"Shaun of the Dead" Movie Review

As I was talking about Working Title, why not have a look at one of their films. A favourite of mine and I'm sure many others is the horror-comedy parody of Night of the Living Dead; Shaun of the Dead.

Shaun of the Dead follows our main character Shaun, played by Simon Pegg, whose life basically has no direction. He's in a dead end job of selling TV's, has a rocky relationship with his stepfather Phil, Bill Nighy, a tense relationship with his flat-mate Pete, Peter Serafinowicz, because of his best friend Ed, Nick Frost, and his girl-friend Liz, Kate Ashfield, isn't happy with their social life because it will usually be involving going to the pub The Winchester all the time. Things don't look good for Shaun as he forgets it's his and Liz's anniversary one day so she breaks up with him. Plus to make matters worse his flatmate is going down hard on Shaun for having Ed around. So Shaun drinks away his sorrows in the Winchester that night.

Next morning it turns out the dead have come back to life and are attacking the neighbourhood. So its up to Shaun to save his friends and Liz's life as well as their relationship. It does have a hilarious sense of "Oh by the way zombies are attacking, hope that isn't going to ruin your plans" which I think is great. As a parody it's great and really throws the zombie genre in the air. The zombies are perfect it's just how Shaun and Ed react to them that makes it funny. They're these terrifying re-incarnations of humans and yet Shaun and Ed are outside, about to be eaten, arguing over what vinyl disc records to throw at the zombies. Not something you'd be doing in that situation. One of my favourite parts is actually re-visit of the same scene but from earlier in the film. Towards the beginning Shaun goes out to get ice-cream from the shop and then comes back. Its all done as a 1-shot scene as it never actually cuts, it stays as one camera that follows Shaun all the way to the shop and back. Everything goes on around him like kids playing football, people jogging and people just generally walking to the shop. This scene is before the zombies attack. My favourite part is the reprise of this scene where Shaun goes to the shop the next day, unaware there's a zombie outbreak and its the same 1 shot but everything has changed and he's completely oblivious. It's hilarious and really clever. The camera goes to his side so we see inside a garden where there's a corpse and Shaun just walks straight past. He pushes an actual zombie out of the way and says "sorry, don't have any change". It's so surreal to see it in a zombie film and its so well done and funny.

It's a parody of zombie films sure but I think it also parodies society in it too. Before the zombie attack everyone is acting like zombies anyway, the intro with the title screen just shouts this. That's why also Shaun mistakes a zombie walking up to him as a regular homeless guy because of how similar he looks. It takes a zombie like society and adds real zombies, that's where the real parody lies for me. The script is hilarious, the characters are great, really cleverly filmed and the zombies in it are great. If you're not so much a horror fan it's worth the watch anyway because of it's humour and if you liked the Living Dead series of films then you'll laugh even more at this.

Research: Working Title Films

Something a little different to TV research. As I actually watch a lot more films than just TV. One of my favourite companies has to be Working Title because every film I've seen that Working Title has been part of have been great films. They just seem to have the best consistency with their films. Working Title have been part of films such as Hot Fuzz, Johnny English and Senna. 

Working Title is a British company founded in 1983 and belonged to PolyGram Films and produced many films  for PolyGrams London-based company. Due to the company's success PolyGram was merged and sold to Universal. Working Titles parent company was now NBCUniversal. Working title isn't a huge company and is known for its limited employees. In 1999 Working Title launched a subsidiary company called WT2 which has been involved with making films such as Shaun of the Dead and The Calcium Kid.

Just to give an idea of Working Titles success; their films have grossed more than £1.12 billion in the past 12 years, and that's a rough estimate. Their success is mostly thanks to their 2 main founders Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner. The two have been described as the "Brit flick's twin towers of power". These two have been listed as the most powerful figures in the British film industry. They have been described as "energetic, not naive, not arty-farty or up their own arses" by actor Hugh Grant who has with worked with Working Title who has worked with the pair on 4 films.

Working Title's breakthrough hit was the film Four Weddings and a Funeral and since then, after a dry period with a few international hits managed to prove that the British could once again fashion films with global appeal.

"Reverb" Show 2

So this week I was rocking it out on camera 3, the one with the pedestal. This week we had a grunge, rock band Tech Horse come in a play for us. have a look!

"Reverb" Show 1 Directors Analysis

So Reverb 1 was my first proper go at directing. That was a scary thought in itself! But I enjoyed and essentially I felt it went really well.

We had 2 great and talented people agree to be presenters and they acted calm, friendly, understandable and said their lines in a way that made them sound casual and comfortable. People the audience could happily listen and watch. Naomi Burrows and Johnny Weston did a great job!

The first shot had the 2 presenters standing in front of the stage with all the musical equipment in the background and I felt this would give a big hint as to what the audience was watching and it mixed it up so after the title sequence the camera wouldn't open up again on the same place. I felt it went well and the lighting at the start came in nicely.

Whilst the title sequence was playing all the cameras moved over to the stage to set up as well as the presenters and the band themselves. The 2 presenters were looking into camera 2 which had a medium-shot of the pair of them. Nothing fancy but I felt it was best to stay simple. The aston for the Twitter page came up a little late as Naomi says "follow us on Twitter @" and by that time the aston had gone. Also the Facebook aston shows up with no intro plus it covers Johnny's head a little bit so not great, for future tries it will be best to possibly have them lower down and to come in at the right times. No big deal though! There's a small cut just after this but there was just a hiccup with the script so again not really a problem. Setting up for the next part I had camera 3 get a wide-shot of all the cast so the presenters and the band on the sofa. This I thought would be a good shot to cut to to introduce the band. Camera 1 managed to get a shot of the band as a whole so when they were talking I could cut to that camera. Great camera work from the camera crew, very on the ball. The astons also came in at the right time and area of the screen. I had a slight problem there though with when the lead singer was talking I thought he would be talking a lot more so while camera 1 had the wide shot I wanted camera 3 to move and get a close-up as best they could with whoever was talking at the time. By the time I had the shot I had to quickly change back due to Naomi saying her next line. The worries with non-scripted parts! Essentially my plan was to have camera 2 on the presenters and with the band there would be one camera to cut to with a safe shot of the whole band while the other free camera would grab hold of a close-up of whoever was talking at the time. It went well I think, a couple of shakes but nothing major.

So we needed to jump to our next section which was the VT. Originally on the script we had it so the band would play next, the VT would play afterwards and then we would have the band play us out. We figured this had to change because from the interview to the playing there would have been a gap of nothing while the band was setting up so we swapped it around so whilst the VT was playing the band could set up and then the presenters would just introduce them. Which worked perfectly. The VT wasn't anything to do with me but if it was I would have drastically changed it. I felt the edit was awful! Not in a harsh way at all, the editor worked hard but they should have noticed that the intro just starts then suddenly stops and cuts the music like a parody of some sort, its just odd! The setting was good, being in a sound tech room and the discussion went well. I would have had a better camera angle on Alex and Nick but there may have been some issues with space and the cameras so no issue really.

Cutting back to the studio with the band all set up I cut back to camera 2 who had stayed on the presenters whilst the other 2 cameras were ready and set on the band. The plan was when the band started playing and we cut to either camera 1 or 3, camera 2 would then move and join the fray. One rule with filming a band is as soon as the singer starts the camera has to be watching them. If they have a lengthy musical intro then go crazy but as soon as the singers about to start, cut to them! as long as you have that your'e away. The same goes for different verses the singer will sing and such. I asked camera 3 which had the pedestal to grab some high-angle shots of the band and some movement around his area so we could cut to interesting high-angle shots or maybe a close-up on an instrument whilst being high up. Something different. Camera 2 had some good safe shots of the band and camera 1 was focusing a lot on the lead singer. The only issues I had with this scene is the fact that we couldn't really rehearse this section so it was very much up to the cameras with a few instructions to get some good shots. I think they did well but they shouldn't have been afraid to move a bit more. I felt they could have done a lot more moving shots and some more close-ups and such. Another issue is when one of them felt like something would make a good shot like zooming up on a guitar the problem would be is that the other 2 would have the same idea so the shot variety wasn't much. It was the movement that was the main thing. Its a band, its going to be lively and upbeat so movement is very important. Sure safe shots are good but a lot more movement would have made this look so much better in my opinion. They did really well though so it was all good. When the song was finishing camera 2 moved back to the presenters for the exiting lines and then we cut back with a same deal of shots on the band playing their last song.

I've pretty much said everything I felt was good and what could be improved on in the future. One thing we decided afterward was the structure of the show. We decided that next time we'll have the band play first so the audience won't get bored straight away. Going to the interview first was a bit of a problem in that it wasn't bad but a little boring. If the viewer likes the bands first song then they may be interested in learning about them in an interview. Overall the show went well and we learnt a lot for our next show. Bring on being on camera next time!

"Shutter Island" Movie Review

The movie Shutter Island, based off Denise Lehane's 2003 novel of the same name, is another one of my favourites. I just think while watching it that there's so many interpretations that can be made and so many different things to look into besides just the story. It's a thriller and hell does it stick to that name well.

The plot follows our protagonist Edward "Teddy" Daniels, played by Leonardo DiCaprio, and his new partner Chuck, both U.S marshals, who travel to Ashecliffe Hospital for the criminally insane on Shutter Island in Boston Harbour. The reason for the two marshals heading there is to investigate the disappearance of a patient Rachel Solando, put inside for drowning her 3 children. However, when he gets there and looks deeper into the mystery it turns out there's a heck of a lot more going on than Daniels first thought. The plot thickens and then there's back story into Daniels' past showing his wife who we assume had passed away. He starts to get more migraines, illusions and soon we come to question if any of it is real. I really can't say much else without giving the story away because I'll just end up spoiling the film but there's a huge plot twist at the end which makes Inception seem simple. 

The film really puts you on edge. It's not a horror but it has the suspense of one. The music is eerie, the camera angles are odd, the acting is spot-on so they seem genuinely scared and confused and the plot is just so crazy. It's simple at first but you only gather a fraction of it. Its high on atmosphere and great on the visuals. The flash-back scenes are filmed beautifully. When learning about Teddy's history with the army with one particular scene the screenplay is great. Just the perfect amount of slow-motion, close-ups and great music just make it for me.  That's just all me I suppose. I like a film that makes me think. I also like films that throw you completely off. They know the conventions so they really abuse them and change them. The scene I just talked about with the flashback has music that is actually quite fast so it elevates that feeling of panic. Its great. 

Overall I think its a great film. It's not one to sit down to on a Friday night with friends but definitely deserves a sit down and watch to later in the evening. The ending will blow you away too!

"Reverb" Show 1

So here's a good look at the first show of a brand new series of "Reverb". On our first show we had a fairly standard but talented local rock band called "Keep the Change" a good group of lads that agreed to be the first on our show. This was my first big proper go at directing as I was only a directing-assistant on the NACS christmas special. It was scary but I feel it all came together nicely. We've set the studio up so that the band goes and plays on a stage in the left of the studio and the presenters are sat in the right corner of the studio. Its easy this way as there is enough space for both the band and the interviewing area. All we had to do was while a VT played we would simply set cameras 1 and 3 onto the band while camera 2 stays on the presenters. Have a look!
http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/21218069

Reverb

Just a small introduction onto the next project that we jump into. Stratcast is letting us take control of its flagship show "Reverb". Reverb is in essence a music show. Have you ever watched shows like 4music? It's basically a version of that. We invite local bands into the studio, we film them playing live, we interview them, play a VT  or two surrounding the subject and then they play us out with another song. Lots of local bands are interested in this as it means they can have their first chance of being filmed live in a studio and will help them a lot with promotion. It's an interesting brief for a show and we'll give it our all.

"NACS" Wrap-Up/Evaluation

So we did do a Christmas special which was based on christmas gigs going on around Stratford such as the christmas lights but due to technical faults with the edit the show hasn't been posted up on the interwebs ( :( ) which also sucks because I directed the christmas special. But never-mind. With that show though the News, Arts and Culture show of Stratcast 2012 comes to a close.

Before starting the show we looked at what made news, arts and culture shows on TV before us. We looked at some of the conventions so we had an idea of how to make ours look:

.The formality was usually casual.
.Provided light-hearted entertainment.
.Not always huge popular topics like in the news. Would be different topics from around the area so they could raise awareness.
.Fast edits with interviews lasting no longer than 30 minutes
.Small bit of history behind the topics.
.The interview styles aren't always the same. Different camera angles are used, maybe for over the shoulder views etc.
.Guests were always included.

Looking at other shows was always useful so we had a template almost of what we could follow. Sure it was good to add our own twist but we needed to stick to conventions so people knew exactly what they were watching.

However we didn't find everything to be as successful as we wanted. Finding research for our topics was a bit hit and miss because internet sources weren't always reliable eg. something that I would find online would end up being different to information someone else found out. Interviews were always the best way to find out information we needed eg. with the Mop Festival, I found going out and asking peoples views on the festival being a good addition with added history found from secondary research. Primary research ended up being a strong helper with creating the shows.

Overall the shows went very well. We found all the topics we needed, all the crew got on and so made a good team effort, we learnt a lot about fimling in and out of the studio which would later come in handy with our next show "Reverb", We each had a go at our different roles which was a great learning experience and mostly it was a lot of fun. We all enjoyed ourselves a lot and feel ready to give Stratcast's biggest show "Reverb" a go!

(The dude with the Hollister shirt on, have a look at the guy next to him. its mee!)

Research: Sky

What is Sky known for? Subscription fees, Sky+ recording and fast-forwarding of live TV, Sky News and Sky Sports and putting shows into categories rather than channels. Sky was formed in 1989 and is the largest pay-TV broadcaster in the UK with over 10 million subscribers. 

Your basic Sky package - TV, broadband and calls would be £20 a month. Sky invest £2 billion into their shows made off their fees and the channels provide a variety of movies, news, entertainment, arts and sports coverage. 

Sky has a phrase that says "We believe in better". This is used to reinforce the Sky brand through marketing and say "we entertain, excite and inspire customers with a great choice of high-quality television in HD". Its a lot to promise but Sky clearly do well with their subscribers number being so high. Sky needs to keep this reputation as all of its funds are off its subscription fee's so it has to stay fairly ahead of the game and keep its promises to keep its subscribers. 

http://www.sky.com/shop/new?DCMP=KNC-standard-sky

Research: Graffiti In Stratford

So the last episode was very much about graffiti in Stratford. A topic that many people would consider to be troublesome, and by many people I mostly mean elders which Stratford has a lot of. Some people consider it an art form while others believe it is just vandalism.

Whether or not it looks good or not graffiti on private property and around high streets is illegal as it is considered to be vandalism. Councils are often having to take off graffiti and having to go back to the same place not long after to deal with more graffiti used to replace it. The Stratford-On-Avon District Council does its best to remove graffiti in order to "maintain the appearance of the district".

It's unfortunate that graffiti has received such a bad reputation as it is almost always done by the hands of anti-social teenagers who don't really understand how valuable the towns image is to some of the citizens and as said earlier it is illegal as it is vandalism. 

However there are cases when people spend a long time working on some pieces and can be considered masterpieces. One graffiti artist by the name 'Banksy' has pieces that are worth thousands. Though Diane Shakespeare, a spokesperson for the 'Keep Britain Tidy' campaign said "We are concerned that Banksy's street art glorifies what is essentially vandalism". Despite all of this Banksy has a huge following and continues to use graffiti to show off his artistic skill.

The underlying fact is that yes graffiti is illegal and more often than not its done for the wrong causes. Its fair enough it has been acted upon like it has but as. Its a shame considering it puts the works of people like Banksy down because of what graffiti is known to involve. 

"NACS" Show 5

Sure it says week 6 on the video but this is in fact the 5th show so just let that slide... In this show we introduce our blue-screen technique to compliment a show based around graffiti and skate-parks. Different subject? I think so.

My role: Auto-Cue/Extra

Research: Channel 4

So the BBC showed a look at a public broadcasting corporation but we now look at a TV institution that acts more as a business, its goal is to make money. Unlike the BBC which gains its funds off taxes.

Channel 4 was launched on November 2nd 1982 and is a publicly owned and commercially funded public service broadcaster. Channel 4 doesn't gain its funding from any shareholders like iTV but from advertising. Channel 4 also commissions programmes from 300+ independent broadcasters such as Endemol, the largest independent TV company which creates shows such as Big Brother and Deal or no Deal.

Channel 4's funding is purely from commercials and advertising. This unlike the TV license fee fluctuates because of things like the recession so Channel 4 could be doing well one year but almost collapse the next. If they lose out it has a knock-on effect for the company in terms of creating new shows which they may not be able to simply because of the lack of funds. There's going to be an estimated £150 million loss in advertising revenue once the digital switch over is complete in 2012. No Channel 4 are having to look more towards their main internet service: 4oD.

The broadcasters approach to funding links to its overall remit. They try to be innovative, experimental and distinctive and also aims to tackle taboo issues. Its been suggested that Channel 4 is using to much "car crash" TV.

"Car Crash TV" - Urban Dictionary Any TV program that, like a recent car crash in the street, you know you shouldn't watch, you know you'll regret looking, but you just can't help yourself!

http://www.channel4.com/

"Seven Pounds" Movie review

When at a friends house, at 2 o'clock in the morning we decided to sit back and watch a movie for a couple of hours. Its something we do every time we're both around his place. We usually watch it at a ridiculous time, then give our thoughts at the end of the film then decide we might need sleep. One friday we decided to watch Seven Pounds.

Seven Pounds features Will Smith who stars as the man with a heavy burden. Through flashbacks throughout the film we learn that whilst driving with his wife he has an accident on the road and crashes into a camper van with 6 people inside. The 6 people are killed in the crash as well as his wife.

Throughout the film Tim Thomas, Will's character, is in a bid of redemption and aims to save the life's of 7 people. This is where the title of the film makes more sense. He ends up donating certain organs to good people to help save them. He does encounter a love interest in the film who is to be one of the characters to be saved. There is a very dramatic ending to the film which i wont spoil how it turns out but the first scene in this film shows the ending climax. Its just a case of how the film gets there that makes this film.

I overall thought it was a great film. It showed a strong message of how far someone will go to redeem themselves of a fault. I thought it was very well made too, Wills performance was a different one to his usual roles and I thought he did a very good job, and it was good technically too. There was a shot that I would actually plan to use in my own film if I ever made a proper one: When Tim is walking through the hospital for the first time the camera is following him walking through the hospital and looking just over his shoulder. The thing that made this shot interesting is that everything besides the back of his head is blurred, so you get the feel that Tim is in his own world at the moment, that everything around him did exist but didn't stand out for him.

Its a shame though because it got a a fair few negative reviews from the site Rotten Tomatoes but to be honest in my opinion i dint think Rotten Tomatoes is any good. They get reviews mixed around they say good films are bad and that bad films are good. Their reviews just don't do it for me its just a bunch of snobby people saying big words but don't really have much to say about why a film is bad.

But overall i enjoyed it, its a very good film I think with some really gripping ideologies. I personally enjoyed watching it and felt moved. Ignore the reviews it did get, its not deserving of those.

"NACS" Show 4

We're going to go a bit musical in this episode as we look at the Stratford Music Festival 2011:

My role: Editor

Research: BBC

So for my first main essay assignment we needed to look into television institutions. How they run, how they're funded and whether or not they serve their main purpose. We had to choose our own institutions and, unless somehow you haven't guessed yet, I chose our very own BBC. Ill possibly link up the actual essay if anyone feels like reading it but in this post I'll put in some bits of research of the BBC I had to do before hand.

.First of all BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) is a non-profit making broadcasting company so its a public service broadcaster. The viewers as the primary stake holders and core public values underpin programming aimed at informing the public. It focuses on cultural and social values and it needs to appeal to a wide range of audiences.

A list of a few pointers about the BBC:

.Its funded by the public through the annual TV license.

.The annual license fee at the moment is £145.50 as from the 1st of April 2010 and it will remain so for the next 4 years.

.The BBC's annual income is £3.45 billion

.This money is invested across its TV, radio and internet services

.The BBC is practically owned by the viewer. 94% is used every week by the UK population.

.The BBC is governed by the BBC trust on behalf of the public and it makes sure the BBC can provide something for everyone.

.There is a charter made with guidelines to outline the roles and responsibilities of the BBC

.Each charter is revised after every 10 years.

                                               http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbctrust/index.shtml

Essentially the BBC's purposes, as written down, are to sustain citizenship and civil society, provide something for everyone, promote education and learning, to stimulate creativity and cultural excellence and to represent the UK, its nations, regions and communities. A pretty hefty duty but being a public service, it has a lot of responsibility. Whether or not it achieves its goals or still will in the future is a different matter. If you want to look at that side then you can have a little gander at the essay here.

"NACS" Show 3

So week 3 boasted a "Halloween special". We threw in a new title sequence, new presenter and as always more news stories covering the new film released called "Anonymous", coverage of the RSC play Marat/Sade and coverage on Warwick Castle's Halloween gigs.

My role: Camera

Stratford "Mop" Festival

So our second week show was based around the "Mop" festival which was held in Stratford on the 12th of October 2012 and its history dates back some good 500 to 600 years ago. In the show we look at the Mops impact on Stratford nowadays and whether it still retains its historical value or whether its just another generic town fair that causes inconveniences to Stratford's residents.

The mop fair in essence was basically a huge job fair back in its day. People such as farm workers, craftsmen and mostly manual labour workers would at the end of their employment would attend this Mop fair dressed in the best clothes and carry an item signifying their trade. If they weren't part of a trade they would wear a mop on their head to symbolise they had no skills but desired to work. This would be where the name "Mop" comes from. Employers would attend the fair looking for new employees. Once an employer made an agreement with a desired employee they would give them a small sum of money and the employee would remove their item of trade and wear bright ribbons symbolising that they had been taken. They would then spend what they had on small stalls and games around the fair for celebration.

So does it still keep its tradition or is it just an inconvenience? Well its not used for its old purpose any more, very out-dated you see, so now it just has a lot of rides, stalls and food stands. Much like your average fair. Residents say that it causes a lot of traffic. School buses struggle to get in as do teachers so schools are affected as well as jobs. Schools also say that its very distracting for the students as they do find it to be a very good night out but can lose time for revising. The police presence has been raised considerably over the years due to some teenagers in past years causing a bit of an uproar and some would say that the presence of police frightens them off a bit but some residents just say you should feel safer and concentrate more on enjoying the night. The other side of it is that at the end of the day its a fun-fair. It brings good money into the community, more tourists and it just provides a good fun night. Youngsters and some residents say that despite its issues its meant to just be a night of good fun and people should enjoy it.

"NACS" Show 2

So week 2 bought our second show of our News, Arts and Culture show. This time around we introduced some new changes such as we had a set, desk and background for our show, we introduced having guests, we tried a new presenter and we were able to use cut-away's during the discussions (edited by yours truly...). It was a big leap from our last show and we were all very happy with the result. See for yourself!

My role: Sound/Editor

Roles in the Studio

There isn't a whole lot I can throw in here other than the basics on the day as it really was a basic run. As I said in a previous post we had a lot of things already prepared for us such as the graphics, titles, a V.T and even a topic. However here's a look at all the roles we had that day:

Camera:
Pretty standard. I'll need to edit this once I have hold of the names of the cameras we were using but there are 3 main HD cameras in the studio; there's camera 1 which is just a camera on a moving tripod so you can move it anywhere in the studio. Camera 2 has the same deal but has the auto-cue screen on it and is usually the main camera the presenters always look into and camera 3 is a moving camera but is on a pedestal that can be pumped up so you can move the camera up and down as well as all around, brilliant for filming live acts in the studio.

Director:
The director is the boss on the day of filming if you like. The producer has the main role leading up to the shoot because its a job based more around organising but how the final product itself looks, how its filmed, where lighting is placed, how the presenters act, overall everything seen on the screen is lead by the director. The director will tell the cameras what shot he/she wants so whilst filming the director might want camera 1 to get a low angle shot on the singer of a live performing band so that the director can cut to it and use it in the final product. Whatever the final product looks like visually is what the director was in charge of. Not so much the organisation but rather how it looked and sounded.

Sound:
The title says it all really. These folks are in charge of how the show sounds. The sound guys reside in a small room next to the gallery which is where the main sound desk is located. The jobs of the sound crew is to make sure everyone being filmed in the studio is mic'd up, making sure all sound levels are correct so there are no horrible screeches during filming, making sure all com's are working so the director and PA can be heard through everyone's headsets in the studio and that when the VT's are being played that the sound is heard on the VT and not from sounds in the studio.

Floor Manager:
Of course not everyone in the studio can hear the PA and director in the gallery so the floor managers role is to keep everyone in the studio informed on when the cameras will start rolling, any changes to the running order, addressing any issues with things like how the presenters look and such things. They are basically the directors mouth for the crew in the studio.

Vision Mixing:
The vision mixer is in charge of the shot cut-aways, any small effects and transitions that happen between camera shots. The vision mixer can also make it so the cut from one camera to another could be a simple cut or have a fade out effect and such. When the director wants a shot changed, this fellow makes it happen.

Graphics:
The graphics person is responsible for when you see an aston or an effect appear on the screen. This fellow is armed with a computer and is linked up with the cameras to make it so if you wanted to know the names of the presenters, the graphics person would have made an aston of the name and then would slot it in during filming. Any other effects shown on screen like fake explosions as a random example will be done by the graphics leader.

Auto-Cue:
"Hi I'm Ron Burgundey...?" Anyone who gets the reference gains 5 points. The reason he says that is because of some cheeky fool putting a question mark on the auto-cue. The auto-cue is what the presenters read off for their lines but luckily enough they don't have to look at a piece of paper to remember their lines, they get the luxury of looking at a reflection of a screen under the camera that shows the lines but when reading them it looks like the presenters are just simply looking into the camera. The person who is in charge of the auto-cue sits at a computer in the studio that's linked to the auto-cue camera. He controls what's on the screen and how fast the script moves on the screen, so the presenters don't read the same line over and over...

VT
The VT is the extra little insertion that was made leading up to the shooting day. It could be a little 2 minute video that can be shown in the middle of the show to give a little more insight into the topic at the time in the show. It does however need someone to play the VT at the right time so even though essentially the person in charge of the VT has to make sure the right VT is going to play and to press play at the right time its all about the timings. Get the timing wrong and the whole show could suffer.

PA (Production Assistant)
The PA has a very important job role. TV shows run off a structure so when one part finishes say an interview and another part starts, maybe a VT, there can't be any gaps. Everything has to run smoothly with no awkward gaps or black screens so someone needs to keep the timings in mind. Timing is very very important in shows and especially in live recording so it is all up to the PA to keep track of the timings for everything and make sure everyone is cue'd for their parts. Without a PA to give a shout when another section is going to start, when a VT will end and when the cameras cut back to the studio the whole show would collapse... No pressure.

Each week we swap around our roles to gain experience in all areas of the field if you like. Its interesting going from say directing one week to camera the next. It really shows just how important every job is. No matter how big or small. Everything has to be running at its best for the chance of making a good show. Teamwork is essential in filming TV and film.

"Back To The Future" Movie Review

I thought I would mix it up and add something a little off topic. I may every now and again add either a review or something different of a topic, film or TV show that interested me and maybe have an influence on how I create my own projects in the future.

Just as a start I'll say that this is actually my favourite film of all time. I've loved it as a kid and watching it now as a more mature adult ive appreciated it a lot more. It's a film that gets better over time and one you can watch over and over again. I also love how its stood the test of time so well. Its story, characters, the way it was written everything are I think a lot better than films today, It's come a long way seeing as this film is 27 years old. Its also a solid trilogy with 2 strong sequals. I can't really do the film much justice other than talk about its wacky plot, some things I liked about how it was made and other things. It's a film you should go see yourself if you havent.

So the film follows the character Marty Mcfly, a skateboarding, guitar playing, high school dude who has a less than perfect family. His uncles in jail, his mums an alcoholic and his dads a geek. Marty's also friends with a crazy scientist Doc Brown who has never created anything that works in his life, up until now when he creates a time machine out of a DeLorean. So Marty and Doc try out this new invention but halfway through the experiment they get attacked by terrorists who Doc scammed to get his hands on some plutonium. Marty escapes in the DeLoreon but accidently sends himself back to the year 1955, so Marty now has to find his way back home. This could be a full story in itself but the film goes further. He also accidently prevents his parents from meeting, thus jepardising his own birth so he now has to get them back together and also get back to his right time and in time to stop the terrorists from killing Doc. Isn't that crazy if you think about it? The story is a lot more involved than that but its honestly something you have to see.

Its all very clever how it keeps the time-space-continueum idea going, you always notice little things everytime you watch it. The most popular is the sign for the Twin-Pines mall. Its called that in 1985 but when Marty goes back to 1955 and knocks over a pine tree from that area its not called the Twin-Pines mall in 1985 anymore but rather the Lone-Pines Mall. The characters are acted out so well, my favourite being Doc. Christopher Lloyd plays tghis part brilliantly and the dialogue between him and Marty is very enjoyable to watch. Doc's just absolutely crazy but loveable at the same time.

The presentation is great; no character looks the same, the sets and locations are memorable, the detail in the props is great (the DeLorean time machine is the best example) and the music is fantastic. Alan Silvestri does a reall great job, it really gives you that sense of panic as if you are racing against time, its really something.

For me I felt it was a joy to watch. The characters are believable, funny and clever, the story's so wacky it makes my head spin, the soundtracks great and from a media students point of view I thought the range of shots, editing and just behind the scenes work on creating the film is spectacular. The narrative keeps moving forward at a good rate, you don't get lost, you never know what will happen next and the whole idea is very original. Its no wonder there is a huge culture following behind this film. There were even DeLoreons you could buy with all of Docs attachments on them! (I want one...) In my eyes its a great film if you want to just escape reality and enjoy yourself.

As I said before its not a film I can do justice, its one you really have to see if you haven't. I can't imagine why you havent if not but really, check it out. Its good... Trust me

"NACS" Show 1

So there we had it, on a long Monday afternoon after being thrown in the deep end we had a show. Not a particularly great show but what was important was that we had a show regardless. With the help of our tutor Phil Middleham who did most of the technical things we were going to learn in the future we managed to squeeze out our first show. We even had some graphics ready and even a title sequence made from the V.T footage ready to use in our first show. It was very much like a ready made meal I suppose, it was already set up and ready but needed someone to heat it up.

Luckily Tom Dyer, a fellow student in our group, had prepared a topic and even a V.T of the local farmers market in Stratford so we had some time filled and a topic to start with. The show was about explaining the role the farmers market had in the Stratford community.

So here it is, NACS show 1 (Credits and making of in another post)

My role: VT Operator

Stratcast "News, Arts and Culture Show" (NACS)

So what is "NACS"? Well at the start of the year we were given a brief to make a programme that would run to the Christmas holidays and that was to create a series of a News, Arts and Culture show. The clue is in the title, we had to create a show based around any news, arts and culture that went on around Stratford. To understand how news, arts and culture shows were made we looked at a few examples such as "The One Show"

The most generic conventions of these kind of shows were things like there would be around 1 to 2 presenters giving any news or updates around the region with maybe a few V.T's of the said subject to play afterwards. There would be interviews, in-studio activities and such. They would mainly be studio based with almost a lounge area for the presenters and their guests and the V.T's would be made almost anywhere depending on what the topic was. In terms of editing it wasn't majorly fast or crazy for effect, in the studio the shots weren't too complex but would mostly be mid shots of the presenters while they spoke and close-ups on individuals who spoke and the editing wasn't fast so each shot lasted a good few seconds before changing so to give the show a relaxed feel. It's purpose is to make you feel you're sitting down just having a discussion about a topic. 

That was therefore what we wanted to go for but of course we had to start somewhere and none of us really had any experience with using any of the equipment, let alone going ahead and planning and filming our own news, arts and culture show. It also didn't help we were thrown head first on the first week to start filming! Our tutor explained that it would be the best way to learn rather than spending ages learning the theory behind making a show. We needed experience. And that's certainly what we got!

Stratcast

So in Straford's media dep. is where all the TV shows and radio shows get created and aired under the name of "Stratcast" http://www.stratcast.co.uk/ This is basically where all the magic happens and all our shows are created in out wonderful studio:

We've been granted a whole range of toys to use in our own studio, fully equipped with 3 high-tech HD cameras (one used for the auto-cue), set displays, lighting, sound equipment, monitors and a gallery room and sound room looking into the studio. The gallery housing a vision mixing desk, a graphics computer, a lighting console and a whole range of monitors for the cameras and V.T's. The V.T's being played in the sound room on a monitor next to a huge sound mixing desk. Plenty of toys for us to mess around with!

This post was just to give a small introduction to the media side of the college and to show where our projects are held and created.

Oh hi, I didn't see you there...

So heres my first post of this wonderful blog of mine where you will find fun, magic and adventure and far off places...

Sort of. This blog is just so that I can keep a portfolio of all the projects and events I have been involved with on the HND Media Production course at Stratford-Upon-Avon College

What a wonderful place... Anyway's this was more of an introduction to what this blog will show so I suppose its time to let the madness begin. You'll have to provide your own biscuits unfortunately...

EDIT:

Just to point out, this is actually the second blog I've made for this. The first one went down and got messed up for some reason so I lost a lot of stuff so I'm posting a lot of things on the same day sometimes its because I'm having to post them all again... Bad times :(