My Treatment to Say Something Political...'Addicted'

Treatment for 30 Second Advert: ‘Say Something Political’

Title of Advert: Addicted.

Dates of proposed filming: 5/ 7/8 November 2011

Times: 10am- 4pm

Outline and justification of Ideas:  A 30 second advert with the title ‘Addicted’. The aim of the advert is to represent that there is more to life than media technology. This includes phones, the internet, social network sites, game software and electronic technology that will be included in the advert such as a TV Remote. I am to represent that the public have forgotten to appreciate the natural world we live in, and we now choose to be cooped up using technology from the start of our day to the end. That it has come to over power our life. Instead of just making the statement in an advert that there is more to life than just media technology, I have created a ‘gust concept’. I have used a slogan, which can be taken in two different ways in which I will discuss.

The start of my advert will focus on a girl waking up in bed. The camera will zoom out slowly and her alarm (use of media technology…phone) will go off. The advert will tell a story of her day from morning to evening. The advert will reflect that her life is isolated since her life is cooped up and she is continuously on networking sties, watching tv, etc. The camera will have lots of close up shots throughout the advert of her typing (using the internet, twitter, facebook, using her phone, tv remote and zooming in focusing on her fingers). The advert will be energetic; fast paced then will slow towards the end. This is when a shot will be shown of an amazing view of the world panning left to right. It will contrast from all of the other shots I have used previously in the advert since they are close up and fast paced. This shot will include a written phrase underneath saying Give it a rest. Then immediately after this, the background will fade to black and the slogan will say…”There is more to life than ‘hand jobs’.  Therefore throughout my advert I will really have to pay special attention to the use of hands otherwise my advert will not work. I can help to achieve this my manually changing the focus by focusing on her hands to make it obvious to the audience. By my character constantly using her fingers to use the technology the slogan will work.

Here, I will be using GENERATE INNOVATIVE NOVEL IDEAS. I am aiming to make the camera work/editing of a high skill exploring a variety of techniques. My advert is slightly abstract and experimental and so I will use quirky angles when filming. The whole of my advert will be set in black and white apart from when the amazing view of the world is shown in colour. This will give the advert contrast. I will be paying special attention to eye contact and pace of movement in the film. 

Resource list: Camera woman 1, lighting woman, director, producer, sound engineer, one character, video camera, tripod, anti-glare guard for the camera. A bedroom with a bed, lamp, homely possessions. Media appliances include, blackberry, television, x box, remote, ipod, laptop and internet.

Location: At my student house in Nottingham.

A real world budget: Price of actress for the day can be negotiable. An actress from an agency who is not well known can be from forty pounds an hour.  However employing somebody with very high rank and status for example Jennifer Anniston could cost fifty thousand pounds to film over three days. Since no lines have to be learnt and it involves no nudity famous actresses are cheap.

I am able to film my advert in my house however if I was to rent a studio for three days filming, it could cost in the region of £375-885 for Waterloo Studios in London. However you can hire out a studio for fifty five pounds for the day. Studio 101 in London is an example.

To hire out camera and filming kit is quite expensive, if you do not own equipment yourself.

Other pricing I have fund through online research:

Complete Shooting Packages:

• Lighting Cameraman, Broadcast Camera Kit, Sound & Lighting - £500
• Steadicam + Operator & Assistant with all kit - £1000
  includes EFP Steadicam, directors monitor & all accessories
• Cameraman, Sound Recordist, Director & all kit - £1200
• Cameraman & Sound Recordist with all kit - £800

My crew would cost:

• Camera Operator alone - £275
• Steadicam Operator alone - £350 - £500
• Camera Operator (when booked with OB unit) - £200
• OB/Multicam Engineer (when booked with OB unit) - £250
• Sound Recordist with kit - £240
• Steadicam / Camera Assistant - £250
• Stills Photographer - £275

My actress is actually my friend so I will not have to pay her. However if she was not then I would have to pay for her travel and expenses. She lives in Stoke-On-Trent and her train ticket to Nottingham would cost thirty pounds return.

I will be downloading final cut pro to edit my film. However in the real world it would cost £180 to download the software onto my mac. Since I am doing this for my degree, we have the access and resources to use edit facilities at the University.

Strengths: Knowing the character is reliable and trustworthy.   Location is local  (in my house) and so I am not limited to filming time in that respect. However I will need to film from the morning since it is about a girl filming her throughout the day. Therefore if I film her waking up at 6pm then it will b obvious to the audience that it is night when it is supposed to be morning.

Weaknesses. I wanted to get the chance of filming this advert by myself , so I can get some experience behind the camera. This may be a weakness since I could have asked someone with better skill and experience. And so it may be a weakness, since I may be able to produce a better outcome.  Also I have not made an advert before and so I am inexperienced.

Conclusion: I think my advert will be a success, since I am well equipped, prepared and I have done lots of research. I have amended my story board three times. I only have one character to rely on to turn up.

Amended Storyboard

Finalised storyboard

The other day I had to pitch a ten minute presentation to show my class three different ideas I had for "say something political". And so they came up with a few suggestions to improve my film.

1. I am going to go with the first idea, (there is more to life than handjobs)

2. Instead of having clips of extreme close ups of typing, playing games etc I am going to have a story line, however I have to stick to the close ups of the hand typing etc otherwise, there will be no point to my slogan! And so The film will start with an alarm going off very loud, and a boy climbing out of bed. I am going to reflect his life revolves around media and social technology. This will give the advert a PROGRESSION instead of just random clips sequenced together.

3. The advert will in black and white apart from shot 9 where this will in colour to reflect that there is more to life than technology. This will hopefully give the advert CONTRAST and a bit of variety and will be totally unique.

4. The music, I have not quite decided yet! But i am thinking about joining the music with the pace of the advert to create movement.

Context 2, Network Diagram

Mood Board...say something political

Third idea

I have been having a look on third ideas for my advert, by doing a helpline phone call to people who are addicted to facebook. I cam acroos this short film that helped give me the idea.

Introducing Celtx...

I have hand drawn my storyboard but i have also produced a story board on Celtx just for higher quality image! It is all pretty new to me so im still learning! Here is a screen shot of my work...

Storyboard No2

I have also made this storyboard for a back up however I am confident that my first idea will work, and I have made use of the "Gust Concept" in my idea.  However, here is my second storyboard.

Moving Image...Story Boards

Well today I have been busy drawing my story boards, I have made the over all decision to make my advert about being somewhat addicted to media technology/social networks. The idea I am more pushing to is the idea of having a comical punch line, and instead of making the statement that too many people spend to much time time on the internet etc there is a slight "twist"

Here is the story board I think I am going to go with. On the show and tell on friday I will hopefully get some more ideas to improve my advert.


                                                                        COLOUR

                                                              BLACK AND WHITE

1.

The first remote control ever invented.

pretty immense!

A nice little weekend in London...

This weekend I went down for a trip to London to see the boyfriend and weather was amazing! Had a great time down there and Im thinking of moving there once i have finished my course! Most directing jobs are pretty much down there anyway, it will be a great experience!

Just a couple of pictures I took whilst walking around Kensington......

                                                         

                 

Malak, Introduction Project

Today we did a show and tell of our group film and it went well. We had a few location and organisational problems however we ended up with a decent comical outcome. More work on the camera shots and frames would have lead to a more professional look, however our members of the group worked well together as a team.

I thought the project was significant before we start our own films because it has refreshed our memeorys on using the camera, editing etc.

Here are a few pics of the production being filmed!

Brain storm of ideas for :Say something Political:

well at the moment I am in a dilema! I have had a few ideas on what I am going to do for the advert and originally i was going to do about the student fees going up but i think quite a lot of people are going to do that! And so I had a rethink.
I thought it could be an idea to do about UK internet service providers (ISP) are being made to block access to sites which are considered to have an unlawful content. So this will stop illegal file sharing accessing porn etc. Therefore there is a large argument on the fact that it stops basic rights/freedoms of customers.
However I am pretty stuck on what I could actually film so I may go down the women's rights in Afgan and compare British women over here and make a dramatic advert. Tomorrow during the seminar I will have a final decision!

building up some contacts...

Tonight I managed to speak to the producer of film@bradley and he gave me some feed back into becoming a directer in which i can help use in my report of contacts. He has told me to email some of my stuff to him in which i will do tomorrow! the website is

http://bradley.tv/video-production-company/

Context 2, Getting some contacts!

Today I have been busy ringing up Moving Image Companies in order to start building up some contacts for my report for the first coursework. Tomorrow morning i am going to be emailing MPC which is a pretty cool company in London for some work experience and to see if they can give me some feedback. A small company I will be contacting is Daylight which is also a moving image company located in Manchester said also to write to them to help me.

Since I need to be thinking about building up a portfolio i have rang up the National Film and Tv school since they need a production assistant to help film in London for a few days in October. I am also going to try and get some experience at easter too. I really want to end up becoming a directer for television programmes and so thought it wise to start at going down the production assistant route!

Idea for Say Something Political!

hmmm well this week I have been researching and having a look what I could possibly do for this assignment and have decided on going down the student fees route since it is pretty current and already have a significant amount of knowledge on the subject. For location wise I can film in Nottingham and I am surrounded by students who will hopefully be willing to be in my advertisement. However I have got to get a few people to help me with camera work etc. I will be basing the film on why students should have to pay so much money to compensate for the governments downfall. I have the idea of showing a more well off student and another student who cannot possibly afford to go to uni since its gone up to 9 grand.

And so it begins....second year!

Blimey, the summer has flown I really have had a great one! I have been away travelling to Cambodia and Thailand however i became very ill and ended up in Portugal to recover! Today I had my first lecture/seminar for moving image, my chosen pathway choice. Our first project for DP3 is to produce a short sequence called MALac. I have offered to be directer for this short script that has been written to get us back into the role of uni! Our first major project is to make an advertisement...."Say something political" which should be interesting! I am pretty happy we are to work independently on this project to give me the chance to improve my skills especially in the camera and editing department....I am absolutely hopeless at it.
This week my goals are to...
>Come up with some fresh ideas for MALac
>Get thinking about ideas for my advertisement.

500 word evaluation for ANIMATION and video!

The brief of the project was to create 3 scare scenes for a haunted ride. My ideas and intentions were to do this, however it didn’t turn out exactly how I thought it would! As seen on my blog my mood board, storyboard and sketches included more of a grave- yard approach that entailed witches, bats, ghosts and haunted babies.  However even though the ideas were there, putting it into practice was another story.

My design layout was much more basic than I first anticipated however I think my project is a lot better than my first animation project last term. This reflects that I have obviously made a lot of progress since then at least. And so I changed my original theme into a “warehouse for haunted props”. And so there is still a sense of my ride being gloomy dark and scary but Iv scattered different props around the ride to give it a warehouse feeling. For example there are random candles hanging above coffins.

            Overall I am actually quite happy with my animation since I managed to use over fifteen different textures and managed them to apply them to different objects I had made. I managed to include a tree, stairs, a tomb candles, coffins and other props.

You cannot really see my cart in the ride however, I was happy with this and managed to modify it and change its shape to make it look more realistic and not quite so basic.  I received quite a lot of help, which I needed. I managed also to put in different lighting with tints to give the ride a scary feel. Once I had rendered my animation it was one minute however when I came to export it in premier pro unfortunately it was only 50 seconds long which is odd. I could then not change it.  I have learnt so much during these five weeks but unfortunately I haven’t had time to go back and add sound and make it more complex because it was last in the carousel for my projects.

I did experience problems with the soft ware and it crashed a lot of the time. When I came to render I don’t think it did it properly since my overall video is a little jumpy however I ran out of time to re render.

            I have learnt it is so significant to produce a decent project not only to have great creative ideas otherwise it is useless. There are a lot of areas for improvement for example I would have liked to add sound techniques and sort out the slight jumpiness of the camera. However the jumpiness may fit in quite well since t is supposed to be scary! I would also add more complex props and learn how to make different objects however I managed to do the task in the end…just!

            I do not think a new project would come out of this one since I really do not enjoy the software, I enjoyed coming up with the ideas, drawing and scenes but has completely solidified my choice next year to do moving image!

Cart...

I have currently built a cart however need to edit it to create something like this:

Other props in my haunted castle ride include....

Because 3d max pro is new to me I doubt i will be able to create amazing props however I will have a go!

Haunted Ride Entrance

This is a sketch of my haunted castle ride entrance. By achieving this I think i will have to create 3d boxes and clone them to then be able to build an archway:

I have been doing some research on the internet for textures that i can use for my haunted ride. This will give the project verisimilitude.

I want to include these kind of colours.

Animation Progress

Currently I am about to go in my third week of animation and i am finding it very difficult! I am managing to do it after hours of reading tutorials but it is starting to come together now at last. Here are a few snap shots of my work currently using 3d max pro.

This is a snap shot of my cart I have designed. Tomorrow when I have my next seminar I will get on with the textures to create a spooky ride look.

Track design

To help me design the track to see it flows fluidly I have sketched it on a theatre map of the Waverly building.

Story board to animation Haunted Ride

Today I did a storyboard which includes props that I hope to use in my ride. Even though the ride itself is basic I am going to try and put quite a few props to give the ride that "spooky" feeling.

MOOD BOARD

To help give me some ideas to help me create the haunted castle ride I have designed a mood board to give me some inspiration! 

Virtual Environments-Week one

Yesterday was my first seminar into making my track for my haunted castle ride! I managed to do the first task okay with some help!! Iv decided to keep my track simple because I am hopeless with animation and do not want to complicate it more than I have to. Friday I will be designing my cart etc so we shall see how it goes.

INTERACTIVE 500 WORD EVALUATION

For my interactive project I had to design a website portfolio about myself which I did achieve. My outcome still has a quirky vibe, which I wanted in the first place. However, the design layout was much more basic than I anticipated in the first place. I had the ideas to design but what I found difficult was using HTML and Dreamweaver and putting it into practice. As time progressed I was able to pick it up more but I still found it quite a challenge. 

            I designed a splash page, which took a lot of time up. 

I used Photoshop to do this. I used a normal photograph I had used travelling and I re edited it. I had a picture of myself and added quirky drawn images.  I employed quite a few Photoshop techniques for example the magic wand, quick selection button and paints etc. I really enjoyed the designing aspect of interactive. However I found it difficult to link the splash page to the others for some reason.  But was able to use hot spots and do it this way.

            I also was able to incorporate a web gallery in my website which include photos I had taken through travelling. This was to show that I am obviously interested in this area. I also had a few problems with this. I managed to create the gallery using flash instead of HTML.  I followed numerous tutorials on the Internet but could not actually get my gallery to load up on the page. And so I had to re do it in HTML but Shaun helped me.  In the end it worked! I did find the interactive project really interesting and engaging I just found it frustrating using HTML.

            My portfolio seems to work efficiently it has six pages with numerous videos, pictures, fonts, writing and images used. Navigation is very simple but adequate to use.  It is also colour coordinated mainly using black, pink and grey.

 I used the template on NOW to help me but yet I changed some of it and added an extra splash page. It is basic however even though I enjoyed interactive I will be choosing moving image next year since I love film. I have learnt a lot during this project the basic principles of designing a website and also that being creative plays a crucial role into designing a portfolio.  To be honest if I had not had Dreamweaver to help me I would have been completely stuck. However I have never designed a portfolio before so I knew I wouldn’t be a genius at it.

            I could have added more content I think if I had more time for example more written work it just took time learning how to use Dreamweaver! I have aimed at a young audience since my design is very quirky for example numerous fonts and weird images are used. My portfolio is a promotional tool about myself because it mainly reflects I am into photography shown through my gallery.  I admit it does not reflect an exceptional design flair but it is creative and works. 

webpage!

Recently I have being using photoshop to create my splash page and adding hotspots. However....i am struggling on dreamweaver at the minute programming! I need some serious help tomorrow in order for me to get this done!

My website is turning out differently from my wire frame, however I am using a quirky vibe as shown throughout my website. My portfolio is quite arty and will contain a selection of travelling pictures and videos from my work.

Wire frame

I have been having a good think about what the content of my portfolio will be in order to come up with an effective wire frame. My design I think will be based on  black and white so that the content stands out. For my home page I think I will have half of me in the left hand corner then options to view my portfolio on the right. For example:

These are ideas I have been doodling..........

I have been thinking about content and I love photography so I am going to focus on that in my website. I also enjoy drama so will content for that. A few websites I have visit such as Jack Johnson, Paulo Nutini have incorporated cool illustration so I may do the same in my website. For example I was once in the play My Fair Lady and may illustrate this. Today I have doodled and I may use this some how.......

Other collages I have come up with I may use in my gallery to reflect an arty side.....

Mood-Board

Today I had my first Interactive seminar in which we were thinking about the concept of design. I have designed my own Mood-board using Photoshop to give me a spring board into ideas I can use for my website. As reflected I have used a broad range of  ideas but I have kept to a certain style. These reflect my personal interests and preferences. My personal branding has a quirky vibe which i want to portray into my website.

Bring on Interactive Space!

Tomorrow I am looking forward to starting my new project. Moving Image is now completed, however I want to re edit the sound myself.
I took a look today at the interactive brief and it looks really fun and interesting! I am not a brilliant artist however I enjoy design work and coming up with ideas I just tend to struggle on putting it into practice!......the software  I really do not like!

Evaluation of Group Film TICKET

I thoroughly enjoyed the moving image project and I am planning on doing it next year.  Our project title was called Interpretation. Once given our script- Ticket we had to interpret it into our own vision. It was based on the genre Romance, since my role was being the Director this was my job, my aim was to try and make sure the film was creatively produced and brought together. I interpreted the script to the best of my ability but found it quite difficult since I didn’t take to the dialogue and if given the opportunity would have changed it quite dramatically.  I held responsibility for the structure of the film creating an awkward “quirky” vibe portrayed mainly through the characters tone and camera work.

                        In the first couple of weeks I researched on genre’s romance themes, etc. I came up with the idea of putting the film into black and white and found the French New Wave (La Nouvelle Vague) – late 1950s and 60s.  I thought this fit well into our film and gave it a raw, edgy outcome. This then meant the film had character, which was lacking! I also based the theme on the French film Breathless (1960) directed by Jean-Luc-Godard. I tried to interpret the film so we could apply it to our own.

           This was too in black and white but had major influence on our film in for example camera angles, edits-quite dysfunctional.  Also a very valid point to make is French wave films were on a low budget approach- like ours and it helped filmmakers get at the essential art form and find out was a more comfortable and honest form of production. Having this in the back of mind helped me see what was really needed in our film. I also had the idea of using French music using a piano that was used repetitively throughout the film to produce structure. 

            One advantage of me being the actress is that I could really try and put over to the audience that the girl was quite mysterious filled with tension and nervousness. Tim the male actor found it quite difficult to act but maybe this was good because it just created even more of an awkward atmosphere in the film. It took two separate attempts to film but it was a slight struggle since it was very cold and windy!

            I also delivered a short treatment at the beginning just to give the group some basis to what we were aiming to achieve in the film.  The overall outcome of our film was decent. If given the chance to make improvements to our film I would have done more rehearsals and given the actor more time to read the script because to be fair the acting was quite poor.  However, he was not to blame since the male actor dropped out and so we used my flat mate last minute. Also I had arranged a female actress that also couldn’t make it so I stepped into the role of Lisa! Since I was director this was the last thing I wanted to do since I had limited control to how the camera shots were used, angles techniques etc and other factors involved.

            Through doing this project I now have a greater understanding to the moving image production process. I have learnt more about how location and mise-en-scene is so important in portraying the mood/ tone of a film.  Our film was located on a bench n a park-naturally where people meet and chat. I have learnt such small details such as a missing button on a shirt, wrong lightening are in fact very necessary details that must be considered.  Also Phil was a great deal of help showing us other short films and is great to be taught by someone in the industry! Our film is quite weird and slightly disjointed in the fact that it doesn't all run smoothy for example the camera techniques aren't smooth. They are quite edgy. But this was supposed to happen to make the film a bit more unique and interesting. Also we could have improved our film by using some close ups on the male actor and I. Another thing is that even though we produced a film some members could have been slightly more committed to turning up to seminars and filming in order for our film to run smoothly. Even though I had a directer's role I stepped in other positions such as sound and being the actress. I am very much looking forward to doing it next year!  Here is the film:

"Ticket" Group Edit from Samantha Freeman on Vimeo.

Amazing background music iv found!!

We really needed some sound techniques and so i have been trying to find a perfect song i think suit the film however i will use this when trying to re-edit the sound! I thought the tone and the lyrics suited the film well and here they are:




Also this video has given me an idea into some shots we could have added to our film if given more time in the future,,,,,,

Film nearly finished!

It took us a couple of attempts to get the filming done! As well as being the directer I was Lisa the character because unfortunately our female actress could not make it! Also our male one couldn't but i managed to get a back up! Here are a few pictures of us filming in the wind!