Beat Sheet

Scriptwriting

What happens in your short film idea?

A girl (Molly) goes on holiday to Athens and meets a boy who she falls in love with as soon as they lay eyes on each other. She becomes very attached to him and spends the whole holiday with him making new memories and experiencing new things with each other. She faces the difficulty of leaving him and going back home or continuing her life with him in Greece.

What is it about? (i.e. what does the conflict/transformation symbolise?)

It is about a couple who meet on holiday that have to face the difficulties of living in different countries.

What is the Ordinary world?

Ordinary world is her home life. She goes on holiday expecting just to have some sun.

What is the extraordinary world and what takes it the character into it?

Extraordinary world is when she gets to Athens and meets the love of her life. She continues to live in the extraordinary world until she comes to the realisation that she has to go home and leave him.

What is the goal of the main character?

The goal of the main character is to convince her lover to move back to her hometown with her.

What obstacles do they face?

They face the obstacles of leaving each other and coming to an agreement. Whether they want to be together forever or to go their separate ways.

What External conflict is there?

What internal conflict (if any) is there?

The internal conflict they face is the difficulty of making a decision of where to spend their lives.

What (if any) are the conscious desires and unconscious needs of the main character?

Conscious desire: She wants to stay in Greece to live with the love of her life and spend the rest of her life there. She loves Athens and wants to stay.

Unconscious needs: She needs to go home to her family, friends and life.

Describe your first scene/sequence, beat by beat, up to the moment the main character enters the extraordinary world.

1.     Molly jumps out of the taxi.

2.     Takes a deep breath of warm Athens air

3.     She sighs with relief, admiring her surroundings.

4.     She begins to walk into the hotel

5.     A hand grabs her bag off her

6.     Before she has chance to say anything he says “Let me Madame.”

7.     She looks up and notices the man

8.     They look into each others eyes for a few seconds

9.     He winks at her

10.  She smiles back

Narrative Structure

Narrative structure, a literary element, is generally described as the structural framework that underlies the order and manner in which a narrative is presented to a reader, listener, or viewer. The narrative text structures are the plot and the setting.

Generally, the narrative structure of any work—be it a film, play, or novel—contains a plot, theme, and resolution. It can also be divided into three sections, which are together referred to as the three-act structure: setup, conflict, and resolution.

Freytag's Pyramid
1. Exposition: setting the scene. The writer introduces the characters and setting, providing description and background.

2. Inciting Incident: something happens to begin the action. 

3. Rising Action: the story builds and gets more exciting.

4. Climax: the moment of greatest tension in a story. 

5. Falling Action: events happen as a result of the climax and we know that the story will soon end.

6. Resolution: the character solves the main problem/conflict or someone solves it for him or her.

http://www.ohio.edu/people/hartleyg/ref/fiction/freytag.html 

"Lavender"

Our task is to, in groups, create 6 film still images. We firstly need to think of a film idea and then produce 6 images as if they were taken from that film. We were put into groups by our lecturer and were put to work. 

My group and I began to brainstorm some ideas for our film. We wanted to create something with a strong background and that will make powerful images. We came up with the idea of showing the progression of a a teenage girl suffering with an illness, more specifically, Cancer. We want to show this through our images by showing her mental and physical deterioration as the illness progresses. 
     We will be displaying our images end-beginning. We have chosen this layout because it’s a unique way of showing our work, as well as it being a way to avoid the story being linear and predictable.
     To help the images connect well together, we will be using the technique of subtlety placing an object in every shot. We will be using a red bracelet on her wrist – red to represent danger. We will be having the colouration of the images slowly decreasing and becoming more dull as the series goes on to emphasize the deterioration.

6 Image Inspiration: 
For a couple of our images, we are majorly inspired by the TV series Breaking Bad. BB is based on a middle aged man, Walter White, suffering from cancer, as well as his journey as a drug dealer to fend for his family. The cinematography during breaking bad is very unique because while it shows Walter having treatment, the colours are much different than when he's living his every day life. 

For our first image, we would like to have the character experiencing treatment. It will be the 'end' of the story because we don't want there to be a conclusion and for the viewers to make their own decision on the ending. We would like the character to be in sharp focus in the centre of the image with her family around her. The family will be blurred and involve lots of movement to show the isolation of the character even though she's in a room full of people. This not only shows her physical deterioration (treatment) but her mental state as well. 

Image number 2 is also inspired by Breaking Bad. We want to have an image of the character on their own, just to show their mental state. A cancer patient as a lot of mental struggles to face as well as their physical appearance change and struggle. I think that it's important to show both elements in our project. I plan to have a similar image to this, but may experiment in different locations to see which works best. 

Image number 3 is inspired by images we found on the internet. The aim of the images is to have the character noticing/realising that she's losing her long hair. Her facial expression needs to show that she's unhappy with it. We plan to have her looking in the mirror with her long hair falling out. The mirror may also by misty as if she just came out of the shower, to add to the 'story.' The idea of this task if to have it as if taken from a film so it's important to show different stages of the "movie."

Image number 4 is the stage in the story when the character finds out that she's ill. It's slightly more difficult to show this without the use of dialog and film so we needed to think of an image to show all the information needed for it to be clear of the situation. We will be using inspiration from 'The Fault in Our Stars' purely for the reactions of the characters. We plan to have our character outside the 'Cancer Unit' at a hospital, showing her emotions clearly through her body language. Having the cancer unit sign in the background will make it more clear of what's going on. 

Image number 5 is the realisation that she's not well. It's very difficult to show this without dialog and film so we needed to think of a strong idea to show the information needed for the audience. We plan to have an image of the character sleeping with her mum overlooking her, with a full plate of food infront of her. This indicates that she's oversleeping and not eating, making it clear that there is something wrong - as well as this being one of the symptoms for cancer. 

Finally, image number 6 is an establishing shot of the character. We want to show her personality through using her bedroom. People's bedrooms very often reflect the type of person that they are so we would like this in the image. Our character is a very creative girl and her room shows this perfectly. 

Monologue

While sat at the table for dinner, my daughter reveals the surprise that she is in fact pregnant with the GI she has been dating.

"Pregnant.... Oh my.... I've always told her that marriage comes before sex. None of this would've happened if that bloody GI didn't come along. I can't believe this is happening. A baby!? Ever since she was little she always said she couldn't wait to have a baby. She always had her little doll under her arm. While tucking her into bed at night, one kiss for her, one for 'Annabel'. I never thought I would see the day that my little girl having a little one of her own before she turned 20. How are we going to be able to deal with the war and a pregnant daughter? What happens when that GI of hers leaves to go back to fight? Oh no.."

Matilda: Film Scene Analysis

Matilda (1996) is an american fantasy comedy film directed by Danny DeVito. It is based on a young girl and her challenging up bringing with neglective parents and bullying headmistress. One of the scenes in the film features Matilda and her family watching TV while eating dinner. The scene begins by showing an establishing shot of the family in the living room, preparing to eat their food. Matilda is isolated from the rest of her family, reading a book - this supports the idea of her being very on her own throughout the film and neglected by her family. 

As the scene continues, the family begin to eat their food and Matilda's father notices that she is reading - something he is not happy with. He stands up and hovers over Matilda. The shot shows her father hovering over Matilda - a close up of his head. This implies the dominance he has over his daughter and adds to the idea of him being horrible to her. The lighting throughout the scene continues to be the same, a dark yellow glow, coming from 'the tv.' I think that they created this lighting by using a low light and yellow gels. 

'Mr Wormwood' continues to get aggravated by Matilda's reading so he forces her to watch the TV - this also adds to the dominance idea and the fact that Matilda is very often forced to-do things she's not happy about. The facial expressions of Matilda and her father show their emotions perfectly. Mr Wormwood has an angry/grin on his face while he watches the tv, however, Matilda is frowning due to the fact she's been forced to stop reading her book. 

The camera movements then begin to get sharper and more often. This builds tension and can make the viewer feel almost, uncomfortable, knowing that something big is about to happen. This is important in films because if there is no climax/build in tension, it can get very boring. The shots consist of close ups of the the different family members laughing at the TV. Zooming in as the shots get quicker and quicker continues to add tension and build to a climax. Eventually, an extreme close up of Matilda's eyes appears with flashes from the TV, resulting in the TV exploding. 

I think that this long lead up is a very good idea because this is the first part in the film that the viewers discover Matilda's powers. The dark lighting and yellow tones makes it very atmospheric. The camera angles also make the scene very powerful because of the extreme close ups making the viewers feel uncomfortable and 'on the edge of their seats.' 

Still Life Character Image

"Undevoted Mother" by Katie Ward

Character Bible

We have been asked to complete a character bible based on a scenario of our choice. We have chosen to base our character bibles on the scenario of 'A family dinner in World War 2, where a young woman has brought her GI boyfriend home to meet her family. Characters may include: young woman (18), GI (21), Mother (42), Father (50) and little brother (12).'

I will be completing a character bible based on the Mother.

Mother (Mary Smith)
To help with my character bible of the mother, I will be doing some research into mother's during the second world war and how they were generally at that time. BBC have a section on their website with archives and diaries from WW2 which I will be using to help me with my research. This is a very helpful resource due to it being a completely true archive with no manipulation to any stories or events. 

BBC History
History Learning Site

Characterisation is what people see on the outside of a character. Their physical appearance, first impressions & general surface details. 
Character is based on what they do - their personality, reactions to situations etc. 

Mother Characterisation 

Mary Smith lived in a large house just outside London with her 2 children and husband. Due to to the war and loss of many jobs, she was currently a 'house wife'. On the outside, Mary was a very presentable woman. She would always have her hair in the same style, out of her face and well groomed. Mary would always wear the same earrings and pearl necklace because she knew her husband loved them. Her lips always had a dark shade of lipstick - she would leave a mark on every cup she drunk from. She looked like a high class woman due to the fact that her clothes were so well kept and of a high standard. Mary was always smiling and making the most out of situations.

Women During WW2
Image

Mother Character
Mary seemed to put her children and husband first - she was protective over her children due to the war and her mothering instincts. She would always make sure that there was food on the table when her husband got home from work which shows that she cares for him and makes sure to keep him happy. Her relationship with her husband was good, most of the time. However, they weren't perfect due to stress of war, work and family. Mary was very giving and rarely took things for herself showing that she's a very selfless person. 

Mary started off working in a factory during the war, however, found it very difficult, as many other women, to keep up with the chores of the house as well as the long hours at the factory. She had featured on a couple of propaganda posters due to her good looks however still didn't get paid a large amount for them. Even though she wasn't getting a big sum of money for doing this, she still felt like she was doing her part for war which boosted her self esteem. 

Due to the fact that Mary was a very protective mother, she wasn't very happy with her daughter dating a GI. It was known that many people result in marrying GI's and Mary didn't want her little girl to move away from home. She was also worried that her daughter would get hurt because she was still young and the GI was 3 years older than her. However, she was happy that her daughter had found someone she loved so had to keep her opinions to herself. 

Composition: Rule Of Thirds

The rule of thirds is a powerful compositional technique for making photos more interesting and dynamic. It's also one of the most well known. 
http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/rule-of-thirds.htm

Overview
The rule of thirds states than an image is most pleasing when its subjects or regions are composed along imaginary lines which divide the image into thirds - both vertically and horizontally. 

Rule of thirds examples of my own images:

This image supports the rule of thirds because of the composition. The dogs faces are in the left third of the image and also in focus, emphasizing this rule. The rest of the image is still present, however, out of focus. I am happy with this image because of the intent. This was an image taken for a project on a dog's homeless shelter and I think that the image represents isolation very well.   


This is another image taken by myself supporting the rule of thirds. The main subject (young girl in foreground) is in focus and on the right hand third while the mother overlooks in the background. The focus point emphasizes the rule of thirds and makes the image more aesthetically pleasing. 

Contextual Studies - Resistance

We have been asked to complete a task by responding to 1 of 3 questions given to us. 

1. Identify two thinkers that have written on issues relating to resistance and apply them to a significant historical event. 
2. Apply the idea of resistance to an area of art and design practice. Make reference to three cultural products. 
3. Critically explore the idea of freedom with reference to three cultural products. 

Resistance is the refusal to accept or comply with something and/or the ability not to be affected by something, especially adversely. There are many ways of resisting something/someone which is shown throughout every day life. Psychological resistance is a massive part of today's society due to the crave to be 'different.' Resisting 'the norm' can be considered iconic and innovative to others. There is a lack of self-esteem at the moment, so being innovative can majorly inspire people and gain they're confidence. There are many subconcious trends that are present in modern day generations, making resistance to these trends that much more 'iconic' to those around them. These 'trends' can stretch from fashion to music to the women's emancipation act. 

I have chosen to apply the idea of resistance to my specific area of art and design being, film and television. I will be looking at more specifically, ways that previous filmmakers have resisted the 'normal' way of creating a film - making them unique and memorable. I will be researching iconic directors/producers and the reasons why they are who they are. 

'Autumn'

I was asked to work in a team to create a photo-set of 5 images all contributing to a theme of our choice. We decided to go with the theme of 'Autumn' due to the time of year and the fact that it was so broad, gave us some more freedom. We also chose this theme because the colours of the season are very warm and appealing to the eye - enabling our images to be the same. 

Our location was based in Singleton Park. We chose this location because of how large it is, enabling us different variations of locations without it being obvious that we were in the same place. We also wanted somewhere with lots of autumnal colours and vibes and the park was perfect for that. 

This first image is particularly one of my favourites. We got inspiration from this image on Pinterest and wanted to re-create something similar. We used my own camera, the Canon 70D with a 1.8 50mm lens. We used this particular lens because of the depth of field we wanted to create - the low f-stop enabled us to-do that. I also like the framing of this shot. The rule of thirds is applied due to the subjects being in the bottom third of the image. 
   In post, we decided to edit the images in a particular way so that they all work well as a set. We added a slight yellow/orange colour filter on them to add to the autumnal colour theme as well as an offset effect to make them softer and aesthetically pleasing. 

This is also one of my favourite shots from the set. I particularly like the contrast in colours of the clothing and background. The lack of face enables the image to still be anonymous and takes away that specific human connection we get when we see other faces in images. I think that this image also looks like it could be part of a outdoor ad-campaign due to the pose, clothing and colours. 

Overall I am very pleased with how these images came out. I think that we all have a very clear understanding of depth of field and framing now. I think that they are very strong as a set because of the similarity in colours and compositions as well as the fact that they all go hand-in-hand with the theme of Autumn. I would like to continue this in the near future and see how far we can develop it as a group. 

Exhibition Review

Divisible Remainder 

Ryan L Moule

Divisible remainder is an exhibition that is currently taking place in the Mission Gallery, Swansea from 12 September - 8 November. The artist is Ryan L Moule, a current photography lecturer at Swansea College of Art. He has won multiple awards and commissions for his work such as, Arts Council of Wales 2015 & Jane Philips Award 2015. 

"When Edward Snowden’s hard drives were destroyed by the Editors of The Guardian newspaper, under the watchful eye of the British Government Spy Agency, the physical container of information was seen to be the source of leaked information. The deconstruction of the hard drive was little more than a symbolic gesture, but what was brought to the foreground was how quickly and how buried virtual information is across a plethora of both physical and non-physical platforms. The resistance of digital information to being destroyed is the premise of this new body of work. 

Taking the (restored) deleted fragments of an anonymous external hard drive as its starting point, Divisible Remainder questions the fractured contexts produced by intangible systems of information storage. The original content of the hard drive does not appear within the works, but its context is transferred, hauntologically engrained in the new images that are produced. By fracturing any sense of complete narrative foreclosure, the work seeks to create a subjective discourse in the absence of the original. The photographs displayed within this exhibition are chemically unfixed, only existing under the red 'safe light' of the darkroom. " 

http://ryanmoule.com/Current-Exhibition-Divisible-Remainder

Personal Response

Before going to view the exhibition, I wasn't sure on what to expect. I hadn't been told much information about the work which made it even more shocking when revealed to me. As I entered the room, the first thing I noticed was how red the room was. This was because of the fact that the images aren't chemically fixed meaning they aren't safe to expose to any light other than a safe light. This added a very eery atmosphere to the room which worked particularly well with the style of imagery on display. 

The images were very unique. They had all been purposely damaged using cement giving them a very strange effect and making them look almost ghostly. The images were also all very similar because a majority of them are difficult to work out - almost abstract. I personally didn't like the majority of the images because of the fact that theres not clear theme or connection between them. However, I do like the image of the older woman. I find this image very eery and atmospheric due to the monochrome and distressing.

Film Stills Analysis

This still is from one of my favourite films, Matilda. This still is taken from a scene of Matilda going through the transition of a young girl, to a couple years older. This particular still is one of my favourites from the film for multiple reasons. The first reason is the composition of the image. Matilda is dead centre of the image (rule of 1/3rds) and fully in focus. She is considered the foreground and the trees behind is the background. I also like the fact that her childhood remains with her as she grows up, it shows this through her love of books & her carrying the trailer everywhere she goes. She also continues to wear a bow throughout. 

The image indicates a sense of confidence and independence shown through her posture and facial expression. She is confidently walking without any indication of vulnerability which gives the viewer and impression that she's very independent even at such a young age. 

Cambridge in Colour

Lenses

There are many different variations of lenses that can be used with a variety of cameras. Although most lenses look the same, they are all very different. I myself have various lenses such as 50mm prime, 75-300 and 85mm prime. The 2 different types of lenses are prime/fixed and zoom. These names are based on the focal length of the lens. Personally, I favor specific lenses depending on the task in hand. If I don't require a zoom in the image, prime lenses are perfect for many reasons. The main reasons why I usually prefer a prime lens is because of the depth of field. The short depth of field enables the focus to be very specific and can more often than not, also make the image look more professional. 

"The focal length of a lens determines its angle of view, and thus also how much the subject will be magnified for a given photographic position. Wide angle lenses have short focal lengths, while telephoto lenses have longer corresponding focal lengths." 

"The focal length of a lens may also have a significant impact on how easy it is to achieve a sharp handheld photograph. Longer focal lengths require shorter exposure times to minimize blurring caused by shaky hands. Think of this as if one were trying to hold a laser pointer steady; when shining this pointer at a nearby object its bright spot ordinarily jumps around less than for objects farther away."

Zoom VS Prime 

"A zoom lens is one where the photographer can vary the focal length within a pre-defined range, whereas this cannot be changed with a "prime" or fixed focal length lens. The primary advantage of a zoom lens is that it is easier to achieve a variety of compositions or perspectives (since lens changes are not necessary). This advantage is often critical for dynamic subject matter, such as in photojournalism and children's photography."

"The primary advantages of prime lenses are in cost, weight and speed. An inexpensive prime lens can generally provide as good (or better) image quality as a high-end zoom lens. Additionally, if only a small fraction of the focal length range is necessary for a zoom lens, then a prime lens with a similar focal length will be significantly smaller and lighter. Finally, the best prime lenses almost always offer better light-gathering ability (larger maximum aperture) than the fastest zoom lenses — often critical for low-light sports/theater photography, and when a shallow depth of field is necessary."

http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/camera-lenses.htm

Exposure

http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/camera-exposure.htm

One of the most important things while taking photographs or shooting film, is the lighting. Lighting can make or break your work so it's very important to get it right from the start. The exposure determines how light or dark the image will be - this is determined by 3 different camera settings: aperture, ISO and shutter speed. 

Aperture: controls the area over which light can enter your camera. 

Shutter Speed: controls the duration of the exposure.

ISO speed: controls the sensitivity of your camera's sensor to a given amount of light. 

You can use many combinations of the above three settings to achieve the same exposure. The key however, is knowing which trade-offs to make, since each setting also influences other image properties. For example, aperture affects the depth of field, shutter speed affects the motion blur and ISO speed affects the image noise.

Aperture

A camera's aperture setting controls the area over which light can pass through your camera lens. It is specified in terms of an 'f-stop'. As the f-stop decreases, the area increases - the bigger the f-stop, the smaller the hole in which the light can pass through. 

Aperture Setting	Relative Light	Example Shutter Speed
f/22	1X	16 seconds
f/16	2X	8 seconds
f/11	4X	4 seconds
f/8.0	8X	2 seconds
f/5.6	16X	1 second
f/4.0	32X	1/2 second
f/2.8	64X	1/4 second
f/2.0	128X	1/8 second
f/1.4	256X	1/15 second

I am going to use my own images as examples of wide aperture and narrow aperture. The wider the aperture, the shallower the depth of field - meaning the less in focus. The narrower the aperture, the larger the depth of field - meaning the more in focus. 

Narrow Aperture: 

Wide Aperture: 

Shutter Speed
A camera's shutter speed determines when the camera sensor will be open or closed to incoming light from the camera lens. The shutter speed specifically refers to how long this light is permitted to enter the camera. Shutter speed's influence on exposure is perhaps the simplest of the three camera settings: it correlates exactly 1:1 with the amount of light entering the camera. For example, when the exposure time doubles, the amount of light entering the camera doubles. 

Shutter Speed	Typical Examples
1 - 30+ seconds	Specialty night and low-light photos on a tripod
2 - 1/2 second	To add a silky look to flowing water Landscape photos on a tripod for enhanced depth of field
1/2 to 1/30 second	To add motion blur to the background of a moving subject Carefully taken hand-held photos with stabilization
1/50 - 1/100 second	Typical hand-held photos without substantial zoom
1/250 - 1/500 second	To freeze everyday sports/action subject movement Hand-held photos with substantial zoom (telephoto lens)
1/1000 - 1/4000 second	To freeze extremely fast, up-close subject motion

Shutter speed is a powerful tool for freezing or exaggerating the appearance of motion. The slower the shutter speed, the more motion blur and the faster the shutter speed, the less motion blur and faster it captures the subject. I am going to use my own images to show examples of these. 

Slow shutter speed:

Fast shutter speed:

ISO Speed
The ISO speed determines how sensitive the camera it to incoming light. Similar to shutter speed, it also correlates 1:1 with how much the exposure increases or decreases. However, unlike aperture and shutter speed, the lower ISO speed is almost always desirable because the higher ISO speeds dramatically increase image noise. 

Low ISO speed:    High ISO Speed: