Film Project

The Controlling Idea

• Connecting with your story:
• brutal honesty
• pursuit of truth
• you/what you know/your life, experience
• your emotional response

McKee ''Story''

• ''... Controlling idea, the story's ultimate meaning expressed through the ACTION and aesthetic emotion...''
• ''Not a word but a sentence - one clear, coherent sentence that express the story's irreducible meaning.''
• ''Far more is captured within the web of a story that can ever be stated in words - subtitles, subtexts, conceits, double meanings, richness of all kinds... The more beautifully you shape your work around one clear idea, the more meanings audiences will discover in your film as they takes your ideas and follow it's implications into every aspects of their lives.''

Examples 

• Structure = Value + Cause
• Justice is restored when the law enforcer is more clever than the criminal. Justice is achieved via intelligence, not force.
• Love fills our lives when we conquer intellectual illusions and follow our instincts. Love triumphs when we sacrifice our needs for others.
• War is still widespread because men love war (about ''Paths of Glory'' or ''Dr. Strangelove'').
• The power of nature will have the final say over mankind's futile efforts (About ''The Elephant Man'', ''The Birds'').  

Notes

• A great work is a living metaphor that says ''Life is like this'' (McKee).
• This statement MUST NOT BE A CLICHE and it must be YOUR OWN personal response to the research and analysis of a subject of theme.

Connecting with your story

• Stanislavski - drawing from life as opposed to drawing from other plays and cliches.
• Start from what you know.
• Personal connections with all stages of the story.
• If you connect, others are likely too. If you don't, others definitely won't  (regardless of how well structured and produced the film is).
• Be as honest as you can - without honesty it;s a waste of everyone's time.
• Compelling Chance - discovery - can you feel it?  

Recommended viewings

Filminute.com

Black hole

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HzUO7LCHn7k

Camera  Grammar Principles

• Verbal language have many arbitrary rules - film is mostly COMMON SENSE.
• Verbal language rules are objective - film principles are SUBJECTIVE TO INTERPRETATION (to a degree).
• Camera grammar is heavily CONTEXT-DEPENDENT- language only occasionally.
• Film is TIME-BASED media: even 3/25 ths of a sec. can dramatically change the meaning of a shot.

Camera size

• Size tends to be INDIRECTLY PROPORTIONAL TO DRAMATIC INTENSITY OR RELEVANCE.
• The choice of size is MAINLY DRAMATIC, NOT ABOUT STORY EXPOSITION.
•    EWS 

Shot angle

• The angle of the camera establishes the power relationship between audience and subject.
• It defines the way the audience understand the subject (powerful-less, accomplishes).

Context - Dependent

Obvious & subtle at the same time:

• using the camera to show & EXPRESS
• THE ACTOR SERVES THE CAMERA - never other way round.
• A well told sequence does not require ''Artificial help''

To be able to think about the grammatical and dramatic IMPLICATIONS of a shot is the first step toward good film-making.

Film acting - LESS IS MORE

EVERY element WITHIN THE SHOT serves a purpose (objects, actor's body parts, light&shade, sounds, etc.).

ELEMENTS OFF FRAME SERVE A PURPOSE

• The off frame space should ideally be as important as the onscreen space.

EVERY MOVEMENT OF THE CAMERA HAS GRAMMATICAL AND DRAMATIC IMPLICATIONS

• Pan/Tilt
• Tracking shot
• Hand held
• Steady camera

OUR PROJECT

10 years old supermodel

Is this gorgeous 10 year old french model the next big thing or is it just creepy?

Thylane Lena Rose Blondeau Shocking images

supermodel suggestive pose ignites global parents fury

Meet the 10 year old supermodel

10 Year Old Supermodel Paris Vogue

Essential kids

Also I done a bit of research about size 0 models.
We came up with documentary style video.

Our video is on Youtube:
http://youtu.be/uEkCP9hWOf8

Shape and Form

Photos by Jolanta Silobritaite

Transcription

Today I've been in five galleries to gain an understanding of current Photographers, Artists and Filmmakers. Also to respond to other practitioners' work and to develop personal ideas, considering new ways to use a camera and how to develop visual language.

''Michael Landy's Saints Alive'' 

At The National Gallery, Trafalgar Square.  

There are some photographs from his exhibition.

 First time in my life I couldn't believe what I saw. When I came out of the exhibition I saw this man sitting on nothing. This Mr. Golden Man is in the air. How? Even till now I can not explain this view.

A Radiant Idea

Today we done a briefly project on radiant idea which we needed to come up. We've been doing a brainstorming to generate our ideas and we came up with a cancer idea. 

Short plan & facts.

Continue.. 

Some groups came up with a really interesting ideas as a 'Spectrum Camera'' which captures all range of colors or a 'Face twins' where completely strangers seems like twins. Also I liked an idea of all us being an aliens. 02 (London) is an aliens office. It has the giant spikes which sends information to a space about all of us as human beings.

7 of 10 are aliens

Today I learned how quickly produce first draft. Actually it is essential to do it as soon as you come up with your ideas and quickly present into visuals. Then you know how raughly it looks like. Also, as usual first ideas are cliches and you need to push your ideas further with no limits.   

Summary of the rotation stage

I have been learning Digital Photography, Animation, Sound Design and Broadcast (Film) in eight weeks, which is two weeks on each subject. I was the most familiar with Digital Photography before this rotation stage. However, I learned more about natural and artificial lighting, principles and elements of photography and composition.

Now I also have a knowledge of how Animation is been made. I've been using I Stop Motion software to produce our final animation projects. Drawing skill is essential on this stage. The most incredible thing about animation is transitions from one scene to another. In any other stage you could not show such a creative way to move from one action into another.

For a Sound design I've been using Soundtrack Pro software for mixing and mastering our final audio pieces. This subject I found it quiet difficult for me as you need to think how to make and record particular sound which later you need to apply for completely different action. Also there are plenty of clichés in film sound, which we learned how to recognise and brake them or at least try to do it.

The last subject I found the most interesting for me as you combine all subjects together. Digital photography (cinematography for a film), transitions between the scenes, sound mastering for a film and overall storytelling. Story is the key for a movie and it is the hardest and longest stage of making a movie.

I had an incredible and the most valuable experience in all of those stages.