and wants to be with her (Jeniffer's feelings are mutual). Jeniffer leaves John to be with him.
Name of movie: Betrayal
Story Synopsis: John Thompson (Cliff Cook) has been taken for granted, used and betrayed by the three people he most cared about, Jeniffer (Donna Massam), Jade (Hayley Jennings) and Daniel (Tom Pearson). In this short movie he tells the story of what they have done to him , but the story then tells of a dramatic twist of fate and how these three selfish people held johns fate in their hands.
Story - What will happen: The setting starts off black, lighting then turns on, focusing on the main character (Cliff) The lighting will also reflect onto the three 'ex' friends in the background, making them less visible than the main character. After 5 seconds have passed Cliff will begin the dialogue about the first character (myself) who has betrayed him (this lasts for 15 seconds). He then goes silent. this character then walks backwards slightly, gradually leaving the light completely. (This silence then lasts for 2 seconds). Cliff then begins the dialogue about the second friend - Hayley, explaining what she has done to betray him. (This also lasts for 15 seconds). After this everything falls silent, Hayley then like myself walks back gradually removing herself from the light. (2 second silence). (now only cliff and tom are in the frame). Cliff then begin the dialogue about about the third friend (Tom Pearson), explaining what he has do to betray him. After he has finished, Tom steps back, removing himself from the light. All falls silent for 5 seconds. John (Cliff) portrays a sad expression on his face throughout the whole time, he then finishes with an end dialogue, a simple and short description, explaining to the audience about the incident that sealed his fate, (5 seconds).
Without no added effects or titles so far the movie will last for a total of 64 seconds.
Spoken Dialogue:
On Jeniffer (Donna Massam) (15 seconds) "I was in love once.... She broke my heart.... Then she betrayed me....With my closest friend.... The she left.... She chose him...."
On Jade (Hayley Jennings)(15 seconds) "I was always there for her.... But she let me down.... When i needed her most.... I gave her a shoulder.... She closed the door in my face.... She chose them...."
On Daniel (Tom Pearson)(15 seconds) "We grew up together.... We were best mates.... Through thick and thin we stuck together.... But not through this.... He took everything from me.... He chose her...."
End Dialogue: "I seen him down the pub he was mocking me I left He followed I saw a glimmer a blade"
"Now i have no body, And no body has me"
Everything then goes black (Sound of a blade falling, and a body falling on the floor to follow).
The atmosphere and the look of the set will hold a dark, hidden and mysterious feel, this will be to express the characteristics and feelings of the movie, portraying the feeling of betrayed and hidden selves as well as the feeling of being alone. We will create this mood by having the set completely dark with the lights on the characters being the only light source on the set. Also we will be wearing dark clothing as to not distract your attention at all within the movie.
The main character will be the main focus of the movie so we need him to be placed will in the frame to keep it balanced, also so that the three characters stood behind him don't take any emphasis off his role in the movie, i was thinking if we have cliff closer to the camera so that we have a shoulder view of him, also leaving room between the top of his head and the edge of the frame so that he doesn't look squashed onto the screen, with us other three characters stood just behind him so that we catch the light but don't distract the audience's attention away from what the main character is saying."
Now onto the storyboards:
It will start with John (Cliff) stood in the middle with the spotlight focused on him. However, the light will also show the features of three people stood around him. A person each side, and one person almost hiding behind him.
He will talk about person 1, Jeniffer (Donna). Once he is finished talking about her, she will step away from him and out of the shot.
He will talk about person 2, Jade (Me). Once he is finished talking about her, she backs off out of the shot too.
Finally, he talks about person 3, Daniel (Tom), who steps from behind him to once side of him so he's more visible. Once he's finished talking about him, he backs off.
He will say a small piece of dialogue afterwards all alone, then the light will cut.
The sound of a body hitting the floor is heard, then silence until the final line "Now I have no one...and no one has me." I'm hoping this will be hard hitting, as it's will make people realise that he's dead. I also like how poetic is sounds, as it turns the sentence around part way through.
The reason why I chose Tom to be stood almost hiding behind Cliff is because I thought it would work better for people wondering why he is obscured, and also shows how he hid himself from Cliff by staying behind him.
This journal's got spoilers for Death Note. Just to warn ya ;P
Before I start posting loads about actual uni work again, I wanna give an analysis on the second opening to an anime I recently finished watching - Death Note.
I'll give a brief outline of the story, since the opening works off of a lot of the basic ideas. Light Yagami, an intelligent 17 year old student, finds a book called the Death Note, which was dropped in the real world by a Shinigami (Death God). At first he doesn't believe it's real, but tries it out on a criminal who has taken hostages. It works, and he realises that this is an oppertunity to recreate the world that has been infested with so much wrong by killing criminals using the Death Note, and he declares that he will be the new god of this world. However, the police call in a genius with a hidden identity to solve the case, and Light must do whatever it takes not to be caught.
Well, that's the summary out of the way, now onto the analysis. Here's the actual video:
00:00-00:06 The three Shinigami that appear most are shown, with the first one, Ryuk, being the most important one (the owner of the Death Note that Light finds) appearing for the longest. Text flied across the screen, which is assume to be Latin, and the colours for the images are almost inverted to give a feeling of unfamiliarity. This is used quite often in Death Note openings and endings.
00:07-00:09 The screen shatters, almost to imply how everything comes apart and how violent the senario has gotten.
00:10-00:12 Lightning flashes behind the title, giving an increased sense of energy and conflict.
00:13-00:18 Once of the most interesting parts for me. Light laughing maniacally as he thinks he has managed to get away with the murders under the name 'Kira'. I think it's red to symbolise blood and the conflict that he's had to face with his opponents, while keeping suspicion off him. His face is repeated multiple times most likely to show that Kira is everywhere; on the news, the internet and is killing those who he believes deserve true justice.
The next part mainly involves scenery and colours that you wouldn't associate with any of the characters in it. For example, the Shinigami Ryuk running with a green spotted background makes for a strange senario.
00:31-00:35 Another one of the characters is shown here. She's a model, so is dressed up in very elaborate clothes. One thing I noted about this part was the almost toned effect that's been added to her (the dots that appear in a Japanese comic to give an idea of colour/shade). The original idea was produced from a comic, so it could be an odd throw-back to that.
00:36-00:39 The detective, L, who is usually shown in a blue colour, turns red at the end of this part. I think this is because he finally loses to Light and dies. Light's colour is shown as red, so to me it's symbollic of Light winning over L. I also think it shows the city in the background because L was working hard to discover who Kira was so he could put the entire city at ease, almost like a protector.
00:43-00:48 Lighting looking down over the edge of a building. The camera is facing up to him like a mortal looking up to a god-like entity, which is what he wishes to become. The colours are mainly blue, giving a calm effect as opposed to the red glow in his eyes.
00:48-01:05 This is the build up before the final part of the intro song. It chants two lines over and over, gradually building up each time, adding to the tension. As Light walks through different areas, the shots focus on a different person who is nearby, adding a sense of paranoia as everyone is watching him, suspicious that he is really Kira. The shots are mainly at angles, making it look more chaotic.
01:06-01:12 The audio turns to screaming as everything goes haywire, mostly reflecting the insanity that starts showing in Light's mind as people start suspecting him. Strange filters are used to create a clouded effect. All of the inconsistencies in the video add to the chaos that surrounds the entire situation and characters. Also, dramatic poses involving Light and a pen are used to show how it acts like a weapon to kill criminals and those who stand in his way.
01:07 To me, this shot is showing the innermost feelings of Light's mind. They power has sent him into madness and he's afraid for his life, wanting to believe that he won't die if he declares himselg a god. His end, however, is just like any normal human, showing that his intentions were all for nothing in the end.
01:14-01:15 Something finally breaks as it shows Light's facecrack like glass, just like how he was finally found to be Kira in the end. He had worked so long to avoid suspicious, but the tension got too great and his story shattered, leading to his demise.
I'll leave it at that. I was gonna add one more pic, but it'd involve more explaining ^^; I figured it'd be useful to analyse an opening that was this intense, since I want to go into animation and this kind of thing'll need to be considered every time.
(Images capped by me, but original video from here)
Here's the info we've got for our one shot film so far:
Roles Me(Hayley): Lighting Donna: Scripting + character profiles Cliff: Main actor Tom: Booking equipment and room
Synopsis A man tells his story of how the people most important in his life left him, one by one.
How it will be presented Cliff will be stood in the middle with the 3 other people around him. He will tell each story in turn, and as he explains how they desert him, they will leave the stage. Eventually he will be alone.
Details Lighting will be a single spotlight designed to show Cliff easily, but also highlighting features of the other three people, while not making them stand out compared to him. They will leave into the darkness once each story if finished.
We were initially planning on panning the camera out slowly, but due to a slight change in the premise, that does not seem totally neccesary. Originally, the camera zoomed out to show him totally alone without anyone. However, we have now decided to make it so the person talking is dead and recalling what happened before he died. I will post more information on this later today once we have finalised all aspects of it ready for filming.
If, when the people leave the screen, they are still slightly visible once they leave the spotlight, we will increase the contrast to black them out, making the symbolism in him being completely alone stronger.
Scripting We still need to finalise the script. However, it is mostly completed. We are hoping that we can create a sense of pattern in what Cliff says by beginning each section with "I....once" (ie. I was in love once). Hopefully each part will last around 20 seconds, with 20 seconds for beginning and ending parts.
Senario 1: A coworker he fell in love with cheated on him with his best friend when she got drunk. She then decided to leave the main character and go with him instead.
Senario 2: A friend from college who he has always been there for keeps abusing his kind nature and taking him for granted.
Senario 3: The best friend who his ex-girlfriend left him for is drinking with his friends while the main character is alone in the bar. He keeps getting mocked by all of them and leaves. This is the part that will make people realise he is dead, as he will say 'I left, he followed' (the person will leave the screen, opposing him saying followed, showing something unusual is happening). The light will fade and the man says 'I saw a glimmer, a blade', then the sound of a bosy hitting the floor is heard (possibly with the sound of a knife, too). Then the final words are heard. 'Now I have no one...and no one has me.'
I'm hoping this will be hard hitting for people who see it for the first time, as they won't realise what has happened until the end of the film.
Photos We don't have any photos so far on the location, but we are going to book one of the rooms within the university, so I will post pictures when I can.
It's a large controller, but it's not chunky, so you can hold onto it easily, and it's got bright coloured buttons so you can learn the controls by colours, not just by the letter written on the buttons. It's got a geomtric layout, with a circle in the centre and triangles on the sides. I also realised that it looks like a spaceship from a video game. The main controller in a pale grey, but helps other parts of the controller stand out. The analogue stick and the directional buttonss have gaps around them, so it's shadowed and easier to see.
The back part's got a gap so you can either have the wire facing up or down. The way the holds on the controller are raised make it so your hands easily place on the right parts (like the index fingers on the shoulder buttons). It's also got a bulge on the back to placing the VMUs (memory cards) into it. This also helps the fingers wrap around the controller.
