Thursday 30 April 2009

filming completed

I have finished filming the interview and some cutaway scenes. The questions I asked during the interview were:

Why did you join the course?

What are you looking to do after the course?

How do you feel the Access course has prepared you for higher education?

Have you studied at A-level qualification in college prior to joining the Access course?

Did you gain A-Level qualifications?

Do you find the workload on the Access course easier to manage than at A-Level?

Do you find studying easier/more enjoyable moreso than at college?

What do you enjoy most about the course?

Would you recommend the course to people?

The day went off without any hitches, which was good.

Monday 27 April 2009

questions

Here are a list of questions I have thought up:

Why did you join the course?

What are you looking to do after the course?

Do you feel that the Access course prepares you for higher education in more ways than through specific A-level subjects? (overall study skills and broad subjects – maths, critical thinking, essays and academic texts)

Have you studied at A-level qualification in college prior to joining the Access course?

Why did you leave college? EXPAND

Do you find the workload on the Access course easier to manage than at A-level?

Do you find studying easier/more fun now that you have more life experience/more mature, compared to when you went to college?

What do you enjoy most about the course?

Would you recommend the course to people looking for a way to get into University?

I have included some generic questions as well. By asking these I can use snippets from them, for example if the person says "This course is really fun" I can edit that bit into the end of the movie.

new project - podcasting

We have begun a new project. For this we will be creating a one minute movie about the Access course at Sussex Downs college, the course allows people to gain qualifications in order to be accepted into University. We will be creating the movie using Final Cut Pro.

Friday 17 April 2009

practically finished

All the work is done, I am now just waiting for the memory stick to arrive in the post...

Wednesday 15 April 2009

usb design

I have also created the USB design:

bottle designs

I have created the drink bottles for each flavour:

red:



green:



murky:

Tuesday 14 April 2009

slight problem: audio embedded in video

Whilst exporting the .mov file to .flv i forgot to uncheck the 'encode audio' option, meaning that the sound was included in the .flv. This meant that i had to re-exported the mov.

However that meant that i had to find the same point i did last time, to ensure that the animation runs smoothly and in sync.

With a lot of tinkering I have reached a compromise and the movie hasn't suffered!

Monday 13 April 2009

finsihed filming

I have finished filming for the project. My first section took 2 days to edit, so I have re-thought my storyboards to make it so i don't have to shoot too much and lower the amount of editing i have to do so that i will be able to finish the project in time!

Friday 10 April 2009

drinks advertising: nespresso

Nespresso - http://www.visit4info.com/advert/Clooney-Denial-keeps-Nespresso-Nespresso/67158
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r50sKBB7Fys

In this advert George Clooney is about to have some Nespresso, a coffee, when a fan approaches him and takes the last capsule, to his surprise. Then when another fan approaches and asks if he is George Clooney, he says no in order to prevent the Nespresso being taken. This advert uses celebrity endorsement in the hope that it will encourage more people to try the product. It uses humor to make the advert have a more laid-back approach. The target audience for this advert would probably be for adults, and by having a mid-age celebrity endorsing their product then the target audience would be more interested in the advert.

drinks advertising: carling

Carling - http://www.visit4info.com/advert/Carling-Polar-Night-Out-Its-my-Birthday-Carling/69519

This advert is aimed at an older audience of people who drink alcohol. The premise is of a group of Arctic explorers who are inside a tent during a storm get persuaded to go out because its one of their mates’ birthday. The advert uses humor in that they’re even considering going outside for a drink, and then when one of them says ‘is that smart?’ the reply is ‘I think it’s smart-casual actually’. The whole advert is quite surreal, as they are comparing their situation to that of someone wanting to go out to the pub to celebrate someone’s birthday despite the weather being bad.

One of the last shots shows them in a group and the tagline ‘you know who your mates are’ appears, this allows the audience to compare the characters to themselves and their mates, because the advert promotes male bonding and togetherness.

The Carling advert doesn’t use a mascot, to an extent, as it uses a carefully selected cast to represent their chosen demographic that will relate to the appropriate audience.

drinks advertising: spring water

Spring water - http://www.visit4info.com/advert/Brains-Performing-Badly-without-Drench-Spring-Water-Drench/67610
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jY74nyuzITY

In this advert the character ‘Brains’ from Thunderbirds is performing a dance routine. He is controlled in the same way as he is in the TV show, albeit a bit more obviously. Brains then attempts to balance on a broom, but falls flat on his face and the music cuts. Then a message appears on screen saying “Dehydrated Brains don’t perform well”. This is a double-entendre because it is referencing to the human brain and the character Brain from the Thunderbirds. The soundtrack used for the advert is “Rhythm is a Dancer” by ‘Snap!’, which is quite a popular song.

This shows that the advert uses humor and a popular figure amongst younger audiences to sell a product, as Thunderbirds was one of the most popular children’s shows ever. The advert also sends a message saying that if you want your brain to perform than keep it drenched, by drinking our water.

drinks advertising: ribena

Ribena - http://www.visit4info.com/advert/Adventures-of-the-Ribena-Berry-Ribena-Drink-Range/69565

This advert is about a berries journey, where it tries to make it, against the odds, to a Ribena factory. The whole advert is animated which makes it seem that the advert is targeting a young audience. The advert is action oriented, as the berry gets into near misses with tractors and drains. At the end of the advert there is a voice-over, the tone of the voice is very deep which adds to the comedy value of the advert because its serious but at the same time is a bit over dramatic.

In my opinion the target audience of Ribena is children/teenagers and I think that the visual style of the advert would be appealing to that audience more than others, even though they don’t use a mascot, which is fairly common for products targeting a younger audience. The advert also uses slapstick comedy; when the berry, after travelling all that way, gets squashed by a golf ball. Which is appealing for a young audience.

Tuesday 7 April 2009

slapstick comedy: norman wisdom

Norman Wisdom – On the Beat
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ChMgX-KnSzM

This clip is from the film 'On the Beat' featuring Norman Wisdom. This clip is about a group of kids wanting to play football, who encourage Norman Wisdom to be their referee. Due to his excessive whistle blowing the entire police force come running to him. Most of the comedy comes through a misunderstanding, resulting in the entire police force chasing after Norman.

There are quite a lot of camera cuts, most of them are long shots to show the policemen running in a large number, there are also a lot of close-up shots to show expression in the characters faces.

There is also a lot of diegetic sound, but they also use a fast-paced soundtrack to add to the drama.

slapstick comedy: chuckle brothers

ChuckleVision – Split Milk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BcbswZn2ds

This clip is from the Chuckle Brothers' episode 'Split Milk'. The clip is a bout the brothers trying to find a cartoon of milk after they run out. A lot of the comedy is played off of Barry Chuckle, due to his stupidity he often gets the both of them into sticky situations. There is also a bit of slapstick comedy, normally through Barry dropping something.

There are a lot of camera cuts in the show, the same frequency as TV shows today. There is also non-digetic music in the background to convey the mood in the show.

slapstick comedy: harold lloyd

Harold Lloyd – Safety Last
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEcTjhUN_7U

This clip is from 'Safety Last' starring Harold Lloyd. This clip shows him climbing up the side of a building, trying to get away from a police officer.

This film also uses slapstick comedy, as is evident when hes being pulled up the building by a rope and gets his head pulled into a ledge repeatedly.

The film doesn't use speech, when the characters are speaking the camera cuts to a board with what they're saying written on. In this clip there aren't too many camera cuts, most likely due to the difficult filming location they used.

slapstick comedy: laurel and hardy

Laurel and Hardy – Washing the Dog (Laughing Gravy)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7PnR7ioaBY

This clip is from the film 'Laughing Gravy' starring Laurel and Hardy. This section of the film uses slapstick comedy as it's main laughing point. The premise of the clip is that Laurel and Hardy are washing their dog, which they are not allowed to keep, and they are trying to hide it whenever people knock on the door.

A lot of the comedy comes from Stan Laurel, as he is the 'stupid' one compared to Oliver Hardy who comes across as intellectual.

There aren't too many camera cuts, nor are there any shots from high or low angles, this is because the characters often look into the camera which gives the viewer the impression that they are communicating with you.

There is also not much speech in the film, as it relies on slapstick comedy. The missing speech is replaced by instruments portraying the mood of the piece.

Monday 6 April 2009

new project - flash presentation

We have begun a new project. For this we will be creating a flash presentation about Natural Fizz, a fictional drink. We will be creating the presentation using Flash CS3.