Creativity and Concept - More Development

In another Creativity and Concept lesson, me and Ashleigh further developed our work for the Museum of Liverpool project. In this lesson I created an advertisement poster and also a diagram of the museum exhibit. I wanted the poster to be bright and attract a lot of attention, this way when people see the colour they will read what it is for and encourage visitors. I hope that this would also attract families with children because it is easy to read and attractive for children. Here is the poster:

I made the poster with Photoshop because I am getting better each week at using this program. I think that it has turned out good and we intend to print some off to show to in the final presentation. I would like to have an A3 version of the poster just to show what it would look like if it got put up around the city.
After making the poster I made the diagram of the exhibit. I think the diagram that I created updates our original ideas and we have decided to make the 'do', 'watch', 'listen' in to one room instead of 3. This allows the exhibit to run faster and give people the chance to use all of their senses at once. When presenting this diagram I want to have it large on the projector so that we can talk through the diagram, rather than having it covered in text. Here is the diagram:

The diagram is very simple and has a few symbols to show what certain objects are. When this is in our presentation, we will be able to go through each section and show exactly what each part is about. We have put this in the Prezi presentation that we are currently creating; this way we can go straight to it inside the presentation itself. We also want to create a 3D model of the exhibit if we have the time, but we will see!
After creating these we had a meeting with the lecturers just to see where we are up to. This was useful because we basically had a realisation of what needs to be done in the next week or so. I think that we will have a solid 15 minutes presentation for this piece.


Speak soon!

Doors exhibit research...

On our day off, we decided to go to the museum and see the exhibit as a group that we are basing the Production Practice assignment on. The doors exhibit is really something special and so we took time to read every poem and find out where all the doors are actually from. This will eventually enable us to choose a story to follow in our film; making the piece more intriguing.
I decided that I was going to look at these locations on the doors:
The Everyman Theatre
Strawberry Fields Children's Home
Hartleys Hut, Albert Dock
Anfield and Goodison
Madryn Street, L8

I think that using the Everyman Theatre would be very interesting as it is an icon of Liverpool. I have emailed the access team to see if we could film inside the Everyman and possibly ask about where the door was, etc. We could then follow the story of the person who donated the door or even what the door used to lead to (I.E. the stage).

The Strawberry Fields Children's Home have donated a lot of doors to the exhibit so it only seems fitting that we use this place as a story to tell. Unfortunately, I cant seemed to find any contact for the Strawberry Fields site and so this might be a dead end. Also, the original gates have been moved so we wouldn't have that nice setting to go off.

Hartleys Hut on the Albert Dock is names after the architect Jesse Hartley who created the Albert Dock. I do think that there could be a story behind this; and the Albert Dock is well known so we would have a wide audience. I have emailed a contact that I found through the Albert Dock website so hopefully they will be able to tell me more about filming and interviews.

I know that Anfield and Goodison are both long shots, but I think that the stories behind these doors would be really fascinating as we could focus on a multitude of things. I was unable to find a contact for Anfield, but I was able to find a contact for Goodison through the Everton website. I have send an email and I am not waiting for a reply. Fingers crossed!

I didn't know anything about Madryn Street in L8 so this intrigued me to research in to it. I found that Ringo Starr used to live on Madryn Street, although the door is not his, it still has a connection to the area. If the site hasn't been knocked down yet (which it was getting threatened) then we may have something!


Once we had chose doors to look at for research I decided to just sit and take in some of the poetry. I thought it would be nice to include a poem to pay homage to Roger McGough and all his efforts towards this project. I have started working on something so we will see!


Speak soon!

Image Credits:

theatresonline.com

musicpilgrimages.com

walkingbook.co.uk

panoramio.com

bluepoolimaging.com

Contemporary Media Issues - Creating a Character

In this session, we discussed what we all thought about the Weavrs that we tried to create in the last session. We decided that the Weavr was inconsistent and too random. Creating these bots didn't work for anyone as all of the accounts seemed to get blocked as they were 'fake'. It certainly didn't work for me and wouldn't even set itself up at the beginning. It was very temperamental and I don't think I would attempt to use one again.
The lecturers understood this issues that occurred when using the Weavr system and so we decided to start looking at representation in the media.
Films

• Purpose
• Appearance
• Wardrobe
• Actions/Mannerisms
• Lighting
• Connections with others
• Shot type

Books

• Descriptions
• Synonyms used
• Nouns used
• The way in which the character speaks

After we looked at these examples; we then moved on to working in groups. We were given the task of creating on online character that would be perceived to be real to outsiders. We decided to work in a large group and create a character each. We are going to make these characters as if they are a bunch of students living together.

Here is the main bio for my character:

Name: Jacques Dubois

Age: 21

Date of Birth: 31st October 1991

Occupation: Student

Studying: World Culture and Literacy

University: University of Liverpool

Interests: Photography, fashion, culture and books

Likes: Drinking good wine, learning new things, spending time with his brother, travelling

Dislikes: People who are not interested in what he is, unfashionable people, messy people

View Larger Map
This map shows Jacques home town!

I have also wrote a bit of a background about him:

Originally from a town just outside of Paris called Meaux. (Former address - 12 Cours de Verdun, Place Lafayette, 77100 Meaux, France). He has always been very close to his brother Pierre and they always do everything together. Photography has always been a strong passion of his. He likes his photographs to show his life. Secretly, Jacques likes to make fun out of the people he dislikes. He is not confrontational so he just talks to his brother of tells the internet. 

I and the rest of the group are really excited about this project and we can't wait to start making all of the details to go along with these characters.

Speak soon!

Creativity and Concept - Development

In this creativity and concept session, each group had to have a meeting with the lecturers about our museum exhibit ideas. Our group chose Film Enthusiasts, and so the exhibit is all about film! Unfortunately, I was the only one in today so I had to have the meeting alone (great!) but it went very well. I presented to the lecturers these documents that I have been working on; they give you an insight in to what the final presentation will be like and also the real life exhibit.

They seemed really enthusiastic about what I was suggesting. They also gave me some tips and thoughts on what they would like to see and some changes that I should think about. Here is what they gave me:

• Create one room maybe rather than three. Making the exhibit a sensory overload
• Maybe include more about films that came from/filmed in Liverpool (relevant to the museum)
• Include emotions for the 4 walls - each wall has a different emotion portrayed through the films that are screened (sadness, love, anger and laughter)

I like the idea of incorporating these aspects so we will see how it goes. I need to tell the rest of my group what went on, however only one of them has been in at all so I think it will just be the two of us developing this idea. GO GRYFFINDOR!

Speak soon!

Production Practice - Development of Factual Piece

In this lecture we had to present what we had for the factual piece so far. We have a lot of ideas; and because we have already started filming this gives us a positive start. I wrote down a few things that we have done, need to do, etc.
Done:
Interviewed Roger McGough (Poet)
Interviewed Bill Longshaw (Representative of the Museum)
Interviewed Tracey Escolme (Student who worked on the exhibit)
Shots of the doors event
Speeches at the museum event
Need To:
Get external shots of the museum
Do time lapse at a busy time
More internal shots of the exhibit
Try and interview more LJMU people (awaiting an email)
Constraints:
Not able to a tripod inside the museum
Might not get any more interviews
Mark Cockram lives in London (interview not possible)
Paperwork:
Filming schedule
Email documents
Photographic evidence document
Report on the factual piece
Health and safety documents
Possible Schedule Times:
Thursday 8th March - Go to the museum and research more about exhibit
Saturday 10th March - Free
Thursday 15th March - Free
Saturday 17th March - Free
Possibly free on Sundays
Extra information:
Need to go the museum on busy days to show how popular the exhibit is, however, we also need to go on quiet days so we can get detailed shots of the doors without disturbing visitors.
I would also like to get the music that is playing in the exhibit to go over the film that we make. I think that this will be effective, I just need to find out how to get it. It is by someone called Matt McGough - I'm assuming he is a relation of Roger McGough.


I like to make these sort of notes to present to our lecturer so that he knows exactly where we are up to. We sat at a table an had a discussion with him showing where we were up to and what out next moves are. Such lectures help because they usually spark new ideas or allow us to choose one that we want to focus on.
We came up with a few points to think about which will enable us to find a story within this piece. We need to find an interesting story to have because that is what the aim is; if we don't then we won't achieve the grade that we want. (I am determined to get a first in this project just to top off a successful first year in production!)
Here are the other notes I made:
Ideas:

• Go to the places where the doors are from and film - maybe black and white to show that this is their past home
• Interview people from LJMU involved in the doors project, in case we can't find people who donated the doors
• Time lapse of museum itself - morning/night (at the start and end of the film maybe?)
• Maybe try and get more Roger McGough interview
• Try and find 2 or 3 individual door stories that are interesting to focus on

I found this session very useful for the factual piece because I think that it made all of us realise that we really do need to find an interesting story to focus on. This will grab the audience's attention and will also change it from a news piece to a real story.

We also found out the grades for the person profile piece; this is the one that we did about a fireman. Unfortunately, we only got a 2.2, I personally think that this doesn't reflect the work that went in to this film. Myself and Gemma worked very hard on this piece and I do think that we should have at least got a higher grade. Not to mention all of the extra individual work that I do for each piece. We have all said that a meeting at the end of the year would be appropriate to discuss all of the grades given and any issues that we have had within the group - which we have. Anyway, this session was very useful and productive, hope we stay on this path!

Speak soon!

My Photography Blog

Unfortunately, Blogger isn't ideal for displaying photography, which is my other passion! So I have created another blog to display them using Tumblr. I have been taking one photograph per day and displaying them on this blog; some of them are photo collections because of events, etc.

Here is the link:
Photography!

Film Language - The Auteur and Film Criticism

The singularity of meaning:

Roland Barthes 'The Death of The Author' (1968)

''The author is thought to nourish the book...''

Alfred Hitchcock:

''Film directors live with their pictures while they are being made. They are their babies just as much as an authors novel is the offspring of his origination'' (1927).

Intention:

WK Wimsatt & Monroe Beardsley 'The Intentional Fallacy' (The Verbal Icon, 1954).

1. Internal Evidence

2. External Evidence

3. Intermediate Evidence

Cahiers du Cinema:

- Founded in 1951 by Jaques Doniol-Valcroze, Joseph Lo Duca and Andre Bazin.

- Alexandre Astruc's 'The Birth of a New Avant-Garde - The Camera-Stylo' (1948).

- Francois Truffaunt's 'A Certain Tendancy of the French Cinema' (1954).

- Andre Bazin's 'On the Politique des Auteurs' (1957).

Cahiers and Hollywood:

A decision to valoise 'popular' rather than 'art' cinema.

Cahiers Criticism:

The primacy of the specifically visual in an understanding of film - from scriptwriter to director.

The Destiction Between:

- Auteur (''signature'')

- Metteur-en-scene (''No signature'')

US and UK:

Andrew Sarris 'Notes on the Auteur Theory in 1962' (Film Culture, 1962).

'Movie' (First issue: June 1962) Created by Ian Cameron and V.F. Perkins. From the Film Studies department at the University of Warwick).

Possible Auteur Elements:

- Cinematography

- Mise-en-Scene

- Actors/crew

- Themes/motifs

- Emphasis on psychological realism

- Popular genre film making

Alfred Hitchcock (1899-1980) - The British Films:

He attended the University of London to do Art. He then became a designer at Henley Telegraph. In 1920 he moved to Paramount Pictures. He made his first film in 1922 which was an adaptation of 'Woman to Woman'. He had various assistant director roles throughout the 20's. In 1926 he went to Munich and produced Anglo-German productions.

Earliest Films:

Number Thirteen (1922) Lost

Always Tell Your Wife (1923) Lost

The Pleasure Garden (1925/6) Germany

The Mountain Eagle (1926) Lost/Germany

The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog (1926)

We watched 'The Lodger' as part of this lecture and I loved watching such an old film. It gives you perspective of how far cinema has came and how film making has changed over 100 years or there abouts Themes in this film were:

Communication Technology

Murder/Women/Blonde

Editing

Travelling

Text on screeen

We then watched 'The Ring' from 1928, this was another very old film which was intriguing. I liked looking at how they used the camera to create metaphores and visual hints. Themes in this film were:

Hidden Identity

Masculinity

Reduced intertitles

Boxing

Desire

Over-metaphorical

The Studios and Hitchcock:

1926 - 1927 = Gainsborough Pictures (Michael Balcon) - Islington Studios

1928 - 1932 = British International Pictures (John Maxwell) - Elstree Studios

1933 - 1937 = Gaumont - British (Michael Balcon) - Lime Grove Studios

1938 = Gainsborough ('The Lady Vanishes')

Book - Charles Barr - 'English Hitchcock'

Themes and Hitchcock:

Truth and falsity

Betrayal

Deception

Desire

Motifs and Hitchcock:

Murder

Poverty/wealth

Stairs

Animals

Monumental backdrops

Desirable object/the MacGuffin

Untrustworthy women

Unjustly accused innocent

Women as enigma

Styles and Hitchcock:

Careful composition

Symmetry

Contrast of light/colour

Artificial backdrops

More British Hitchcock Films:

Juno and Paycock (1930)

Murder! (1930)

The Skin Game (1931)

Rich and Strange (1931)

Number Seventeen (1932)

Waltzes From Vienna (1934)

The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934)

The 39 Steps (1935)

Secret Agent (1936)

Sabotage (1936)

Young and Innocent (1937)

The Lady Vanishes (1938)

Jamaica Inn (1939)

Frenzy (1972)

I found this lecture very useful and I learned a lot that I did not previously know about Alfred Hitchcock. I love his films and I hope to see more of them in the future; especially the old ones!

Speak soon!

I struck gold..

...With the factual piece for Production Practice. Somehow I managed to get access to a private event at the Museum of Liverpool; for the unveiling of the new 'Doors' exhibit. I emailed the museum and also the creator of the exhibit Roger McGough (Liverpool poet). We managed to get to film the whole event and even get interviews from Roger McGough, Bill Longshaw (Curator of Social History for the museum) and Tracey Escolme (A student who worked on the project).
It was a wonderful experience to be in such an environment. It was even better, as we were the only camera at the event so we had the best spot for filming all of the exhibit and also a lovely back drop for interviewing. Only I and one other group member went to the event because we 
were advised that the less people the better because it was already full.
I loved filming and we also got the opportunity to do proper interviews so I had a good evening all round. We are looking at going back to the museum to get more footage for the film and I have also enquired about interviewing more students from LJMU who were involved in the project. I hope we are able to do this because I think it will make the factual piece more depth.
I really like the assignment so far, so lets see how it goes! Anyway, here are some photographs from the evening that I took.

The interview with Roger McGough, the famous Liverpudlian Poet went very well, he was lovely to speak to and we were very grateful for his time. Here are the questions that we asked him:

• How did this exhibit come about?
• Did you work with the LJMU students much and how did you find it?
• Just give us a taster of what the exhibit is about, what do you want visitors to take from it?
• What is your relationship with Mark Cockram?
• What do you think of the new museum of Liverpool?
• Give us a flavour of the poems included in the exhibit, any themes, etc?

Can't wait to see how the film turns out!

Speak soon!

Creativity and Concept - 5 Minute Presentation

This weeks Creativity lecture allowed us in our groups to give a 5 minute presentation about our museum exhibit ideas. This was to give the whole class an insight in to what we are doing. Finally another member of the group was in so I wasn't alone this week, we prepared a presentation. I made a Powerpoint just to make the small presentation a bit easier to do. We weren't best prepared; mainly because I was alone last week and had to create the idea by myself. However I think we did well to create the presentation because I filled the other group member in on the idea.
Here are the slides that I created for the presentation:

After we done our presentation, we received feedback from everyone on post it notes. This allowed me and Ashleigh to see what we could do to improve our ideas or presentation skills. This exercise was useful and I now know that we need to develop it a lot more.


Speak soon!

Contemporary Media Issues - Identity

This weeks Contemporary Media Issues was all about identity. We first discussed what we thought identity was:

• What your perceived as
• How we represent ourselves to others
• Online representation (Facebook, etc)
• Gaming avatars (virtual)
• Social networks - Mediated version
• Online relationships - distant/fleeting
• Fictionalised lives/characters

The idea of our online identities is a strange one because we feel as though we try not to be too different from our real selves. However, every persona that we have on the internet is a representation of our real selves. We do not always reveal everything about ourselves when it comes to things like social networking sites or avatars. This is something that people may do to get away from their real lives and have fantasy lives because real life isn't that exciting. However this could be seen as fraud because you may be pretending to be something you are not and this could confuse people.

We had a look at Weavrs; a site that allows you to create bots that can interact through social networks online such as Twitter. We created one each but they didn't really work because there were a few glitches. However, this did give us the chance to see what it is like creating something like a fake profile. It is interesting that such things exists because you wonder what they are used for other than experiments.

Personally, I wouldn't make such a thing in my spare time because I think it is a waste of time. I much prefer to just have one persona on the internet and that is one that I try to make as realistic as possible without it physically being me. I just hope that nobody has used one of these fake 'bots' on me!

Speak soon!