Tuesday, 27 September 2016

Stand by me

How is family and childhood presented in "stand by me"

The initial overview of the four children is that they are four normal young boys constantly seeking adventure. However you soon find out that each individual boy has there own personal issues to do with themselves and their family's. The film starts of mostly aimed around Gordie Lachance, signifying the fact that his brother died in an accident and his mother has abandoned him in the sense that she doesn't communicate with anyone in her household and the fact his father has no real interest in him, and only cares about the fact one if his son's is dead and what his other son was going to achieve, because of the way he is treated Geordie feels like a stranger in his own home, so he has friends that want to interact with him and make his childhood memorable, due to the fact his family have no intention of making it much fun. Also at the part of the film where Gordies dad says 'why cant you have friends like Chris did' shows the fact that his dad wants Gordie to be someone he is not (his brother) and is trying to be controlling over something good in his youngest sons life. 

Chris is the financially less fortunate of the friendship group, however he is treated equally to the other boys, if not with more respect. You initially see the type of family he comes from due to the way he is dressed and also from meeting his brother. You don't actually meet Chris' parents in the film, however you hear about the family reputation and you meet the older brother but you also know that his dad is a raging alcoholic. Chris' older brother is part of a gang in the town they live in, with a bad reputation of violence; we see his brother as a follower to the leader of the gang (Ace Merrill's gang), which shows that his older brother is not going to make much of his life. We later find out in the film that Chris wants to get out of the town he lives in, and wants to go onto a higher education with his friend Gordie but due to his family's reputation he feels like that is unachievable and that he will not be given the same opportunities as everyone else.

We learn that Teddy is the 'crazy' one out of the group of boys. Like the other boys, all he wants is to be outdoors exploring. His personality comes across at the start of the film as quite insensitive, and the 'funny' one of the group. However further on in the film where they are chased out of the scrap yard, and Milo the owner of the yard starts bad mouthing Teddy's father, he looses his temper and starts to threaten Milo which gives the impression Teddy thinks a lot of his dad, even though he held his ear to a stove and burned it off, but he is very aggressive, which could reflect on the fact he could of had an upbringing were violence was seen as okay. Later on, Teddy becomes emotional when talking about his dad 'He stormed the beaches at Normandy' indicates his father was part of military but now he is in the 'nuthouse in Togus' shows that Teddy's childhood would of been without a constant father figure, so that is why he is so aggressive because he is trying to be the dominant male he never really had in his life and the fact he has forgiven his dad for what he done to him but he is still angry.

Vern is defiantly the character we know least about, however he is shown in the film as the one who is part of the friendship group but he is the one that Teddy tends to taunt the most. He is constantly questioning everything the group of boys do, although he was the one that suggested that the boys go and look and the dead body. We know nothing on Vern's parents, however we know that his brother is part of Ace Merrill's gang, but like Chris's brother is also just a follower, and treats his younger brother terribly. However out of the three boys he is the one who is not seen crying once in the film, this could suggest that he has no problems and has quite a happy childhood.















Tuesday, 20 September 2016

Practise Task (homeless)


Location

Initial ideas of location:


Castle Mall gardens, central Norwich.

 
Image result for castle mall gardens norwich

We considered this a good location because it is on a hill, which has to be part of our production, it also has a lot of benches which is what we need for one of our characters.
It is also a nice location and would look nice on camera, however only if the weather is nice which is not a guarantee.
Its a public park so everyone and anyone can use it, so access would not be an issue.
However the problem with this location is the fact that it is a public park in the central city could mean there are a lot of people there which could impact on if we even got a bench or if there is a space available. If there are big groups of people there, then it could possibly be too loud and also ongoing city traffic constantly going past could impact the sound of the production.

Mousehold Heath, North east Norfolk.

Image result for mousehold heath

We considered this location, as its a public place so easy accessible, however its a bug park so there is a lot of space, and the surrounding area would make our production look good. It is away from main roads, so there would be no noise pollution from traffic. The only problem with this location is that it is a hard location to get too.
It is also a more convincing location to walk the dog, instead of in the main city, and its a good location for any type of weather, however it is too hard to get too, for the producers and cast.


The Tiffey, Wymondham, Norfolk


Image result for the tiffey wymodham












Our group all decided this was the best location for our short film production. It is on a hill, very local so easy to access, and will also not be busy in the day and no noise pollution from surrounding traffic will disturb the sound of the film. There are no problems with this location as it also has a bench on top of the hill, which is perfect for what we want.  




Plot

The plot of our production for the first 2 opening minutes is quite simple, its going to be focused on a homeless alcoholic who is passed out on a bench at the top of a hill, with a bottle of vodka in a brown paper bag. A young female will walk by, and see him passed out and will approach him to see if he is okay, which will lead to the drunk becoming very aggressive towards the young women who is merely just looking out for his wellbeing. However at the start of the film we will take shots of the individuals, the women walking up the hill towards the bench, and the homeless man lounging around on the public bench.






































Friday, 16 September 2016

Marilyn Monroe


How do I as a viewer engage with the character Marilyn Monroe?

At the start of the film Marilyn is seen as a star, you do not know much depth into her personal life and your initial view point is that she is a glamorous celebrity with a lifestyle that everyone aspires to have. Also a general view at the start of the film is that Marilyn is seen as someone who oozes in sexual desire, and the term 'blonde bombshell' is used to describe her.
However when Marilyn arrives into London and you see her and her husband together, the fact she is always holding his hand and looking at him after every time she speaks, indicates that she may have self doubt and is very insecure, and she needs the acknowledgement of her husband, to make her feel better about herself, this makes the viewer feel slightly confused as the she was seen as someone so confident and independent but in reality she still needs the comfort of a man.

Image result for my week with marilyn



Later into the film, when they start to film the production, Marilyn walks through in a white dress that emphasises her figure very well, and as she walks threw, people stare at her because she looks incredible; however when she feels all eyes on her she runs back into her dressing room; this also is significant to the viewer feeling confusion because she was seen as so confident and how she was so comfortable in her own skin, but in reality she was just like majority of the female population and was in fact very self conscious. Also the fact she was one of the most famous movie stars in the 50s, and she feels nervous when people she works with look at her, is hard to believe because she has millions of people watch her in all types of clothing on the big screens.
When the viewer is aware of Marilyn's insecurities it makes the viewer feel sorry for her, but on the other hand it could be seen as being slightly attention seeking, due to the fact she is a world wide movie star and people staring at her is all part of the job she signed up for.     


Image result for My Week with Marilyn White Dress


Although at the start of the film, Marilyn was seen as very close with her husband, when she finds his notebook and reads all the negative things about her, you sympathies with Marilyn a lot because you feel sorry for her that someone she loves has written such horrible things about her; however when her husband Arthur Miller goes back to New York, she instantly starts flirting with Colin (Eddie Redmayne). When the relationship develops between Marilyn and Colin, the viewer sympathizes with Colin because he is seen as being lead on and a young man who has fallen in love with a movie star. Marilyn is showed as being free and having a good time whilst she is with Colin, however the way she treats him towards the end of the 7 days portrays her as heartless and that she only used him for a shoulder to cry on.


Image result for My Week with Marilyn


Finally when Marilyn is struggling with her acting, and can't remember the lines, and Sir Laurence Oliver is being very abrupt and rude about her talents, it makes the viewer commiserate with her because it shows the male perception of how they think they can treat women in the 50s/60s. Also Marilyn was a lot younger than any other actor, yet was more famous then any other person, and was not taught any of the skills the other actors were and didn't have the experience she had.
Marilyn was her happiest in the film when her and Colin went out for the day, the scene where she is shot running through the long grass laughing, makes the viewer feel happy for Marilyn because even though she is the most famous actress off that time period, the simplest things could still make her happy, and considering the amount of added pressure she had been under with the film production, it was nice for the viewer to see someone so inspirational let loose.

























                                         

Monday, 12 September 2016

Preliminary Task



1. The 180 Degree Rule
The 180 degree rule is a rule stating that a camera should be placed somewhere inside 180 degrees on a particular side of the invisible line of a shot containing two people filmed in sequence. In the context of the task the 180 degree rule helped to focus on the conversation between the two people and their relationship as friends. 
Image result for what is the 180 degree rule

2. Match-on-action
Match on action is an editing technique used to portray the action of someone in separate shots.  An example of match on action is someone walking through a door., being shown opening the door from behind but then the next immediate shot is the door opened from the other side.

3.Shot/Reverse shot
A shot/reverse shot, is a technique that is usually used when two people are having a conversation, it's were it goes from a single shot of one person in the scene to the other and then back to the other person, which helps emphasis the significance of the conversation.
 https://youtu.be/wM6exo00T5I - an example of shot/reverse shot from the wolf of wall street.

 4.How did the preliminary go?
I personally found that the preliminary exercise went well because I knew the people who were in the video, so I found it easy to tell them to do things again, and if they were doing something wrong I did not feel uncomfortable telling them how to correct it. The location was good, and we did not disturb surrounding classes. However the plot of the video could of been improved as their was nothing much to it, just a casual, boring conversation between two friends. My media partner used her own camera, so because it was her own it was very easy to film because she knew exactly how to use it and helped me use it also.

5.What would you change if you had the chance to do the task again?
The only thing I would change about the video is the plot, I would try to make it more interesting instead of such a simple conversation.