Jack Crossley Creative and Media Blog

Interaction Evaluation

2010-12-07T06:06:00.000-08:00

Choosing a Brief

Before the summer we were told about the recycling project and given some exercises to get us thinking about recycled materials and responding to briefs. We had to make various items from cardboard, like a chair, a CD rack and a child’s play tent. Then we were introduced to four potential partners: Oxfam, The Scrapstore, B&NES Council and Bath College. We were given briefs from each one and were to decide which partner to work with. First up was B&NES Waste Management who told us about their Love Food, Hate Waste campaigns and their plans for new recycling bins being introduced. They wanted us to produce some kind of promotional material for either one of them. Then we saw Lynne Scragg from the college, who explained to us about the college’s excuse for a recycling program and how it needed to be more publicised. We all went to a new Oxfam boutique where the manager said he wanted us to create an accessory from unwanted clothes that get donated. I liked the sound of this project, as after spending a lot of the year making posters on a computer, I wanted a more practical project. However I have no I idea about textiles or how to make anything from them, so I was holding out for the Scrapstore to deliver another practical brief. We all went on the train to meet John Pendlington from the Scrapstore. He told us about the company and then held a brainstorm with us about ideas for a brief. We came up with a whole list of ideas that he emailed to us:

Advert about reuse and recycling and Scrapstore
Chain reaction advert about reuse and recycling and Scrapstore
Domino effect film using scrap materials
Theatre, play about the journey of some scrap materials into play creations
Clothes bins in colleges for dressing up clothes
Leaflet for businesses about reuse and recycling and Scrapstore
Posters for businesses about reuse and recycling and Scrapstore
Social networking – make a page and advert for businesses
T shirts – to advertise and raise profile and issues
Schools – show them using the scrap materials
Big 3D project in town centres with sculptures and collages made of scrap materials
Model made of scrap materials
An interactive sculpture providing a message
Visit PlayPod for project background, stories, pictures etc.
Flash make Art
Dance project to market reuse and Scrapstore
Lo Fi film using scrap materials
Series of images for the Scrapstore website
Facebook page for Scrapstore, scrap materials, re-use
Live Twitter service

A group of us then decided to work on the project with the Scrapstore, and we went away to develop some ideas to pitch to John when we met with him again.

Ideas

I expanded on an idea from the list: the “Chain Reaction Film”. My idea was to make a filmed advert using scrap in a big chain reaction, drawing inspiration from a famous Honda commercial. I found out this was called a Rube Goldberg Machine. I drew up my initial plans, which I added to my blog:

I was thinking of contacting a local primary school and get permission to film for a morning there. I would then design and build the machine myself beforehand and introduce it to the kids, where they could add their ideas. During the shoot the kids will interact with the machine and hold up signs portraying the advert's key messages. I thought this is a good idea to carry the Scrapstore's message of inspiring creative and constructive play.

We went back to meet with John and discuss our ideas. When it came to talking about my idea, although I had a clear view of what it was, I perhaps didn’t explain or sell it well enough to John, and maybe that’s why I felt disappointed with the compromise that we reached as a group. That idea was to all go away and think about combining our ideas into one filmed advert for the store.

In the meeting I had with the group and our tutor, I voiced my ideas and we came up with a proposal for a project that let us create our own individual aspects, but still get a final group outcome. As I could see that my idea was already very ambitious I decided to cut it down by not involving a school. I wrote a proposal for my project and have published it on my blog:

What I am going to do is build a Rube Goldberg Machine from Scrapstore materials. I have decided not to do it in the school due to time and complexity difficulties. I will instead do it all here at college, whilst the other films from the other group members will take place at the school. My film will link them with the machine.
To Do:

Get materials from the Scrapstore
Find a room I can use
Build and Experiment
Get a camera
Film the machine
Capture + Edit the footage

Practical Work

I started the practical side of the project when we returned in September, and I started sketching plans for possible devices. I also managed to find some Scrapstore materials that the college had stashed away, and I began building some rudimentary experiments. I enjoyed the problem solving element of this stage, and as a result I was able to make a fairly wide variety of devices, but I also found it quite frustrating being limited by materials. This was because there was difficulty securing access to the college minibus to get us there and back. I got round this by making use of the Scrapstore materials I could find in the college whilst I was preparing ideas. This worked out all right as there was a good variety of materials of varying weights and sizes to experiment with. In retrospect if I had made my own way there a bit sooner to collect scrap, then I would have been more prepared for the final shoot.

When it came to setting up the final machine, I included some ideas from my earlier experiments, and some that I had come up with from looking through the new materials. I was able to build the individual segments in between helping the other students with their productions.

I set the machine up and began filming it, but first time round it didn’t go very smoothly. I wanted to film the machine originally in one take, but it quickly became obvious that it wasn’t going to happen. None it would really work, even the parts that had gone perfectly up until now. Eventually it was getting late; I was working alone, had burnt myself and was getting very frustrated, so I decided to leave it all set up and continue next morning.

When I came back I made the decision to “cheat” and film each part separately. I made some changes to the machine so it would work and then started recording it. It all worked quite well this time, but when I finished I realised that I had forgot to press record for one of the parts, but as I had stored all the materials away I made plans to re-film that section after I came back from work experience.

Unfortunately after a week I came back and found that the store cupboard had been tidied up and all my materials had been thrown away. From this experience I have learnt that I need to label all my things.

So, I couldn’t include that part of the film, which is a shame as it added a real dynamism and change of pace to the machine.

This was the main problem I had when editing: trying to work around the missing sequence. I did this using keyframes to crop in and digitally pan across the next shot, a technique I learned by looking online. I made it look like the string pulled by the records was attached to the brown jar, when in fact it pulled something else.

I emailed John with a link to the film, and he emailed me back a short evaluation:

This is a good quality film which is very creative and fun to watch. It delivered the waste message in an ingenious fashion using some Scrapstore materials. It is well structured and held the attention whilst showing the creative value of re-use and recycling. The storyline, like the paint, brought out the messy play ambitions in all who watched it. It kept loosely to the brief yet delivered Scrapstore's message

Overall I think my final film is successful in that combines with the other films from my group to represent the creativity that can be inspired by the Scrapstore. Through the interaction project I learned a lot about working with an external partner. I learned that although you may have strong ideas, you need to listen to your partner's opinions and needs, and must be willing to change them accordingly. I also found out that you should follow your partner's advice, as they probably know their own field better than you.

Editing

2010-11-18T04:43:00.000-08:00

On returning from work experience, I wanted to re-film the section of the film that was missing. Unfortunately all the materials and devices I used have been thrown out, so I have no other option but to cover up the hole in the editing. This is a great shame because that section, where a jar spirals downwards and knocks a domino trail of video cassettes, added a unique dynamic and pace change to the sequence. I started editing by transferring all the footage, along with the rough sequence I'd put together, onto another computer so another student could edit her footage. My priority then was to try and seamlessly stitch the two sequences where the other one was missing. To do this I found a Youtube tutorial about keyframes, which I used to zoom in and pan across the piece of footage digitally. This crops the right hand side of the film out so it looks like the string has directly pulled the jar, when in reality there was another sequence in between. I then set about creating an ident to use at the end of mine, and the others', films, which I did using the text features on Final Cut. I also made the end of the film blur out so the text stood out. Here is the finished film:

Filming the Machine

2010-11-05T03:24:00.000-07:00

For the last few days I have been helping the other group members with their films, whilst building and preparing for mine. I set it up yesterday and this morning I was ready to start filming it. I quickly realised that it wasn't going to work all the way through, and if I wanted to film it like that it would take forever. As a result I decided to film all the individual sections and edit them together. This is NOT cheating, as the machine definitely does works as a whole, in theory. It went as smoothly as I could have hoped for, but the most hit and miss sections were getting the pipe to roll straight, and getting the cassettes to knock the record off balance. I transferred the footage over to Final Cut to begin arranging them, and noticed a setback: One of the sections was missing where I forgot to press record. Next week I am on a work experience placement, and the week after is deadline week, so I hope to re-film that section then.

Scrapstore Materials

2010-10-20T04:23:00.000-07:00

Today I went to Scrapstore to collect all the materials I need for my machine. I collected a good selection of materials, including long tubes, books and tapes to act as dominoes and little objects like corks and bottle tops to use as weights. Whilst we were there we arranged a date for a final meeting with John, the 5th November. When we got back I began experimenting with the new materials. One thing I got was a plastic container with valves on the lid, and I noticed that if I dropped a heavy object on it, it could fire a bottle top quite far, although it was very hit and miss. I also created a rolling object from two vinyl records, and I rigged up a system to get it rolling, but as you can see it's not very accurate.

2010-10-13T05:31:00.000-07:00

Today I made a sequence of five or six devices, using some techniques I have already experimented with. As you can see it works well, and was pretty consistent each time, although the jar that falls through the pipe got stuck a couple of times. I particularly like the device at the end with the rolling bottle.

2010-10-08T03:19:00.000-07:00

Today I wanted to make a more impressive see-saw for my machine. The problem with my last attempt was that the card was too floppy, so I found some stronger pieces and glued them to two jars to create my see-saw. I attached a piece of fabric to the one end. The idea would be that the fabric unfurled releasing the rolling jar inside. It worked well and also stopped the jar from rolling in the wrong direction. I stacked up some larger bottle-tops which would fall through a pipe when they were toppled. This worked, although later I was able to find a way of balancing them so they would all fall through, and this made it easier to manage the weights needed to trigger the next part of the machine.

I then started to set up a few devices in sequence to create a small Rube Goldberg machine. When the bottle-tops fell came through the pipe they would fall into a pot, and using the system that I created on Wednesday, the extra weight would pull another pot up, which in turn would knock another see-saw. In theory it worked but the weight needed to pull the pot was quite hit and miss, and it wasn't heavy enough to push the final see-saw upwards. I could counteract this problem by either using heavier objects instead of bottletops, or using lighter materials for the see-saw.

2010-10-06T05:40:00.000-07:00

Today I did some more complex experiments. Firstly I made a way to topple an object inspired by a part of OK Go's machine. It worked although the bottle I used was probably not heavy enough to work in the way I wanted.

I wanted to make a see-saw so I glued two jars to a piece of card, with another jar acting as a pivot. When I poured water into one jar the see-saw toppled, but the card was a bit floppy, especially when it got wet.

I wanted to take the idea of using water a bit further, so I rigged some paint pots up to a basic pulley system, using easels as supports. This worked well with the water, but in the context of a whole machine I thought a solid weight would look better, so I placed another easel to feed a jar into one of the pots.

I found some sections of pipe in the classroom and I wanted to find a way to make them roll. I set up the tables at slants so the pipe would speed up and slow down at certain points. I used a swinging jar to start it going as I could use this in the final machine.

I saw a technique on a few videos where a swinging weight uncoils around a pole. I tried it with a poster tube I found, as this is definitely the kind of thing I could find in the Scrapstore. I used a wooden board as an example of how the machine could be carried on.

Progress Report

2010-09-30T03:24:00.000-07:00

Today the whole of my group emailed our progress to John at Scrapstore. This is the section I wrote explaining the changes to my idea, which includes not including a school. This was a decision I took based on the desires of my partner ( John was never too keen on overcomplicating it by involving children) and the practical constraints of my basic idea.

To John

This is the Creative and Media group updating you on our progress with the project.

We've all now finished the planning stages and are ready to move on.

Jack
My part of the project is to create a film to bridge the other group member's films. I am sticking with my idea of a Rube Goldberg machine, but I am taking your advice and creating and filming it here at college instead of the school. This is due to the complexity of the task and I also thought it could show how college students like us can use the Scrap, not just children. I have drawn up several sketches for ideas and experimented with the limited materials I have to hand at college, but a final idea will come once I collect some more from the Scrapstore. I will design the machine to slow down or stop at various stages where it can introduce the other films.

Experiments cont.

2010-09-24T04:08:00.000-07:00

Watching other Rube Goldberg machines I learned some new techniques which I practiced today. At the start of one film a bin-bag is suspended from strings, and as the strings unraveled the bag span around and gradually got lower, eventually knocking a tyre. Today I applied this principal with one of my glass jars and it worked, but a heavier object will be needed to knock anything else.

When I attached strings to another pill tray, I noticed that when I pulled them the tray would curl up and could spring back open with some force. I applied this idea by pinning down the strings and, when released, using the force to knock a jar along the table. I also rigged up a hanging jar that could be used to knock over another component of the machine.

Another of my ideas was to make a suspended weight travel along a rail. I rigged it up using jar, hanging from the plastic pulley-like object I made before, and a broom handle. It wasn't very successful as the improvised materials didn't fit neatly enough, but when I get some materials I can manufacture some runners which will let the device slide smoothly.

Rube Goldberg Research

2010-09-23T04:18:00.000-07:00

Rube Goldberg

was an American cartoonist who drew satirical cartoons during the 40s and 50s, for which he won a Pulitzer Prize. He gained popularity for drawing crazy machines that performed simple tasks, like this one for sharpening a pencil (by releasing a woodpecker). Contraptions like this are known as Rube Goldberg machines.

Peter Fischli & David Weiss

are a pair of Swiss artists who produced a famous Rube Goldberg machine in 1987 called “Der Lauf Der Dinge (The Way Things Go)”. It lasts about half an hour and shows a 100ft sequence of objects colliding, rolling, burning and flying. The objects they used include tyres, soap, , tin cans, fireworks, plastic bottles and petrol. It displays a great amount of ingenuity, for example setting a kettle on fire so pressure builds up inside and shoots it down a runner

Cog

is a famous 2003 commercial for a Honda Accord. Taking some inspiration from The Way Things Go, it shows various parts of the car as they form a Rube Goldberg machine. The film won lots of short film awards including a Cannes Golden Lion, which is rare for an advertisement. The film uses the car’s parts very inventively, for example spraying water onto the windshield so the wipers start walking automatically.

OK Go

are a Pop Band famous for their viral, one-take music videos. The video for their song "This Too Shall Pass" shows a massive Rube Goldberg machine. The end result is the band being covered in paint, and the machine involves a rally car, and a falling piano. Although this machine is on an epic scale, it includes some mechanics that I can replicate, especially near the beginning where the size is still relatively small.

Experiments

2010-09-22T03:16:00.000-07:00

I have begun experimenting with the small amounts of Scrapstore materials that I found in the college storeroom.

I rigged up a device to transform a falling weight into a horizontal movement. When a weight falls on the pill tray it pulls the string, which knocks an object off the table; in this case a small jar. This is useful as it can change the direction of the machine’s path.

I attempted to make a Newton’s cradle from the jars. It failed because they were each only suspended from one string so the collisions weren’t accurate. Also the jars, made from glass, weren’t dense enough to provide the effect, even with water in them. I think the ideal materials for this device would be tennis balls or something similar.

Contextual Essays

2010-09-07T01:49:00.000-07:00

I have researched a few practitioners who work interactively, or have relevance to my project.

Ideas Proposal Form

2010-09-06T03:47:00.000-07:00

Ideas meeting

2010-06-26T02:42:00.000-07:00

We sat down with our tutor to discuss how we were going to tackle the project. I explained how that after the meeting I was a bit disappointed with the outcome, as I felt that my idea, which I felt really passionate about, had been substituted for a more vague one on behalf of the other group members, and I didn't really want to do another group project. We came to a compromise in that we could each do an individual project with a group theme, with mine linking the others. We also talked about contacting a school, but I had decided that my film wasn't going to be at a school any more, as it was already a very ambitious idea. I wrote a brief overview of my part of the project:

What I am going to do is build a Rube Goldberg Machine from Scrapstore materials. I have decided not to do it in the school due to time and complexity difficulties. I will instead do it all here at college, whilst the other films from the other group members will take place at the school. My film will link them with the machine.
To Do:

Get materials from the Scrapstore
Find a room I can use
Build and Experiment
Get a camera
Film the machine
Capture + Edit the footage

Meeting the Scrapstore

2010-06-18T04:46:00.000-07:00

Today myself, and the other students who are to be working with them, went to the Scrapstore to meet with the business manager, John Pendlington. I suggested my idea which was to make a Rube Goldberg machine from scrap and then film it with children at a primary school. He commented on all our ideas and then told us he would like us to combine them somehow into one final product. I have written up the minutes from the meeting:

Initial Idea

2010-06-16T02:11:00.000-07:00

I have made some rough notes about an initial idea before we meet with the Scrapstore this Friday. My idea is to produce a filmed advert shot in a school of a chain reaction machine, inspired by a famous Honda advert, called a Rube Goldberg Machine. I have drawn out a rough plan of action for it:
I was thinking of contacting a local primary school and get permission to film for a morning there. I would then design and build the machine myself beforehand and introduce it to the kids, where they could add their ideas. During the shoot the kids will interact with the machine and hold up signs portraying the advert's key messages. I thought this is a good idea to carry the Scrapstore's message of inspiring creative and constructive play.

Processes

2010-06-15T03:17:00.000-07:00

At the start of the project we were set various products to make from cardboard. The exercises were about getting us to think about responding to a brief and using recycled materials. The tasks were to make a chair, a CD rack and a child's play tent.

Interaction

2010-06-07T04:13:00.000-07:00

This is the start of my posts about the Interaction Project (Unit 3). Before the summer I began meeting with the four companies with which I could be partners. They were The Children's Scrapstore in Bristol, the Oxfam Boutique in Bath, B&NES Council and City of Bath College. I wrote research documents on them before we all met with representatives from each who briefed us on what they would require from the group who decided to work with them.When we visited the Scrapstore we also went to record various companies for our Recycling research, including the Better Food Company, and organic supermarket. I have written up all of my research in a Keynote presentation.

I chose to work with the Scrapstore because that was the brief that most appealed to me; it involved making physical things rather than more graphic design. Myself and the other students who wanted Scrapstore had to go back and meet with John Pendlington, the Business Development Manager. This is the letter I wrote requesting the meeting:

City of Bath College
Avon St
Bath
BA1 1UP
7th June 2010
Dear Mr Pendlington

We are a group of students from City of Bath College who previously met with you regarding our project, “Interaction” on Friday 30th April.

We are ready to meet with you again to discuss each of our ideas in further detail. We would like to request a meeting on a Tuesday or Wednesday sometime between the 9th and 25th of June, if that is convenient for you.

You can contact us through the following email address:
Kate1701@hotmail.com

Thank you, in anticipation

Yours Sincerely,

Jack Crossley Oliver Thurston Katherine Howes Lauren Wilcock

END OF PROJECT

2010-03-20T02:03:00.000-07:00

2010-03-19T05:56:00.000-07:00

Today we spent the first half of the session compiling our work into digital portfolios. I put all the digital copies of any work from the group into an organised folder structure, including the finished film and any pre-production evidence like the permission letters.
Then we had to choose another group's film to review. I chose the film "Isolation", which was edited by Harriet. I tried to review the film in the style of a magazine critic, but I found it quite tricky to avoid being hypocritical regarding my own film.

Presentation Day

2010-03-12T04:55:00.000-08:00

Today we were due to present the finished product to our clients, The Bath Film Office, along with Sara from Suited & Booted. We were to present it as a group but be marked on our individual presentations. I was tasked with talking about the editing of the film as it was my major role in the production. I produced a few slides with screen-shots of various problems I encountered during the editing process and how I solved them.
For my part of the presentation I introduced my self and talked about what we wanted to achieve with the red dress filter. I then explained some problems I found. The first was red objects popping up in the shots, a problem which I solved by cropping the parts of the frame I wanted red and getting rid of the filter for everything else on these shots. The second problem was the red lights in the tunnel, so I explained how I turned it into CCTV footage. Finally I explained the process behind writing the dialogue and then I showed them the film.
Their response for the film was generally positive as they felt we had covered a lot of points in our presentation. An issue that they raised with the film was the costume choice, and they said that it did not show any particular time period. We answered by saying that as we did not have any budget to work with we had to arrange costumes from items we had to hand. Another problem they had was the amount of captions compared to the amount of footage and pictures. I thought that it was a fair comment as the majority of the story is told through words rather than pictures.

Sound Issues

2010-03-05T04:31:00.000-08:00

Since last time, it turns out that no music has been produced. Tom showed us how to import royalty free stock sounds from the College Library. I thought of adding Ambient noise to the soundtrack in place of the music but I found that the sound effects did not correspond very well with the footage, especially city noises as they were probably recorded in the US. Adding ambient noise did not add anything to the film and looked very amateurish. So, I decided to leave the footage silent. We thought this would still work as we planned the film so it would work without sound anyway, as the medium with which it will most likely be viewed is the internet, and in most paces where it would be watched, like offices or schools, sound would be limited.

Analysing Sound

2010-02-26T02:14:00.000-08:00

The clip is from The Crow, starring Brandon Lee. It is about a murder victim who is resurrected to seek revenge on the criminals who killed his girlfriend. The clip I am analysing is the part where he emerges from the grave and returns to the crime scene in order to transform into The Crow.
The music to start with is moody and brooding, as we follow him through the graveyard and back alleys. This is to symbolise the character's pain. The music also gets louder accompanying the appearance of the crow, in order to highlight the bird's presence as a signifier of death.
The diagetic sounds in the scene include creaking earth as he emerges from the ground, squelching mud and footprints in the puddles. There is also the constant noise of pouring rain, and these all add Gothic atmosphere to the scene. The crow is also a constant in the extract, its flapping wings and cawing adding to the mood and leading the character through the scene. We also hear the dialogue of the murderers and the sounds in the flashback. The sounds are echoed to show that they are distant. During the flashback, each cut is accompanied with a flash of sound or white noise to show how traumatic the events were. Diagetic sounds during this section are the gunshots, the sirens and the shattering glass which are all amplified and distorted. During the flashback which includes his happy memories, the music is mournful to represent his loss. As he completes his transformation, a rock song kicks in which gets louder to symbolise his rebirth.

2010-02-12T01:41:00.000-08:00

We held a meeting in our group to decide two things: the title for the film and also the style of music we wanted. Here are the minutes:

First of all we decided to use my edit of the film as it was the most complete. The next thing we discussed were titles for the product. We decided on After Life as it sounds the most elegant and alludes to the subject matter of the film. For the musical aspect of the film we wrote down ideas for the score which could be given to some music students. Hopefully next week they will have composed it for us.

Further Editing

2010-02-05T01:16:00.000-08:00

In this session I started finalising the edit.
I wanted to add quite a complex effect to the end of the film where a ring closes in around the final frame. Tom, the technician, helped me do this as there was no designated filter for doing it.
First he showed me how to "nest" clips, so one effect can be added to two or more pieces of footage.
To do this go to Sequence -> Nest Items or press Alt C.

I then created a new nest with two colour screens, one black and one grey. I then used a transition called "Oval Iris" to make the black come in around the grey where Abi's face would be in the final frame.

Tom then showed me a filter called "Chroma Keyer" which is the technique used when using a green screen. With it, I could make the grey invisible. I then placed the nest in the layer above the footage. Layers work the same way as in Photoshop, the layers on top are placed at the front.

Also in this lesson I wrote the dialogue cards, which explain the narrative. I decided to use a font called "Edwardian Script" as it looks old-fashioned and I added a filter called "Blink", which I set to low settings. This makes the text flicker as if in an old film.

Editing the Footage 2.0

2010-01-22T02:45:00.000-08:00

Today Suited & Booted came in to help with the more advanced aspects of editing. They talked us through adding filters and transitions and also adding titles. For our group specifically they helped us add the filter that isolates the red in the footage.

To add an effect or transition you drag and drop it from the palette on the left into the viewer

You need to add the effect called "Colour Correction 3-Way" Then use the eyedropper tool to select the colour you need to isolate, in this case the red of Abi's dress. Play around with the sliders until the colour is separated in the way you want.

For one scene, in the tunnels, the red lights made this effect useless, so I came up with the idea of making it CCTV footage, by adding filters such as white noise and a time-code reader.

We went around the room watching everyone's edit in order to see how an audience would respond to the films. After watching the other films I have decided to stray a little from the original storyboards and rearranged some of the scenes, as I think that the new layout gives the film a more cinematic look.

Editing the footage

2010-01-15T03:11:00.001-08:00

Last lesson we captured the footage from the tapes onto the computer and today we started creating an individual rough edit each. After importing the files from the college's shared resources, I learned how to cut the footage into separate clips, and arranged them in order to create a rough edit. I then found out how to control the speed of the footage and add other effects.

How to cut footage into smaller clips

Double click the file to open it in the viewer. Find the in point and mark it with "i". Find the out point and mark it with "o". Then drag the clip into the timeline

How to control the speed
Go to Modify -> Speed and Set the percentage speed

Edward Scissorhands

2010-01-01T07:27:00.000-08:00

Edward Scissorhands is a modern fairytale, released in 1990, and was directed by Tim Burton. It stars Johnny Depp as a scientific experiment who has scissors for hands.

The main Gothic theme in the film is isolation, both physical and emotional. This is shown most notably by the fact that Edward is discovered in the attic of a huge Gothic castle, and eventually that is where he is left, having been rejected from the town. It is also represented by the garden he has created for himself in the castle, implying that he has to occupy himself by making sculptures. The scissors on his hands represent a physical barrier between Edward and the rest of the characters, as he is unable to interact with them or the world they live in, as shown in the scene where he tries to eat dinner, along with many other moments in the film where it is played for comic effect, but tragically when he tries to help the young boy but ends up scarring his face. This reinforces the theme that even though he has a special gift, he will never be accepted into society. Edward is also emotionally isolated from the other characters in the fact that he has to learn about the world from scratch, which is evident in the scene where the professor, his "father", teaches him how to laugh.

Although it includes devices from the horror genre, like a mad professor and a frankenstein like creation, it differs from traditional horrors in that it does not focus on terror or being scary, but instead is about the development of a tragic character. It contains more similarities to fairytales, in that it is opened and closed by a character, who is now old, retelling the story to her grandchild. It also focuses on the love between a beautiful girl and a "monster" like in the fairytale Beauty and the Beast.

When he has to adjust to the world outside his castle, Edward is a naive, suggestible character, which contrasts with his image as a man who has blades on his hands. He is frequently used by the other characters, which frequently lands him in trouble and eventually in exile.

The suburb below the castle is painted with pastel colours, which represents the generic nature of suburban life and exist to show the contrast between the town and the grey stone world that Edward has just left. The castle is full of eccentric shapes and structures like the staircase and the machine that makes cookies, whilst the suburbs, before Edward arrives, consist of square houses and neat lawns and hedges. Again this is to show how normal suburban life is compared to Edward.

There are many characters in the film who are stereotypes, and this is to show us how odd the world is when seen through Edward's eyes, such as the moments when all the men leave for work at the same time, and when the women gossip around to find out who Edward is when they first see him.

The film follows a Classical Narrative structure, which means the story is made up of three sections (usually the beginning, middle and end). The first section exists to establish the characters, and the key scene is when Peg enters the Mansion and discovers Edward. In this scene the audience is introduced to the contrast between the two worlds, and also given insights to the characters of Peg, Edward and the women of the town. Another key scene is when Kim and her boyfriend arrive back in the town. This sets up their characters and sets up Jim's conflict with Edward which froms the basis for the rest of the plot. The middle section provides the bulk of the movie and develops the characters towards the climax. In this section, Edward is initially accepted by the neighbourhood, and the jobs that he does for them provide most of the comedy in the film. It also builds up the relationships between Kim, Edward and Jim, with the key moment when Jim lets Edward get arrested. The climax of the film is after his exile from the suburbs, when Jim confronts Edward and Kim in the mansion attic. It ends with Edward killing Jim, but only after Kim gets hurt. This confirms Edwards character as a "monster with a heart". The film is given closure by fastforwarding to the future where Kim is old but Edward lives on creating snow from ice sculptures to show that he still remembers. I think this is a good way to end the film as it avoids the cliches of a traditional fairytale happy ending, and it underlines the overall theme of the story, which is that two people may be destined for each other but their differences mean they should remain apart.

Filming Session 2

2009-12-11T03:16:00.000-08:00

Today we had the morning to finish the production of the film. Since last week I have been emailing the parks authority in order to gain permission for Sydney Gardens and Victoria Park. The email is as follows:

Hi Jack - I am assuming that the filming is going ahead today Friday 11 Dec despite the extremely cold weather. I have now seen a copy of your original request and please note that Parks does not deal with giving permission for the use of the canal path that runs along the perimeter of part of Sydney Gardens - think Rachel will advise that you would need to contact British Waterways.

I can confirm that permission is given for City of Bath College to film in Royal Victoria Park and the Circus - the project involves creative and media study students working on a production to include Gothic Bath.

Thanks

We did not have permission for Sydney gardens and did not have enough time to contact British Waterways so we decided to cut the sequence that was due to be shot there from the film, as it adds nothing really to the story and does not feature anything particularly Gothic.

We decided to start with the location that was furthest away from the college, which was Victoria Park. The shot we decided to shoot involved Abi running through the park with the Royal Crescent in the background. The conditions were foggy which added an atmosphere to the shot and we were able to frame the crescent in an original way that looked quite Gothic. I directed Daisy to set the camera up in a position which allowed the shot to be framed by the branches of the trees. I also directed Abi to enter from the right of the frame and told her to move faster or slower. The shot took a couple of takes as we tried to work out how the sequence would work.

Then we went to film the shot at The Circus. It involved Abi sitting at the base of a tree. I decided to start the shot in the branches of the tree and pan down to the girl. We only did one take as the conditions were extremely cold.

After break we went to film the final shot at Southgate Shopping Centre. We had no written permission but we managed to get permission from Republic, the shop that we were filming outside. I was acting in the shot, and because I m not a very good actor the shot took lots of takes to complete. We also had to avoid any red in the shot which was difficult as the shot involved members of the public.

We have now completed the production of the film and are ready for the post-production.

Filming Session 1

2009-12-04T03:05:00.000-08:00

Today was the first day we have scheduled for filming. We set out to film shots at the locations we currently have permission for, that is all public highways and the train station. I was working on the shoot as director and was responsible for setting up a good frame for each shot and also keeping track of the gear.
The first location we chose was the Paragon Steps. We decided to film two shots of Abi walking down the steps, one from the bottom and one from the top. We will edit the them together to create the sequence. I directed Abi to stop at certain points on the staircase and look around in order to give to sequence some context.
Then we went to Laura Place. After experimenting with the shot we decided to have Abi sat on the top level of the fountain. My job was to start the action when there was a gap in the traffic. The shot was difficult to arrange as we needed to avoid anything red in the shot and there were several members of the public around, but eventually we did it in one take.
I changed into my costume then we went to Helting Court where the first scene that involved me as an actor was to take place. The shot took a few takes as acting was difficult in the cold. The second shot there was filmed as I went to change back.
The final scene of the day was filmed in the tunnels at the train station. The plan was to film Abi entering the tunnel and then another shot showing her running through it. We had to change the camera settings to adjust to the change in light conditions, but we could not totally eradicate the red coloured lighting. This could prove a problem later when it comes to the editing.
In total the day went very well. Sara from Suited and Booted said that she was very impressed with our group.

2009-11-27T04:20:00.000-08:00

In today's lesson we were sorting out gathering permission for our filming locations. I filled out this form containig the details of our shoot and sent it to the film office.

They sent me back this letter giving permission from the Highways Department to film on all the public highways, that is The Paragon Steps, Laura Place, The Circus and Helting Court.
I emailed around to the contacts that the film office gave me for all the locations that weren't covered, i.e. the Train Station, Sydney Gardens and Victoria Park by the Crescent. So I emailed the Parks Authority and First Great Western. The contact at First Great Western gave me permission as long as we signed in and obeyed the conditions in the letter below:

2009-11-20T01:21:00.000-08:00

This lesson we finished off the treatment for the production, including health and safety and risk assessment. We completed forms to be sent to the film office including a detailed schedule of the filming locations for approval. Also we drafted a rough storyboard in order to get our heads around the direction of the film.

Finding Locations

2009-11-13T03:24:00.000-08:00

In today's lesson we went scouting for locations to be used in our film. We decided on eight final locations.

The Paragon Steps on Walcott St
This is a very steep staircase in a narrow alleyway. We thought it had a very Gothic appearance, with features such as a lamp and hanging ivy.
An alleyway in Hetling Close
We liked the large windows and cobbles that this location has to offer. We need a place to show the contrast between the past and the present, and the modern glass buildings and the traffic in the background would work well if we could cut them out for the "past" shots.
Sydney Gardens Canal
We thought that we could use reflections in the water to provide a nice visual effect.
The Royal Crescent
Although this is the most obvious location in Bath, we thought we could use it as an effective background to the action.
Railway Close tunnel
We thought a dark tunnel could provide a suitably Gothic atmosphere.
The Circus
This location was chosen due to the grand old buildings and the tall trees which will be bare a this time of year.
Laura Place Fountain
We need a shot to show how lost the character is in the modern world. We chose to place her on the fountain as this would show that she is invisible to everyone else by placing her on a busy traffic island.
Southgate Shopping Centre
For the final shot we needed a public place so we chose the new Southgate Centre. Here the male character can appear as one of the crowd.

I think we could have spent more time looking for locations, as many of the locations in the list were added having not been scouted. We also started pre-production, in the form of treatment for the film.

The First Meeting

2009-11-06T02:02:00.000-08:00

In the initial meeting we met our clients, which were from the Bath Film Office. The office is a section of the Bath tourism board, which is dedicated to helping photographers and filmmakers to use Bath as a location. Their job involves suggesting locations and helping shoots to run as smoothly as possible, for example by closing any roads.

We also met Sara from Suited and Booted. They are a local film studio that works with youngpeople to produce community-oriented projects.

We were given the brief, which was to produce, in a group, a short film of roughly less than 3 minutes. The purpose of the film was to show off Bath as a potential location for filmmakers, and to emphasize the more gothic side of the city rather than the typical Georgian setting.

The Bath Film Office are to act as our clients and we were told that the film could be put on their website if it was deemed the best. We were also told to designate a member of the group to correspond with the film office to organise permits and sort out locations.

Suited and Booted are to act as our “studio” in helping us with the filming and the post production. They will teach us how to use the professional cameras and editing software and give us general advice about producing a film.

We were organised into our groups and asked to brainstorm ideas about the project. I came up with the basic idea of a vampire story set around bath, and also said that we should probably focus on the more romantic aspects of Gothic fiction, rather than horror. Sara told us that if the film is on a website it should be watchable without sound, so this inspired the group to come up with the idea of a silent film. We also wanted to give the film a modern aesthetic style so we suggested isolating a single colour (we chose red) in the style of Sin City or Don’t Look Now. I asked Sara if we needed to be careful whilst shooting and she said yes, first of all not to include any red objects and secondly not to make it look like a silent comedy and more like a gothic drama.

The Gothic Project

2009-11-05T03:31:00.000-08:00

The term gothic has many meanings. In cinema it relates to films that contain frightening or lonely situations or imagery , usually in relation to death (or undeath). I have chosen three short films to analyse which I think represent the Gothic style.

The first film I have chosen to analyse is The Pigeon by Jamie Childs and Joe Rizzo-Naudi. Not only does it take place in a Gothic setting but contains such themes as life after death, loneliness and descent into madness which give it the characteristics of a gothic film.

The film reflects the character's mood by the use of dark lighting, illuminated only by candle light and flashes of lightning. This pathetic fallacy creates a mysterious atmosphere around the character and the events. The Duke's mood is angry, and that is displayed in the violent weather outside, the flashes from the gun and also the enclosed corridors of the mansion house. This creates an atmosphere of desperation and madness.

The location is a gothic manor house, and the grand features such as the fireplace give the impression of power and wealth, but also the stone walls could suggest the loneliness and oppression that drives the duke to suicide. The cobwebs which cover the house later on in the film suggest neglect and the passage of time which is a key theme in the film.

The mis-on-scene is key to the films effect on the audience. The Duke's costume tells the viewer that the film is occurring in the past and also the fact that he has wealth or power. The dining table, which has no guests, implies that he is either lonely or mad or both. Various other bits of scenery give light to the period setting, for example: The candles lighting the table or the pieces of armour on the walls of the house. The skeleton is wearing the Duke's costume, which gives the viewer the visual link between the two and reveals that the Duke is a ghost.

The timing between cuts is quite lengthy, the film maker preferring panning shots to quick cuts. The cuts take place whenever a new event happens to clarify the advance in the plot. The point of the editing is to synchronise the footage with the narration of the poem.

The narrator is present throughout the film reciting the poem which corresponds to the events in the film. The dialogue of the Duke is muted to be replaced with the voice of the narrator. This makes the flow of the poem smoother and more interesting due to the changes in tone of the voice. The arrival of the pigeon is accompanied with the noises of the clock, to reinforce the theme of time, and also the beginning of the music. When the Duke's emotions increase,the music gets more dramatic and is accompanied by louder thunder clashes. As the pace of the narration speeds up so also does the music, which draws the audience into the action.

The second film I will analyse is Quarry by John Cade and Robert Bannister. It relates to the gothic theme because it portrays violent and frightening events.

The mood of the main character is frightened for his life and in shock about the death of his girlfriend and the danger he faces. This is translated well to the viewer by including a flashback shot of him with the girl before revealing her body in the cage with him. This creates empathy with the man, and sets up an uncomfortable atmosphere in the audience. The laughter of the hunter shows us that he has no empathy for the victim and this adds to the sense of danger.

The film is set in a forest, which are often used in gothic cinema as wild, dangerous places set beyond the reach of civilisation. The woods represent being alone, as this makes the viewer realise that the victim is by himself and unlikely to be rescued.

The victim's costume tells the viewer that he has already undergone some abuse: His glasses are broken and he is wearing no shirt. This lets the audience know his pain. The hunters' costumes imply power; They are wearing traditional hunting clothes which, along with the fact they have a cage, suggests that they are torturing him for sport. This makes the viewer feel the victim's confusion as the abuse is unjustified.

The palette of the film is quite muted in contrast with the warm glow of the brief flashback shots. This mirrors the character's emotions and allows for further empathy with him. The film consists of sharp, short cuts, especially during the chase sequence, which shows the character's state of panic and desperation. The shots of the victim running are shaky and panicked whilst those of the hunters searching for him are stable. This lets the viewer know who's in control.

The use of birdsong at the start tells the viewer immediately that the film is set in the countryside so no establishing shots are really needed. The film features a notable lack of dialogue. This shows that the victim is in a completely alien situation and the audience presumes that there is no previous connection between him and the hunters. There is also a lack of music which adds a lot to the tension and adds an awkward atmosphere.

The final film i'll be analysing is Halfway by Karl Holt. It carries themes of the supernatural and of disturbing and frightening events, which connect it to the gothic genre.

The film is almost entirely illuminated with an eerie blue light, which adds to the disturbing atmosphere. The character's mood is at first confused, which is transferred to the audience through the use of the flickering strobe light and the image of him crawling through the dark. When his mood changes to terrified, the pace of the flickering blue light is increased do disorient the viewer.

The setting is in a dark concrete room or cell. This gives the impression of imprisonment and claustrophobia. Also adding to this is the fact that the man wakes up bound and gagged, which fills in all the necessary back-story for the film, but still leaves some mystery. The use of the television sets and night vision cameras implies that he is being watched by someone and adds to the fact that he is powerless.

The camera work is shaky, adding to the intimacy between the viewer and the character. When he is being attacked the cuts are short which makes the viewer panic in response to the action.
The soundtrack contains camera noises, which adds to the feeling of someone else watching, and the music used is tense and contains sounds similar to a heartbeat, which adds to the tension for the audience. Harsh, spiky sounds are added to moments which exist to make the viewer jump, and the monster's screaming is harsh and high pitched which makes the audience uncomfortable.

The films I have analysed all have a connection to the gothic theme. The Pigeon is the most obviously connected, as it contains gothic architecture and themes from classic gothic horror movies. The latter two are more modern in style but both share gothic themes such as loneliness or helplessness.

The first film task

2009-09-18T01:24:00.000-07:00

The first film task was to go out and capture 3 shots representing the weather, a long shot, a mid shot and a close up . The weather that day was sunny so we set out to capture some shots reflecting a tranquil mood. We went up to the top of a car park in order to get a top view of the river, which I filmed with Oli's direction. The shot panned from left to write in order to establish the scene whilst avoiding any view of the nearby road. the next shot was a panning mid shot of the river showing the sun on the canal boats to highlight the weather conditions. The final close up was shot and directed by me. It showed the sun's reflection on the water with floating leaves. the camera was fixed on the sun, so we could highlight the flow of the river in the movement of the leaves.

If we did it again we would plan and establish a narrative beforehand instead of afterwards and probably use a tripod in order to make the shots look more professional.