Evaluation Question Four

HOW DID YOU USE MEDIA TECHNOLOGIES IN THE CONSTRUCTION AND RESEARCH, PLANNING AND EVALUATION STAGES?

In the process of planning, creating and evaluating our film trailer, poster and website, we used many different media technologies. 

CREATION

• Wix - We used Wix, a free website creation site, to make our website homepages. It allowed us to make a dual-homepage system to continue our theme of the two sides of the freedom of speech. When technical problems arose with the site, we considered using Microsoft Publisher instead, but found that the professional quality of the Wix sites were worth the hassle of working around issues. 
• Photoshop - We used Adobe Photoshop to manipulate our photos and create our poster designs.
• iMovie - We used iMovie to edit and arrange our footage for our trailer and the background videos for our website. A prime example of this being combined with other media technologies was when we decided, following audience feedback, to change our montage to give it more of a sci-fi feel, by putting blue filters over the news footage and cropping it in more 'artistic' ways.

• Camera and Tripod - We used both of these to capture our original footage and create exciting and individual shots.
• DVDs and TVs - To give the sense of the political speech being shown nationwide, we burnt it to a DVD and filmed it being played on several different TVs and screens.

SOCIAL NETWORKING

• Facebook - We created a Facebook group for our team to post links, organise meetings and for general discussion of ideas. We also created a fan group for the film which the public can like and follow for up-to-date news. Later, we used Facebook to create a poll on which of our initial poster designs were best, and shared our intial trailer draft there to get feedback from our target audience.
• YouTube - We found all of our news footage on YouTube, as well as our non-diegetic music. We created our own channel, where we posted our trailer drafts and the background videos for our website. 
• Twitter - We set up a Twitter newsfeed, with the tweets being directly shared to our Facebook group and blog.
• Tumblr - We shared our poster designs and initial trailer draft to Tumblr to create interest and promote our blog. 
• Blogger - We used Blogger to organise and collate all of our research into a managable system, using tags for easy access. 

 

OTHER MEDIA

• YouTube Converters - We used several converters to get news footage and music from YouTube, for our trailer.
• DaFont - We downloaded our poster and blog fonts, Dink and SteelTongs from this site.
• SurveyMonkey - We created several surveys on this site to get audience feedback.
• Photobucket and Flickr - We set up several accounts on both sites to create a photostream to our blog, however, technical difficulties prevented them from working.

Montage Editing

Click here to view our Initial Trailer Montage

This opening News Montage was inspired by the opening of the 'Gattaca' trailer .
Uses:
- a collection of fast edited images and
- overlapping voiceover
- creates a social context for the film's focus debate.

Although we were very proud of this version it was pointed out that the clips felt too documentary similar to programmes/sequences created by Adam Curtis. (Here is an example of his documentary style)

This decision was made in response to audience feedback.

After this we edited our montage:
- increasing the pace,
- overlapping and merging the over-voice more and
- only emphasising key phrases.

We cropped our first image of the BBC presenter to her mouth down to shoulders. The reduced amount of her face that can be seen establishes her as a vehicle to present our themes rather than an important character. Some shots were removed altogether to increase the fluidity of the message and the build of pace.

We looked again at the Gattaca trailer and conventions of our soft-scifi and dystopian genre. A bluy-grey colour scheme is frequently used to mirror the oppression of authority and we used this throughout our montage, deviating only to create dramatic contrast with shots containing fire which we added the 'Heat wave' effect to.

We also experimented with brightness, saturation and contrast to create the right ambiance of a fractured futuristic society.

Not only is the montage now shorter, with faster editing which creates drama, it has a more filmic quality.

Spiral Staircases

 

 

As our genre is Soft Sci-Fi/Thriller and one of our locations included a spiralling staircase, we decided to research the use of staircases in films of a similar genre.

Staircases are a convention of thrillers, and are mainly found in those that have a distinct psychological aspect. Recent prominent thrillers that have used them include "Inception" (top left) and Guy Ritchie's "Sherlock Holmes" (top right). Both of these stressed the psychological side of the plot, as well as involving action, elements that we are trying to emulate in our own film.

The Inception staircase is based on Escher's Klimmen en dalen (bottom left), and that is based on the Penrose Stairs, or the Impossible Stairs. The angle we used for our staircase shot makes it look almost like an optical illusion, as if the stairs could continue descending forever. Having Luke run down them suggests a more complex theme for our film; that there will always be good and bad sides to freedom of speech and that as long as everyone can say what they want, there will always be conflict, going round and round like the staircase.

'1984' Key shots

These are stills of shots that we were inspired by taken from the 1984 film of ‘1984’.

A. The implication of monotony through the replication of working areas is used to show the oppression and conformity imposed by the government. The dull colours reinforce the drab monotony and highlight a reduced quality of life.

B. The use of light and dark, and of only a screen illuminating a character’s face is something that really interested us because it reflects the theme of conflict with the narrative, often between ‘good’ and ‘evil’, as well as including the technological advancement of the futuristic society. Also the view of only the side of the face creates mystery about the character.

C. A Close Up on the protagonists face is crucial within a teaser trailer as it introduces the key character and often is used to show the predominant emotion of the film, here it is suspicion which creates a tense ambiance for the trailer.

D. An image or use of the sound of something smashing is highly effective in creating a jump or a sense of panic. Here the object was used almost as a symbol of hope, which when broken has metaphorical connotations. The sound of smashing glass is violent and can be used to break a peaceful atmosphere and change it, as happens in ‘1984’.

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy Film Deconstruction

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is a thriller/drama film which came out this month! We went to the cinema to see how the film applied itself to it’s genre and to research the presentation of the characters. Warning – Contains spoilers!

Summary: There is a Soviet agent working in MI6, and George Smiley (Gary Oldman) is brought out of retirement to find him. The film is set during the Cold War.

The film presented intelligence warfare and juxtaposed to it’s context: the violence of the Cold War. It is a motion picture adaptation of a novel, which is rumoured to be based on true events as it’s author John le Carré worked for both MI5 and MI6.

The tone of the film was thoroughly sombre, serene and slow. The pace meant that violent scenes were more shocking  as characters were forced to break out of composed roles. The complicated plot meant that the audience were forced to work it out at the same time as Smiley. Extended silence was used to create tension and the naturalistic action made it clear that it was a British drama. The lack of action sequences was made up in the focused violence and purposefully morbid gore.

The film also used a combination of shots we appreciated would work well to mirror in our trailer. We noticed that the shots were often over the shoulder during dialogue, and that this meant that the audience had to imagine the character’s emotions. Whenever the suspects were presented in a series of quick paced shots, Bill Haydon (Colin Firth) was always first. He was the double agent, and therefore the audience was given clues throughout the film. Most of the film was flashbacks, and these sequences were slightly more hazy than the present shots and depth of field was interestingly never used. Another memorable shot was that of Peter Guillam appearing as a lift door opens behind Toby Esterhase waits unaware. We enjoyed how ominous this shot was, and how it gave a slightly comical edge to the sequence. During the film the character Control was always presented at the head of a desk. At the end, he was replaced by Smiley. This epitomised how Smiley was now in control, and was extremely effective. 

The thriller/drama genres were met by the following criteria:

•          We follow a central protagonist as he works out an enigma
•      The film is based around the British Intelligence
•     Tension is created
•         Truth, betrayal and mystery were central themes
•     There was a psychological aspect to the narrative
•      The characters were all flawed and these flaws effected the plot

Semiotics were used throughout the film:

• The files that travelled up and down the floors of the building represented the selling and trading of secrets
• Communist symbol was used to reflect the historical context
•    Pictures of the suspects were attached to chess pieces to represent the manipulation of the Soviet government within the British Intelligence. It suggests that spying is a game and spies and people can all be controlled.
• Smiley’s glasses changed in the present and past which could represent how people always see things differently at the time

The protagonist George Smiley was presented as cool, calm and collected throughout the narrative. He wore period dress which was discrete, dark and non-descript. His glasses were different in the present and in the past which made it easier for the audience to distinguish between the two. The antagonist of the film was more the enigma he had to solve and the obstacles in his way. Bill Haydon was a sympathic antihero in the way that the audience could understand how he lost faith the west.

The title of the film ‘Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy’ is presented in the trailer like this. The idea is based around unwrapping an enigma. The title itself is intertextual as it refers to the child’s nursery rhyme which describes the occupation of various men. This rhyme is referenced in the film as all of the suspects are named after one of these titles. 

We believe that the main message of the film was to enhance the paranoia of the Cold War and that the film was based around the idea of disillusionment.

'Gattaca' Key Shots

[4] The fingerprinting method of certifying someone’s identity is used as the only form of interview for the aspirational/elite jobs and also as a security system to allow a person access inside Gattaca. This highlights the use of technologies as methods of control, tracking and dividing the citizens.

Generic lines of workers from a high angle create an imposing sense of being watched and again reduced an individuality of the people. 

Identification frequently appears throughout the film (often wavering after Vincent’s test to increase the tension). The words VALID/INVALID are bigger than even the person’s name. This shows a loss of identity beyond that of the characters genes. It also highlights an undercurrent of judgement by the higher powers, whether someone properly belongs to the society or not.

[3] There are lots of close ups of the protagonists face throughout the film allowing the audience a secret insight into his thoughts and feeling that are not disclosed through dialogue or voiceover. Often the protagonist’s tension or fear of discovery heightens the audience’s similar emotions. The close ups allow increased empathy on the part of the viewer.

[3]http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119177/mediaindex

[4] http://www.scififilmhistory.com/images/gattaca003.jpg