Contextual Studies: Sound

David Lynch= "Films are 50% visual and 50% sound. Sometimes sound even overplays the visual"

Objectives:

• To look at the importance and the function of sound
• To look at the elements of sound
• To look at the creative uses of sound

Can you have sound without moving images? 

Examples of films that use sound without moving images include:

Derek Jarman's "Blue"  Link to video (part 1)

Chris Marker's "La Jetee" (1962) Link to video (extract)

Silent cinema showings would often have live musical accompanying it.

What is the function of sound?

Sound can provide an aural narrative to a film in the form of dialogue for characters or a narrative voice over.

Example of dialogue pushing a story forward "Donnie Darko"

Sonic ambiance, it can add to the mood/atmosphere.

Example of how sound effects (breathing, heartbeat and blade effects) can add to the atmosphere as well as music "Supernatural"

Emotional or intellectual resonance or dissonance through music.

Key elements of film sound

• Speech (dialogue or narration) 
• Ambient or natural sound
• Sound effects
• Musical score or soundtrack

Use of sound effects

• Heightens drama- abstract or enhanced effects are designed to affect the audience's perception or emotional state Link to "American Sniper" breathing and gun effects are heightened
• Simulate reality- ambient background that underscores and reinforces unity of mise en scene and editing Link to "Lethal Weapon"background chatter at the start

Aesthetic uses of sound

• Impressionistic- harmonious sound that evokes a mood, atmosphere or tone                          Link to "Pushing Daisies"
• Expressionistic- discordant sound that evokes abstract or dark psychological states              Link to "Donnie Darko"
• Asynchronous- sound and visuals are mismatched for dramatic effect                                   Link to "American Psycho" clip

• Diegetic sound- any sound that is intrinsic to the film space or is implied by an action such as speech or performance
• Non-diegetic sound- any sound that is external to the film space such as a voice over or soundtrack

Music as narrative device

• Music underscores or accentuates the visual narrative, emotion or drama
• It can create emotional or intellectual resonance or dissonance
• Use of leitmotifs: a short recurring musical phrase associated with a certain person, place or idea Link to Star Wars "Imperial March"
• Pop songs as a commentary/dramatic device

Modernism vs Postmodernism

• Modernism- an aesthetic and cultural reaction to classicism, it relies on innovations in form, material and techniques to create new modes of rational and progressive expression and representation. It's broadly ideologically utopian (Soviet montage).
• Postmodernism- a reaction to a failure of modernism's objective rationalism. It playfully deconstructs form, fusing disparate elements of high/low culture and meta reference (intertextuality). It's broadly ideologically disruptive.

Use of narration

• First person subjective (monologues or contributors voice)
• "Voice of God" objective commentary (expository narrative, often used in a classic documentary) 
• Conventions of male vs female voices (male being dominant and female being empathetic)
• RP vs regional (authoritative vs authentic)

Overall from this lecture I learnt how important sound (narration, music and sound effects) actually are to a production and for the audience, it can help the push the story forward quickly and effectively.  

Story telling unit: Story boards, shot lists and trailers

Story boards, shot lists and trailers

The first half of today's lecture covered story boards and shot lists.

Story boards are a series of of sketches which focus on key frames in a story, that visually plan out a shoot. They are used in all forms of film and TV although some genres rely on them more than others do, they are used to coney the concept for the project. Story boards can be used in any stage of the production however are primarily used in the pre-production stage. Although in post they do help the editor visualise how the director intended a scene or sequence to be constructed.
Depending on the preference of the filmmaker the story board will either have a big influence on filming or only be used as a general guide.

Story boards range from being:

• Graphic= these are the most detailed kinds of story boards, they're mainly seen in action films.

• Diagrammatical= these are widely used and although they're less artistic they still give as much detail.

• Plan view= these kinds of storyboards view the scenes from above and are used a lot with more than one camera.

Not everyone uses story boards though, some people prefer to use shot lists.

3 key shots when filming are: 

• Long Shot (LS) these shots feature the entire body of the actor 

• Medium Close Up (MCU) these shots go from the waist/chest to the top of the head

• Close Up (CU) these shots go from the shoulders to the top of the head

Other shots include:

• Extreme Long Shot, shows the character and their surrounding

• Extreme Close Ups (ECU) often features close on a specific point on the face or any other significant feature eg: fingers

Camera movement

Camera movement can help to tell a story without and dialogue.

Types of camera movement are:

• Tilt Shot
• Crane Shot

Examples of tilt and crane shots, "Rocky Horror Picture Show"

• Pan

Example of panning shot "Wolf on Wall Street"

• Tracking Shot

Example of tracking shot "Being Human"

• Dolly Shot (this is an alternative to a zoom, zooming with the camera itself can be clunky)

Example of dolly shots in "Sherlock"

Camera position

• Two Shot

• Low Angle

• High Angle

• Over the Shoulder

Trailers

The second half of the lecture covered trailers. Trailers are designed to hook an audience, they are there to sell the idea of the film to a potential viewer. Trailers where originally shown after a film (hence trailers), however exhibitors found that people where leave during the credits and were therefore not seeing them this is why they were moved to the start of a film. Trailers are often dramatic, comedic or shocking, they are a compilation of moments from the film/TV programme edited together (however some are purposefully filmed) in order to attract an audience. 

"Dr.Strange" trailer 

"Logan" trailer

"Sherlock" trailer

"Doctor Who" trailer

Filming outside Health and Safety

Health and Safety

In today's workshop with Ferg and Sam we looked at health and safety when filming outside. We went over basics such as wearing high visibility jackets and considering having someone on set to explain to the general public what's happening.
We were tasked with filming a few scenes outside, my group came up with the idea of hide and seek.

Next time I try to dialogue from one shot on another I will be sure to either try and match it if the lines are the same or have the speaker out of shot. Another issue we had in this shoot is the overexposure, we failed to remember that the lighting was changing while we were filming too. Next time this happens though I'll be sure to fix it in post. 

Story telling unit: Using Celtx and Final Draft, Steve Coombes Lecture

Steve Coombes: Using Celtx and Final draft

In today's lecture Steve ran us through the basics of using Celtx and Final draft, both of these are script writing softwares. When writing a script Steve encouraged us that if we think we have a moment we need to hold on to the first reaction to it and every time we see that moment again we need to remember the original reaction, trust the first reaction never the last.

Film scripts begin at the start of the 20th century, the first screenplay ever written "A Trip To The Moon", was bullet pointed with no dialogue, it just had vague direction for the camera and actors.

Link to video

Scripts continue as instructions for the camera until 1929 where films started to have dialogue.

In the 1940's Holly stopped controlling exhibiting/cinemas (they used to own cinemas and the productions of movies) Because of this screenwriters needed to write scripts that investors could read, understand and want to put money into, as well as being able to schedule it. Scheduling can be done online.

The main aim when you make a screenplay is not to make it as good as you can but to make it as cheaply as you can. Because of this scenes get recorded in a mixed order which allows money to be saved, for example instead of hiring an actor for a week to film their scenes in order with the story you can hire them for a day and shot all of their coverage then.

To be able to tell how much it would cost them screenwriters and production companies would draw up charts with things like the talent, directors and production staff etc with the amount of days they were needed to work out scheduling and prices etc.

Scriptwriting evolved from being on a typewriter to Final Draft (industry standard), all scripts need to be in courier (the font should never be changed). In Final Draft you are able to get cast "reports", these can tell you how often they speak and their total appearances on scene, as well as a profanity report etc. 

When you're trying to schedule a shoot feed final draft into movie magic you get a schedule and a budget

Elements

Anything not part of the script such as the title should be put in General.

Parenthetical are hints to an actor about how you want something done.

DON'T PUT TOO MANY TRANSITIONS AND SHOTS UNLESS CRUCIAL.

Final Draft will write continued for you.

LEAVE PAGE LAYOUT.

Script notes won't show up when you print out your script.

Production

Scene numbers will number all scene headings, if you then decide to add another scene between 1 and 2 it will become scene 1A. You should lock the script when finished with it so that no one else can change it, if it does get changed it will be on a coloured piece of paper each changed will be on a different coloured piece of paper so that you're able to keep track of them.

2ND HALF OF LECTURE

Before the lecture we were given a script from Steve to save onto our hard-drives.

We had to copy and paste them into either Celtx or Final Draft, before formatting it to look like a proper script. The first 5 pages establishes things (show don't tell), Ayesha is an important character, the first 5 pages show a lot about her and her family.

Minor characters describe accurately and quickly, the small details about the characters is what grabs the audience's attention. (Shown the hospital isn't up to standard because of the misspelt title, demonstrated a character is a diabetic through their insulin and chocolate bar.)

RULES ARE THERE TO BE BROKEN

Ask yourself if you can come anywhere later in the story, look at the script in another way.

WRITING IS ABOUT RE-WRITING, you can come back and fix one scene as the next one might help you to do that.

You also don't have to write about what you know, you should at least know a little bit about it though.

For our 10 page script Steve suggested we try to move the audience instead of making them laugh, we can also have multiple stories but they all need to be caught at the end.

Don't give half a page of description/action, the audience prefers revolution through things the characters do.

Premier workshop with Ferg: working with the timeline 15/10/2016

Premier workshop "Fairly Legal"

In today's workshop we were given various clips and their corresponding audio. Ferg told us we should get a radio edit first to make sure the audio runs together seamlessly and makes sense, we then made sure the videos looked good together. We were shown the rolling tool and the ripple tool which both helped to create a smooth edit.

(My edit)

After we got our audio and visuals all the way we wanted we moved on to colour corrections. In the start of my edit the shot is very blue, this is where I was having a go with different mid tones and how they would look. Through out the rest of the video I lowered the brightness of the windows which allowed it to look crisper.

If I could do it again I would work a little bit more with the audio and not have empty space between lines. Overall I really enjoyed the workshop and feel like I'm getting to grips more with Premier.

Contextual Studies 14/10/2016 EDITING Camera work and Editing

Texts, contexts and culture: camera work

Objectives: 

• To look at the importance and function of camerawork
• To look at basic elements of camerawork
• To look at creative uses of camera work.

What is camera work (cinematography)?

Camera work is the primary grammar of visual story telling. The shot is the mise-en-scene/meaning and the editing is the narrative structure.

Basic elements of camera work

The shot- this affects the emotional and psychological relationship with the character and setting through the composition and the speed (how fast the characters move in the frame)

Movement- this affects the emotional and psychological relationship with the character and the setting, through changes in the in visual space and action.

Basic shots

Wide Shot (WS)- the establishing shot (A common mistake in documentary making especially the first one is that there aren't enough establishing shots/general views)

Medium shot (MS)- the character dominates the frame

Close-up (CU)- the face or a specific object dominates the frame

Extreme close-up (ECU)- selected part or object fills the frame (these should be used rarely and artfully) 

(One reason to use this shot in a documentary can be to show extreme emotion, however it can be seen as manipulative)

"Size of image is important to the emotion, particularly when you're using that image to have the audience identify with"- Hitchcock 

Classical framing and composition

Rule of thirds- the subject in the scene is placed somewhere with aesthetic interest for the audience.

"Never use a shot without it having a clear dramatic purpose"- Hitchcock

Angle and speed

High Angle-the objective of a high angle shot is to alienate the character, it puts them in isolation.

Low Angle-this angle has the objective of emphasising dominance, it's often used for a hero shots or menace/bad intentions.

Dutch/tilt angle- disorientates and creates a psychological tension.

Expressionism

Angled shots are common features of expressionism particularly classic German expressionism films between the 20s and the 30s. It presents the world purely from a subjective perspective, disorientating it radically for emotional effect in order to evoke moods or ideas. Expressionist artists sought to express the meaning of an emotional experience rather then physical reality.

Speed

Slow and fast motion, these effects alter the audience's perceptual or emotional response to dramatic action.

Inception Cafe slow motion explosion link

X-Men Days of Future Past, Quicksilver slow motion link

Motion and Emotion

Why do we move the camera?

• To heighten action or emotion
• To convey objective or subjective viewpoints 
• To refocus the audience's attention within the scene
• To explore or change setting/environment

"I believe in using camera movement when it helps tell the story more effectively...I think one of the first essentials of moving the camera is that the eye should not be aware of it"- Hitchcock

Hitchcock's "Frenzy" 1972 Following a murder narrative

"Frenzy" camera leaving the scene Link

Hitchcock's use of a reverse crane and tracking shot is an example of alienation (he is emotionally and psychically removing the audience from what is going to happen). Alienation is the extent to which someone has a critical distance from a production, the more immersive a piece the greater the extent we are drawn into the narrative, however by alienating the audience they are able to be critical and objective of the production.

Breaking the 4th wall

Camera moving techniques:

• Pan, Tilt or Zoom
• Handheld and Steadicam
• Dolly and Crane

Halloween 1978 Following a murder narrative: Subjective Point of View (POV)

Link to opening sequence link

Use of movement in Halloween

• Heightens action and emotion through a subjective POV
• Switches between a subjective (steadicam) and an objective (crane) viewpoint, it makes the audience complicit in what the character has done and the alienates them.
• Refocuses the audience's attention within the scene
• Explore the character's relation to the environment

Elements of visual style (Bordwell)

• Denotative- directing attention
• Expressive- bringing out or magnifying meaningful qualities
• Decorative- flourishes or stylistic patterns that are independent or semi-independent of narrative design
• Symbolic functions- invoking abstract concepts

Use of handheld filming in documentaries

• Heightens action and emotion- conveys urgency
• Dynamics of transitions- moving from one location to another
• Places character in the context of the documentary
• Authenticity

Overall how does the camera serve the filmmaker and the audience

Camera movements and angles can provide a narrative through visual story telling, help the aesthetics of the production (framing the mise-en-scene), it gives the audience and insight and can help them identify with a character and also helps them to interpret the plot through subjective or objective points of view.

Texts, context, culture: editing

Objectives:

• To understand what editing is and how it serves the narrative
• Explore different schools and theories of editing
• To look at the use of editing in cinema, television and documentary

What is editing?

• Editing is the process of putting visual material and sound in a sequence
• It constructs either a linear or non-linear narrative
• It manipulates time (condenses, lengthens, flashbacks/flash forwards)
• It juxtaposes ideas and concepts 

Long take continuous narratives

An example of a continuous narrative can be Alfred Hitchcock's "Rope" 1948, Hitchcock uses multiple wipes in order to hide the edits in his famous long takes.

"Rope" 1948 hidden edits link

Another example is "Russian Ark" (2002), where the takes are one long continuous movement.

"Russian Ark" 2002 link

Creating visual meaning

Meaning can be made through mise-en-scene and cinematography, this allows implicit meaning within the shots an effect also achieved through editing.

Surrealist cinema

Surrealism is a modern approach to film, it's characterised by the rejection of dramatic psychology and the frequent use of shocking imagery. "Un Chien Andalou" (1929) directed by Luis Bunuel is a surrealist film that follows the characterisation of surrealism, shocking imagery. 

"Un Chien Andalou" 1929 link to eye and razor scene

Four key elements of editing

• Spatial= the relationship between different spaces and the editors manipulation of them
• Temporal= the manipulation of time within the film in relation to order, duration and frequency
• Rhythmic= the manipulation of how long the shot lasts: accents, beats and the tempo
• Graphic= the relationship between pictorial qualities of shots or scenes

Why is editing important?

• Creates a strong visual narrative from simple descriptions on a script or unedited rushes
• The most creative aspect of filmmaking
• A good editor can make a mediocre shot work/a mediocre editor can ruin a good shot
• Shooting ratios have an impact on editing (Film= 10:1, Documentary= 60-100:1)

Two schools of editing theory

• Classical Hollywood continuity= primarily used in mainstream cinema, TV drama and classical formal documentary. This kind of editing has a set of techniques used to create a cohesive sense of space and continuous time by maintaining consistent graphic, spatial and temporal relationships between shots.

• Soviet Montage= influences still felt in avantgarde documentary filmmaking, and independent/experimental cinema

180 degree rule

Scenes are constructed along an axis of action, there is then a 180 degree arc on one side of that line the camera is free to move within that arc with the assurance the characters will be in the correct places. This means eye lines are consistent and screen directions are consistent across the shots.

Eye line match shot

The first shot will have the character looking offscreen, the second shot then shows us what the character is looking at.

"Love Actually" eye line match shot link

Shot-reverse shot

Alternates between two shots framed from reverse angles, often it's used to depict conversations.

"Sherlock" Rooftop showdown Link

Match on action

The action has already started in the first shot and completes in the second, this maintains continuous action across edits.

"A series of unfortunate events" Train scene link

Soviet Montage

Soviet montage is a formal theory and a technique where editing serves an ideological purpose. There is no escapist drama through the continuity, instead it challenges the audience to think and take action through image montage.

Its key filmmakers and theorists were: Sergei Eisenstein, Lev Kuleshov, Dziga Vertov

Soviet montage ideology

• A set of opinions, beliefs and assumptions that you use to think about and relate to the world
• Ideology is not an objective truth but more a perceived truth
• It is common to conceive the ideology of being the only way of understanding the world
• Soviet filmmakers served a communist ideology

Eisenstein on montage

Eisenstein argues that montage (especially intellectual montage), is an alternative to continuity editing "Montage in conflict" where new ideas emerge from the collisions within the montage sequence.

Kuleshov effect

A mental phenomenon by which viewers find more meaning from the interaction of two sequential shot than from a single shot in isolation. Each single shot has its own intrinsic meaning and when it's put with another shot it has a new meaning.

Five principles of Soviet montage

• Metric= editing that follows a specific tempo, cutting to the next shot regardless of the action in the frame
• Rhythmic= similar to metric but allows for visual continuity from edit to edit
• Tonal= uses the emotional meaning of the shot
• Overtonal/Associative= a fusion of metric, rhythmic and tonal montage intended to have a more intense effect on the audience
• Intellectual= editing together shots which, when combined convey an intellectual or metaphorical meaning.

Modern documentary editing

• Evidentiary editing= explicit meaning of edits is reinforced by narration or dialogue. Shots are often illustrative, and usually maintain some visual continuity. In evidentiary editing, expositional images "...illustrate, illuminate, evoke, or act in counterpoint to what is said...[we] take our cue from the commentary and understand the images as evidence or demonstration..." Bill Nichols, Introduction to Documentary (2001) 
• Dynamic editing= modern narrative style dominated by jump cuts and other elliptical edits that often ignores classical visual continuity. In dynamic editing concepts of matching and continuity rarely apply. Shots are ordered by meaning but not necessarily by their relationship to each other in time.

Overall from this double lecture I've reinforced previous understanding of shot types in film and TV as well as learning about how edits can change the meaning of a shot to suit what it is needed for. I enjoyed this lecture and found it really interesting.

Crossing the line practice

Crossing the line 

In today's workshop with Ferg we put the 180 degree rule into practice.

By using 4-5 shots we had to get coverage of people talking about the 180 degree rule.

In this video I found the editing was too "choppy" I wanted to try and make it smoother in the next edit.

In this edit I made the cuts smoother, tried to match action and have dialogue from a source out of shot. Next time I'd like to try and increase the shots I get to allow me to have a more interesting final video.

I found getting coverage within the shot limit was hard and pushed me to think in a more creative way, to get the shots I wanted.

Story-telling unit= "The Chair"- Camera/Editing practice

"The Chair"- camera/editing practice

We recorded a short series of scenes revolving around someone going to a chair. The idea was to get as much coverage as possible for a simple story.

This is my 1st edit, this is where I had a go with visual effects and audio effects. The idea for the 1st edit was for George to be in a black and white world without music, and when he plays his song it brings colour to his world.

In the 2nd one I wanted to try to fix the continuity, and order of the scenes, I didn't put any music in the second one because I wanted to focus on the visual.

Next time I do an edit like this I'd like to try and make the edit when the music starts smoother so it looks better. I'd also like to try to add more shots to it so better coverage and to keep it interesting for who ever watches it.

Story Telling Unit: Lectures "Story-telling with pictures", "Story: Beginning, Middle and End" 10/10/2016

Story-telling with pictures

In our morning lecture with Simon we learnt about the "180 degree rule" in film making. We learnt that where ever the camera is in a scene is where the audience has been positioned in that scene, this can be used to then position the audience against (or with) a character, it can also be used to disorientate them for the purposes of the story.

The 180 degree rule refers to the angle of axis (guideline) that means characters stay either on screen left or screen right, the line can be crossed though however it needs to show the characters moving instead of cutting to the next scene this avoids confusing the audience. The camera can be anywhere on the correct side of the axis and it will always make sense visually. 

As well as this the characters within the scene need to be looking in the correct direction, Screen Left= looks towards screen right, and Screen Right= looks towards screen left.

Example: "Good Will Hunting"- Matt Damon and Ben Affleck

Link to video

Ben Affleck is always on the screen right and Matt Damon is always on the screen left.

Sometimes though breaking the rule can add to the story, by using cut scenes the audience is disorientated.

Example: The Shining 

Link to video

But cutting between the various scenes the audience becomes confused and this can help add to the impact of the plot/story. It can also be considered a stylistic device.

Another way characters can be on opposites screen sides is when a new scene is being filmed a new angle of axis can be established within it. 

Afternoon with Steve Coombes (Beginnings, Middles and Ends)

A film/TV show is made up of a beginning, middle and an end, it has a plot (what happens) and a story (the significance of what's happened). 

Steve gave us the metaphor of a story is like a ball, it needs a lot of air during the middle and it needs to be caught at the end. A film or a TV show can have multiple stories in it, they all still need air and all need to be caught at the end. As a writer you want the story you've written to put the audience on the edge of their seat.

Simple stories can be just as good as complicated ones, it all depends on how they are written.

We then watched  a video of the "Southpark" creators talk to a group of students about writing.

In the video Trey Parker and Matt Stone talk about the "beats" of a story and if "and then" belongs in-between those beats your story has failed. It should either be filled with "therefore" or "but". Characters should have to make hard or bad choices because of those fillers between the beats ("but" and "therefore") For example a Doctor as a drug addict would be faced with bad/hard decisions to make. 

Dramatic irony= irony that is understood by the audience but doesn't have to be understood but the characters in the scene.

In a story you have to choose where you want the audience to be, for example they can be ahead of the characters and know what's coming, or behind them and learn things about the character. As a writer you shouldn't write your entire script as just behind a character or just ahead a character, this will be boring for your audience to watch. You need to tease them and make the audience believe they know the character better then the character knows them-self and then shock them with something they didn't know/weren't expecting.

We then looked at beginnings, middles and ends in films and discussed them.

All good openings grab your attention and throw up 'but's', they throw up hard and risky choices that encourage character development.

"Rain man"= Dustin Hoffman and Tom Cruise (Reading the Will)

Link to video (start at 2:56)

From this scene we learn that a father and his son don't get on, partly because of the car. 

We learn that Tom Cruise's character is selfish, shallow and sarcastic after his father left him the car (that caused their fight) and the roses. 

In "Rain man" we also learn at the same time as Tom Cruise's (TC) character that he has a brother, we also see what his relationship was like with his father when we learn that Raymond has been allowed to drive the car that TC's character always wanted to drive.

Raymond is shown to be very obviously Autistic, this is denoted through how he talks about cars (people with Autism can be obsessive over certain things). The film later revolves around how TC bullies his brother into giving him the money from the trust fund their father made Raymond the trustee of, however as the film progresses the two become friends.

"Tin Men" Opening

Link to video

From this scene we learn that Richard Dreyfuss' character is into cars and works in a place where a car is a big status symbol. We also learn that Danny Devito's character has a wife who is a pain (denoted through his sore neck). Through the 'fight' between the two characters we learn that this is going to be a story between two 'beta males' they never have any intention on hitting each other, they use their words instead to be petty and childish to each other.

"Flea Bag" intro

Link to video

From this opening we learn that Phoebe Waller-Bridge's character is self-conscious, crude and slightly shallow. It's an opening that grabs the attention of the audience straight away.

Middle's allow for character development and plot twists, this is where the story can be turned on it's head. For example "Psycho", the film starts as a heist then moves into a thriller. The shower scene in "Psycho" is where the film turns into a horror film with a serial killer with an unknown identity, the film moved out of one genre into another.

"Psycho" Shower Scene

"Tin Men"

Link to video

The middle of "Tin Men" is where the affair takes place. Dreyfuss' character picks up Devito's wife in a supermarket. Dreyfuss tells her he has lost his wife, the woman takes pity on him and invites him over for dinner made by her. He knows who she is how she is not aware of his identity. In a twist of events Devito is glad to have a reason to kick out his wife, the story has changed and the irony is getting more intense.

"Toy Story 1"- Car Fight Scene

Link to Video

This scene shows the two toys originally in competition with each other over will be Andy's favourite, this changes when they both have to work together to find their way home.

"Casablanca"

Link to video

This is both a straight forward and complicated scene. It's straight forward in the sense a woman and her lover are trying to leave the country, however it's complicated by the fact that she is still in love with the man providing her ticket to escape.

"Toy Story 3"

Link to video

This ending reveals what a complicated character Andy is. He is trying to leave his childhood (through his toys) so he can grow up, he's therefore decided to give away his toys however in his reluctance to give up Woody it shows his loyalty towards his toys and his childhood. He sees a little girl play with her toys like he used to and it strikes a nerve with him, this is where we see him decide to pass on the toys to her. However because Woody is one of the oldest toys he holds the most memories (this is where Andy's reluctance to give him up comes from), he overcomes this and almost comforts himself by explaining the importance of Woody to the little girl (he can reassure himself that Woody will be ok now she knows what he means to Andy).

"Lord Of The Rings"- Mount Doom Scene

Link to video

This scene is full of dramatic irony, Frodo (the protagonist) goes bad, Gollum bites off his finger, Frodo (still bad) fights for the ring and eventually goes into the pits of Mount Doom, and Sam saves Frodo.

We spoke about moments in the afternoon session, some of us showed our favourite moments and explained why it was our favourite as well as speaking in general about moments in our writing. 

When writing a story you should know the beginning and the end, this way it's easier to write. You should also count the "moments" in your story, what "moment" is big enough that the audience want to know more?

When writing a screen play you should count how many moments there will be, which parts of your film will the audience be talking about after the viewing. Get the moments first and then worry about how they will work on paper. Audience's love moments, they shouldn't notice the plot, story, character or the dialogue, if they do you're in trouble. The audience wants moments and that's what we as the writer need to give them.

Moments are the priority in writing, then structure and then character.

My Favourite Moment- "One Day" Dexter and his dad

Moments "One Day", Dexter with his Dad. Steve Coombes

Link to trailer

Brief summary: Emma and Dexter meet when they graduate from university. Every year from then on the anniversary of that date (July 15th) the film picks up their story. Emma is an aspiring author while Dexter wants to work in TV, through the years they go in different directions but it follows them through the ups and downs of life and their eventual meeting again.

Link to "moment"

My favourite moment is after Emma has been killed, Dexter's been beaten up and gets taken to his estranged father. The two of them have a moment together where they're both in the same situation (they're wife/girlfriend has died), Dexter's dad "teaches" him how to cope without Emma in his life. My favourite line in the scene is "What do you think I've been doing for the last for the last 10 years", this is where Dexter realises his dad has been struggling and is where all his pre-conceptions about his father disappear.

Story-telling unit= Edit workshop: 07/10/2016

Editing workshop with Ferg

In today's workshop we covered mainly the shortcuts on the keyboard for premier such as "J, K and L" for rewind pause/play and fast for-ward, the more you press J or L the faster it will go.

We were then given some clips and audio and told to put it together so the audio made sense (audio is an important part of our project and if it doesn't make sense then the project could be ruined.) we then had to put the video clips in after. 

This is my edit of "Delicious Peace":

I found it relatively easy to pick up the shortcuts and to put them into practice, I think I'll have to go over them a few times so they become second nature for me. 

Over all the thing I found hardest was to know which way around the audio should be for it to make sense, although I did enjoy the task especially when we were putting in the visual clips and cutting them down.

Story-telling unit- Pitch revised

Story-telling unit- Pitch revised

From the group pitches on Friday I received some really helpful feedback for my idea that helped me where I had become stuck for an ending. I've made some alterations to the characters too although their relationship has not changed.

"Meeting Mave"

When Matt turns up at his best-friends door smeared in makeup he finally has to tell her his biggest secret. 

Genre: Drama

Characters:

Matt (Mave) is a 19 year old boy from a Military family.
He's a skinny and awkward teen who tries to blend into the background, he keeps a very close circle of friends and is obviously uncomfortable in his own skin.
Growing up he showed interests in what his 3 older sisters were doing (e.g. ballet, singing and other stereotypical feminine activities), his relationship with his father is strained and found comfort in his best-friend Lucy's father who always tried to look out for Matt. He's always felt different from the other boys and as a result was regularly bullied.
He has a history of gender dysphoria although he isn't yet aware of this, for many years he has known something was "wrong" with his body.

Lucy is a 19 year old girl raised by her single father. She is bubbly, social and has been best friends with Matt since they were 5. She regularly takes it upon herself to stand up for Matt if she feels he isn't being treated fairly, and often tries to include him in what she and her friends are doing. 

She keeps large circles of friends but spends the most time with Matt.

Lucy cares greatly about what she looks like and what other people think of her ( she especially aims to please her father), she is from a christian background and that can sometimes conflict her interests.

She's previously expressed negative views towards trans and gay people in the news. 

Although they've been friends for years Lucy does not know Matt is trans, she has always though he was a bit odd and as she got older just assumed he was gay but because he is her friend did not make a big deal out of it. (Matt does not know Lucy thinks this)

Gary is a 39 year old father, his wife died when Lucy was 4.

He has spent his entire adult life involved in the army following his fathers footsteps, he takes pride in his appearance. 

He has very strong views about the LGBTQ community due the upbringing he had.

His whole world outside the army revolves around his daughter and he will try to do anything he can to keep her happy. 

He looks out for Matt as he acknowledges his own father doesn't, and so has assumed a father role over him.

Locations:

Lucy's room (this is where the film will introduce Lucy's character)

Family bathroom (the bathroom in Lucy's house is where she hides Matt while she cleans him up after he has been beaten up)

Kitchen (where Lucy invites Matt to dinner with her father)

Street leading to Lucy's house (this is where Matt's character is introduced in broken high heels and makeup smeared with blood)

Inspirations:

"True Trans Soul Rebel"- Laura Jane Grace and Miley Cryus

Laura Jane Grace about coming out as trans

One scene in "The Danish Girl where Hans helps Lili After she has been beaten up.

My own friend coming out to me as trans.

The initial friendship in "Love Rosie".

Brief summary of story:

Matt and Lucy have been friends since they were kids and have done everything together.

So when Matt turns up at Lucy's door in heels, a ruffed up wig, bruises and makeup smeared on his face she immediately shoves him into her bathroom to both hide him from her father and so he can tell her what's going on.

After a long silence of Matt staring into space while Lucy cleans him up he finally tells her he is transgender.

Lucy is faced with a choice whether to accept her friend or reject him like she thinks her father will.

(in the end Lucy reapplies Matt's makeup and brings him downstairs to join her and her father for dinner, accepting him into their family as who he is)