Conventions - Documentary and Social Realism

Textual Analysis - Inspiration/Conclusion

This is the short film that I annotated as part of my summer work. This is an abstract piece that is successful in making both the artist (Pontus Alv) and the video look stylish. Original pieces by Pontus Alv are shown throughout. What I will take from this video for mine is the abstract style in terms of cinematography, editing, mise-en-scene and especially sound. The voice of Pontus Alv is heard through what sounds like a phone call, with the automated voice at the beginning and end of his message. I think this looks and sounds effective as it makes the message seem a lot more real, as if it is actually the audience who the message is addressed to and who are actually in a phone call with the character. I will look into creating this effect from internet tutorials as it is not immediately obvious how to create this effect.



My main inspiration in terms of cinematography will come from a short film very similar to mine, in the fact that it features a Phillip Larkin poem read over the top. The film uses a montage edit with little variation from this and this is what I would like to change in so to gain more marks. The use of extreme long shots captures things like the boats along the river and the buildings of Hull in a way that encapsulates the beauty in the city that is seen by the film-maker Dave Lee and by the poet himself Phillip Larkin saw in Hull.



I enjoyed the style of editing in this music video and will therefore take inspiration in my film. Multiple times throughout the film, the dancers fast movements will be played at normal speed and will go slow-motion at certain intervals of the song. I felt this looked effective in emphasising the movement of the dancers and also the changing beat of the song.

A Man Who Delivers - Day in the life of a cocaine dealer

http://www.shortoftheweek.com/2013/06/20/a-man-who-delivers/

Narrative develops through continuity editing - time shown through multiple layers of editing, audience made aware of the daily routine of the dealer through the times he sends and receives these text messages. Todorov Structure also used - in equilibrium, enjoys his job, leads a 'normal' happy life, we find multiple women have left him as he won't quit his 'job' - equilibrium at end as he returns home to lounge on the sofa and watch telly - audience presume daily routine will restart next day.

Use of cinematography effective - lots of point of view shots from inside the car which makes audience see what his life is really like literally. This film could be linked to Richard Dyers theory that 'How we are seen determines how we are treated, how we treat others is based on how we see them. How we see them comes from representation.'. This is seen in the way the buyers treat the dealer - We are able to read his text messages as they appear on-screen, this is useful for audience time-keeping and also through this use of mise-en-scene the audience can imagine what it must be like to have so many people texting him - seemingly unharmful texts however what they really want is cocaine. However it is clear and becomes a little uglier when the senders of these texts maintain their 'politeness' while constantly texting the dealer with multiple texts in a matter of minutes, in this the audience can see their addiction yet still do not become unpleasant - is this because they know what the dealer can be like? The audience find that the dealer from the dialogue seems like a normal guy, but does he have a dark-side or is it simply that the stereotype made by the senders of the text automatically assume that if they get on the bad side of this 'cocaine dealer' that the results will not be pretty.

Richard Dyers theory could also bye used in vice-versa, in the way the dealer treats the buyers. He simply sees them as buyers, cocaine addicts and this may affect the way he treats them. He knows that the buyers are addicted to his product therefore demand will be fairly inelastic, he knows that when they want it they will pay whatever and will have it at whenever is convenient for the dealer and therefore like the last text we see, the buyer says he is desperate but understand that it's late at around 11 at night, the dealer asks how many he wants and when the buyer replies with just the one, all of a sudden the dealer is on his way home and this leaves the question in the audience's mind as to whether the situation would've been any different if the buyer had wanted more - I imagine it probably would have.
 

Adam Curtis Blog

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/adamcurtis/

Adam Curtis - Conventions of Social Realism

Adam Curtis is a British film-maker, closely associated with the BBC. His works explore ideologies from with elements of sociology, philosophy and politics. Adam Curtis is a key figure in the terms of social realism documentaries on a larger scale. For my project I would like to make something similar on a local scale. Curtis takes ideas from famous, historical ideas and speeches and manipulates them in a way to create his own message. Like for example using the clip he does from 1:02 to show this persons message of love, while also tying it in with his message from the film. In terms of conventions of documentaries on social realism, the dialogue following what is on screen can be very contradictory but in a sarcastic manner in so looking effective. For example, in the trailer for 'All Watched Over By Machines Of Loving Grace'. The lyrics of the song follow the lines of 'I close my eyes' as on screen someone is looking into a visualizer - showing Curtis' message that we are turning simply into components in systems like computers. In terms of audience, the documentary can be applied to the western mass audiences to arguably all media forms as the documentary ia about the effect the mass media is having on the mass audiences of the west. The video could be linked in terms of theory to Marxism as it represents the dominant ideology held by the media being forced upon the audiences.

http://www.shortoftheweek.com/category/genre/documentary/

Dave Lee - Hull Writer and Film-maker

http://davelee1968.wordpress.com/

Short Film Analysis - Dave Lee: Bridge for the Living - Philip Larkin

For my A2 Media Coursework I have chosen to do a Short Film with a documentary styling to it.

For my main inspiration was the short film, Bridge for the Living - Philip Larkin by writer and short film-maker from Hull.

In this short film - Dave Lee represents Phillip Larkin's famous descriptions and feelings about Hull through moving image and representation of the city in the way Larkin imagines it.

In terms of conventions, like documentaries, the films uses 'voice of God' commentary over the top of shots relating to the subjects and themes of the dialogue.  Like for example in 'Bridge For The Living' constantly, in an almost cliche kind of manner, what Philip Larkin is describing in his poem is seen on screen.

EXAMPLE:

'A working skyline wanders to the sea' 

In terms of Cinematography, this short films is based around the city of Hull as it is the subject of the poem. This means that the majority of shots are extreme long shots as this is the 'main character'. The camera is kept still while the setting changes like for example birds fly by. I liked this technique however I think in terms of logistics for attaining these shots it could become time consuming. I think I would also like the same shots but in an even more time-consuming effect with time-lapse shots, especially with things like busy cities with cars and clouds are the most effective time-lapse shots I've seen. 

History of Form

History of Form: Analysis of Night Mail - 1936 Royal Mail Train Delivery Service

Night Mail was the first of it's kind in terms of Short Film with a documentary styling.

The 'Night Mail' shows the struggle and processes gone through by the Royal Mail Train Delivery service all the way across Britain from South to North. It was on of the most critically acclaimed films to be produced within the British documentary film movement.  By 1936, film output at the GPO Film Unit was divided between the production of relatively routine films promoting Post Office services, and more ambitious ones experimenting with the use of sound, visual style, narrative and editing technique. Night Mail is firmly in the latter category. The GPO was a division of the UK General Post Office which was set up to produce sponsored documentary films on the activities of the Royal Mail Service.

The film features rhyming verse - spoken by PatJackson - was written by W.H. Auden, who also acted as assistant director. This looked effective and was one of the more ambitious techniques used by the GPO film unit. 

The film begins with a voiceover commentary describing how the mail is collected for transit. Then, as the train proceeds along the course of its journey, we are shown the various regional railway stations at which it collects and deposits mail - this is fairly conventional of documentary dialogue - using the 'voice of God' technique in terms of commentary where the audience never see the commentator but he is present throughout.

As the train nears its destination there is a sequence - the best known in the film, in which Auden's spoken verse and Britten's music are combined over montage images of racing train wheels. This is the best known part of the film as it is one of the earliest uses of rhythmic editing, the words are spoken to the rhythm of the wheels racing down the track and the two fit together.  

Although the narrative is concerned with issues of national communication and integration, the thematic centre of the film is more closely linked to representations of the regional environment. This elevation of the regional above the national is reinforced by the portrayal of the railway as separate from the metropolitan environment, and little attempt is made to link the railway and its workers with the city. The film also channels representations of modern technology and institutional practice away from an account of the industry of postal delivery, and into a study of the train as a powerful symbol of modernity, in its natural element speeding into the countryside.

Annotation of short film - Pontus Alv A message from Klez

Short Film - Annotation

Coursework Brief - Short Film

I have now changed my mind in my choice of brief for my A2 media course, I have now chosen to do a short film: A short film in its entirety, lasting approximately five minutes, which may be live action or animated or a combination of both, together with two of the following three options: a poster for the film; a radio trailer for the film; a film magazine review page featuring the film.

Summer Task - Storyboard Song

BRIEF

1. A promotion package for the release of an album, to include a music promo video, together with two of the following three options: a website homepage for the band; a cover for its release as part of a digipak (CD/DVD package); a magazine advertisement for the digipak (CD/DVD package).