Friday, 23 December 2016

DIRECTIONS: Contextual Research [TV Drama Research - 'Lost' JJ ABRAMS]


 



XCU - CREATES IMMEDIATE CONNECTION AND EMPATHY W/ CHARACTER (JACK)


DOES NOT ESTABLISH LOCATION FIRST, CONFUSING AUDIENCES.


POV - FIRST PERSON PERSPECTIVE SUGGESTS LOCATION (ENIGMA FOR SUSPENSE), MAKES CHARACTER AND AUDIENCE APPEAR SMALL

BEV - CONTRASTING SHOT ,ISOLATES JACK AS ZOOMS OUT
HIGH PITCH MUSIC MAKES AUDIENCES UNCOMFORTABLE

JACK'S SUIT SUGGESTS HIGH SALARY JOB

CAMERA TRACKS FROM SIDE, OBSCURING CHARACTER WITH SHOOTS




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PAN STARTS ON CHARACTER AND CONTINUES TO IMPLY POV BEFORE RESETTLING ON CHAR.

 VAST OCEAN INCREASES ISOLATION

SHOT SIMILAR TO TAXI DRIVER (1976, DIR: MARTIN SCORSESE)




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HAND HELD TRACK INCREASES TENSION AND PANIC. 

PURE STORYTELLING WALKS THROUGH THE CONTRAST BETWEEN ISOLATION AND PANIC WITH CHARACTER.

SHOT SIMILAR TO STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS (2015, DIR: JJ ABRAMS)

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WS TO IMPOSE DANGER
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TRACKS FOLLOWS CHARACTERS ALONG ACTION
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 CAMERA STARTS FROM BEHIND AND TRACKS ROUND, CHARACTERS STEP INTO SHOT

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SOFT EDGE GIVES DREAMLIKE FIRST IMPRESSION TO FLASHBACK SCENE

TRACKS BACK TO SHOW BEN LOOKING OUT - PLAYING WITH POV AND PERS. AGAIN




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FRANTIC PLANE CRASH CONTRASTED BY CALM OCEAN - JARS AUDIENCES


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FOCUSES ON JACK BUT LISTENS TO B/G CONVERSATION
CAMERA PANS TO FOLLOW CONV. AND ALLOWS KATE INTO SHOT 
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SHOT CONTRASTS CHAOS VS NATURE

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CAM PANS TO REVEAL PLANE
LOOKS DOWN TO IMPRESS SIZE OF PLANE AND SHRINK CHARS


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WEV REMINISCENT OF EARLIER SHOT
MUCH DARKER, TREES MORE IMPOSING


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LOST 1x01 COMMON DIRECTORIAL TRAITS: 

  • Long, drawn out shots.
  • Use of handheld camera.
  • Panning or focus shifting to a character instead of cutting straight to them.
  • Fast paced action sequences.
  • Close ups.
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Thursday, 8 December 2016

Contextual Studies: Critical Review [Planet Earth Two ]

PLANET EARTH 2

Planet Earth 2 is the newest in a long line of expository nature documentary series produced by the BBC and presented by veteran broadcaster and naturalist, David Attenborough. The series, a follow up to 2006 series ‘Planet Earth’, explores “how animals meet the challenges of surviving in the most iconic habitats on earth.”[1] The series is the BBC’s first to be shot in 4k, mirroring its predecessor which was the first documentary series to be filmed in high definition.[2]
 Filming was conducted by six teams over the space of three years[3] and utilised many technologies usually used by dramas and high-budget movies, such as drones and better camera stabilisation. [4] [5]For the third episode, ‘Jungles’ the team had to specially adapt drones to fly through the jungles of Costa Rica – something that had never been attempted before – to give audiences a never-before-seen perspective of the jungle and one only ever before seen by the animals that live there.[6] To try and capture footage of elusive snow leopards for second episode, ‘Mountains’ the crew used sophisticated camera traps. A technology that was not available when filming ‘Planet Earth’, the crew could get footage of a snow leopard and cub coming across two other males. The animals are so rare that such a quantity of them had never been filmed in one place before.3
 The editing of ‘Planet Earth Two’, like many BBC nature documentaries, follows the conventions of typical western editing, especially during it’s more fast paced moments. This is evident through scenes such as in the first episode, ‘Islands’ where baby marine iguanas are being chased by hordes of hidden racer snakes, moments after hatching[7]. The sequence begins with slow cuts: a close-up, highlighting the small size of the hatchling before cutting to a wide, slowed down shot of the small iguana slowly walking across the pebbles - it’s small size and isolation intensified. The slow editing draws out the tension as slowly the first snake slowly sneaks into frame behind the iguana, quickly followed by more. Suddenly the iguana begins running and the quick edits begin. Although the first iguana is safe, more hatchlings emerge under the hungry eyes of the racer snakes. The overwhelming numbers against the newly hatched iguana is intensified to the audience by isolating it within its own shot and contrasting this with shots of tens of snakes at once. Again, fast cuts are used to highlight the urgency and danger as one by one more baby iguanas are killed.
 Despite the many new technologies that ‘Planet Earth Two’ had access to, limited microphone ranges meant that certain animal noises were obtainable; to compensate for which, the show’s sound designers added sound effects in post-production. However, because of this audiences began questioning the show’s realism with many viewers taking to social media to complain and tabloid newspaper ‘The Sun’ lashing out at the programme.[8]
 Although some audiences may not have been convinced by the show’s diagetic sound-effects, much praise was given to the score composed by multi-award winning Hans Zimmer[9] who is also known for his scores to cinematic pieces such as ‘The Lion King’, ‘Inception’ and Christopher Nolan’s ‘The Dark Knight trilogy’. The music beautifully matches the visual wonder onscreen, rounding off ‘Planet Earth 2’ as one of the BBC’s most compelling and captivating nature documentaries to date – definitely one of its most ambitious.



[1] BBC (2016) Planet earth II - BBC One. Available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02544td (Accessed: 8 December 2016).
[2] Radley, R. (2016) Planet earth 2: News, release date and trailer for the BBC’s new nature show. Available at: http://www.trustedreviews.com/news/planet-earth-2-uk-release-date-trailer-bbc-4k-david-attenborough (Accessed: 8 December 2016).
[3] Mathews, J. (2016) Will the BBC’s planet earth 2 be even bigger (and more expensive) than planet earth? Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/11/05/will-the-bbcs-planet-earth-2-be-even-bigger---and-more-expensive/ (Accessed: 8 December 2016).
[4] BBC (no date) Sir David Attenborough to present brand new landmark natural history series for BBC One - media centre. Available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/latestnews/2016/planet-earth-two (Accessed: 8 December 2016).
[5] Knapton, S. (2016) Planet earth II: BBC gives natural world Hollywood blockbuster treatment. Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/2016/10/28/planet-earth-ii-bbc-gives-natural-world-hollywood-blockbuster-tr/ (Accessed: 8 December 2016).
[6] BBC (2016) Planet earth II - drones in the jungle - BBC One. Available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3P6MX7bbl0Y5SSnvJWPM4PP/drones-in-the-jungle (Accessed: 8 December 2016).
[7] ‘Planet Earth ||’ Islands (2016) Produced by Vanessa Berlowitz, Mike Gunton, James Brickell, Tom Hugh-Jones [TV PROGRAMME]. LONDON: BBC.
[8] JONES, L. and Reporter, B.T. (2016) Planet earth 2 viewers blast BBC over fake sound effects. Available at: https://www.thesun.co.uk/tvandshowbiz/2251451/planet-earth-ii-viewers-blast-bbc-over-fake-sound-effects-including-millipede-footsteps-and-bizarre-creaking-mushrooms/?CMP=AFF-Sun_traffic_gen-Awin-19_10_2016-1403-0-0-0&awc=7715_1479986150_dfab5c216093b2d1f02d3e201eaed8d4&CMP=AFF-Sun_traffic_gen-Awin-19_10_2016-1403-0-0-0&awc=7715_1481252330_58f123ac9f9d3cbc67fc24ceb7fbdbc5 (Accessed: 8 December 2016).
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Thursday, 1 December 2016

Story Telling: Contextual Research [Short Film Review: Invaders]

 Invaders (2014 Dir: Jason Kupfer) is a dark comedy that parodies the horror genre convention of seasonal home invasions. The short uses sudden pace changes to confuse audiences, sometimes slowing down shots to establish a feeling of peace within audiences before immediately contrasting it with quick cuts and manic action. This sudden change jolts audiences and forces them out of the passiveness of genre conventions. Incorporating this idea into my piece will give my piece an unpredictability that reflects Will’s sense of restlessness with university.
 Images are also contrasted within Invaders to further more shock audiences to the point of absurdity. As the character of the driver is stabbed with a carving knife, the action pauses and audiences are gifted a moment of calm before his face erupts with blood. This break defies typical filmmaking convention and the lack of an immediate response makes audiences more aware. The unrealistic amount and longevity of blood then further this effect whilst attacking another trope of horror movies. The pre-existing contrast in my script of drugs and university can be further explored to achieve a similar effect from my film.
 One of the reasons I chose this short was it's ultimately bizarre behaviour. It made a point to abandon every cliché it faced and this intensity makes it seem highly unpredictable. By abandoning many "set rules" of genre, the piece seems to gain an unruly freedom that will be easily incorporated into my script.
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Story Telling: Contextual Research [The art of comedy screenwriting]

Jerry Seinfeld – How to Write a Joke

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itWxXyCfW5s 
What do you find funny?
Start the laughs immediately. The first line should be funny.
It’s like songwriting. Focus on beats and rhythm.
The biggest laugh for a long joke must always come at the end.
“The wronger something feels, the righter it is.”

Ricky Gervais – How I learned to write 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zTJyDe7a2bo


Write about what you know.
Big, grand stories may be exciting but they’re not honest.
“trying to make the ordinary extraordinary is so much better than starting with the extraordinary.”
What’s real and relatable to one person will be relatable to many more.
Try to make the audience as excited as you are.

SAM BAIN AND JESSE ARMSTRONG COMEDY WRITING MASTERCLASS

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-01rh4yNb5U

If you’ve got something that works – make it longer
It doesn’t matter if you fail 9 times if you succeed once
Don’t sacrifice character integrity for a joke
In episodic pieces Start with episode 3
Casting IS key
If your character is written correctly, any dramatic situation can also be comedic
Plots don’t need to be funny, characters and dialogue do
If you don’t believe or care, change!
Know the tone of whatever you’re writing
Make sure the story is always the focus


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