Studio performance shot Ideas

Live performance are one of the hardest things to shoot. That's due to the facet that you only get one take and that's it. Getting the right angles at the right times is key to making a performance that is not just great to listen to, but to watch. To get some inspiration I have dissected some shots done by the BBC during a live lounge with coldplay.


The first shot needs to be a wide, showing the whole group and establishing the space. It also gives an idea of what instruments are being used and therefor the type of sound people can expect to hear. Plus, if it's a well known band, such as coldplay, people can clearly see their faces and thereby capture there attention.


Next up would need to be a close-up of the instruments. I love this type of shot as not only does it look cool but it also shows off the artists ability. 






The final shot I would love to replicate is the extreme close up of the lead singer. You can really feel him putting his heart and soul into the performance and it helps the audience to feel the emotion of the song. This done on the right beat can bring people to tears.

Libel and ethical

 

Libel laws and ethics always seem to be met with a sigh. But really they are key to success in both reporting and journalism, but also filmmaking and people wanting to get into TV. Why do I say this? Well let’s break down the two and talk it through.

First up are Libel laws. So what is Libel law? “Libel is a method of defamation expressed by print, writing, pictures, signs, effigies, or any communication embodied in physical form that is injurious to a person's reputation, exposes a person to public hatred, contempt or ridicule, or injures a person in his/her business or profession.” Basically Libel is in relation to what is said. An example of his is me going out and plastering all over social media that Simon Cowell has generated his vast wealth through fraud. Going to the papers and selling my story. I have no evidence of this and it is an accusation, which would damage his reputation. 

This also applies to reputation in film. An example of his would be doing a film where the main enemy of the movie is Tesco. The brand is portrayed as an evil monster. This is considered as Libel as showing it as an evil brand is damaging the reputation of the store. They could sue the production company for millions in damages.

Next up is ethics. For me this is the most important of all. The defination of ethics is “Ethics or moral philosophy is the branch of philosophy that involves systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong conduct”. Without ethics the world would be an even more terrible place to live. Ethics dictates are actions and what we make. The very fabric of right and wrong.

Learning the meaning of those two phrases is key to being a successful filmmaker. Why? It keeps you out of trouble which could destroy your career, creditability, working relationships and much much more. 

The difference between print and Broadcast

Print and broadcast have become staples in everyday life. From picking up the daily paper to catching the headlines, these are common occurrences in this modern world. However,  the two do have some huge differences.

The biggest of course is the visuals. While print makes use of infographics, pictures and collages, broadcast has a huge variety of visual means to tell a story. For example, a car crash. The story is that a local man accidentally drove his car into a local pet shop. All the animals were okay, however some have escaped. Broadcast can actually show the moment the car crashed into the shop by getting the footage from the CCTV cameras while print has to reply on stills. Animated graphics can show where different sights of possible escaped animals are and interviews can be filmed with locals.

Being able to show means broadcast doesn't need to tell as much as print does. Meaning print has to write and describe. Print would need to build more of a mental picture of the state of the crime scene as one or two pictures won't cut it alone.

Broadcast can also use sound to tell stories. A broadcaster can play phone calls which were made to officials by the pet shop owner who found the car in the front of her shop. Print can transcipt the conversation but which is more interesting, actually hearing the distress of the women or reading words on a page.

Personally, I can't go a day without catching News broadcast. For me, a visual style is much more appealing that a written one and I have a feeling that many in my generation would agree with me.

Another big supplier of news is social networks such as twitter. With only 150 characters available, people have to be smart with what they say. Here is an example of a news tweet using are fake pet shop escape story:

"Local town left in franzey after dramatic car crash pet shop escape! *insert URL for story*"

Quick, concise, attention grabbing and straight to the point. 

James Whetherly Press Release

You are invited to a one time lecture from James Whetherly, a production manager who is Grammy nominated and has worked with some huge names including Robbie William and Jools Holland on Later. He will be talking about his time in the industry, his experiences and what he thinks it takes to get into the industry.

 The lecture will take place at 10:00am on Tuesday the 15th of December in Hive B of the Tempa-wing at bath college. People be sure to arrive at least 10 minutes before it is scheduled to begin to insure yourself a seat.

Xmas live production- VT

As part my college course we put on a Christmas production including two acts singing Christmas related covers and much more. My part in the production was creating a VT or videotape that would be used to break up the studio segments.

I knew from the beginning the style of VT I wanted, a comical exert which would make people laugh and feel like it really is the season to be jolly. The first idea was inspired by James Cordens Carpool karaoke where he has a star drive with him and have a sing along. We were going to put 1 member of the group which would be preforming and the solo artist together in the back of my car to do some xmas covers while driving around. This however didn't work out due to time limits. 

The next idea was that of a micepie eating contest. A number of contestence would eat as many micepies in a minute. This didn't work for two reasons: 1) there wasn't enough people that would be willing to do it fall stop and 2) there weren't enough people that liked micepies.

The third idea, and the one we went with, was interviewing are tutors, asking them a variety of Christmas related questions and then editing together the funniest anecdotes. This came together really well and it followed nicely with the overall feel of the production. 

The questions included:

- Worst xmas present you have ever received? 

- Worst xmas present you have ever given someone? 

 

- Best/worst xmas memory? 

- Whats your Favorite xmas film?

- Whats your thought on xmas jumpers

What I would do next is give myself more time to produce the VT. We had to film and edit it on the day of broadcast and that effected quality. I would definatly aim to have it done a few days before the broadcast day. 

An Hour and a bit with: James Wetherly

As part of my Media course at Bath college I had the privilege to attend a lecture by James Wetherly about his career in the media industry, both the good and the bad. For those who don't know James, he is 49 years young and has been in the creative industry for around 30 years. He has worked along side the BBC on huge projects, acting as production manager on Later... with Jools Hollend as well as working on many live shows such as the world renowned Glastonbury Festival.

What I gained from his time with us was that the key to his successes was two elements. The first was taking opportunities when they arised. Grabbing hold of a chance was key to getting anywhere in his career and smaller things that he did then led onto bigger stuff. The second, was being friendly. He stated that being friendly is the best possible thing you can be. Why? Please will remember it. This can lead to more work as well as getting some high-end contacts.

The latter part of his time with us was spent answering are questions, here were some of my personal favorite answers:

Question- Who was your Favorite client?

"I don't know really, I've been doing it so long that you tend to forget horrible people and you remember the nice ones... Actually my favorite job ever without a doubt was Later... With Jools Hollend because it was a series of just awesome acts I'd heard or, acrts I'd never heard of and continue to like ... "

Question- What really winds you up on Set?

"... I really hate people that are late and I really hate people that don't say thank you..."

You can enjoy the full lecture and full QnA here.

IMP Director Chronicles- All about Audience

So, you have made your master piece. After hours, days, weeks, months maybe even years your magnum opus is finally complete! Now what? Who watches finished films? Obviously that would have to be the public, otherwise known as an audience. But no one goes to see it. No one streams it. Why? The film is perfect! It twists and turns like a roller-coaster, it looks like it came straight out of Hollywood. Hell you truly believe this could win awards. So what went wrong? You didn't think about who the film was truly for. 

What do I mean by that? Well, it's very rare that a film is made for a single person. This is because of the horrible F word, Finances. If a film makes no money, the studio behind the project will be less inclined to support future projects, whether that be a sequel or another piece by the people behind it e.g. the director. At the heart of this creative industry, is money. 

The key to a successful projects, in your own eyes as well as the studios, is to focus from the very beginning on who your audience are. This will effect everything about your film. How it's written, who you cast in lead roles, what style it's filmed in, the colouring, the soundtrack, the overall sound design and almost every other part of the project will need to be carefully chosen in order to target your selected audience. 

All these elements were key during pre-production, production and post-production on my latest short film, Scribes. Making sure we were focusing on are desired audience was key when making a variety of creative and practical choices about the film. 

First things first was deciding are age demographic. We knew from the beginning that the film was not going to be aimed towards children. This was due to the overall theming of the film and the underlying story arches of the lead characters. This also meant we could use more colour language e.g. swearing. 

Knowing we were making it for young adults upwards was one thing, but that is still a huge demographic. To narrow it down, we looked into what style the film would take visually and who it would appeal too. This also effected what equipment we would be using. After waving to and fro, we decided on a cinematic look using the Black magic pocket cine-camera. We chose this style as we wanted to move away from the typical video look given by DSLRs and to more of a cinematic style that the Black magic produces. This would appeal to those looking for more of a movie experience and adds a level of professionalism that we loved.

A key part of finding your audience is the genre that the film fits into. People who love sci fi will go watch sci fi, people who love romance will go see romance and so on so forth. Are film slotted into the thriller/mystery category. 

Having a film which looked amazingly cinematic as well as written in more of an adult style and with the genre of thriller/mystery gave us the audience that we were to focus on. This informational is also key for after the film is produced as it will decide how it is advertised and, if it goes on the festival circuit, what film festivals or competitions it is entered into. By showing and putting the film into the right places, you can up your chances of it either being bought or getting recognition through awards.