I have brought all my data together within my study and analysed it to find some trends in my work. Initially i tried to get a wide audience of different ages and genders to make my study reliable as possible over a wide demographic. My results are quite interesting. To make my study are unbiased as possible i used a method which would negate any criticism against my work in terms of choosing particular members of the public over others to get favourable answers. My method was to choose to first in every five people I encountered and ask them nicely if they wanted to contribute to my study. The method I used to show the public my different advertisements was through my phone within a wireless internet zone so they could make a genuine opinion on the data I based my study round.
Month: December 2011
Performative Documentary Research
Performative documentaries stress subjective experience and emotional response to the world. They are strongly personal, unconventional, perhaps poetic and/or experimental, and might include hypothetical enactments of events designed to make us experience what it might be like for us to possess a certain specific perspective on the world that is not our own, e.g. that of black, gay men in Marlon Riggs’s Tongues Untied(1989) or Jenny Livingston’s Paris Is Burning (1991). This sub-genre might also lend itself to certain groups (e.g. women, ethnic minorities, gays and lesbians, etc) to ‘speak about themselves.’ Often, a battery of techniques, many borrowed from fiction or avant-garde films, are used. Performative docs often link up personal accounts or experiences with larger political or historical realities.
Of course, these categories are—as Nichols might readily admit—not meant to be definitive. Instead, they can serve valuably as a catalyst for us to reflect on the documentary film genre and the various alternative approaches within it. I suspect it’s common for a particular film to be a hybrid of two or more modes, with one of them perhaps being ‘dominant.’
Analyze Moving Image Soundtrack
This particular trailer has many elements within it in terms of different sounds and effects. To analyse and evaluate the different effects sounds have on a moving image production I will categorise each sound and then strip down and explain the intended purpose of each one. The categories I will place these different sounds in will be: External diegetic sounds, Internal diegetic sounds and Non diegetic sounds. External diegetic is the sound represented as coming from a physical source within the story space and which we assume characters in the scene also hear. Internal diegetic is the sound which comes from the mind of a character within the diegesis, and although us as an audience and the character in particular can here it, we assume that the other characters involved cannot. Non diegetic sound that isn’t in or heard within the world of the diegesis, and is used predominantly to enhance or gain particular emotions out of the audience.
For the trailer above (The Fifth Element) the different sounds are:
Non diegetic sound: Soft steady drum beat, orchestral violins. Reggae beat in mid section. Violins in mid-section. Heavy guitar and drums. Piano.
External Diegetic sound: Narrative from different characters within the film. Stone doors opening. Motor from the hover car. Gunshots. Explosions. Whizzing of passing space crafts. Automated voice within bedroom. Automated voice in taxi. The sound of the taxi sign activating.
Internal Diegetic sound: It is possible that some narrative is used within a characters mind, the trailer doesn’t distinguish between internal and external diegetic sound. It could be argued that the screaming sound coming from the fire skull at 00:58 is internal diegesis because it is perceived to be one of the characters dreams that only he would be able to hear.
The Sound Editor of this film is Dwayne Avery. The more notable crew member would be Mark Mangini who was the Supervising Sound Editor of Fifth Element .
The trailer starts of with the eerie sounds of the steady drum beat coupled with the orchestral theme to introduce the production with a mysterious atmosphere. This could be interpreted as the calm before the storm within the film trailer. The narrative within the first minute introduces the initial plot line with a very deep soundtrack to emphasize the seriousness of the events occuring within the diegesis. The content of the different characters narratives give the impression of doom and despair forcing the audience into initially having a melancholy attitude towards the plot line, reinforced by the slow deep background music of the orchestration. The sounds are appropriate to the scenes because all the characters have worried or despairing looks on their faces so the mood is definetely supported by the music. During the first minute external diagetic sound is implemented appropriately e.g. the sound of the stone doors opening at 00:19 seconds. The atmosphere suddenly changes within the trailer after one minute but wouldn’t be so obvious without the change within the External music. This change is used effectively to show the audience that a dramatic change is about to take place. After 56 seconds the orchestral music is stopped by a deep booming sound whilst the trailer performs a transition using a black out. Internal diegesis then plays a role when the hissing or screaming sound accompanies a fiery skull rushing at the screen suggesting danger or horror. Although the skull isn’t obviously a human entity, the scream that links to the skull sounds like it’s coming from more than one source, like a group of people screaming. I think that in any horror scene or sample in any genre of film, a single scream is far more effective in scaring audiences rather than a group of people screaming, because a single scream suggests loneliness and vulnerability, and makes the audience feel less protected, giving more effect to the terror of the situation.
There is a particular sound during the taxi chase scene when the taxi makes a distinct deep acceleration noise that differs from modern cars due to the taxi in the film being a hover vehicle. Mangini explained that he had particular trouble producing this sound for the Director, Luc Beeson. Initially Mangini sampled a sound but it wasn’t right so he went to record the engine of a Porsche V8 to get a throatier feel to it. Luc Beeson agreed he was getting close but it was agreed that the hover cars in the film didn’t have shifters so Mangini went back to edit the sound until the two professionals were happy with it.
The soundtrack emerges after this one minute of gloom and impending death into a more up beat, care free attitude using relaxed reggae music to show this. As the scenes change into following one character, another external diegetic sound is introduced: the voice of another character through a telephone. The voice is adjusted to sound more ‘electronic’ to show the audience that the sound is actually coming from the other end of the phone. When the character leaps off the building near 01:36 minutes there is a sudden clash noise, from a drum I think. It is to signify the collision the character has when landing through the taxi roof. The music changes again to a higher tone of violins. I believe this is used to show the importance of the meeting of the two characters involved. It could suggest peace or love perhaps. The music then takes a steady climax with the mixture of heavy distorted guitar and powerful orchestration to show the action elements of the film. There is a small break between when the distorted guitar and drums fade out and in again within maybe two seconds of each other. It is used quite effectively to show a dramatic moment when the hover car is about to try and dodge hundreds of other cars. The small build up and short break then becomes this explosion of quick edits and powerful heavy music is used to support this films different action scenes and ‘great’ moments. External diegetic can be heard with the gunshots and explosions and fire from meteors throughout the last thirty seconds. The music builds to a climax when one of the main scenes are shown, and suddenly the music drops to a solo piano with synthetic elements, which kind of brings down the audience from the dramatic ending, giving them time to think about all the carnage and drama in the 30 seconds prior. It could be said that the piano ending helps reinforce the image it is coupled with, which is the emptiness and loneliness of outer space, leaving the audience feel uneasy, but nevertheless affected by the trailer.
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wxhct1vEvg]
Now this cut scene from the film ‘Bronson’ uses background music and sound in a very interesting way. Firstly let me categorize and list the different sounds that are heard within the clip.
Non-Diegetic: Another orchestral piece, but more up beat. Sounds more like british classical, enforces the British film genre. During the first fight edits, there is a sound similar to a lion growling, later on there is the sound of clashing swords.
External Diegetic: Shackles, prison doors slamming, narrative of the characters. Main character singing near the end.
Internal Diegetic: Due to the nature of the film, because the main character is mainly in isolation, it is hard to know whether the narrative is in his head, or his heard by the audience within the diegesis. I beleive there are elements of both.
The reason the orchestral soundtrack is so interesting is because it doens’t typically fit the content of the moving image. During scenes of extreme violence audiences generally expect heavier music. The fact that this light up beat use of trumpets, percussion and loud expressive sounds are used, are intended to give the impression that the characters mind-set isn’t mentally sound. It also gives a subtle suggestion to royalty. This is supported by the narrative where the main character says he is staying in different hotels under her Majestys blessing. It is the two extremes from the imaging used to the sound that accompanies it that shows the audience the madness that the certain character clearly possesses. Without that juxtaposing non-diegetic sound, the audience would come away from the scene with an entirely different perspective.
During the first fight scenes, the sounds of a lion roaring can be heard, with the common suggestion of a beastly nature, like a lion caged. Around 1:45 seconds the orchestral music starts to begins its climax and finale and starts to really wrap up the scene. The thing that interested me was how the finale creates an atmosphere of achievement. This non-diegetic ending gives the audience the impression that the main character is showing us the accomplishments of all the ‘hotels’ he has stayed at. It is finalised with the external diegetic sound of all the prison doors slamming shut behind him. After this build up and climax is a short silence when the last prison door shuts, showing the audience the reality of prison life in solitary conditions. The main character shortly brings the audience back out of this silence by singing, reinforcing his own rebellious nature against the prison system, also
You can see the difference between the two samples of film media that there are different ways around showing the same things for different effects, like using cheery music for violent scenes to create instability within a story or more importantly a character. My only criticisms of this method of approach is that it can be very risky and difficult to get the intended emotions out of audiences, trying to avoid creating confusion and disconnecting the audience completely. It has become obvious that the use of sound is just as important as any other element within film making and should be considered as importantly as the filming itself. It does prove however that sound doesn’t have to be used typical to its genre to provoke intended emotions out of audiences.
REFERENCES:
Aspect Ratios
The aspect ratio is the relationship between the height and width of the frame and image within a television set. It is translated as two numbers separated by a colon for example – 16:9. There has been different aspect ratios over the years through different image displays. The ratios used in still camera photography are 4:3, 2:3 and more recently 16:9.
Common ratio standard of today are 4:3 which is the universal video format of the 20th century and the 16:9 standard which is used in Europe for Digital Television and used universally for High definition Television. Prior to 1953 4:3 was the most used ratio for movie theatre films. After 1953 Television adopted the ratio to match the standard film format at the time. Due to the introduction of Television, Hollywood changed to a widescreen format to compete against the change. The actual existence of the 4:3 ratio was suggested by Thomas Edison with close help from one of his chief assistant William L.K. Dickson. The shape itself was created (according to historical accounts) when Dickson asked Edison what shape he wanted imaged on the 70MM format strips because Edison believed they needed cutting down, so in response to his question Edison held his fingers apart in the shape of a rectangle. The ratio was officially adopted in 1917 by the Society of Motion Picture Engineers as the first standard used, and was exclusively for the next 35 years.
The history behind the 16:9 aspect ratio starts in the 1980s when the issue behind the conversion from film in movie theaters to High Definition Video arose. The problem was simple to define, the film community had many aspect ratios and the Television community only had one. It was obvious that a compromise was needed. This fell on the shoulders of Kerns H. Powers, who was the research manager of the Television Communications Division. He combatted the problem by putting all the popular film aspect ratios together, and realized that they all fell under a general 1.77 shape. This went on to become the 16:9 aspect ratio which is now universally used in HDTV monitors when it was accepted in 1984 unanimously.
These are the two universally used aspect ratios. The top right image is an example of the creation of Thomas Edisons
REFERENCE:
Documentary Evaluation
Initial Aim: The groups initial aim was to not try and cover bullying as a whole because of our time constraints within the sequence so it became obvious we would have to be more specific. The team decided that we would concentrate on cyber bullying. This gave us a chance to really concentrate on the subject to create a higher quality documentary. The decision to be more specific was successful, our initial aim to be more specific about cyber bullying let us gain more valuable facts about the specific subject.
Initial Brief: The task we were given was to create a five minute sequence on bullying. We achieved a four minute sequence but we integrated a lot of elements to make a more effective documentary, including drama reconstruction, voice overs and scene shots.
Pre-production process: The best thing we did was delegate roles using the management sheet. This gave us plenty of time to distribute and collect data throughout the time given. First thing we decided was to try and find different kinds of research. Due to the fact we were looking specifically at cyber bullying, our search was altered to account for this. I personally sent emails to bullying support websites in hope to get a genuine primary qualitative source. As we gathered data it became apparent that there are particular methods or channels bullies would use to allow contact to their victims. We found out that, texting and the social networking site, Facebook, are main areas where cyber bullying occurs.
Production Process:
Post Production:
Equipment Usage: My contribution: You will notice during this documentary that we have implemented a commentary to it. I decided that it would be best if we use a separate sound recording at room tone to get the right noise level with all other sounds in the sequence. I also was using the 250p camera when filming the recreational scenes and close ups to the electronic equipment.
Teams contribution:
Case Study: Endemol
Endemol is a global leader in entertainment programming and is one of the largest independent television and digital production companies in the world. This company is an umbrella corporation due to the fact it has a hand in each sector of the industry including development, production, marketing, distribution and franchise management.
Endemol was founded in 1994 by two television producers who merged companies along with merging their last names to create the name of the new company; these gentlemen were called Joop van den Ende and John de Mol. Endemol has achieved television programs which include Big Brother, Deal or No Deal, The Money Drop and Wipeout. It comprises a global network of 80 companies within 31 countries; these businesses include ABS-CBN Endemol, True Entertainment and Authentic Entertainment. The company has developed reality TV shows more than any other of its competitors. A good example is how the company successfully repeated Big Brother several times over a few years as well as creating other shows supporting it e.g. Little Brother and Big Brother: After Dark. The current management of Endemol consists of chief financial officer Just Spee and the President of Endemol Marco Bassetti.
Endemols main competitors include FremantlemediaLtd. as well as Mark Burnett Productions Inc.
Cinema Verite and Direct Cinema
In the art of documentary film-making there are two distinct methods of accomplishing a successful documentary. These two methods are ‘Cinema Verite’ and ‘Direct Cinema’. Cinema Verite essentially is a subjective method with the interviewer giving biased opinions and asking subjective questions on the subject at hand. This particular style creates a connection between the filmmaker and the matter in question. One of the main difference between the two styles is the presence and awareness of the camera filming the event.
It was claimed by an American historian Eric Barnouw (June 23, 1908 – July 19, 2001) that Cinema Verite was created by a French film-maker called Jean Rouch during one of his films in 1961 called ‘Chronicle of a Summer’ where all he and his colleagues did was approach people in the street and as them one simple question “Are you happy?”, it was to reveal a new technique known as Cinema Verite which translates into film truth, to truly see what the camera sees. Some films use this method of film-making to gain empathy from the audience, such examples include Blair Witch, Cloverfield, REC, District 9 and Children of Men. This style of film-making has always had mixed reviews from their audiences. It may be how well the film can draw the audience into actually feeling like they are there with the actors that gives it a good method of film-making.
Direct cinema is predominantly more objective than Cinema Verite. A strong introduction to direct cinema can be conveyed through one of the first film-makers to harness this style, Albert Maysles (born in 1926). It was characterized initially by filmmakers’ desire to directly capture reality and represent it truthfully, and to question the relationship of reality with cinema. It is a method used to try and have no subjectivity within the production, with little interference or manipulation as possible. It is possible to have the camera covertly positioned to show ‘real life’ without any bias but does raise questions in terms of ethical practice. To have permission to shoot something off people defeats the object of trying to covertly shoot them, but you can’t shoot someone without their permission. It is used predominantly by the documentary sub genre of film, to show the truth on a certain subject without any opinion, or as little as possible.
http://www.filmspotting.net/about-us/writing/547-the-film-essay-cinema-verite-or-direct-cinema.html
Broadcasting Methods
This blog post was done in teams with all of my team taking different topics and finding out information on each. When we researched each subject and wrote it down, we all extracted pieces of each others work to make a full case study on broadcasting methods.
Analogue Terrestrial: This is the method that is widely used by UK homes. The method itself is starting to become out dated, due to be out of commission; taken over by the digital age. The method that analogue terrestrial uses to send out signals and be received through aerials is electromagnetic waves. Broadcasters take advantage of this method by using certain frequencies to use radio waves which can carry information e.g. television programs to the receiver, for example the publics home antennas. The particular signal will then go from the antenna to the home television where a particular channel will be tuned into that frequency.
The advantages of this type of this television component is that it is cost efficient and the quality does not diminish or differ regardless of the audience on that particular network. The good thing about analogue television
Disadvantages would include the image suffering from distortion because their is a lot of air traffic in terms of electromagnetic waves. These waves also take up more wave space than more modern methods so less information as a whole can travel. There is also a lack of interactivity which is becoming popular in this modern day.
This method was first introduced during 1929 when the BBC starting broadcasting channels through radio waves. When the method started becoming popular globally, a conference was held where different countries were given certain radio bands to transmit their channels so there wouldn’t be any channel crossover.
Digital Television: Television is the newest type of broadcast, in the UK by 2014 the entire country will have converted from old analog to Digital. The difference is that Digital will transmit audio and video together instead of analogue which splits the signal. the benefits of Digital is that there are a greater choice of channels since most channels now have also been made to transmit Digital rather then Analog that at a basic level can only transmit the first 5 Channels; BBC1 &2, ITV1, Channel 4 and Channel 5. Also there is a better picture quality with digital, the digital technology breaks television signal into binary code a series of 1s and 0s transfers it to the other end where another device takes all the numbers and reassembles them into the original signal. The beauty of digital is that it knows what it should be when it reaches the end of the transmission. That way, it can correct any errors that may have occurred in the data transfer. You will also get greater clarity and quality of picture when using this television method. In most cases, you’ll get clearer TV pictures. It even has advance features including on-screen listing, red button extras and widescreen pictures.
Downside is that you have to replace everything that you already have that has an analogue signal to get Digital TV. Services like SKY wont have to change since they transmit through satellite but things like your old CRT Television will have to be replaced or have to buy a product that can connect to your existing TV but pick up the Digital Signal. Plus you’ll have to upgrade your antenna if it is very old to get the transmitted signals. Last bad Point is the fact that you can experience signal loss just like analog, no one can solve bad weather.
Cable Television: Cable TV transmit through cable instead of in the air. It has advantages by the signal can’t be lost unless the cable is cut which is very unlikely, better since ariels and satellites can be affected by rain and extreme weather. It also can be cheaper for people who have multiple Televisions in their houses. Bad news is that there are less channels than satellite and it can be expensive to install the cable (digging up gardens) and if there is a problem it can take a long time for cable companies to sort them out. If the cable goes down so will internet and phone lines.
It works by the signal being sent from a head-end facility that have processed the programs. It get sent by a large Coax cable that runs through a city or town which then splits through feeder cables that take the cable to the neighborhood. Which then get the signal through drop cables, this drop cable takes it directly to the home which is then put into the cable modem. It then processes and sent through a video connector to the TV.
Satellite Television: Satellite television is television programming that is delivered by the means of communications satellite and received by an outdoor parabolic dish, commonly known as a satellite dish and a satellite receiver either in the form of an external set-top box or a satellite tuner module built into a TV set.
Direct-broadcast satellite television comes to the public in two forms – analog and digital. This requires either having an analog satellite receiver or a digital satellite receiver. Analog satellite television is being replaced by digital satellite television and the latter is becoming available in a better quality known as high-definition television.
The first satellite television signal was relayed from Europe to the Telstar satellite over North America in 1962. The first geosynchronous communication satellite, Syncom 2, was launched in 1963.Uplink facilities transmit the television programs signal to Uplink DishesThe Uplink Dishes then transmit the electromagnetic signal to a specific satellite high (geostationary orbit 37,000 km [23,000 miles]) above the earth’s equator. The Satellite then trasmits the signal back down to earth on a different frequency. Satellite customers have a parabolic (Satellite) dish on their home that receives the signal. The Dish focuses the signal and then amplifies itThe signal is sent down a cable to a receiver inside the home (such as a Sky set top box). The signal is then sent from the receiver to the TV by a video connector.
Video on Demand: VOD allows users to download or stream videos or audio to a computer or device and watch them in real-time.
It is an emerging way to broadcast films and TV to an audience digitally, at a time of their choosing. Television VOD systems are either stream content through a set-top box, a computer or other device, allowing viewing in real time, or download it to another device such as a mobile phone, or even through gaming consoles for viewing at any time. VOD can also be streamed directly through certain specific devices other than computers and televisions, such as Xbox 360, Playstation 3, Nintendo Wii and an array of phones including iOS Devices, BlackBerry devices and Android devices, to name a few. There are many VOD services that stream videos and audio and while some are free, others have to be fully paid for.
Observational Documentary
Observational documentaries attempt to simply and spontaneously observe lived life with a minimum of intervention. Filmmakers who worked in this sub-genre often saw the poetic mode as too abstract and the expository mode as too didactic.
Observational documentaries try to be as objective as possible but there is no such thing as absolute objectivity. The main element of subjectivity in this particular type of documentary is the editing process in post-production. This is subjective because editors have to cut down these long documentaries into a realistic production, which means showing certain clips over others. The criticism that can be made when this happens is is that a narrative is being formed and taking away what the raw footage shows and replacing it with a perception of the edited footage. The aim that editors try to achieve is to keep footage manipulation to a minimum to engage the audience rather than deceive them.
On the other hand, producers understand that to create an effective observational documentary, you must have as little intervention as possible, whilst making an effective documentary. The elements that they try to keep to a minimum is: No voiceovers, no presenter, no interviews, no music, no non-diagetic sound, and no re-enactment.
Training Manual: HVR-Z1 Video Camcorder
The HVR -Z1 Digital Video Camcorder has a great deal of functions which are can all be manually manipulated to suit the camera holder. I will label each component which can be changed and will give a detailed description about each one:
White Balance-the process of removing unrealistic color casts, so things which appear light in person are rendered white in your photo. On the Z1 camcorder there is a small button labelled ‘WHT BAL’. It is best used when changing the lighting of the camera to different environments. The reason is that human eyes naturally adapt to different lights to try and merge the differences. Camcorders don’t do this automatically so the best thing to do to get a ‘room temperature’ color is to set the white balance button against a white sheet of paper, but it isn’t the only effect you can create with white balance.
Shutter Speed: Shutter speed is a common term used to discuss exposure time, the effective length of time a camcorders shutter is open. The total exposure is proportional to this exposure time, or duration of light reaching the film or image sensor.
Aperture/iris: The aperture stop of a photographic lens can be adjusted to control the amount of light reaching the film or image sensor. In combination with variation of shutter speed, the aperture size will regulate the film’s or image sensor’s degree of exposure to light. Typically, a fast shutter speed will require a larger aperture to ensure sufficient light exposure, and a slow shutter speed will require a smaller aperture to avoid excessive exposure.
Focus-Due to the optical properties of photographic lenses, only objects within a limited range of distances from the camera will be reproduced clearly. The process of adjusting this range is known as changing the camera’s focus. There are various ways of focusing a camera accurately. The simplest cameras have fixed focus and use a small aperture and wide-angle lens to ensure that everything within a certain range of distance can be distinguished in clear focus.
Zoom- The zoom on a camcorder, in particular the z1 can be adjusted two different ways. If switched to manual, the lens can zoom in and out using the ring just behind the lens at the front of the camcorder. If switched to automatic there is a zoom control on the top of the camera which will adjust to any shot you wish : Very Close up: This shot is generally a certain part of a persons face e.g. lips or the eyes.Close up: This shot is the entire persons face. Used to show emotion typically. Medium: This shot is used to show a person waist upwards. Long: This shot is used to show a persons entire body. Over the Shoulder: Generally used during conversations, this shot shows a person view point from over their shoulder. Low angle: This shot is a person or object from the bottom of that particular thing. It is used to demonstrate strength or high in status High angle: Shows a person from a point higher than themselves. It shows intimidation or weakness.
Gain- The gain affects the brightness of an image without affecting the shutters. It can be used to brighten up dark spots in a particular location, but runs the risk of creating a ‘noisy’ or grainy effect, which diminishes film quality. It changes the power of the signal from the image to the CCD chip itself.
Lee Toye 