Research Essays

Final Major Project Evaluation ML3 Y2

Evaluation Jack Mercer 16/05/2025

Website, with full project

Introduction

For the final major project, we were tasked to make a project about anything we wanted, using any format or genre we wanted. As this was my last project in this course and I had an unconditional offer for MetFilm university, I decided to take this opportunity to experiment with animation. This was a very fun and stressful project, but I think it came out very well despite the cut corners. Deadlines became incredibly close, especially with friends delaying things but I was able to achieve a final product I am still happy with. I enjoyed trying so many types of animation and wish I could have done everything I had planned, this project ended up teaching me a lot about the animation world and has made me appreciate it that much more. I also took this opportunity to continue working on perfecting my script writing, I wrote some complicated characters with interesting goals however, most of the script was sadly cut due to deadlines and poor planning. This evaluation will explain all the shortcomings I overcame and experienced throughout this experimental project.

Production

Not long before we were assigned our project, I had already decided that this project would be an animation. Over my 3 years of studying media in college, I have only done animation twice. I once made a short rotoscope animation and not too long ago a 10 second stop motion singing skeleton. Because I had an unconditional place in MetFilm university I knew I wanted to properly try at least one type of animation as my final project before university. While I don't have an interest in animating I do have an interest in directing and scripting an animated film. I also personally believe a director should have experience in what they're directing, and I also wanted to personally try animation as it sounded like a fun challenge.

Once assigned my project, I started to plan out what my storyline would be and what animation styles I could easily utilise with my lack of drawing skills, minimal animating experience and short time. I did some basic notes on animation styles I already knew off and could utilise, I also listed basic story ideas for each animation style. Over the next 3 days I slowly added more details to each idea and took away my least favourites. Eventually I made it to a choice of either an animated fight scene in multiple different formats or a short film about the meaning and beauty of life in multiple different formats. I ended up deciding on the fight scene because the meaning of life would involve very complicated animations and would take a lot longer to plan out. I also chose the fight scene as I didn't have much experience in writing action, and it would give me another challenge to experiment with. I then later, began work on my proposal. I looked at a couple proposal templates to refresh what I'm to do. I then wrote up both my rationale and my project concept and mostly figured out how the fight scene would go. I had also decided how the characters personalities would be, I had recently watched the Stanley Kubrick movie Lolita and I wanted my characters to have a similar dynamic to the opening. I wanted the portal traveller to be drunk and unaware of the danger he's in, similar to the character of Quilty in the opening meanwhile, the opposing side would be a very calm and collected character who is being aggressive to the portal traveller, similar to Humbert from the opening. I began creating my mood board to showcase my inspirations and to help for ideas when I begin my script. I also created a base production schedule to make sure I don't run out of time on my project. I struggled to create my treatment as I was unable to find any sources that backed up my claims on target audiences for media similar to my idea and I was unable to find evidence for particular age groups being interested in my idea. I was also unable to write specific plot elements on my treatment as I was still not ready for a script, so I decided to leave the rest of my treatment empty until I could fill the rest of it out.

A couple days later I felt ready to begin researching, I checked the library website and created a list of books I would try to borrow and listed out how and what I will research. Because I want to animate in multiple formats and because I have minimal experience in animating, I decided to dedicate the bulk of my research on animation types and techniques. I also wanted to focus my research on action writing and how to direct choreography, as I don't have any action directing experience and I wanted to do it both safely and correctly. I then borrowed 5 books from the library, 4 focused entirely on animation and 1 focused on fighting choreography, over the course of 5 weeks I would slowly read through all the books and would research websites on similar topics. Around this time I had also asked for feedback on my proposal, much of the feedback complimented me on the ambition but how it may be too ambitious. I made improvements on the feedback where I could but wasn't sure how to adapt to all of it. Not long after this I had finished my first borrowed library book, I had also read all the history chapters of my other animation books meaning all the remaining content of the books related to the practical techniques of animating. After this I researched 13 different articles all one animation history and it's types, all for the purpose of making sure I knew the majority of animation types, the articles offered minimal new information as the books were so informative. I then added all my research notes to my research document and made them into a more precise paragraph. After going through my research I continued to plan out my project by finally deciding the animation types I would utilise. I created a table of 16 animation styles that were plausible for me to create with my limited skill and I then went through each type and worked out how worthwhile they would be to create. I highlighted my favourites in green, ones I would do if I had the time in yellow and the rest in red. I considered many of the animation types to be too short to be worthwhile, for example zoetropes having very short animation lengths and minimal detail. I decided not to do pinboard animation as it is incredibly lengthy to make, and the style is very simplistic. I decided flipbooks while being short would be a very fun project and decided I would try them if I had time. Most of my choices relied on stop motion as those were easier given my limited skill set, I chose brick motion and cut paper animation as a must as they are very different styles of stop motion and could create fun imagery. I also put Claymation as a maybe as it would be fun to do, but the shapes would be very simple due to my lack of experience, and I didn't plan on giving Claymation a long scene. Finally, when making my script I decided I wanted one more animation style and decided on rotoscoping as it was the simplest of the animation styles left.

When production on my script began, I also researched choreography scripts to make sure my script would be accurate, I had also began reading my fighting choreography book to keep certain restrictions in mind when writing my script. Due to me worrying about choreography in my script I postponed the script writing until I had finished reading my book on choreography. This led me to do a lot of procrastinating as I wasn't enjoying the book and because I still hadn't finished the script I was left with little to do other than read, because of this I ended up being a week behind my production schedule. Looking back my research on choreography didn't even change much of the final result and I should have just continued the script. Later I finally managed to finish my choreography research before I got even more behind. While writing the rest of my script I continued to read the animation books I had borrowed in preparation and to help teach me the techniques I will need for my animations. During this time many people told me that my idea was too ambitious and that I should probably try to tackle less animation, I didn't like this idea as I wanted to explore different animation types however, I did write my script so that every animation scene can be easily cut without causing continuity errors as a contingency in case I was unable to complete all animations. After a couple days I finished writing my complete script, during which I decided to add a twist in which the calm person is revealed to be a sadist. I did this as I like having dark elements to my characters and I especially love it when it's not something you know right away. I then made a voice acting script to be more specific on sound effects for the voice cast to make and to have a more focused script for them. I then researched articles on how to make brickmation, Claymation and cut paper animation, I did this to help prepare for animating and so I could have a rough list on everything I would need. I then created a list for all equipment, props, costumes, cast members and locations preparing me for production. Because of my procrastination with the research and script writing, I was unable to create a storyboard for my animations or frame lists. I bought supplies and continued to read the final pages from the library books I borrowed. After finishing my research, I found much of the information was irrelevant to my project and had the feeling I had wasted a lot of my time, but I had finished it and was now ready to begin animating.

On April 8th I began building my brick motion set, I couldn't start my cut paper animation as I needed the voice acting done to match up times and my friends had been unable to voice act during that time. Because of this I decided to animate my Lego brick motion as I only planned hums in the place of dialogue. When building the set, I first built the base layer that would become the living room floor, when making my set I wanted to highlight the vibrancy and colour of Lego, but I also wanted to avoid being too chaotic and distracting from the characters. Due to this I decided each layer of the set would be made of a different colour, creating an organised but still colourful layout. Due to the nature of Lego my set would also feature many different tones of the same colour as some bricks are older than others, I am happy with this as it adds slightly more chaos without detracting from the organisation. When building the wall, I would use a Lego brick and then a flat piece, per layer. I did this as I planned to have the government punch a wall and leave a dent, to create that dent I would simply remove the flat piece and push it back slightly to create an indent in the wall. I then added all the decorations to make it look similar to my summer house and finished the set. Finally, I went into my Lego minifigure bag and created two minifigures that I knew would be easy to recreate the clothing and style of in real life, due to the simplicity of Lego this wasn't too hard, and I was ready to film. I then went around my house to go to the dark room, only to realise the rooms I had originally envisioned filming in weren't nearly dark enough. After some thinking I decided I would utilise a big black box I owned and would put the set in that, I would then put a blanket on top of the box and when ready to take a picture I would put the blanket over my head covering it in darkness. I put my filming set up in the spare room but as I started animating I quickly realise the lack of roof made it easy to see my phone and the way the phone was balancing was also an awkward risk. I decided I would give my set a roof with a small hole in and would use that hole to point my phones torch in.

When animating I had a blanket over the black box and my head, because of the relatively small space I was working in I realised I was constantly moving the box slightly by accident, but I had already made multiple frames before noticing and because of this I decided I would try to make it look natural and purposely move the camera to make it look like a moving camera. I also had learnt my lesson and from then on compared each shot with the previous to make sure things looked fluent. The camera I was using had an autofocus and I was unable to find any way of turning it off. Because of this, I was constantly having to retake pictures and get the focus right however, I still made oversights by Sometimes changing the focus of a character for an effect between a single frame and this caused inconsistent blur that led to very rough animation. When animating government punching the bar I slightly raised the monkey and 2x2 flat piece to show damage and in the next frame would be laying on the counter to show it fell. This would cause a massive issue with consistency as the monkey was constantly rolling around and it was hard to get it exactly where it should be. To counteract this, I eventually decided I would make the monkey phase in and out of existence like a broken build in a Lego game. This allowed me to stop worrying about the monkey's movement while also providing a fun sight gag. When animating the kick I was unsure how to get the fishing wire attached, my dad had the idea of simply trapping the wire between the Lego figures legs and torso, however he had no clue how I could do the same for the floating head shot. Making the front kick was relatively difficult as i had to make the figure stay still in position and keep it in a position that looked natural, after some time I was able to get the frames, I needed and continued with animating his landing. Later I animated Zane being thrown to the ground, which was one of the most fun animations to do as I got to have his arm come off and the posing was interesting to make. When animating Zane's hand being ripped off (different to the arm scene) I wasn't sure how to make it as Lego figures can't hold hands securely and blu tac would be too easy to see, in the end I ended up hoping the audience wouldn't notice and continue animating as I didn't want more delays and I the action was going to be fast paced so audiences may not notice. When animating the floating head, I ended up attaching the string by trapping it under Zanes hat and then blue tacking it to the side of the hat both for strength and to keep it relatively straight. Getting the head in the right position was very annoyingly fiddly and I was having to constantly fight with the placements, after a while I was able to get the frames. During this same time, I also noticed another problem in which Zanes arm was loose on the table similar to the monkey, I decided to use blu tac on the arm as it was relatively out of focus and wouldn't be too noticeable. I also decided to utilise more blu tac in my animation overall and was able to create more dynamic poses as Zane pushes government to the floor. That night I decided to flick through all my photos to get a sense of how the animation would look, this made me realise that I hadn't created enough frames, and it was going way too fast. I also noticed a massive inconsistency error where Zanes red dimensional watch disappeared during the flip and never returned. I looked all around the room for it and was unable to find it, I also decided that even if I had it would look again weird to randomly appear after being gone so long. With the deadline rapidly approaching, how much I still had to do and how much longer it would take to add the missing frames and keep it smooth with the rest, I decided I would leave the animation how it is and just make my next frames much smoother. The second half of my brickmation turned out much better, I made about triple the amount of frames and used blu tac whenever possible to make more natural posing.

After finishing my brickmation I was still trying to organise voice acting with friends, while I did that, I decided to work on pre-production for my cut paper animation. I began by drawing diagrams for each of my paper puppets, I would trace limbs by putting a torch under glass. I traced the limbs to keep the sizing between the different angles of the puppet consistent. I then got a new piece of paper and traced each limb separate so that they would each be easily moveable. I uploaded all my frames into my folder and created my brickmation project. When adding my frames I originally went to make it 3 frames per second in hopes to slow down the fast-paced beginning, I also changed the second half to 6 frames per second as it was much smoother. After rewatching the animation multiple times, I realised the animation was still too slow and changed the first half to 6 fps and the second half to 12 fps. I then created a very rough template for my final major project website. I was unable to organise a tripod to borrow for my cut paper animation but had thankfully discovered my dd had recently bought one and was able to use that. I was finally able to organise a friend to voice act for me and as it was only one, I came to the conclusion I would voice the other character, and I would never be able to get the live action footage done as the deadline was just a few weeks away. When voice acting, I was in a very energetic and distracted mood and therefore was constantly getting distracted throughout. I managed to get all of my friend's dialogue and sound effects done and decided I would do mine at a later date, this is also when I came to the conclusion that the Lego animation was too fast to utilise the humming sound effects and decided they would be mute.

Before college started, I began the early stages of my cut paper animation by making some templates for my Zane puppet basing it off the Lego figures I created. After creating the basic template, I then placed the paper and glass (similar to the technique I'd use for the actual animation) and traced the template to make each limb separate to make the puppets moveable. I chose to create multiple angles for the different puppets as I still wasn't entirely sure how the fight may go when actually animating and I wanted the alternate types in case I decided to change the direction in the fight. Once back at college I began the early stages of post-production, I uploaded my Lego animation frames and began to edit it to the correct frame rate. Originally the animation was going to be 3 frames per second with the second half being 6. I gave a slow frame rate due to the minimal frames I utilised. However, after multiple rewatches I realised that it was much better than I realised and was able to have my first half at 6 frames per second and the second half at a whole 12 frames per second. At this same time, I also began the very early stages of my website, deciding on the name and giving a rough layout. That weekend I was finally able to organise a friend to voice act for me and cut out my Zane shadow pupper. When doing voice acting with my friend, I was constantly struggling to stay focused, partially due to my adhd and partially because the sound effects I wanted my friend to make were very similar to each other. After a while we were finally able to get through all dialogue and sound effects. At this time, I had also decided I wouldn't add grunting sounds to my Lego animation as it was very fast paced, and the grunting would end up going on too long making it sound unnatural. When back at college I realised I had yet to finish my treatment due to the business of the project and me putting it off. As I was still unable to think of sources, I could use to back up my claims I ended up just giving estimates in my treatment. Once finishing my treatment, I began to create a foley list for my lego animation, I repeatedly watched the animation adding effects whenever I noticed a part that should have one. After that was done, I realised a score would really help the intensity of the action and make up for the lack of dialogue. I went to my mood board that I had previously added a song list and I listened to each music video as I watched the Lego animation on repeat, If any song matched the vibe and tempo of the fight I would jot it down on my foley list, including timestamps that fit the animation best. Around this time I continued work on my website, I created 7 tabs, a blank home page that'd eventually summarise the website and welcome visitors, a context tab for early production documents, a research tab for research, a practical skills and presentation tab for all pre-production work, an evaluation tab and a reflection journal tab and finally a contact tab in case people have any questions about the project or website. I also decided on a colour scheme, I chose a nice bright blue to keep the home page eye catching, I chose Light icy blues for my context page and decided each page would get darker blues to make each one contrast while sticking to an appeasing theme, my Reseach and practical skills pages followed this theme. For my evaluation I chose a nice neon green as I had run out of colours and felt it was a good colour, that still somewhat matched the turquoise, I also made my reflection journal tab a darker shade of green to match the evaluation. Finally, I made my contact page an appeasing cool blue as to not distract too much from the contact information while still keeping the blue and green theme. I chose bright colours to be fun and eye catching and because I felt it matched the interdimensional theme. I then later added all screenshots of all my early production documents going from my idea making stage all the way to my treatment and proposal, I then added brief descriptions explain why I made them. I would then realise for things like my mood board people would be unable to access the links inside. To combat this, I added links to each document on OneDrive so website users can scroll through the real document if wanted, I also added my research document to the research tab. Around this time, I would also create a storyboard in order to help when I start animating the cut paper animation. I didn't get very far on my storyboard, only making 12 panels, but it helped give me a sense of my animation and I was ready to start.

When creating my second puppet I made it shorter and designed it to resemble both my friend and the Lego figure from the Lego animation. I based it on my friend as at this point, I was still hoping I'd find a way to record some of the live action footage before the deadline, and I wanted consistent character designs between each format. I began by drawing up the diagrams for the character models in a very similar way to how I created them for Zane. I also utilised the original diagrams I made for Zane to understand a good rough height for the government. I then traced the character models as separate pieces for me to cut out (like how I did before). Once that was done, I once again cut out the pieces over card and taped copper wire to create my posable dolls. I then began setting up my recording studio. I decided to use a table in my summer house as I needed somewhere I can easily make dark (for consistent lighting) and a place that would fit my tripod. I then placed a blanket over the desk and some chairs to make the filming area dark, finally I used various heavy objects to keep the blanket stable. After some brief test shots, I realised a couple issues with my recording set up. Firstly, I was unable to keep the tripod stationary and after reading the manual figured out the lever had been put in the wrong place. I put the lever in properly and the tripod was working great. I also realised how big of an issue consistent camera angles would be from my previous animation. Because of this I decided to tape the box down on the floor to stop movement, I also taped lines below the tripod so I could have a good idea on if the tripod had been knocked and moved. Finally, I added a cross on the inside of the box to know where my phone should go to keep consistent lighting, I couldn't tape the glass to the box as I would need to remove it to retrieve my phone after each session. After multiple test shots to make sure I was happy with lighting and position I was ready to animate. I created 9 final shots before realising I would eventually need to create an extra set of legs and arms for each puppet. I decided I would stop animating for that day and instead focus on finishing the puppets. I traced each limb as best as I could in an attempt to keep the limbs shape and sizes consistent. I then, taped the extra limbs together and added some tape at the end so they could be removed and replaced when needed. Before animating I decided to watch another video on cut paper animation as the day before I had noticed the wire seemed a bit too stiff. After watching the video, I learnt that the wire was in fact too stiff and while copper wires have been utilised for cut paper animation in the past, it is recommended to use a weaker wire for easier posing. Due to how long making the puppets took and me already creating frames for the animation I decided to continue on with copper wire. While animating on Friday I was constantly struggling to keep the puppet from falling apart and I often had to retape the wires as they would sometimes pop out. After animating, I noticed multiple joints of the puppet were weak, so I decided to retape them and then leave them to continue animating the next day. I was animating for two to four hours a day and would have breaks every 1-2 hours. It was incredibly tedious, and I was constantly getting distracted, but I was happy with my work. During that time, I was able to utilise more of the extra limbs I had created all of which were surprisingly more easily posable than the base bodies, even if only slightly. When flicking through the pictures on my camera I had found that the Zane falling animation felt way too slow paced compared to the rest of the animation, I wasn't too worried about this however as if anything it would likely make the animation more smooth and if not I could easily remove extra frames. On Sunday I was able to create 71 frames, which took me roughly 4 hours to make. To prepare for my animating I rewatched a Thailand boxing match I had recorded November last year as I wanted a more realistic and semi-Asian inspired fight scene. I then began to animate, it was the same as it had been the previous days, a tedious experience with moments of getting distracted and/or procrastinating and the dolls being very fiddly to move. After animating for 3 days in a row I felt very tired and wasn't looking forward to doing it again, I spent most of the next morning procrastinating to continue the animation. After a while I did finally push myself to go into the animating and try to grind some frames. I still felt exhausted for most of today and due to that was constantly getting distracted (even more than usual) and was getting barely any work done. It reached a point where I spent more time lying next to my camera and tripod then I did actually making frames. After a while i decided to just go indoors and would try again later in the afternoon. By the time afternoon came i still felt tired and still didn't get much work done. Because of all my procrastination I only managed to make 10 good frames in about 3 hours of work. To put this into perspective most days I was getting an average of about 15-25 frames an hour. Because of my extreme procrastination I realised brute force would not work and if I wanted to get my animation done, I would need a couple days break. A couple days later I added all my cut paper animation frames to a new premiere pro project. I decided to put it in a separate project so I can easily keep track of frames and to not get either animation confused with each other. I then changed the speed to 6 frames per second and watched the footage back to make sure everything is okay. I quickly noticed that multiple frames had been placed in the wrong order, because of this had to zoom into each frame and slowly scroll through them with the keyboard arrow to see where lower numbers had been placed in the wrong area of the timeline. Once I find a lower number, I would have to move frames forward and place the lower number in the correct position. This took around ten minutes before I finally had the timeline in its correct order. Once I was finished and had played the footage back, I then zoomed into the frames to change the falling part of the animation to 12 frames per second. I had to do this as said before because I had created too many frames for the falling animation, making it feel out of pace with the rest of the animation. I also experimented with making the entire animation 12 frames per second to be 100% sure I chose the right speed, having the whole animation 12 frames per second created way too fast of an experience and I quickly reverted most of it back to 6. A couple days later I finally began to continue animating, While animating the wires were still constantly popping out and the dolls were breaking apart, I tried to keep pushing through and try to hide the wires as much as possible. I then decided to attempt to make the government spin Zane around and launch him. I decided to do this as I thought it would be one last final challenge and I wanted to utilise the other dolls I had made. I did a couple test shots and thought my original idea would work and I then began to properly animate. As the government spun Zane around I would movie him closer and remove body parts to give the illusion of Zane moving further from the camera. Because of removing limbs and the already flimsy tape my puppets were in pieces when I was halfway through the spin. I took a break and decided to retape the puppets and fix them up. I left two of the heads unattached as I wanted to have Zanes body turn before his head meaning I would have to switch heads temporarily.After animating the rest of the spin and the government pinning Zane down, I was ready to add the final dialogue scene. To add this, I listened to the clip I liked the most on the camera and played close attention to the time stamps. I found the audio was around 9 seconds long and since I've been animating at 6 frames per second, I targeted myself to finish those 60 frames for that day. I chose 60 instead of 54 because I wanted an extra footage of content in case the timing doesn't quite work out. After animating the 3 punches and the headbutt I added a bit of a wobble to show the government hurt his head before animating him collapsing on to Zane. Because I was unable to shoot any of the live action scenes I figured I may switch the chronology around and have the cut paper animation be the final scene, ending with Zane dying. Because of this I decided I may not utilise Zanes dialogue in the scene. Despite that, I still wanted to shoot the animation just in case I changed my mind, I was getting really tired so it was a very rushed job, but I animated 12 frames of the characters breathing and figured I could play that on repeat for the dialogue. I then added 8 bonus frames to showcase the dimension watch being activated. The next day, I recorded all dialogue for Zanes character, it was only two lines and didn't take very long at all.

When I was back at college I uploaded all the footage I had filmed over the weekend. After listening to all my recorded audio that I had got my friend to do, I named each file to make editing more organised and fast. I then uploaded my audio and new footage to my cut paper animation. Once uploaded I changed the speed to 6 frames per second to match the rest of the animation, I removed all gaps and then had to go through the meticulous task of scrolling through each frame to make sure it was in the right place. After reorganising the frames, I began to go through the animation and crop and place the audio into the natural places. Finally, I went through the cut paper animation and created a new foley list to figure out what audio I still needed. That afternoon I recorded all the foley sound effects and was even able to get my friend to send me the audio I needed off them. The recording process went very smoothly however, I was unable to get any of the meat sound effects due to not having raw meat to use, I planned to download stock audio for this. Creating the audio mostly involved me safely falling on the floor, banging my hand on tables, walls and the floor, smacking shoes and hitting my denim jacket. When adding the audio I went through a process off adding all my sound effects and assigning them to different audio tracks to know which effects genre are which (for example fabric hits and falling sounds being separated). I then muted all track but one and listened to the whole audio to find the best sounds. I would cut the rest leaving a much smaller and more manageable amount of options. When doing this I found some of my sound effects (in particular me slapping the floor) already sounded like meat being hit, this made me realise I would need to utilise stock audio. I then added sound effects when needed to my cut paper animation, due to some minor technical issues and going through my audio I only managed to get about a quarter of the footage done. The next day I finished adding the sound effects and fully made up my mind on keeping the slap sounds to replace stock meat sounds. When looking at the extra footage for my alternate ending, I realised that the animation conveyed something very different to breathing and decided to cut it out. Despite that I ended up liking the dialogue and the animation of the watch and wanted to utilise it in my animation. I was also considering on having no alternate cut version and instead keeping only one animation. While i made up my mind I decided to add sound effects to my Lego animation, originally, I planned to only do sound effects for the collisions, but I realised some of my effects would work perfectly for the figures walking and added sounds for every step the characters made. This didn't take too long at all, I then added white noise to both the Lego animation and cut paper animation to make the sound effects less jarring. I then exported the cut paper animation and decided I would add the final Zane line into the scene, this also meant my placement of the two animations would reverse back to the original plan with the Lego animation coming after the cut paper animation. I did however decide I would still have two versions of the fight with the alternate version having all music removed, I did this as I was really proud of the foley work I made and wanted a version that I could focus on listening to just that. I then made a 3rd premiere pro file in which I combined the exports of the brickmation and the cut paper animation, to avoid the awkward breathing animation in the last frames I simply kept the characters in a still frame until the dialogue ended and then had the watch animation. I then exported the new file. After that it was time to add the music, I relistened to all the music I had chosen for my Lego animation and decided get ready and rock lobster sounded best. I listened to both separately and very closely with the animation playing alongside, eventually I decided get ready's beat matched the action much more closely and decided on that. I created a new premiere pro file and added my music less copy of the fight animation and messed with the timing while adding get ready to the Lego portion. After that it was time to add music for my cut paper animation, I decided to utilise none from my mood board and instead find some new music as I wanted a much more calmer tone for this fight, to match the more sophisticated and controlled form of fighting. I decided on either using Glass by Daughter, hope by daughter, Dance of the druids by outlander or Wainamoinen by Faun. I downloaded each song and then slowly compared them to the pacing of the fight scene, many of them weren't quite aggressive enough or were too fast but after lots of comparing I eventually decided on Wainamoinen by Faun as I felt it fit the best. After messing a bit more with timing I was finally finished with the edit, I exported it and uploaded the video to YouTube. Finally, I added the finishing touches to my website. I began by adding every entry to my reflection journal, this took longer than expected as I wanted to colour code every different day and I had to manually upload each photo from the reflection journal. After I finished that I cleaned up the rest of my website, added more detail to my contact page and finally colour coded and linked each tab to my home page.

In conclusion, this was an incredibly ambitious project, and I always knew that coming in. While I was able to do less than half of my original idea, missing the entirety of the live action segments and not being able to try out Claymation, I am still relatively happy with what I accomplished. I adore the sound design I created for my cut paper animation and find it incredibly satisfying to listen to, while my cut paper animation had joints constantly popping out of place and I'm not sure if my music fits the emotion from the scene. I do believe the animated fight went relatively especially for my first time trying it out. I also like my Lego animation as while the opening is a very unsmooth and I was constantly struggling with a stable lense, I think I managed to create very unique action, and I am also like the fact you can see the animation improve as my skill does. I am sad I wasn't able to utilise most of my script and explore these characters at a much deeper level, but I am very happy with what I did do and while I am unlikely to make animation again, I am glad I got the opportunity to experiment with it.  

Final Major Project Research ML3 Y2

Brief history of animation styles

This document goes over the history of animation and how it can be utilised in the modern day. Throughout this document I have purposely avoided notes on digital animation, my reasoning is it is something I'd struggle to achieve at home or in college and it is an animation style with a long history and one I have little interest in. My aim is to find every animation type and briefly describe how it's made and when it was first utilised.

The earliest and arguably most primitive form of animation is the Zoetrope. The Zoetrope was first invented in 1832, it worked by having two discs divided into various sections, the discs would have pictures drawn on and when spun it would create a form of animation. Around that same time the phenakistoscope and praxinoscope were created. A phenakistoscope is essentially a flat version of a zoetrope. The difference between a zoetrope and a praxinoscope is a praxinoscope utilises mirrors to showcase the animation instead of slits. In 1868 John Barnes Linnet would create the first ever flip book under the name kineograph. This consisted of a series of drawings taped together in a stiff book, when the pages are flicked one by one it would create animation. Around this time the kaleidoscope was also invented, this is a very simple form of animation that simply worked by having two or more mirrors slide into a telescope type object. By using a dial, you could move the mirrors making for abstract patterns that move in a smooth way. In some ways live action video could be considered an offshoot of animation. In the late 1800s Thomas Edison created the kinetoscope, these worked by someone essentially taking many pictures per second and then feeding them into the machine to display each picture at a fast frame rate. This created live action movement simulating a live action film but technically being animation. (Animation techniques Steve Robert's pg. 12-14) (the animation bible Maureen Furness, pg. 126-127)

Melbourne cooper would create the first ever stop motion film in 1899 titled "Matches an appeal". It would be another 6 years before animation was used again in film, stop motion effects would be utilised in the live action movie "The electric hotel" to create moving objects like self-tying shoes. James Stuart is considered the first person to utilise hand drawn animation in a movie, his 1906 film "humorous phases of funny faces" utilises various 2D scenes such as a man puffing smoke. Another film considered the first 2d animated picture is Emile Cohl's "fantasmagorie" which features much more smooth animation. (Woodcock, 2023)

In 1910 Ladislaw Starewicz essentially made the first stop motion puppets by using dead beetles. He cut up the beetles' body parts and would restick them using wax, he made the beetles look anthropomorphic and made a stop motion movie about the beetles fighting over a queen beetle. The film was so realistic for the time that London thought they were real beetles trained by Russian scientists. John Randolph bray would create the cel technique of 2D animation. Cel animation is essentially drawing over a box producing light. Because the box produced light it made paper tranparent meaning you could look at your last drawing and make the next one similar, while still adding subtle differences to produce the animated movement. (The world history of animation, Stephen cavalier pgs. 46-50, 58)

In 1914 Winsor McCay would make a huge step forward for the animation industry with his animated film "Gertie the dinosaur" the film featured heavily detailed backgrounds, very realistic movement and his character also had a very clear and exaggerated personality. While aspects of this film had been done before, it had never been seen to this scale or professionalism. In 1916 the Fleischer brothers created the famous technique rotoscoping. Rotoscoping is a technique that utilises live action footage, turning that footage into frame-by-frame screenshots and then drawing over each frame. Rotoscoping is often utilised in 2D animation as it helps create much more natural and realistic movement, but rotoscoping can also be its own unique art style. In 1925 Willis O'Brien would create the movie "the lost world" it was the first full feature length movie to feature stop motion. It involved explorers finding a hidden world with dinosaurs. The plot and style of filmmaking would later be utilised for the 1933 movie King Kong. (The world history of animation, Stephen cavalier pgs. 61-62, 66)

While Paul Terry's 1928 film "dinner time" was the first animated feature to contain audio, Walt Disney's "steamboat willy" was the first high quality animation to feature audio. Paul Terry has admitted many times in the past that his animations were cheaply produced and didn't match the quality of Disney "Disney is the Tiffany's in this business, and I am the Woolworth's.". In 1930 Berthold Bartosch would make the short film "the idea". This movie utilised a unique form of animation using cut out paper figures against a backdrop and using those figures to create animation. In 1933 Alexander Alexieff, due to limited resources, would create a new type of animation known as pinboard animation. The technique utilised a pin screen device made of 100s of pins that could easily slide in and out of the board. The surface utilised a grid structure that made an infinitely flexible surface shape that could produce relief shadows images, especially when lit from the side. In 1936 Len Lye would create a new animation style known as direct animation, the process involves taking a film strip and scratching or painting the animation straight onto the strip. In 1937 Disney would release the first animated feature film, known as "Snow White" the film encountered many budget issues and took a very long time to finish, due to Walt Disneys perfectionism on its emotional moments. (The world history of animation, Stephen cavalier pg. 97, 104, 109, 116, 118-120) (Woodcock, 2023)

In 1952 Norman McLaren would pioneer the animation technique pixilation, the technique works by using actors as if they're puppets in stop motion, making the actors slightly move for each frame. In 1958 Robert Breyer created the animated short "A man with his dog out for air" the movie was an interesting style of 2D animation as while it was a standard animation, the style was incredibly simplistic only using a couple haphazardly drawn lines for each frame to give the basic impression of the image. In 1973 the first Lego stop motion short would be released titled "Journey to the moon". Lego stop motion is a stop motion style that utilises Lego style building blocks as its puppets. In 1976 Coraline Leaf would create the animation technique known as sand animation. Sand animation utilises sand poured onto a lightbox, the animator would then remove sand from areas and create a picture, they would then slightly change the picture to create each frame of the animation. Coraline Leaf would also popularise the animation technique glycerine (also known as paint on glass). Paint on glass animation works by using slow drying oil paints on a sheet of glass. Will Vinton would create the first feature length Claymation film in 1985. Claymation is a type of animation where the models are made with easily moveable clay. Similar to stop motion the animator will mould the clay slightly for each frame to create movement. In 1997 trey parker and Matt stone would popularise cut paper animation, in which paper 2D dolls are created and moved around a 2d backdrop. In 2008 Blu Muto would create an ambitious animated movie solely by painting each frame on a wall. In the age of Videogames, a new form of animated storytelling was created known as machinima. A machinima is where players of a videogame will make stories or skits within the game engine, this is often done with modifications to the game. (The world history of animation, Stephen cavalier pgs. 303, 171, 228, 258-259, 309, 378, 398) (Woodcock, 2023) (Priyanka Sakpal, 2020)

After finishing research on the history of animation, I've had a lot of time to think about what styles exist and which ones I may utilise in the future. I have decided I will not utilise zoetrope's, phenakistoscopes, praxinoscopes or kaleidoscopes as they are very limiting in length and detail. I am considering making a flipbook as I think it could be a very fun challenge and would have a slightly longer length the other early uses of animation. I will unlikely use any forms of 2D animation, due to it being one of the lengthiest animation processes and my lack of skill in art. I may, however, utilise a small amount of 2d animation or rotoscoping to create a fight involving stick figures as that would be a much easier animation to create. I will not utilise pinboard animation due to the lengthy process and I will not utilise direct animation as it isn't very applicable to the modern era. I will also not utilise pixilation animation as I will already be using live action footage, and I don't believe pixilation animation fits with my project. I will not utilise sand or paint on glass animation due to the lengthy process and I will also not utilise machinima style animation as I don't believe it will fit in my project. I am planning to use many forms of stop motion in my project, I plan to utilise cut paper animation, Lego stop motion and possibly a simplified version of Claymation. I will not utilize puppet animation as puppets are expensive and hard to make. I may also utilise these other animation styles in the future for another project.

Planning the project

When doing fight choreography, it is very important that eye contact is almost always utilised, eye contact allows the actors to more easily predict their next moves and understand what's happening. Another important factor is practice, actors should have lots of practice with the choreography, starting off slow and then slowly speeding up once the actors are comfortable. Eye contact, Look at the target, preparation, action and reaction are the laws of choreography. (unarmed stage combat, Philip d'Orléans pg. 46-48)

The actor must stay mentally calm through every fight and focus on being safe. With that said, the actor must also make the audience believe they're the opposite. As an actor you must embody the character without being them, you must think of all the intricacies to act. Moving frighteningly fast to show your blind rage but never getting too close and never landing a hard hit or a hit in a dangerous place. You must also know how to control your sounds; you must be breathing heavily or fast to show the fear or strength coming from the character. You must grunt and make sounds as you try to hit punches or as you take hits. Another important thing is to always remember where your character has got injured, if you or the actor put force on an injury (or make it look like they have) you must remember to have a more extreme reaction to your weak spot. (unarmed stage combat, Philip d'Orléans Pg. 78-85)

The first animation i will do will be cut out paper animation. I will create this by first getting black card material. I will then draw on paper the template for my puppets and their limbs. I will then tape aluminium wire on the backside of my puppets. Finally, i will animate my cut outs on top of blue paper on top of a light box. Tape tripod to floor to ensure it doesn't move and block out all light relying only on studio lamps. (Eyf, 2022)

To animate my Lego animation, I will utilise a dark room and create a small Lego brick-built set. I will have a small lamp shining over the top of the set to give the scene a controlled light. I will then move Lego minigures around the set taking a picture of each frame I make. I will utilise a taped tripod similar to cut paper animation and I may use a blu tac to keep the Lego steady.

Sources:

Museums Victoria Collections. (n.d.). Philosophical (Optical) Toys - The Details. [online] Available at: https://collections.museumsvictoria.com.au/articles/2908.

Gibbs, M. (2012). How Kaleidoscopes Work. [online] HowStuffWorks. Available at: https://science.howstuffworks.com/kaleidoscope.htm.

Woodcock, E. (2023). The Evolution of Animation: From Classic Cartoons to Modern CGI. [online] www.squideo.com. Available at: https://www.squideo.com/the-evolution-of-animation-from-classic-cartoons-to-modern-cgi.

Cavalier, S. (2011). The world history of animation. Berkeley, Ca: University Of California Press.

Roberts, S. (2021). Animation Techniques. The Crowood Press.

Furness, M. (2008). The Animation Bible. Maureen Furness.

Priyanka Sakpal (2020). 30 DIFFERENT TYPES OF ANIMATION STYLES AND TECHNIQUES. [online] Medium. Available at: https://medium.com/@priyankaradiancevision/30-different-types-of-animation-styles-and-techniques-8abbb4086028 [Accessed 2 April 2025].

d'Orleans, P. (2021). Unarmed Stage Combat. The Crowood Press.

Eyf, E. (2022). A Brief Guide To Cut-Out Animation With Examples. [online] https://buzzflick.com/. Available at: https://buzzflick.com/cut-out-animation/.

Songel, A. (2020). 7 Easy Tips for Making Brickfilm LEGO Stop Motion Videos. [online] Mysite. Available at: https://www.ananimates.com/post/7-easy-tips-for-making-brickfilm-lego-stop-motion-videos [Accessed 13 May 2025]. 

Progressive Pathways ML3 Y2

To further my career in the film industry, I have decided to research my options on ways I can start getting into the industry. My first thought was to simply send of a script to film producers in hopes to get it picked up and while this is an option it is highly unlikely to get a script picked up this way, even with a portfolio of my previous work. This is due to the high influx of people hoping to become directors any script that failed to capture interest within the first 10 pages would be denied, and the more inexperienced you are the worse your odds get. To help these odds I would have to research various production companies to find a best fit with my genre and ideas, proofread my scripts many times and possibly hire professionals to proofread it too. On top of that it would also be substantially helpful for me to self-produce my own short films and even enter them into film festivals to showcase a high amount of experience. Even then the odds would be hard to overcome due to just how competitive the script writing is. So while sending the script would be the quickest way to get into the directing role, it would also be the most unlikely. (Brubaker, 2024), (Miyamoto, 2015), (contributor1, 2024)

Another option would be to simply fund my own movies however, due to the insane pricings of a modern movie I would likely have to make many changes to most scripts to match the budget and would have to have incredibly good marketing knowledge to successfully promote my fundraiser. So once again while this would be another great way to step into the industry, it would also involve making yourself stand out over the thousands of other script fundraisers and managing to get a high enough budget to produce the film.

Considering It is so infamously hard to get a prominent role in the film industry especially directing and script writing. Many say the best way to climb up the ranks would be to meet people in the industry, as they can give recommendations to producers or even take you under their wing. Becoming a runner, could be a very good entry point into the industry as it allows you to get real world experience in the space and get to meet many people working in it. Becoming a runner is also incredibly easy to get as the job is primarily fetching things for people on set at a brisk pace, due to this you would need minimal qualifications and would just have to make sure to follow instructions well and fast. While becoming a runner is a fantastic option, there are many drawbacks. A movie set is incredibly busy and chaotic (hence why a runner must be so fast) and due to this it can mean you will only get brief chances, if any, to show people in the industry your work and what you hope to achieve. Also while it is one of the easiest jobs to get in the film industry, it is still incredibly hard to achieve due to the competitive market, and therefore it is hoped that you have lots of previous experience before applying. (ScreenSkills, 2023), (Mandy.com, 2024)

By far the safest option is to apply to a university, this is due to the fact that film universities are relatively easy to get into as you only need a couple A level qualifications or sometimes just plenty of evidence on practical work. Due to my 3 years of studying film in college and getting relatively high grades, getting into university should be a relatively safe bet. Studying at a university would help me get much more experience in film production and allow me to get even better at the craft preparing me for when I enter the industry. Film universities also tend to hire lecturers who either work in the industry or at least have experience in this. Due to this i will be given ample opportunities to ask questions on how to enter the industry and will likely be given more opportunities to volunteer. Because I'd be working in the university with many other students who are equally as passionate about film, i would be able to make many friends that would work in the industry in the future and therefore may be able to help me through my career as well. While joining a university is the safest bet, there are still many issues I will have to stomach. Primarily, the 3-4 years I'd have to spend studying prolonging my career even more and the sheer cost it is to go to a university. Out of all my options I personally feel university will be the best as it will be integral to developing even more of my skills and will help with the transition into the industry. (Lee-Rekers, 2022), (www.thecompleteuniversityguide.co.uk, n.d.), (DeGuzman, 2024)

Sources:

Lee-Rekers, A. (2022). How to Become a Film Director | StageMilk. [online] StageMilk. Available at: https://www.stagemilk.com/how-to-become-a-film-director/ [Accessed 24 Feb. 2025].

Brubaker, J. (2024). I Wrote A Screenplay, Now What? [online] Filmmaking Stuff. Available at: https://www.filmmakingstuff.com/i-wrote-a-screenplay-now-what/ [Accessed 24 Feb. 2025].

Miyamoto, K. (2015). 7 Things to Do Before You Submit Your Screenplays. [online] ScreenCraft. Available at: https://screencraft.org/blog/7-things-to-do-before-you-submit-your-screenplay-to-anyone/ [Accessed 24 Feb. 2025].

contributor1 (2024). How To Submit A Film Script and Get Accepted? Tips and Legal Considerations. [online] Hollyland. Available at: https://www.hollyland.com/blog/tips/submit-a-film-script [Accessed 24 Feb. 2025].

ScreenSkills (2023). Production runner in the film and TV drama industries. [online] ScreenSkills. Available at: https://www.screenskills.com/job-profiles/browse/film-and-tv-drama/production-management/production-runner/ [Accessed 24 Feb. 2025].

Mandy.com. (2024). What Does a Production Runner Do? [online] Available at: https://www.mandy.com/uk/magazine/article/how-to-be-a-production-runner-78077/ [Accessed 24 Feb. 2025].

www.thecompleteuniversityguide.co.uk. (n.d.). Study Film Making, why & how to study. [online] Available at: https://www.thecompleteuniversityguide.co.uk/subject-guide/film-making [Accessed 24 Feb. 2025].

DeGuzman, K. (2024). VIDEO: Is Film School Worth It — Why You Should or Shouldn't Go. [online] StudioBinder. Available at: https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/is-film-school-worth-it/ [Accessed 24 Feb. 2025].

The evolution and politics of the goriest genres scripts ML3 Y2

The slasher genre is easily one of the biggest sub-genres in the industry, partially because it can easily be done on a low budget, tends to not need strong scripts and is beloved by the horror fan base. The slasher genre has been constantly changing throughout the years, even when it first got big in the 80s it had started to drastically change from its beginnings. Slashers have a very similar appeal to action movies in that characters will be put in deadly situations that build up tension as they attempt to survive, unlike with action however, slashers always have a ruthless edge. Slasher movies are the important step that helped push censorship rules and it's why modern movies are able to express their messages through violent imagery and have such gritty and realistic action. Because slashers are usually so simply written and cheaply produced, they will often have the standards of the film industry at the time, leading to them working like time capsules of the era they were made in. This essay will explore how the scripts of a slasher reflect the world of it's time and hopefully allow you to appreciate the subtle meanings of these films.

The rise of slashers

Before I continue, I think it is important to define what a slasher is. The definition of a slasher changes from person to person because simply it's more of a movement made up of years of media than your average genre. The basis of a slasher movie is a killer (usually a human in a mask) killing a large group of people one by one until the last survivor, who will then usually kill the killer or escape alive. The stereotypes of slashers tend to be the kills happening in a closed off area, the victims being sexualised teenagers and the survivor usually being a virgin girl. Elements of the slasher genre have existed as far back as the early 1900s however, many consider the first slasher to be 1960s Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho" and Michael Powell's "Peeping Tom" respectively, they both shocked audiences with their violent imagery and slow build-up of tension as the victims try to survive. (Brehmer, 2021) : (Gadre, 2021)

In 1974 Tobe Hoopers and Kim Henkel screen written classic "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" was released and would be another prototype of what would eventually become the slasher genre. It had many of the genre cliches, but it also had the social commentary. Texas Chainsaw Massacre released in a post Richard Nixon world and was a commentary on Nixon's rejection of the progressive ideology with the Sawyer family representing the right leaning party. The sawyer family is against change purposely using outdated technology and they have negative reactions to outsiders. The film also reflects the financial hardships of the 70s with zero gas being sold at a gas station and a hitchhiker claiming air guns took his job. (Colver, 2021)

The same year another prototype slasher movie came out, Bob Clarke's underrated gem "Black Christmas". In 1968 the Canadian government legalised abortions and contraception, marking a new stride in woman's rights. Roy Moore wrote the script for Black Christmas and aimed to show why choice is important, it showed how manipulative men can be, it showed how forceful they can be, and it used its killer as a metaphor for how dangerous men can be. The film ends with the killer never being caught and the survivors emotionally scarred, this is likely a metaphor on how many abusers get away with the crime. In 1978 John Carpenters "Halloween" was released and the slasher boom had begun. (says, 2018)

The slasher boom and the rise of meta

In 1980 "Friday the 13 th" was released, while Halloween started the slasher boom, Friday the 13th proved copies were marketable, it also proved they could be done on a low budget with minimal story. There were many massive slasher movies during the 80s, following the Friday the 13th series in particular shows you a lot about how the slasher genre shaped and changed throughout the 80s and how it eventually died. The first two Friday the 13th movies were written relatively slow paced, it would infamously use POV shots and long quite scenes of characters doing nothing all to build up tension for example, the first movie has two whole minutes of a woman making coffee to build the tension. This was in keeping with the writing of John Carpenter's and Debra Hill's original Halloween, however when the third movie came out there was a noticeable shift. The 3rd movie would spend a lot less time on building up tension and would instead focus more on showcasing the gory kills Jason would make and the sexualisation of the teens, the 4th movie would continue this trend. (soundsofcinema, 2020) : (The Numbers, n.d.) : (Scripts.com, 2018a)

The slasher genre started to fall in 1995, and the signs are also seen in the 5th Friday the 13th. The 5th movie attempted to continue the trend but around the same time the Motion Picture Association of America had started to drastically knuckle down on violence due to many complaints of gore in media. Because of this Friday the 13th V felt very neutered and would have lacklustre kills leaving audiences disappointed, it didn't help that the movie had also changed the killer from the past three films and due to all this the movie was a box office failure. The slasher genre was already starting to go down hill and this caused script writers to go more light-hearted with it, the second Nightmare on Elm Street had many more wisecracks and the 6th Friday the 13th became a purposeful parody of itself. In a desperate need to keep up interest, Daryl Haney and Manuel Fidello wrote a supernatural element, likely to combat Nightmare on Elm Streets success and to keep thing interesting. The 7th movie would revolve around a telekinetic final girl who would fight Jason with her mind. By this point, the slasher genre had let out its last breaths, people were less interested in it and due to this, studios were less willing to put large amounts of money into the genre. Jason takes Manhattan (the 8th Friday the 13th movie) was unable to get the budget to film in New York and would instead focus on semi low budget kills on a boat for most of the movie, disappointing fans and being the last shine of hope from the 80s slasher boom. In 1991 there would be one last attempt at reviving the franchises with "Freddy's Dead" and "Jason Goes to Hell" both movies utilized overcomplicated plots with Freddy's Dead being a futuristic apocalyptic film with an emphasis on comedy over horror and the equally low budget Jason Goes to Hell revolving around Jason possessing people because a police officer ate his heart. The slasher genre became a joke to many film critics and wouldn't successfully be revived until 1996's "Scream".

(soundsofcinema, 2020) : (The Numbers, n.d.)

Interestingly the slasher genre of the 80s was a dark mirror to cinema of the time. The 80s was filled with unbeatable muscular male action heroes, they would often battle other men and overcome the odds. Action posters would often show off the heroes' bodies and they'd be the face of the poster. Meanwhile, slasher villains would have bulky but not very muscular physiques they would be socially awkward and cover up most if not all skin, slasher villains would disfigure bodies especially when they're being showed off in sexual ways and the villain would often lose to a woman. Slasher was the pessimism of the much more positive 80s culture and it made them stick out and be more appealing to the people of that decade, it would pick apart the family friendly and positive outlooks of 80s cinema and peel it back to show the much darker and horrific undertones. (soundsofcinema, 2020)

When Kevin Williamson wrote Scream it changed a lot for the slasher genre, it's focus on fleshing out its victims more than your average group of teens in an 80s slasher and it's comedic side would affect most other slashers in the post Scream world. The impact of 1996's Scream was largely helped by the 3rd wave of feminism in the late 90s, young women who grew up during the Women's Liberation Movement were now in their early 20s and hoping for feminism to grow further, Screams focus on layered female characters was an important stepping stone. Outside of feminism and copying Scream the added development to characters during this era was likely due to the fact slashers of the 90s would use famous, upcoming and fallen stars of the time and the fact that many characters in 90s slasher would often carry over in later sequels, something that almost never happened in the slashers of the 80s. The stardom added a familiarity to the 90s slashers and helped make you care even more about the characters; it would also make the films bigger box office draws. The horror movies of the 90s would often take place in suburban neighbourhoods and streets, kids would be hiding out in their own homes or schools and would use familiar actors and actresses instead of in secluded areas like forests with the unknown actors of the 80s. Some have theorised it's due to the political world, the 70s and 80s had Vietnam and the cold war leading people to be afraid of foreign and far away dangers causing horror of those eras to be otherworldly and far away. Meanwhile, the USA in the 90s was relatively free of foreign war and that led to people being more afraid of the people in their country. The slasher genre of the 90s was going strong although, by the time the early 2000s came around interest in the genre would drastically slow down. (West, 2016) : (Darke, 2022)

The modern era

The cinema of the early 2000s was incredibly violent, dark and gritty and this effected the horror genre as well. Surprisingly, despite the slasher genres controversial past of being too violent, in the early 2000s it was considered too light. The dark writing of Hollywood in the 2000s was likely due to the tragedy of 9/11, people felt depressed, shocked and angry and the cinema of the era reflected that, the violence was a way of taking out their anger. The slasher genre was replaced with a new upcoming sub-genre known as "torture porn". Torture porn is a very different genre to slasher, slashers focus on the creativity of the murders meanwhile torture porn focuses on the victim's pain, a slasher kill is often swift and quick whereas a torture porn kill often last minutes. While it is mostly unrelated to the slasher genre, the two genres often get confused (likely due to both focusing on death) and the torture porn era would effect the modern era of slasher with the violence that has now made the slasher genre a much more twisted and gorier world and forever changing how slasher censorship is handled. (Screen Culture, 2021) : (Stipidis, 2023)

After the early 2000s the industry became considerably less bleak, the movies of the 2010s would be much more hopeful and fun, it would focus on the characters overcoming their odds. However, slasher movies of this time were rarely seen as good, due to the slashers of the 80s many people perceived it as cheap gore with little to offer and with the oversaturation of torture porn people were more interested in the more unique horrors of the 2010s like "The Conjuring", "Cloverfield" and "Birdbox". (Marcus, 2020)

As the 2010s drew to a close the slasher genre saw a spike of interest that would kick off the next decade of slashers and a modern-day slasher boom. Interestingly, one of the biggest reasons was the announcement and release of 2018's "Halloween" mirroring how the slasher genre began. Halloween was written by Jeff Fradley, Danny McBride and David Gordon Green as a sequel to the original film (ignoring all the sequels before it) and made to recapture what made the first so good in a modern lens. It was much more tension and horror focused than your usual slasher, while still giving the audience updated and more gorier kills. What also helped Halloween 2018 do so well was its homages and respect for the original film and using nostalgia as a lure even going as far as having Jamie lee Curtis reprise her titular role 40 years later. Halloween 2018 was a hit; it would get two more sequels and would revive the genre once again.

(Pacheco, 2019) : (Stipidis, 2023)

If you've noticed one thing about the slasher genre it's likely that once there's a hit, everyone tries to do the same thing and 4 years later Scream would do the same thing, while it would star completely new characters to the franchise, the original cast would make cameos and there would be many call backs to the first film. A new slasher icon was also growing through the modern era, an incredibly violent and gruesome killer caller Art the clown. The first terrifier would get very mixed reviews however, as the slasher genre was gaining more traction so would terrifier and 2022's terrier 2 would cement art the clown as a new gory mascot killer and terrifier 3 would push the boundaries of gore in the slasher genre in a brand-new way. (Stipidis, 2023)

The modern-day slasher has really tried to outgrow and revolutionise the cliches that it's got so comfortable with. The slashers also have much stronger political messages with the Ti West's "X" a movie that heavily focuses on the sexualisation of teens and just how damaging that can be. Female characters are also getting much more spotlight as slasher killers with the 2006 Black Christmas remake, 2022's "M3gan" and "Hellraiser" 2022 all focusing on women killers. The modern slashers are also very focused on tributing the 80s world and making fun of itself with movies like 2015's M.A. Fortin's beautifully written "Final Girls", the 80s aesthetic "Cocaine Bear" and 2023's "Back to the Future" tribute "Totally Killer". Speaking of Totally Killer, many movies of the modern era like to revolutionise the slasher genre by putting the basic plots on their head. Totally Killer is the basic slasher premise but this time in a fun filled 80's time travel adventure, 2023s "It's a Wonderful Knife" would spin the slasher genre in the form of an "It's a Wonderful Life" parody where a girl is transported to a world in which she didn't kill a slasher killer and would even feature an incredibly engaging romance plot. We would also got 2020s "Freaky" adding the "Freaky Friday" body switching gimmick into a slasher story. (Stipidis, 2023)

The modern era of slasher has also been heavily parody focused especially with expired Ips (Intellectual Properties). This is far from new in the slasher genre, with movies like 1997's "Jack Frost". But the modern era has seen a large interest in the idea, and they've been doing exceptionally well. The movies tend to be incredibly low budget, at times not even looking much like the characters they're parodying, so far, we've had films like the "Winnie the Pooh Blood and Honey" series which is reportedly going to become a MCU style cinematic universe involving horror takes on many famous Disney classics all coming together as a slasher anti Avengers group. We've also had a Grinch parody called the "Mean One" starring David Thornton who famously plays Art the clown in Terrifier and we're slowly getting a whole slew of steamboat Willie horror films like 2024's "Mousetrap", capitalising of the original Mickey Mouse shorts copyright expiration. The modern era of slasher has also made huge steps in portraying more realistic and interesting characters with films like "Christmas Bloody Christmas" having incredibly realistic conversations and even realistic reactions to their horror of each death. 2014's Final Girls would also break down the final girl cliches and would build more realistic characters out of the girls and even make the protagonist a central piece of heart and tragedy to the story. There are still many classic slashers coming out with weak writing for the victims and focus on the killers. For example, "Saw X" focusing entirely on John Kramer (the killer) and his assistant, with the victims being heavy archetypes with minimal personality or depth. However, even Saw X had more depth for the killer than most slashers in the 80s and as the years go on the modern era seems entirely more interested in making these stories have heart and realistic characters to care about and really push past the boundaries of the 80s cliches. (Stipidis, 2023) : (Zaccaria)

Comparing two eras

To showcase the clear contrast and evolution of the slasher genre I would like to write up a comparison of the 1983 film "Friday the 13th Part III" and the 2023 film "Christmas Bloody Christmas. Both movies showcase how much the slasher genre has evolved and yet kept it's cliches in the modern era. The story of both movies is incredibly similar, both films begin by introducing the killer before introducing sexualised characters that will eventually be killed by the killer. They both end in incredibly similar ways in which a final surviving girl is forced to sneak and hide from the killer, while planning different ways to attack it. Both movies also end with the killer dying and the final girl escaping alive.

The main difference in writing however, is the way both movies handle their characters. In Friday the 13th III the characters primarily have one trait and often fit into stereotypes of groups (with a couple exceptions). Meanwhile, in Christmas Bloody Christmas the characters are shown to be sex positive geeky young adults, breaking the stereotypes of both geeks and sexualised characters. The film also puts in extra effort to help you care about these characters by making them immensely relatable by making mistakes and laughing at each other in a friendly way. In Friday the 13th however, the characters primarily talk about sex, the characters tend to be perceived as horrible people and often insult others, the insulted are never left laughing.

Modern films also have a much stronger understanding of its audience than that of the 80s slasher. There is hardly any build up to the first kill of Christmas Bloody Christmas, if you take out the Tori and Robbie scenes (which would've been scenes after the opening of Friday the 13th part III) the build-up only amounts to about 4 minutes compared to the 7-minutes of build-up in Friday the 13th III. Christmas Bloody Christmas also splices the Tori and Robi scenes with the killer scenes meaning you don't have to wait more than 10 minutes per killer scene appeasing both fans who only care about the kills and people who are interested in the Tori plotline. This is in contrast with the 28 minutes of building up characters in Friday the 13th leaving audiences who only care about the kills to be bored for those 30 minutes (this of course isn't helped by the significantly less interesting characters).

It is likely that the change of direction in slasher has largely been helped by the new generation of people. From the rise of feminism and mental awareness the modern generation has become much more aware of it's surroundings where as in the 1980s, mental illnesses were rarely spoken about and most types weren't even known. But as time has gone on people have begun to be more aware and honest with themselves. This has led the complexities of life to be more prominent in film and this is most likely why the film industry has moved away from the writing of the 80s, a movie portraying simple characters with large showcases of gore and sexualisation simply doesn't connect with most modern audiences. The showcase of realistic characteries and a focus on stories is what modern audiences often crave and it is likely why the genre has moved towards that. (Lumiscribe, 2023)

Conclusion, reflection and evaluation

I hope that throughout the duration of this paper I have thoroughly explained the evolution of the slasher genre and how politics of each era impacted the script writing in such extreme yet subtle ways. I hope I have explained it in an easily digestible and enjoyable way and I hope you have learnt as much as I did researching this. I think as the slasher genre keeps evolving things will get gorier and gorier as movies like terrifier have exploded more in popularity. I also believe the slasher genre will get more progressive and will be about the victims just as much as it is about the killer, I believe this because it has become more and more of a trend in the genre and is better made for the more progressive ideologies of the modern world and its future. I also believe the sexualisation of men and woman in slasher will become much less common in the future, as people care more about the characters and the Scream movies have become so popular. I believe the future of slashers will be much more story oriented than it's 80s predecessors and I believe it will also be more obvious with its political messages.

Over the course of this project, I have learnt many things I had never truly released about the slasher genre. I never realised just how vague the definition of it is and how so many different movies inspired the genre, for example I never realised the eccentric and gruesome killers originated from German crime novels. I also had never realised how political the genre is, when I first started this project I more so saw slashers as simplistic cheap movies that have got more intellectual over time, after completing my research I have realised that the genre has just got more obvious about its political messaging and satire. This essay has taught me a lot on how I should tell my stories in scripts. It has made me notice just how often my own scripts use political messages without me even realising it and how often people do it in the film industry. Studying the trends of modern slasher has also taught me that I should lean more into those political meanings as it allows my work to be more appreciated by audiences and makes it more likely to be a success.

References:

• Brehmer, N. (2021). Why It's so Hard to Trace the Origins of the Slasher Movie. [online] Wicked Horror. Available at: https://wickedhorror.com/features/editorials/hard-trace-origins-slasher-movie/ [Accessed 13 Jan. 2025].
• Gadre, S. (2021). The Psycho Controversy Explained. [online] /Film. Available at: https://www.slashfilm.com/712456/the-psycho-controversy-explained/ [Accessed 5 Feb. 2025].
• Colver, C. (2021). The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and the Rejection of Progressivism. [online] Pop Culture Maniacs. Available at: https://popculturemaniacs.com/the-texas-chainsaw-massacre-and-the-rejection-of-progressivism/ [Accessed 26 Jan. 2025].
• says, C.T.P. (2018). Black Christmas & the Horror of Being Female in a Patriarchal Society. [online] https://anatomyofascream.com/2018/11/26/black-christmas-the-horror-of-being-female-in-a-patriarchal-society/. Available at: https://anatomyofascream.com/2018/11/26/black-christmas-the-horror-of-being-female-in-a-patriarchal-society/ [Accessed 26 Jan. 2025].
• soundsofcinema (2020). A Look Back at 1980s Slasher Movies - Sounds of Cinema. [online] Sounds of Cinema. Available at: https://soundsofcinema.com/2020/10/a-look-back-at-1980s-slasher-movies/ [Accessed 18 Jan. 2025].
• The Numbers. (n.d.). Friday the 13th (1980) - Financial Information. [online] Available at: https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Friday-the-13th-(1980)#tab=summary [Accessed 19 Jan. 2025].
• Scripts.com. (2018). Friday The 13th Part III Movie Script. [online] Available at: https://www.scripts.com/script.php?id=friday_the_13th_part_iii_8599 [Accessed 3 Feb. 2025].
• Scripts.com. (2018b). Friday The 13th: The Final Chapter Movie Script. [online] Available at: https://www.scripts.com/script/friday_the_13th:_the_final_chapter_8602 [Accessed 5 Feb. 2025].
• West, A. (2016). 'Not in my Movie': The 90s Slasher Cycle and Grrrl Power. [online] Offscreen.com. Available at: https://offscreen.com/view/not-in-my-movie-the-90s-slasher-cycle-and-grrrl-power#fn-4-a [Accessed 19 Jan. 2025].
• Darke, B. (2022). ANALYSIS: The 90's Slasher Cycle. [online] Moving Pictures Film Club. Available at: https://movingpicturesfilmclub.com/2022/01/31/analysis-the-90s-slasher-cycle/.
• Screen Culture. (2021). Politics and the Rise of the Ultra-Violent Horror Film in the 2000s. [online] Available at: https://screenculturejournal.com/2021/04/politics-and-the-rise-of-the-ultra-violent-horror-film-in-the-2000s/.
• Pacheco, S. (2019). 'Halloween' 2018: Breaking Down the Sequel's Success. [online] HorrorGeekLife. Available at: https://www.horrorgeeklife.com/2019/01/18/breaking-down-the-success-of-halloween-2018/ [Accessed 7 Feb. 2025].
• Marcus, K. (2020). Kids Movie Reviews, Reviewed by Kids: Sweet and Sour Movies. [online] Kids Movie Reviews, Reviewed by Kids: Sweet and Sour Movies. Available at: https://www.sweetandsourmovies.com/the-surprising-news-page/2020/10/17/what-was-the-best-decade-for-horror-movies [Accessed 24 Jan. 2025].
• Stipidis, J. (2023). New Decade, New Rules: The Slasher Villains of the 2020s. [online] Bloody Disgusting! Available at: https://bloody-disgusting.com/editorials/3760374/new-decade-new-rules-the-slasher-villains-of-the-2020s/ [Accessed 24 Jan. 2025].
• Lumiscribe, R. (2023). The Woke Wave in Cinema: A Debate on the Impact of Social Awareness in Movies. [online] Medium. Available at: https://rhetorialumiscribe.medium.com/the-woke-wave-in-cinema-a-debate-on-the-impact-of-social-awareness-in-movies-2a8ddea7ac7e.
• "Christmas Bloody Christmas (2022) Movie Script | SS." Springfield! Springfield!, 2022, www.springfieldspringfield.co.uk/movie_script.php?movie=christmas-bloody-christmas. Accessed 7 Feb. 2025.
• "Friday the 13th Part III Movie Script." Scripts.com, 2018, www.scripts.com/script.php?id=friday_the_13th_part_iii_8599.
• Wikipedia Contributors. "Christmas Bloody Christmas." Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 1 Jan. 2025, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas_Bloody_Christmas.
• ---. "Friday the 13th Part III." Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 11 Jan. 2025, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friday_the_13th_Part_III.
• Elrod, Andrew. "Austerity Policies in the United States Caused "Stagflation" in the 1970s and Would Do so Again Today." Equitable Growth, 11 Jan. 2022, equitablegrowth.org/austerity-policies-in-the-united-states-caused-stagflation-in-the-1970s-and-would-do-so-again-today/. Accessed 7 Feb. 2025.
• Google Trends. "Google Trends." Google Trends, 2015, trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=2006-07-01%202020-07-02&q=slasher&hl=en-US. Accessed 7 Feb. 2025.
• Zaccaria, Alexis. "Alice in Wonderland Horror Movie Story Details Confirmed by Poohniverse Director in Big TCU Update." ScreenRant, 14 Jan. 2025, screenrant.com/twisted-childhood-universe-alice-wonderland-movie-story-details/. Accessed 7 Feb. 2025.

Button Cup Evaluation ML3 Y2

Introduction

For my first project of the year, I was to create a project using responses from a focus group as my basis. I really enjoyed this project as I was still able to be very creative but was able to base that creativity on some basic genres and idea. The project could of gone better, I took a bit too long to prepare, wasn't fully sure on how I was doing particular things and mainly didn't film nearly enough as I should have. My idea of my project was to take on the theme of trans rights, I wanted to do it in a unique and artsy piece and keep it all in the time span of a song. I wanted to use a song as I felt it could be more entertaining and I enjoy making music videos. While I did have many issues with this project and am missing a fairly big chunk of what I had originally envisioned, I still think this project came out very well.

Production

Once we were assigned our project I immediately started brainstorming. I really wanted to tackle trans rights as it was a very important message to me, and I actually have had experience with the problem. My goal was to showcase differences should be celebrated, but at the very least accepted. I wanted to show a character changing their appearance in a permanent way and showing how that isn't a bad thing. I brainstormed for the week or two, but always came back around to using button eyes as my allegory. My idea was I would use my protagonist's infatuation for circles as an allegory for trans people sub consciously thinking of transitioning before even knowing about it. My protagonist likes circles before finding out about button eyes. I wanted to showcase the protagonist feels a lot sadder without the button eyes with the saturation and how my actor acts, and I also wanted to showcase how much better they feel around circles and when they finally get button eyes. I also wanted to show conflict with parents, with them not accepting them even if they're much happier and the same person. Finally, I wanted the film to end positively to showcase that even with all the hate in this world there's a silver lining. I decided to show this by having my protagonist meet people who accept them for who they are and like them. My idea is based around the focus group, as the focus group revealed many young adults struggle with transphobia, I also chose a modern song to appeal to the young adult demographic as they may like it. The focus group also revealed they want better writing and greater variety; due to this I wrote my short to be very abstract and a unique feel to it. I also tried to do some great writing, although due to the cuts it's not as good as I'd want. I originally planned to promote my short on multiple social medias and create a website for it as my focus group was very interested in social media and the internet and used it very often. However, due to time constraints I sadly didn't have time to do this, so it ended up as another scrapped idea.

While I was planning out my ideas for the short film I also got along with pre-production. I was assigned to research how context shapes a film and I chose to look into E.T. While I don't think it effected my overall project, I did find it interesting how every piece of media is inspired by the writer's life. My project was inspired by a recent, at the time prejudice I had faced. I had also been assigned to research and compare 3 different movies with the same genre but completely different tones and age demographics, this also didn't really come into play with my project, but I did find it interesting how unique you can get with genres, which is something I wanted to capture in my project by making it feel incredibly unique. I created my proposal, which explained the basic ideas of my project and all the equipment I would need to film it. I also created a rough timetable listing out what I need to complete and when I would roughly finish each task. I then created a treatment, which covered similar things but was much more concise and easier to read. With my basic idea planned out and with the knowledge of the basic tasks I would need to complete (and what I would use) I was ready to start my pre-production.

I started with my storyboard, just to get some final couple ideas for my project and to showcase the things that inspired me. Admittedly not a whole lot did, but I was inspired by Coraline for it's button eyes and some of my ides did tie heavily into the gothic genre and feel. I then started developing my final idea, I decided my short will be told through the visuals and therefore there would be no dialogue. Because of this, I only needed to make a storyboard and shot list, I first started work on my shot list making, I would imagine the basic story structure and think about interesting shots I could use that were short enough to fit the beat of the music. I added timestamps to each shot on my list and ended up with a total of 25 shots. I then finally created a equipment, cast and prop list so I could easily keep track of everything I needed, I was still struggling on who my actors were as people didn't seem particularly interested in my project, so I left who would take the roles blank. My locations were all around campus as I was hoping to use the highest quality cameras in an attempt to get used to them. Finally, I created a small prop list so I could keep track of what I need to buy and bring to college. I also decided to add to my shot list a list of how many shots each actor would be needed for, that way they can get a sense of how often they will be used and for me to remember who is most needed and how many people I need. I also added a mini location list to cross over each area when I am finished with it and keep track of where I need to book and still film.

When shooting began, I was already behind the rest of my class. I wanted to have everything ready for shooting and this meant while everyone else was shooting their projects I was planning mine and helping with theirs. the original focus group that started the project was September the 11th, I didn't start filming until October the 7th. I was the last person to start filming with everyone starting the weeks before. Something else that had delayed filming was my props. I was supposed to get button eyes, I originally planned to buy giant buttons however, I couldn't find any big enough online and the substance I would use to stick them on (wig glue) was very expensive. I was also looking at button glasses, they were much cheaper and would be a lot easier for actors to put on. The only issue is they wouldn't look great on camera. In the end I had to decide on the glasses, as wig glue was too expensive, and every other idea felt sketchy at best. The glasses arrived on the 6th October however, I quickly realised you couldn't see out of them. The buttons were removable, and I found out that it wasn't the glasses Lense that were the problem or even the buttons hole size. The problem was the glue that stuck the buttons caused the Lense to be too blurry and therefore unseeable. I brung the glasses to college in hopes someone could give me an idea on what to do. I was thinking of maybe buying clay to Mold my own buttons and then buying wig glue to stick them on, I was hoping I wouldn't have to do that however, as it would be very expensive. Many people said I could use a drill on them and I decided I will try that and if it doesn't work I will go with the clay idea. Since I didn't have the button glasses ready I was limited on what scenes I could film. I also only had 30-40 minutes before lesson ended (a group had gone before me). With help from my lecturer Luke agreed to be my protagonist and due to the small amount of time, I decided to only film in the studio. I planned to film 4 shots. The fan close up, the extreme close up of the protagonist watching the fan, the long shot of the entire classroom and finally, the behind shot of the protagonist getting his eyes sewn. It took half my time just to set up the classroom set and crew and by the time everything was ready I only had 15 minutes. I first shot the long shot of the classroom, in the first shot people went a bit too slow so it took a couple attempts, but it went well. I then quickly set the camera up for the close up of Luke, I only managed to get two attempts in before the lesson ended. The close ups of Luke came out very out of focus, but overall, it was a good start to the project.

On the 14th of October I finally had sorted out the button eyes, I had forgotten a couple times before then but had finally remember and got all 3 glasses to be viewable. When I drilled the holes, the drill had broken part of the glasses and my dad told me it'd be much easier and more efficient to simply get a carving knife and remove the glue from the holes. We removed the glue from each hole and the glasses are now easy to see out of. On the 15th I started filming again, this time I decided to shoot the final 3 shots of the short film, as I was unable to film in the studio. I was also unable to film in the corridor scenes due to missing posters (which I would print immediately after filming) shooting went swimmingly, with minimal errors. That being said looking back on the footage I am disappointed with how tilted and off angle the shots were, and the lighting looked very off. On the 16th October I filmed the studio shots. When I started it took a long time to set up. When filming started I used pictures of the Ellen show to base my set on. I decided a bright blue light on the right and a mild warm light on the left as a lot of talk shows tend to use contrasting colours. I then had my two actors talk to each other about anything, this took multiple reshoots as I wasn't quite happy with how actors were facing or their posture. Setting up the set also took a long time as I kept struggling to find the perfect light temperature that shows up on camera but doesn't look too stark. I also struggled with having characters in set without having the camera too far away as I wanted to perfectly replicate the Ellen camera positions. I am really happy with how this came out however, I do feel the button character had a bit too unnatural of a posture that if I had more time would have been reshot.

On the 21st October I edited the interview, messing with the saturation and contrast. I also added a logo as I felt it looked too empty without one. I edited it in hopes to have the interview playing on tv as the living room had been booked for this day. Sadly, Luke was missing causing even more delays and stress with getting filming done on time. He turned up later, but it sadly meant we weren't able to film in the living room on that day. Instead we went to the 3 hallways I had scouted, spent about ten minutes on each hallway hanging up posters, setting up the camera and preparing to film. The first hallway took the longest as I had a lot of technical issues involving the sd not working. The second hallway was also difficult as I wanted a side shot of the characters and the hallway wasn't nearly big enough. I had planned for this and put the tripod in the doorway of a nearby classroom. This was still a very hard shot to get as I wanted to showcase more distance in the hallway, which wasn't really possible so I spent a lot of time messing with the angles to make the most of it. I then was ready to film, this took multiple reshoots as I wanted to emphasise the button eyes and the protagonists reaction to them, while still keeping it looking natural. I also had lots of interruptions as people would keep walking in the hallway. The final hallway was very easy and after setting up the posters didn't take long to film. Once I had filmed each hallway lesson had ended. I am really happy with how these shots came out.

On the 22nd of October, I had access to the student union and luke was in so we were able to film. I asked my teacher to help be an actor as I needed someone who could look like my protagonists dad. When we got there I found out the tv wasn't working which meant I couldn't play my video and film it on an actual tv. I decided I would just edit the video into my music video. I then set up the set and started filming. The first shot was difficult as I had to have both characters in full view but I couldn't have the camera too far up as I didn't want the tv to be in shot, it took a lot of readjusting but I managed to get a shot I was happy with. I then filmed the second shot, this was the easiest shot to film as the tv was mostly out of shot, after that lesson ended and we had a 25 minute break. Once we got back I had the hardest shot so far, I needed to keep both characters faces in shot while they're stood up but I had to keep the camera low enough that I couldn't see the tv. Looking back it was a really easy solution but I spent a long time trying different angles to get it to work. In the end we decided to make the tripod much higher and have it be a slightly overhead shot. I'm still not fully impressed with the shot, but I'm much happier now that the tv is out of shot. The shot was also complicated as It involved a small amount of choreography, luckily my actors got the hang of it pretty quick and once I had found an angle I was happy enough with they got it done in just a couple shots. I then made them do it again as I wanted to try one more angle with the tripod just to experiment and in hopes I would find one id like more. Once I had finished shooting that shot, we moved onto the next, this was a close up of my teacher going from angry to sad. This took a couple attempts as it was a tracking shot and I messed up on the timing, but I got the hang of it relatively quick and was onto the final living room shot, this was a similar shot to the hardest one, however I didn't need the tripod quite as high due to faces not needing to be seen, I finished this relatively quickly and started packing up. On my way back to class I quickly got the mirror shot of the protagonist, I did this as it was on the way and quick and easy, we used a chair so my protagonist was easier to see in the mirror and got this done in just two shots. I then finally downloaded all the footage and finally was ready to start editing some of it. I placed every shot 1 second over my estimated length on the shot list. I did this so I knew I had big enough spaces for when I get the final bit of footage. I then edited the contrast, brightness and saturation. I did this to have a clearer image and to showcase the protagonists head space. For circle shots I will up the brightness and saturation to a glaring degree, I did this to show how beautiful and angelic the protagonist finds them. I made shots where the protagonist is looking at circles or in a good mood, a more realistic level of saturation, to show he's positive but significantly less colourful than the circles. Interestingly, I also did this to the interview where the first shot is colourful and somewhat natural, but the close up of the button character is heavily over saturated. For most shots in this film, the protagonist is feeling sad, to showcase this I made the shots significantly low on saturation, almost black and white in some scenes. When the protagonist gets button eyes, I made everything oversaturated to showcase he feels better than he ever has before. When he meets his dad things stay vibrant, but I have very dark edges and shadows, to show he's entering a dark place. Things become very unsaturated once the dad gets angry, showcasing the crushing feeling both the protagonist and dad are feeling, this look stays until he meets friends. Once the protagonist meets friends the scene gradually gets brighter and over saturated once more.

On the 30th October My protagonist actor was sick, because of this I had to use my extra time on the project. I decided I would do the filming the first day back from half term (Monday November the 4th). Meanwhile I focused on getting my last 6 shots that don't involve the protagonist done. I bought skittles from Tesco, borrowed the camera, tripod and a lecturers football and was then ready to film. I first filmed the ball bouncing on the grass, this took many shots as some the ball didn't land right, or I didn't track it well enough. I also wanted plenty of shots for it so I had more options. I then gave the football back and started work on the botte lid shot, I had to have the tripod very high and looking down, with a big Lense. I then had to the water on a similar height to the camera so it wouldn't be seen and would look like rain falling down. After a load of attempts I finally got one with good consistency of water and nothing covering the shot. Then I had to do a coffee cup shot, I wanted to film it rolling In shot with the circular bit in shot, I tried many angles but honestly, could never get it to look good. In the end I picked a mid-shot and then had to take multiple shots to get it right. A tutor walking past helped me get the coffee cup and after so many attempts I was happy enough to move onto the next shot. The next shot involved me pouring skittles on my hand, this took a couple attempts as I kept accidentally covering the camera, I also really struggled with getting a good consistency of pouring, but I got a shot I was mostly happy with. I then grabbed my wallet and sorted all the change so I only had the circular coins in shot, I then put them in my hand and had it above the camera and poured. Once that was done, I got my last couple shots I went to the nearby roundabout and filmed the circular arrow sign, I recorded for a couple minutes as I wanted a shot with lots of cars passing to add move life into the shot. Finally, I recorded a clock with the hands moving. Once filming was done, I added all the shots above my 2nd hallway shot and resized them to make a rectangle around the shot.

On November the 4th I found out luke was sick and was unable to film. Due to that, I decided I would use the footage I had already got and make that my final project. Thankfully, I had filmed my project in order of importance meaning it wouldn't be too hard to still tell my story, it just will be a bit rapid. I first quickly adjusted the lighting and placements on my original edit (with the long gaps( and then I made a copy of the project and turned that into my recut version. I kept the one with the long gaps as I wanted to showcase what the original version may of looked like. In the final cut version, I was able to sync the footage with the music. I firstly left a 7 second gap to keep the opening credits on beat, I shortened the fan shots and had the opening mostly the same as the original, just more rapidly paced. Everything went mostly on beat, with very little cropping needed. I doubled the length of the hallway scene to compensate the missing content and I actually think this worked out really well. I also made each circle shot appear on screen on beat with the music. I had a semi long shot of complete darkness, I did this as I still didn't have quite enough footage for something there. After that, once again the final couple shots needed minimal editing, only slight cropping and moving. Once that was done I extended the final shot for almost 60 seconds so the video still met the music's timing and to give time for credits. Once that was done I quickly took a picture of the buttons with my phone and uploaded it to the video, I placed it in my opening and used it as the backdrop for my opening credits. I highlighted the O's and semi colons in my opening to emphasise the circular obsession. I also used lower case letters if the capitals were to straight edged (for example E vs. e) I then synced the credits appearances to be in beat with the music. For the credits, I also used the most round edged font I could find, once again to emphasise the characters obsession. For my end credits I zoomed in on the final shot, screenshotted it and had that freeze frame as my credit backdrop. I couldn't get the credits to show up well, so I had to save an image of a black square and lowered the opacity to make the credits more obvious. I used the same techniques on the credits as before to once again show the love for circles. Once that was done, I exported the project and uploaded it to YouTube.

In conclusion I am actually pretty happy with this project. I am really sad I wasn't able to get the scenes of the protagonist getting button eyes as it would make that aspect much more obvious and possibly the message to. That being said, I do appreciate the simplicity the lack of that scene gives this movie and it does make the hallway scene easier to watch as if it was shorter you wouldn't be able to see the circular objects for very long. But I do still miss the scene. I also do feel some of the shots are far from perfect, particularly the ending scene which had really bad lighting and camera control (shots were off angle and shaky). Overall though this has been a great project and I think I referenced the trans community in a fun and well written way. If I was to do this again I would take a lot more action and would try to work on my project at a brisker but careful approach.

E.T context Essay ML3 Y2

In 1982 one of the most famous family movies of all time released called E.T. The movie has forever stuck with people due to it's charming characters, enchanting effects and immersive storytelling. In this evaluation I am going to go over how E.T was made and what inspired it.

When steven Spielberg was 19, in 1966, his parents divorced. From the aftermath of the divorce, he created an imaginary friend. Spielberg imagined his friend as an alienlike creature and considered it the brother he never had and a father he felt he lost. This is possibly what started the idea of E.T's creation. In 1978 Spielberg planned to create an autobiography however, due to delays on the film 1941, Spielberg had to put it on hold, the idea always stayed with him, however. In 1977 steven Spielberg had released the popular film called close encounters of the third kind. Not long after Spielberg started making plans for a potential sequel to close encounters. The sequel would be called dark skies and would be much darker, involving aliens terrorizing a family. During this time Spielberg was also filming Indiana jones, due to having to film it in Tunisia he was forced to be away from his family and friends. Being in Tunisia made Spielberg feel an incredible sense of loneliness that made his childhood memories resurface and with it memories of his imaginary alien friend. He later told one of his screenwriters that he would like to have a sub plot about a friendly alien called buddy who would befriend an autistic child in dark skies, buddy would abandon earth to go to his home at the end of the movie, this inspired E.T.

Spielberg considered the first scripts draft perfect however, it went through two more before the final script was ready. Due to Spielberg being known for his darker movies at the time and due to Columbia picture being primarily focused on teen-adult targeted films, they felt Spielberg's pitch was too child friendly and according to Frank Price "a wimpy Disney movie". At the time Disney was primarily known for anthropomorphic animals and animated musicals, many companies and studio execs would look down on companies like Disney and see them as movies made only for children, with no real demographic outside of that. Due to this Columbia pictures felt E.T wouldn't make any money as only children would watch it. Spielberg would later ask universal to purchase the script from Columbia and make the movie themselves.

The story of E.T is primarily inspired by Spielberg's life with many scenes reflecting memories from his life. The character of Michael is massively inspired by Spielberg's childhood particularly Michael picking on his siblings and developing into a protector of them. Spielberg used to continuously tease his younger sisters however, when his dad left he became very protective of them and would look after them. Many have also drawn parallels to Elliot and Spielberg as Elliot is shown to be very alienated and almost lonely in the film, he also lost his father and is shown to be incredibly saddened from it. Elliot is also the character to have the closest connection to E.T which could be in reference to Spielberg's imaginary alien friend. Contrary to popular belief Elliot's family is also very untraditional, instead of showcasing a happy and complete family. However in the film Elliot is shown to feel a sense of loneliness, his father is absent and the mother is shown to also be emotionally absent, this could again parallel with Spielberg's family situation after his dad left and showcase how hard it was during those times. E.T causes the family to come much closer together which could be a metaphor for how Spielberg's imaginary friend helped keep him sane during those times.

Many of Spielberg's early films were considered relatively free of politics, E.T was no different. While the family of E.T subverted society expectations of a family at the time, it still showcased how that family can work and showcased how they healed. Steven Spielberg movies were seen as films where you wouldn't have to put too much thought into while watching. The messages would be wholesome and basic and would fit in with most political parties and opinions. Spielberg's films would usually have happy endings and emotional characters, the point of most of his films was foremost to be entertaining and comforting with story being secondary. Many watched his films as they were a relaxing and nice distraction from the traumas of the recent Vietnam war. Fears of abandonment and impotence were replaced with fantasy and recovery. E.T is the epitome of this belief and was considered a movie anyone could enjoy, while yes it was aimed at a younger demographic the film showed an American family healing something everyone needed to see and believe in at the time. To this day E.T is still considered on of Spielberg's best as truly anyone can enjoy it, the children were written so believably and to this day are some of the most believable child actors in film history. They helped give E.T a nostalgic feel even if you didn't grow up with it, the film makes you smile as you reminisce of your own childhood and despite the aliens somewhat creepy appearance it was still somewhat cute and you grew attached to it through the film, likely due to it invoking that child like imagination and the kids wonderful acting and connection to the alien in the film.

E.T itself was fully practical as computer effects were very hard to make look realistic when E.T was being worked on. Spielberg got help from Carlo Rambaldi as he has previously worked with him to design the aliens from close encounters of the third kind. E.T had to look like an outcasted alien and it had to look realistic for the movie to work. If they had used stop motion or any computer effects E.T would look to fake due to the eras technology. E.T had to look real as the movie relied on the audience believing the fantastical world and so the audience could feel a genuine connection to E.T. I believe the decision to make E.T creepy and out of place was to further link into the theme of loneliness in the movie and showcase how E.T was an outcast. Kathleen Kennedy studied real and glass eyes so she could perfect E.T's eyes as she felt they were integral to making E.T feel real and to help the audience connect with him. Four E.T heads were created one would be used on an animatronic and the other two would be used to change the facial expressions. A fourth head was used for an E.t costume which would be worn by two different little people or a 12 year old born without legs. The costume was used for actions the robot was unable to compute and the 12 year old would wear the costume for any scenes where E.T had to awkwardly walk or fall over, a small hole was made in E.T's chest so the 12 year old could see. Finally for some shots of E.T's hand a 1.5 million prosthetic E.T hand would be puppeteered by a professional mime. When E.t was being filmed audio editing was still in very early stages, so editors would prefer to have voice actors with minimal editing required. Due to this the voice actor of E.T would smoke two pack of cigarettes a day to get the classic voice, a practice that wasn't seen as dangerous as it would be today.

In conclusion, E.T was created to be made for everyone and relate to everyone. It steered clear of politics and showcased a family that while subversive of the traditional American household, it still showed one that was helpful and more relatable to people of the time. E.T was a story of Spielberg's childhood told through his imagination and creative fantasy and is a movie that to this day is both entertaining and heartwarming to everyone around the world.

Estimated target audience of E.T

I believe the target audience of E.T was primarily American families, particularly ones recovering from the Vietnam war. The main protagonists of this movie are primarily children and with the very child friendly imagery and whimsical storytelling, I believe it had a bigger focus on children as it's target audience but wanted parents to watch it with their kids as they would enjoy the subtle messages and the more realistic family dynamic. This movie has lots of subtle moments hinting at the family's status and how the mother is handling her divorce, it's done very subtly but it is an important piece targeted at the adults and families of that era. This movie is also targeted at children, not just for the child actors but the fact the children act like kids. The kids are very imaginative and play with toys and many games throughout the film. One child dresses E.T up in makeup and clothes once again showcasing the child nature of the film. Most of the screen time is also focused on the children's adventures with E.T and E.T himself is based on an imaginary friend which is something common for children to have. 

Sources:

Wikipedia Contributors (2019). Close Encounters of the Third Kind. [online] Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Close_Encounters_of_the_Third_Kind. 

Wikipedia Contributors (2025). E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. [online] Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E.T._the_Extra-Terrestrial#Themes. 

Wikipedia Contributors (2019b). Steven Spielberg. [online] Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_Spielberg. 

Bilge Ebiri (2015). Examining Steven Spielberg's Fascinating Shift From Popcorn Movies to Politicized Ones. [online] Slate Magazine. Available at: https://slate.com/culture/2015/10/steven-spielberg-s-shift-from-popcorn-to-political.html [Accessed 28 Apr. 2025]. 

Wikipedia Contributors (2019b). List of Walt Disney Pictures films. [online] Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Walt_Disney_Pictures_films. 

Horror genre target audience ML3 Y2

Jaws target audience:

When jaws originally release it would have been aimed for an age demographic of roughly 16-25. It was more common for young adults to watch horror in those times than older adults and the film was too violent for a younger demographic. However, due to its age it is more likely for 35-45 year olds to watch it as they would have grown up with it in their childhood, the film is very slow paced and the effects have aged poorly, with minimal gore which will make a younger audience less likely to watch it. The film is more likely to attract a predominantly male audience, as all the main protagonists in the film are male, with only a couple female side characters. The film is likely to attract coastal countries with lots of beaches like Hawaii as sharks are more common there and therefore the film would be more effectively scary to them as it feels more relatable. Steven Spielberg would usually steer clear of political issues making his movies fairly political free.

Piranha 3D target audience:

It is likely the age demographic for piranha 3D is 15-21. I believe this as the film is relatively recent meaning a younger audience is more likely to grow up with it or hear about it. I also believe this is the age demographic of the film as it is extremely immature with it's plot and cinematography. A lot of the film focuses on gore and showcasing cleavage making me believe it is aimed at a teenage level of audience. I believe it is targeted at a primarily male audience as most female characters are overly sexualised or under developed in the film. 

Coraline target audience:

It is likely the age demographic for Coraline is 8-12. I believe this as the film is very family friendly with it's simple dialogue and clean language. however, it has a lot of creepy imagery that would not be appropriate for people too young. The film also has a 11 year old protagonist, meaning people closer to that age are more likely to be interested in it and relate to it. The film also has very over exaggerated character models and movements which tends to appeal to a much younger demographic, however the film is slower paced than many animated features which makes it clear that it is still aimed at a slightly older audience. Coraline is likely primarily targeted to females as the main protagonist and villain are both female and the male side characters get little screen time overall. Coraline steers clear of politics as it's target audience isn't interested in that and parents would get angry if they saw political messages being used in the film, as thy would see it at trying to mould their children. It is also likely to be aimed at Americans as the architecture and family values are very similar to American ones. Coraline also takes a spin on the American household stereotypes and showcase a more realistic take. 

Final Major Evaluation ML3 Y1

Website, with full project and some pre-production images

Introduction

For the final major project, we were tasked to make a project about anything we wanted, using any format or genre we wanted. I love having full control over a project and truly being free to make I want however, due to a mix of writer's block and a high production concept this easily the most difficult production yet. The piece came out very rushed and there is so much I would do differently; this evaluation will go over that. My idea for the project was to improve my radio drama I had worked on over a year ago. Many people complained about the complicated story told through the radio drama and my goal was to make a similar high stake, character driven sci fi film that had a simpler and more understandable plot. Writing the script created a big barrier to the project and is the main reason it came out so rushed, the writers block delayed me by about three weeks. The script is the thing I am most proud of in this project as I do believe I achieved my goal however, due to the writer's block and my desperateness to complete the project I believe it created a very jumbled, rushed and slightly complicated final product. I also chose the format to be a live action movie, with action scenes, story and effects. I did this as I had never tried making a full short film before and it was something I really wanted to try.

Production

Once we were assigned our project I immediately started brainstorming. I wanted a sci fi short film and I wanted it to improve on some of the negative feedback I got on my radio drama over a year earlier, I wanted to keep the high stakes, mystery and sci fi elements while keeping the story simple. I then wrote the first part of my rationale and explained my project concept. I had also decided the film would be about a character on the run from a controlling government, the government is meant to reflect places like north Korea and the level of control the government has and uses. I had also decided on my characters, a naïve protagonist who believes he can reason with government and get his life back. My protagonist was based on the protagonist of district 9 someone who is equally naïve and even selfish at times. I also decided to have a second protagonist, someone constantly surrounded in mystery and who has lost hope in the world, constantly being aggressive and only focuses on his survival.

Once I had done most of my evaluation, I realised I couldn't do the last parts as I did not know how my plot was going to go. This is when my writers block started. The first thing I did was make character profiles, two for each protagonist (the cloaked man and the protagonist) I wrote lots of details, how they're both wealthy people born in a futuristic city, how the cloaked man feels hopeless and hates the city. How the protagonist loves the city and believes everything will be alright for him. How the cloaked man is very closed off, highly experienced and rarely shows emotion. How the protagonist is naïve, very talkative almost unaware of the situation he is in and always shows emotion. I never wrote this in the script but I also wanted the protagonist to be very clingy, explaining why he trusts the government and cloaked man so much, I also believe it to be partially due to his distant relationship with family. I chose to have both cloaked man and the protagonist to have no name to make them feel more relatable and add to the mystery. Despite all this I still didn't know what my plot was going to see. I knew the general set up of the characters being on the run and how one wants to get to normality, the other wants to get away and I knew there would be action scenes that lead to the protagonist getting less and less innocent and much more scared, my main issue was I didn't know how or why the protagonist would be on the run. I wanted the reason to link in with the ridiculous control of the government, but I also wanted it to be done in a way that it's a mistake and the protagonist truly meant no harm with it. I decided to research heavily controlled countries and read about what they did to make their control. Then I faced another problem. I didn't find the research that interesting, I wanted to learn about it and I did but it took me a very long time and a lot of effort. In the end I researched about cases and laws in north Korea, Turkmenistan and Eritrea and how they act on their control. During this research I asked for friends and tutors help on reasons for the character to be on the run. My friend gave me the idea of it being about a robot replaced by a new model (similar to Detroit become human and A.I) explaining why it's on the run. I liked this idea a lot but felt it was too complicated of an idea that would take more than 20 minutes to explain, would need a large budget and I didn't want to focus on flashbacks. I also felt the idea didn't fit the films message.

I hit my writers block around February 27th, on March the 26th I spoke to a lecturer who gave me the idea of it linking with social media cancel culture. This finally gave me the idea on what my script would be about. My script would be about a naïve and rich character, living in a controlled sci fi city. One day, he sees a post made by rebels involving a nice cockatoo drawing. The protagonist not realising it was made by rebels, liked the post this is what causes him to be on the run and creates the events of the short film. The short film would start with him being on the run, with aspects of the reason being revealed throughout. I then started writing a rough script. After finishing my rough script, I asked my friends for honest feedback, I only got one response. My fist piece of feedback was how the dialogue came of very awkward and unrealistic, I was told the script was over the top, but they felt that was the point. I was told they liked how fast paced the script is at setting up the stakes. I re-edited all the dialogue for my scene 1 script and resent it out to friends. My second set of feedback informed me that while it still feels a bit over the top and awkward it was massively improved. I was also told that they felt the progression of conversation felt a bit too fast and it was resolved too quick. I then edited scene 1 and started work on scene 2.

I decided to base scene 2 of a scene from "predator" in the movie they shoot large machine guns into a forest causing a large wave of smoke, I wanted to adapt this into my script and have the characters fight guards In the smoke (saving me time on choreography and keeping the brutality of the cloaked man more mysterious until the end). The scene ends with cloaked man brutally murdering a guard causing the protagonist to freak out. I wanted this scene brutal to show the world the protagonist is now in and to show the danger of the cloaked man. The feedback I got for this scene, was mostly help on minor spelling and punctuation errors, my only other piece of feedback was the lack of setting, my friends were unsure if it was a war setting, a fantasy setting or a sci fi setting. I explained it will be more obvious with costumes and props, but the setting doesn't overly matter as this is more about the characters of the story than the world. After feedback on scene 2 I sped through scene 3-5 as I knew exactly where I wanted the plot to do. Scene 3 is a similar scene to scene 1 but now instead of focusing on the cloaked guys needs and plot, it focuses on the protagonist trying to bond and his naivety of the situation. Scene 4 contrasts with scene 2 as it showcases the protagonist now brutally killing people like the cloaked man and showing how the character is now changing. Scene 5 serves to close of the film and add extra details to the plot while keeping the mystery. I asked for feedback on the entirety of my rough script but only got a response from my lecturer. He mostly gave me help on punctuation errors, but he did give me advice on some awkward sounding dialogue which I gladly took and changed aspects of the dialogue until I was happier with it.

Once I had finished my rough script I made a location list, prop list, equipment list and a cast list. I also created a cast script read, this script was based on the ending of scene 2 and it was created so my actors could try out different characters and I could assess who would be best for the part. A lecturer supplied me with two large blocks of polystyrene for me to use on props. I planned to use the polystyrene on three fake rocks, two small and one about the size of a football. I planned to use the rest of the polystyrene to make a miniature set for the blown-up wall in scene 5. Once I got home, I set out into the nearby woods to find my filming locations I found locations for each scene and even planned out where the actors would go, except for scene 5. I wanted a giant wall on a field and couldn't find nor think of anywhere nearby. While out finding locations I picked up two small rocks to base polystyrene carvings on, I couldn't find a big one, but I made do. The next day I carved the two polystyrene small rocks basing it off the shape and roughness of the real ones. This took me multiple hours to carve and created a massive mess of polystyrene all over the garage floor. I had also carved out the giant one which took even longer, especially because I was forced to make it up instead of basing it on something. Once carving was finished I used citadel spray paint I had bought to spray the smaller rocks, I used citadel as they are highly recommended for miniatures and material like polystyrene. The spray paint however, caused the polystyrene to shrink despite the far distance I kept. This caused one of the rocks to be so small it was no longer useable. I then had to create a whole new mini rock and spray that. The carving was very gruelling and took me at least 8 hours most of this was the big rock, with the mini ones combined only taking a little over an hour. The carving was done with large chunks cut with a big kitchen knife and then a small carving knife used on the entire surface to create the rough texture and make more finer ridges and bends. Once I was back at college I started using writers duet to create my final script, I had a long look through dialogue and punctuation and made all edits where needed. I got halfway through throughout the week. At the end of the week, I did my first set of script reads, where I had rhys murphy read the lines of the protagonist and the cloaked man to see which one I preferred.

During the weekend I spent even more time on prop work. I had bought a clear green plastic binder that I intended to use for lenses, and I had bought 4 masks for the lenses to go on. My original plan was to have a quadruple layered Lense two stuck on the back and two stuck on the front, both stuck with tape, I would then glue tinfoil over the top, cutting holes for the eyes. My mum however explained to me how hard that would be so instead she helped me wrap each mask in tinfoil. We then cut the lenses in a way in which they could be poked through the eye holes and stay there. The new lenses were built with 2 layers poked in each eye, and 2 layers flatly taped on the back. I did this to give the lenses a realistic and 3D texture. I did this to all 4 masks which took roughly one hour and a half. I then used wash paint to paint the small rocks to give them texture. Once everything had dried I glued some moss I found between slabs around my house onto the rocks to add a final bit of texture. Finally, I added brown sharpie to the small rocks as they still felt too untextured and I felt the brown looked like mud on the rock. I had also glued the pieces of the big rock, filling the holes I could. After the weekend, the props I had bought from amazon arrived. I had bought pippets to hide behind a knife so I could squeeze blood to make it look more realistic, a fake retractable knife for scene 4's action scene, 2 tubes of edible blood and 1 tube of realistic blood. I was originally going to buy a smoke machine for smoke scenes, a smoke grenade for general smoke and the smoke grenade scene and a stick of menthol to help actors cry. However, it was extremely expensive and due to my already high budget throughout the project I decided to just use VFX's and camera tricks. I created my shot list so when filming happened, I would not forget anything. Finally, I created a recce, a risk assessment and sprayed my big rock. I was unable to finish spraying the rock as I ran out of paint meaning I had to buy more the next week.

On the first day of filming everybody was an hour late, once my actors arrived, I got them to do the script read, everybody came in black tracksuits as I wanted to keep the costume design simple. Oakley let me borrow two airsoft guns meanwhile, Rhys let me borrow his coat for the cloaked guy to wear, due to them not wanting to take it back they let me keep it till the end of filming. Once Asher and Oakley done the script read, I compared the audio recordings and decided Asher would play the cloaked guy as he did a better deep voice and had the height and made Rhys the protagonist as he was well experienced and was free the same days as Asher. Oakley and Kamron would play the guards. When we started filming it was very slow as I had to keep setting up angles and waiting on my friends to stop talking so we could film. I managed to make the first 8 shots of scene 4, I got up to the protagonist being shot in the foot. This took me around 2-3 hours. We did have to leave 20 minutes before sunset, as Oakley was in trouble with his mum and had to go. Sunday was cancelled due to one of my actors sleeping all day. It was a bank holiday on that Monday sadly, I was unable to film due to weather.

After the first week of filming, I uploaded the footage I got, named it and organised the best shots into a folder. After that I created a foley sounds list and collected a load of stock audio in case I was unable to record it all. I then edited all my footage. I placed the clips together and cut them to make a smoother scene. I had to make a quick cut from the transition to shot 1 to shot 2 as there was a slight inconsistency with the actors. I spliced and mixed the audio as you can briefly here talking when Rhys is sitting down. I also made said scene linger to build up tension. I still don't like how this turned out, but I was never able to rerecord the scene and I felt it is a nice calm before the storm while still slowly building up tension for the storm. The footage was very over exposed so edited the colour and lighting and finally added a gunshot. After college I bought more props, a brand-new bottle of ketchup for £1 (I was going to use the ketchup to spray and look like fake blood) and a brand-new spray can for £15. Once home I sprayed the entirety of my big rock and got ready for filming. I put on a black tracksuit as I planned to briefly appear in the film. I then grabbed the ketchup bottle and started filling it with water to give it a less thick texture. I was informed that one of my main actors in this film was unable to film due to mental health reasons. This was very annoying, but I calmed down as I could film the next two shooting days without them, it just makes things more limiting. Once my actors arrived, I got to work filming scene 4. Oakley had forgotten his jacket causing an inconsistency with the last filming, this meant I had to rerecord the last shot before we could continue. Everything after that went surprisingly swimmingly with most shots being perfected in the first take.

During that weekend I finished spraying the big rock. Once it had dried, I used wash paint and textured it, I also filled in some extra holes as there was still a couple holes all other the rock. I had also made a massive hole on one side of the rock due to the spray melting it, my plan with this was to cover it with moss. Once all the paint had dried, I spent multiple hours, approximately 6-7 adding sharpie on creases and certain holes to add more texture and colour to the rock and make it look more real. Then I did my next day of shooting, this time it was scene 5 with Miguel, Kamron and Rhys. They arrived 30 minutes late but as soon as they got there, we started filming. due to the rushed filming, I didn't have time to rewrite scene 5, but due to issues of not finding the right location I had to change the setting of scene 5. I removed the opening explosion and wall and replaced it with the protagonist being capture on a open field. Filming went okay but due to the hot sun, being right out in the open and the thick black clothes actors had to wear filming was very tiring, this made actors a bit fed up, Kamron also had to leave for work for 16:00 which added pressure for getting it done as Miguel would be unable to record again. We got most shots done however, I had to rush the final 4 shots as Kamron was dangerously running out of time. this led to Kamron and Rhys' monologue to come off as very flat and rushed. I also played as a guard in some shots, when I was doing this, I got Kamron to press the record button and make sure me and my actors matched the last shot.

The next week, I uploaded my files and started to edit. When editing the stabbing scene, I decided to mess with the tint. I wanted a warm tint mixed in with slightly darker shadows to help signify the dark and gruesome nature of the scene (the warm tint signifying blood and the shadows signifying darkness). The red of the warm tint also helps tie not only into the gore but the blind anger that the protagonist is growing through. This took ages as I had to manually do this to each shot and keep it relatively consistent and natural, the lighting also was inconsistent during filming and that only made this harder. I decided to splice the falling over shot to give it a cut and not smooth video, I did this to add to the impact and help distract from some props I accidentally left in shot. I also slowed down the audio to also help with the impact however, I don't think its noticeable enough. I made the saturation and shadows slowly turn to normal after the stabbing, I did this to show the protagonist calming down from his blind rage and starting to see the reality of what he's done (as the visuals go from dark and tinted to how in reality it should look). I then added a final gunshot at the end. I believe I went overboard with the tint, but it's grown on me. I then started editing scene 5. I found the exposure extremely difficult to deal with as it was shot on such a bright day and right in the open, leading to very high exposure shots. I decided to adapt to this and make it so Rhys and the guards were shrouded in darkness while Kamron always had high exposure. I did this as I feel the brightness helps signify purity and it shows how the leader sees himself as pure and clean and the protagonist and his own men are merely seen as dirty and almost nothing. I think I was too subtle with this detail, but I wasn't sure how to make it more obvious and I didn't want a repeat of the tint situation.

After editing I made a VFX list, I downloaded a bunch of VFX templates for my guns, smoke and blood. I then added some finishing touches to my edit. First I added the gunshot fire effect when the protagonist is shot and even added a small amount of blood spurting out of the protagonists foot. It's very subtle but I am proud that it's there. I then attempted to add some blood effects to the stabbing scene, sadly some of the effects I got used a black screen and I found out the hard way how they are unable to be keyed out, this was a relatively big problem as every one of my smoke effects used black screen it also meant at least for the time being, I could only use one blood effect. I added the same blood effects to the scene. Once done I realised the lighting would mess up every time an effect came up, I attempted to paste attributed to the effects, but this didn't work. After rendering the project, the problem was fixed. Finally, I decided to add the stabbing sound effects to the scene as I had completely forgot about them, I timed them up perfectly with each stab and I was done.

When filming started I brung scissors and paper and set out. Before getting to the location, I quickly shot the running scene, after that we went to the filming location and started to figure out the tying up idea. My original plan was the actor sitting down with a ring around his hands and a second around the tree and his arms. The actor didn't want to sit down so after lots of testing things we decided to have him stand with multiple sporadic strands around him, the hand restraints stayed the same. The gag idea also didn't work as I had to use tissue paper, which was too weak, instead I just had cloaked man immediately cover his mouth and cut some dialogue with it. The untying shot was annoying as we couldn't figure out where the last strand was, because of this I decided to cut it off camera and make sure the tied character didn't move to give the illusion it was untied. Once finishing scene 1, we headed back to the scene 4 location and started finishing of the scene. The one problem with this was I didn't have the original actor who gets stabbed, because of this I had to get creative with the camera angles to make it feel like the protagonist had crawled away from the body off camera and to make the lack of dead body unnoticeable. After that it was getting too dark to film scene 3 and we decided to stop there. On my way back to the house I did gather a couple handfuls of moss so I would have more than enough to put on the fake rock. Before the final day of filming, I finished up my props, I used the moss I had gathered to glue all over the fake rock, I had to wait for the glue to dry for it to be stable and due to this could only do 3 of the 5 sides. The next day, I glued the final bits of moss and used the final couple of wash paint to add to the underside of my rock. I then cut up one of my masks to make a fractured and smashed look, I then glued extra bits of foil to all the masks to make it look smoother. I also recorded some sound effects, I first walked into the field entrance of the forest and recorded myself repeatedly stumping and skidding on the dirt to give the effect of falling over, then I found some wet mud and repeatedly stomped in it to make the sound of guts and also could be used for squelchy mud in walking scenes. Once in the forest I recorded my self-stomping and walking just in case I needed the sounds. I found a metal pot on the floor and repeatedly rolled that on the floor to create the grenade sound and make it sound less like plastic. I originally used a can, but it sounded awful compared to the pot. I then grabbed a sharp stick and repeatedly stabbed it in soft mud in hope it will make a stabbing sound. Finally, I recorded the sound of rustling trees. Once I got home, I got a small plate and a can of pringles and an empty cider bottle. First, I loudly blew into the bottle to make the blow pipe sound, once id got multiple I decided to make the cracking of bones sound, I did this by simply crushing pringles in my hand, I then put the crumbs on the plate. The next day, the masks had dried and I added a dent to both of them on the same side to reflect when the guard has a rock thrown at him. Finally, I added sharpie all over the big rock and I was finally finished with props.

On the final day of filming, we first went to the scene 5 location to do the final couple shots. This took much longer than it should have as one of my actors didn't have much to do and kept messing about and halting filming. for the final couple shots of scene 5 I decided to change the location and have the recorder be found in the same place as scene 2 as it's poetic considering its where the story starts. Thankfully no audio will be used in most of scene 5 which made recording much easier. After a while we finally started filming scene 2, during this was when Asher finally showed up, he had woke very late up and actually showed up when we were meant to stop filming, my actor missed his bus though and decided to help me film a couple more shots. We didn't get very far into scene 2 due to all the messing about of scene 5 and the fact my actors had arrived 2 hours late to begin with. Due to this I sadly didn't get to use the big rock I have spent 4 weeks working on and about £40 in paint supplies. This was super annoying, and it does mean my project will be incomplete as I cannot film anymore. I tried to keep myself together though and we headed home. Before I finished filming for the day, me and Asher went to my house and recorded the entirety of the scene 5 monologue. Had it of not been for my 3 week writers block I almost definitely would have been able to get this entire project finished and in a much better quality however, due to my writers block, actors messing around and some bad luck I was unable to finish this project. While I never really expected to get scene 3 done due to how rushed and tight the project was, I was still really upset for not finishing it. Scene 3 is one of my favourite scenes and I'd argue one of the most important, scene 5 is all about showcasing the two characters world views how the protagonist is naïve, hopeful, and desperate for normality, and how the cloaked guy is cynical, untrusting, and desperate to be alone. Every scene builds on this idea, but I feel scene 3 is the most interesting as it's the first we get any hint of emotion from the cloaked guy and it's the only scene we get any idea on who he is.

The next day I, uploaded my footage and immediately started editing it together. I started with scene 1, I put the shots and added any needed sounded effects, I will do colour correction and final details once everything is placed inside. The final shot of the scene, I wasn't really sure on how to fix it but I did rise the volume. When I started scene 2 I had to add the smoke effect, this took me ages as I wanted it to look somewhat realistic as if coming from the gun while still being large and covering the entire screen. It also took ages to get it to fully cover the full screen and I had lots of issues due to the slowness of the computer. Finally, I added the scene 4 shots spliced them and had to call it a day. The next day I added the smoke grenade effect, I then copy and pasted the smoke from scene and cut it to the clearing section, so you see the smoke slowly clear. I then slowed down the screaming scene and walking scene, I did this as the dialogue was too long for the shots by themselves. I also did this as I believe it makes the scene more dramatic. Finally, I started colour correction and adding the final bits to the film. I first colour corrected scene 1, I wanted it to be brighter than scene 3 but still be very dark and moody. The lighting in this scene excellently contrasts with the character, the protagonist and cloaked man are cast in shadow both with the lighting and their clothes meanwhile, the surrounding area has high saturation with high exposure. After messing with the colour I added a title, I wanted to show the title in a fun and interesting way so decided to showcase the title as 3 titles all in different colours in a very minimalistic manner. When I started scene 2, I realized I forgot to add the gun flash and fighting sound effects. I went through my stock fighting sounds as I had forgot to record my own and I then placed the one I liked into the scene, I then added background birds whistling to make it still sound natural. I was unable to find a suitable punching sound effect and could not make one myself. Due to this I decided to leave it blank however I may use the stock audio despite how bad it sounds, I also of course colour corrected all of scene 2, I tried to cast the guards in a lighter colour as I feel it signifies purity which showcases how the leader only aims for perfection no matter the consequences. I then added a title scroll and made a complete synopsis of the remainder of scene 2 and the entirety of scene 3, I may add music to this but am unsure what song. I colour graded the final couple shots of scene 4, I made it much brighter to signify the cloaked man being a saving brace, the blood red of the warmness rapidly disappears. Finally, as the protagonist walks away, I added gunshots to add more urgency to the cloaked man. However, I couldn't find a way to add gunshot effects that looked natural, so it is still an awkward scene. I do however like the contrast of the dark and loud cloaked guy scene to the cut of the slightly brighter and peacefully quite protagonist scene. I added a smoke grenade sound effect as I had forgot to add that to scene 5. I colour graded the screaming shot, empty bush shot, grenade throw shot to try and match the previous scene 5 shots. For the final shots of scene 5 I kept them mostly the same, I made some aspects brighter or darker or slightly more saturation, but I really liked the raw footage, it looked beautiful and really contrasts with the ending. For the close up of the leader I made everything drastically dark and made a cold tint to figuratively show the leaders true colours.

In conclusion I am very unhappy with the final product from this project. My biggest mistake was not my writers block but my rush to get the script done. I feel if I had focused more in each shot instead of the final product itself and the story it was telling I would be much happier with the final product. I believe my script told an amazing story and it's the only thing from this project I am proud of. I wish I had taken more time on each scene. I wish I had taken better care and notice on how my actors said each line, I wish I had properly checked each shot to make sure there was nothing in it that shouldn't be, I wish I had checked the lighting and focus better. While I did do this for some shots and tried to keep it consistent, I was so focused on completing it that I simply rushed too much. If I was to do this again I'd probably aim for a much shorter script and I'd do my best to take better care in each shot instead of only focusing on the full piece.

Multimedia promotional ML3 Y1

Website with adverts link

Introduction

For our "multimedia promotional campaign" project we was tasked to create a marketing campaign on either converse shoes, STEM live or a podcast series called "Temple of toon" I chose the podcast as it was the most interesting to me because I could experiment with stylisation on the times, as temple of toon is all about 80s/90s shows and I figured I could base my advertising on advertising from those times. I think I did a good job with this, especially with my radio and tv advert but I think I strived to much for simplicity, when I should have tried to go for something more creative like some of the more wacky 90s/80s advertising. If I had more time I would have possibly spent more time on this and also sorted out the audio issues I had.

Production

When we first started the project, we started doing research on different advertising campaigns, what made them successful and possible controversies. We also compared the campaigns to see how they work short time versus long time. This helped me start thinking of ways I could make a unique and engaging advertising campaign. It also made me think of what I could do for my own advertising campaign. We were then given the options sheet of what to make our own advertising campaign about. I chose temple of toon podcast revival, as the 80s/90s theme of the podcast could allow me to get creative with the aesthetic of my advertising. I also had to choose an interactive, visual and audio type of product. The choices were magazine, posters, tv advert or trailer for visual. Radio advert or podcast segment for audio and finally, a website or any social media page for interactive. I chose tv advert for my visual as I'm not great at graphic design and it bores me. I also chose tv advert as it allows me to be a lot more creative and hands on with how I create my final product. I chose radio advert over podcast segment because radio advert seemed a lot more creative and challenging. I also chose radio advert as it means I can lean a lot more into the 80s aesthetic compared to a podcast. Finally, I chose website for interactive as a social media seemed to boring and uncreative. A website could also let me experiment with the 90s aesthetic more than any social media. My final piece of work before I started production was research on target audience. We were given vague character sheets on a person's age, wealth and interests and our job is to recommend things that they would like. This was great as it helped me better understand how target audiences work and allowed me to figure out my own target audience and how I could appeal my advertising to them, which of course by going for 80s/90s aesthetic it attracts people who grew up during them times which is the main target audience of the temple of toon podcast.

I then started work on my project, first I created three rough treatments summarising how I will I created the tagline "the temple of toon, heroically returns" although I never ended up using it as it sounded off, in fact I never ended up keeping a tagline as I couldn't find one to work with my adverts. I wrote in my target audience and explained the aim of my project, to capture the 80s and 90s aesthetic and get more people listening to the temple of toon. After my treatment I started researching 80s/90s tv adverts, 80s radio adverts and 90s web design to help give me inspiration for my eventual product. The 90s website archives I could find, mostly consisted of very simplistic websites with a huge amount of empty space and any visuals heavily compressed. The tv adverts I found tended to be very bad quality with cheesy acting, with generic music playing and usually involving cleaning. Finally, the 80s radio adverts also tended to be in very bad quality with deep voices and a stern person advertising the product briskly. I jotted down all notes and details I could find on advertising from 90s/80s, I also jotted down font types to use, sadly I completely forgot to use said font types as I was running late on the website, and it slipped my mind. I then created a flow chart describing the tabs I would have on the website, why those tabs and lots of details I would include aesthetically on my website. Finally, I started planning a rough idea for my script. When I started typing up the full script for my 80s/90s style tv advert, I made sure to be as brief and cheesy as possible to fit the aesthetic of the times. For my 80s radio advert I created an even more brief script and extremely simple one. I did this as radio adverts from the 80s were ridiculously short and would be very concisely written. I also chose Christian – China crisis as the song for the radio advert however, when editing I decided to use take my breath away – berlin as I felt it better fit the tone and aesthetic of the radio ad. I was almost ready for filming, before I started however, I created a production schedule, cast, equipment and prop list so that way I knew exactly what days to film and had everything concisely planned out with plenty of time to spare if things went wrong. Before filming I also created a storyboard to better help visualise my camera angles and actions. Finally, I created a recce and risk assessment I struggled a lot on the risk assessment due to it being a short scene in the safety of my home, but I managed to think of two risks.

When filming started, my partner was a little late but luckily, he did still show up and the scene wasn't long. Because it was dark out, I decided to close the doors and turn on the kitchen and hallway lights to give the impression of daytime. I then reorganised my living room and moved the poofy out of shot so you can clearly see the cleaning action by my actor. For the first shot I positioned my camera as far as I could from the actor to create a long shot of the cleaning and I was also very careful to keep both windows out of shot. For the next shots I positioned my actor to be in view of camera but still be a medium close-up. I had issues with the close-up as I had to keep my actor in the same position for each cut so there weren't awkward cuts in post. I sadly failed with this and there are obvious cuts in the advert. I also did a cool edit of changing the actor phone and wireless headphones to a Walkman and wired headphones. I did this to give the impression that the podcast is sending the actor back to the past however, due to my rush in editing I didn't personify this fact very well. Finally, I recorded one more long shot of the hoovering. I had forgotten to record my voice overs which meant on my first day back to college I didn't have much to do, I decided to try and work on my website but struggled with motivation and staying focused. I did manage to get my main page mostly done, I had added a basic about section on the front page, I had also compressed the temple of toon logo in photoshop and added it to the front page, to invoke the 90s aesthetic in my website I had also linked the original temple of toon website for those interested and to show I'm not impersonating. I added a more detailed about section and finally created a simple feedback page. That afternoon I recorded my voice overs, for the tv advert I stayed far from the microphone and used my normal voice to match my actor's presentation in the advert. I also used a DLSR camera with the cap on for that same reason. For my radio advert I also used a DLSR camera as the microphone in 80s radio adverts tend to be low quality. I also was very close to the microphone to sound more intimidating and make the microphone sound worse. I did this as 80s microphones are worse than 90s and because 80s radio advert presenters tended to have deep and intimidating voices.

I started editing my tv advert on, firstly I chose my favourite visual and audio recorded clips and placed them in. I then realised I had also completely forgot to record the hoovers sounds I needed, so I downloaded a YouTube video of them and added it to my edit. After looking through my edit I felt it was missing something and decided to add a generic 90s track to the background. I then researched how to give my video a 90s aesthetic as the footage looked too modern, I found a video and edited my project sharpness and noise to give it a static tv, low quality 90s advert feel. I then started work on my 80s radio advert, this took no time at all, all I did was choose my favourite take of the recording, add my predownloaded take my breath away – berlin track and adjust the audio in audition. I then exported the audition version, exported it again for adobe premiere pro and downloaded a black screen video so I could have an mp4 version of my radio advert for YouTube. I did also export my tv advert, but upon rewatch realised I had forgotten to add podcast clips, so I added two voice clips one of Tim and Phil analysing a tv show to go in the middle of the tv advert, and a second of Tim and Phils first ever introduction to add to the end. I also added a picture of the temple of toon logo in the intro of the advert, and website links at the end of the advert, I did the website links in a bright yellow and very 90s font. Finally, I uploaded the tv advert and radio advert to YouTube. After that, I made my final edits to the website, I added links to the YouTube video on both the home page and about page, I also finally created the episode page where I copy and pasted the description from temple of toons original website but added screenshot from each cartoon being talked about, I finally added links to each episode and published my website.

If I was to of had more time and not used it so unwisely. I would have done a lot more with this project. I would have tried to make a less simplistic website and gone much wackier and more interesting with my website. I also would have rerecorded my audio as a lot of the audio had come out very quiet and was a pain to edit. My final edit has a lot of audio problems with dialogue being hard to hear and had I of had more time to edit it I would of rerecorded.

The world around us evaluation ML3 Y1

Introduction

For our 'world around us' project we had been tasked to create something that reflects something we care about in life, it could be showing the history of something, could be a documentary on current politics and it could be much more. I quickly decided I'd create a video showcasing things I'm passionate about and more importantly all the factors, or at least as many as I can film and think of, in one video. I was inspired by 'soul' and 'life is strange'. My idea was to simply showcase the beauty of life and the world around us, I think I was very successful with this. If I had more time I would of finished the puzzle and managed to of got a sunset my video myself, I would also film more scenes during the day as I think some of it was too dark.

Production

When I was first assigned the project, I immediately thought of the beauty of life as it's something I'm personally very passionate about. My biggest inspiration for this was the movie 'soul' and the video game franchise 'life is strange'. Life is strange inspired me as the game features artists as the protagonists. The first game stars a photographer taking pictures of the intricate beauty around her no matter how simple it'd seem to people. The second game showcases a drawer, they explore the world around them seeing amazing views and will sometimes sit down to take it all in and draw it. Finally, the third game showcases the art of music and sound. Life is strange also inspired me as it is entirely about the importance of human interaction and kindness, another thing I find beautiful in life. Soul also inspired me, as it has very similar messages to my video, soul is about how beautiful and amazing the world around us truly is, it showcases that with its messaging, dialogue and imagery. My piece is meant to showcase those themes. I first started to do some research of film. First, I researched the meaning of context and controversies, I'd been watching south park recently so I had already known a fair amount about the meaning of controversy and context as south park without context can come off heavily offensive. I did, however, learn that context has lots of importance to how something is created like if a man makes a comedy that only ever targets women compared to if a woman makes a comedy that only makes fun of women. I gave context to myself and my background for this video. I also researched the context of why things like batman's costume change over the years and controversies behind it. Finally, I researched roles in film as I think it'll help me in the future and allow me to understand the importance of the roles to make a film. Understanding these roles also help to give me ideas on how to shoot a film, by learning about these ideas I will now take camera and audio much deeply to account and think not just about the words and actions of a script but how to convey the emotions without the words and actions, how to convey parts of the story just by using the right type of audio, or how to convey emotion through camera shots, or editing with colours and saturation.

I then started work on my project, first I created a treatment summarising my aim of the project, what will roughly happen, how long it should take and other important pieces of information. I created a mood board to give myself ideas on what to include in my video, I first supplied images of what inspired me and then thought up various factors I'd want in my video and supplied images for them, this helped me start thinking of a shoot plan. I supplied images that invoked the feeling of being cosy, beautiful views outside, human kindness and much more. Finally, I spent lots of trial error and comparisons of various songs that would fit the tone of my video. I finally chose Syd matters – 'obstacles' as it was slow enough for the video and was relatively upbeat, the lyrics also feel like a metaphor of trying to be positive in life, like "someday we will foresee the obstacles" and "some day we will sell our uniform, and live together" it feels like the idea of coming together and living life to the fullest. I then started planning out and creating the various angles and shot types I would have my video use. I created a list of everything my video would show. I wanted to show a mostly even showcase of everything I like in life. I showcased in the original plan, four man made objects/areas, four natural areas/animals and I showcased 5 wholesome human interactions. I then started doing the final preparations, I picked the perfect locations and made risk assessments, recces, prop/cast/equipment list and I arranged with my actors a production schedule. I had also been informed of a holiday to Egypt which meant I had to miss 3 days of college meaning I had much less time to work.

While I was in Egypt, I did manage to get some work done, mainly just footage, I filmed videos of the city, dessert, pyramids and camels in plans to have it in my view montage. I did this as I feel it communicated how I pressive things can be in life by showing one of the most impressive structures in the world. I also showed the town to show how small things can seem from far away and how big life itself is. I finally recorded the camel to show how beautiful and grand animals are and how wonderful they are to see. When I got back, I had found out my actors couldn't make the days and I had less time then first realised. I immediately reorganised meeting days and times with the actors and was ready to film as much as I could before then. I went to the nearby pond to capture the sunset but I didn't realise the sun was in the wrong direction, because of this I could not see it and decided to get videos of the nearby ducks being fed by people. Two days later I had got my actors in town and started filming a large chunk of footage. I couldn't film the tripping scene as due to car issues I was unable to take paper with me for them to drop. I first filmed one of the people crying in the street, I first recorded at long range to make the character seem isolated and alone, I then recorded close up to capture more of the relatable emotion, finally I did the same thing but had my other actors walk in front of the character to convey people ignoring him. Once I had recorded that I filmed a close shot of the character crying and showed someone else helping and reassuring him, to show the beauty of kindness and how that can make someone feel. I then filmed the homeless scene, their was a small amount of rain but it luckily didn't cause any issues, I had also got my actor to sit on my coat as he didn't want to get wet, I again did a close up of people ignoring him for the relatability and a far shot for the isolation and finally filmed the people giving him a drink like last time only in a close up angle. The next morning, I recorded the first tape scene and to get the tape whirring audio I place my phone on top of the Walkman and recorded it. I then sent 3 separate clips through email to give me lots of audio footage. I also filmed the tripping scene as my actor was meeting me again and I had the paper and objects. I used a mid-range shot so you can fully see everyone. That night I was yet again unable to record the game scene. When I got home, I gathered lots of the lights in my house and set them up in the living room, I then put my favourite clip from 'sou' on and recorded the living room. I did this to showcase the cosy feeling of the lights and living room and I had a particular scene from soul on as it personifies the message of my video. I then did a similar thing in my room for similar reasons however instead of playing soul I had the life is strange menu playing as it has a nice backdrop. I had also exported the current video to sync with my cassette turning off so it would be easier to edit. The next day I got shots of my dog sleeping, it wasn't very tired which meant most were it playing but it still invoked the cute feelings I was trying to invoke out the audience. I then recorded the trees with leaves falling down, it didn't fit what I was looking for, but I saw a nearby dead tree, so I decided to show a dead tree and then an alive one. I did this as I feel it showcases how something like a tree can come back and be colourful once again. Finally, I had managed to get footage of me and my friend playing a game. I did this to show the positive emotions and adrenaline a game and life itself can do. I also showed a game as it is something I'm passionate about and I wanted to showcase that fact.

My video starts with raw audio and a cassette, I do this to showcase the beauty of natural sound, how calming it is and the beauty of human creation by making a cassette. I then have a title show up, if I had more time, I would have made a more interesting one but due to storage issues and time I wasn't able to. I like the simplicity of it. The first shot is sunset, I did this to show the beauty of nature and the sky, I like this video as it shows the light overpowering the dark clouds which I think is very symbolic. If I had more time and better weather, I would have filmed my own sunset. My next is a puzzle, this is to show the beauty of the human mind and how smart it is, it is also to sync up with the line "can remember". If I had more time, I also would have made my own version of this. The next shot is of animals to show the beauty of nature and to fit with the line "migratory animals". My next shot my next shot shows a homeless man being ignored this signifies the bleak side of live and coincides with "changing weather" showing how quickly something can change. The next shot is a long-range clip of someone crying, I used a far angle to show the isolation of being ignored. This also coincides with the lyrics as the persons hopes to "foresee the obstacles". The next clip is the first that showcases human kindness with the bad luck. Someone shows kindness to the other person this also coincides with the lyric "live together" saying we should live together. I also showed that once the person notices the other helping them the video brightens showing the positive impact it leaves. I also did this for the homeless and crying clip. I then show the beautiful and breathtaking views of the pyramids. I then show the cute dog playing to coincide with "we played" I then show friends having adrenaline fun with a game to show the amazing feelings of fun. I coincide this with the same lyric repeated. I then show the beauty of animals with a camel. Finally, I show a cosy sitting room and cosy bedroom. I end the video with the cassette being turned off with natural sound.  

Soul Evaluation ML3 Y1

In preparation for my world around us project I have watched the 2020 Pixar movie, soul. The movie begins showing a music teacher teaching his class jazz, they all play badly but one and he finds none of the class enthusiastic abut his teaching. He is informed he has been promoted to a full-time teacher and is shown to be upset by what would be good news. In a way this shows how negative and desperate the character joe can be, he is given a better paying job but is saddened because he feels further away from what he wishes to become, a performer. Joe later finds out he can perform with a world-famous trumpet player however he dies just after getting the job with her.

After joes' death his soul is on the way to life after death, he however manages to escape and finds himself in the great before. He meets a pre soul numbered twenty-two and is accidentally assigned to find their spark, by using someone else's identity. To help inspire twenty-two he looks at his memories which turn out to be the persons identity he stole. The person is shown to have lived a rich, inspirational, and impactful life. Someone who has made lots of speeches and break throughs. When joe changes it to his real memories he sees a normal life, with most memories being mundane things like eating. This perfectly sets up the comparison the movie consistently shows, a mundane life vs a famous one.

Much later in the film joe attempts to get back to his body, things go wrong causing him to become a cat and twenty-two to become him. Twenty-two is disgusted by this and in a clever way the movie makes it much worse as 22's first showcase of earth is a sterile bright light hospital room, filled with nurses and doctors who want to keep them there. It is an effective way of disorientating 22 and making them want to leave however the movie then takes a different approach. Joe gives 22 a pizza and instantly twenty-two becomes much more positive about life. Early on the movie smartly showcases that 22 not only hates earth, but in a subtle way why 22 hates earth. The you centre that twenty-two came from has a facility showcasing everything in life, football, cooking, drawing and much more. But you centre cannot recreate four important fundamentals of life: feelings, taste, smell and touch. When twenty-two is on earth their first positives are the smell of pizza and how amazing it tastes. It is the films clever commentary on how life is much more complicated than just digital and physical things, but it's instead more about the feelings. How amazing things can smell and how good they can taste. it could also be commentary on how nothing can recreate the essence of life, that despite the you seminars best efforts it still doesn't match how amazing life truly is.

Later in the film twenty-two has a conversation with joe's barber and truly opens up to him, not only that but allows the barber to open up to them as well, the barber tells 22 things joe has never heard because he never opens up to the barber and never asks the barber about himself. The barber even later says "it's nice to talk about something other than music with you." This is the movie showing the audience how much of an impact opening up and talking to someone about life itself can be. This is the movie saying how people should be more honest with themselves and those around them, but I also believe this is the movie telling the audience to not be afraid of talking deeply. Most people are terrified of opening up or talking about deep subjects and to me this scene is trying to say how being brave and talking about that can strengthen your relationships and give yourself a more positive outlook on things. This point is shown later when joe gets twenty-two to go to his mums, she fights with him for taking another gig, and joe with 22s help finally honestly talks to his mum. He explains to her how important music is to him and tells her he must do it as it is what makes him enjoy life. By telling her the truth it makes his bond with her much stronger and she finally accepts his passion for music.

Near the end of the movie joe gets his body back and makes it for the gig. He plays and massively enjoys playing, but by the end of the show he is disappointed, he thought it was going to feel different. When he talks to Marie about it (showing he's learnt to open up with people) she tells him a story, she says "a young swims up to an older fish and says, "I'm trying to find the ocean." "The ocean? That's what you're in right now." The younger fish says "this? This is water, what I want is the ocean." This is the most important quote in the film. The ocean in this story is symbolic of a goal, some grand thing a person wants. The water however symbolises what they already have. The meaning is the water and the ocean have no difference apart from scale. It is the movies way of saying, life isn't about becoming a celebrity, or making a huge difference in the world. It's about experience, it's about realising what you have and how that is good enough, it's about how a goal will never live up to expectations, it's something to aim for but once you get there it's not much more, it's trying to say that it really isn't much different to where you are now.

A little later joe comes home feeling sad, he's reached his ultimate goal but doesn't feel different. He plays on his piano and looks at some of the objects twenty-two collected when they were in his body. The first item he looks at is a maple seed, it fell from the trees, and it was the last thing twenty-two saw before they left life. It signifies nature and the beauty of it and therefore the beauty of life. It was the last thing twenty-two saw that made them decide they wanted to live. The second thing joe sees is the pizza crust, of course signifying the beauty of taste and smell and it is the first thing twenty-two enjoyed about life. The half-eaten bagel is seen next and is what twenty-two donates to the musician in the subway. It can signify many different things about life, it could be seen as a showcase of how charitable and kind people can be as twenty-two is donating something that they think would help. Another thing it could signify is the beauty of sound and music. Sound is a wonderful thing in life and music is the personification of it. The musician signifies this aspect and is possibly what the bagel represents as it's the only music 22 found enchanting. The lollipop signifies kindness as twenty-two and the barber show kindness to each other, but it also showcases the beauty of human communication how important and wonderful it is. The lollipop can also signify literal human beauty as twenty-two gets the lollipop during a haircut something that makes them look nicer. The yarn signifies the confrontation with joe's mum which again reflects the beauty of human communication. Finally, the metro card signifies the stress of life. Twenty-two had lots of stress on the train and later says despite the stress they liked that part of life. To me twenty-two likes that part because it adds more to life. By having stress and threats it gives you something to learn from in life and gives you a feeling of adrenaline, something you would never be able to feel without it. In twenty-twos paradise it was the same boring schedule and while bad things happening is never nice, it causes a break from schedule it means everyday a new thing will happen. When joe starts reminiscing about life, he first thinks of 22 laying on the wind, to me this signifies the one other thing twenty-two could never experience, touch. The wind gives 22 a feeling they could never feel before and it is another glorious thing about life. The next memory is the saxophone student. This is a scene that happens early in the film, it's a scene where 22 talks to a student about quitting and despite 22 agreeing they should quit the saxophone student says to just play one last song before quitting. Twenty-two listens to the music and learns love, they see how much love this girl has for the saxophone and realise one of the most important things in life, connection. Not just to people like with joe's barber and mum, but connection to objects. Joes' student has a connection to the trumpet, it makes them happy and despite getting infuriated by it and claiming they want to quit, deep down they adore it and never want to stop. The student even says, they never wanted to quit they just was upset. Joe then starts to reflect on his life and him growing up. thinking about how his mum always cared for him, his dad showing him the beauty of music and learning his passion, the excitement and free feeling of riding a bike, the beautiful lights from fireworks, the divine taste of a cake, he even looks back fondly of his teaching, how he had some enthusiastic children who truly cared about the art, how he helped them one on one and helped their future. joe also thinks about the peacefulness and calm feeling of the sea on his feet and his loving ex with him. The scene starts zooming away, first showing the city, then the earth and then the galaxy. It conveys how small joes' life, is and how no one needs a purpose, it is not what truly matters. Even those remembered in earth will not be known throughout the galaxies. What is important is how you live your life; you make it yours and you make the most of it. You enjoy the sounds, feelings, emotions, sights, tastes, smells, and people around you and try to not let the bad things get in the way. You do not need to achieve something big in life to matter you just need to enjoy it and be with those around you. The reason I believe joe reminisces on his life is because he realises, he had a good life. Despite not making it big he realises being able to experience the senses of life, having such wonderful people around him and being able to make in impact on those around him is all he needs. He realises twenty-two deserves life and he decides to give 22s life back and leave his.

This movie is a wonderful case study on the meaning of life and the beauty of it. The subtle storytelling, and imagery conveys this all. Twenty-two is the nihilistic character, they look at life as awful and have no interest in it meanwhile, joe is displeased with his life and wants to live to make and impact. The two characters reflect the audience twenty-two is about how some people talk about and think of life, how many find it pointless and depressing. Meanwhile joe highlights how other people make their life about a goal, how they devote themselves to achieve something and make a big impact. The movie tries to show how both outlooks are negative, twenty-two has never truly experienced life and seen it for what it is. Meanwhile joe has never realised what he had and how his goal isn't truly important, joe is even shown to be selfish sacrificing 22 and one of his students' futures just to reach his goal. He does this by trying to ignore his student when they talk of quitting, twenty-two is the one to talk to said student and help them feel better. By the end both manage to see what life is, twenty-two sees all the amazing things in life and is much more positive about it. Meanwhile, joe realised he already had an amazing and made an impact to those around him, and that is all that ever mattered. The you seminar is also a clever comparison of earth. It has everything earth has but it cannot replicate the feelings, it can't have the beauty of taste, the beauty of human conversation and kindness, the adrenaline of bad situations, the beauty of emotions, the beauty of touch and feelings, the beauty of smell and because of that 22 couldn't see life for what it truly is, beautiful.