Ciaranafc's Blog

Books i found useful

ciaranafc — Thu, 14 May 2009 18:21:37 +0000

Over the course of the module ive taken tips from quite a few books but the mst influential books will be listed in this post, although not read completely through each book give indiviual tips and how to create a film and gives unique tips on how to bring you script to life on screen

Video Camera Techniques – Gerald Millerson, as i used a small digital camera for filming i found the following quote quite relevent ” Today’s video cameras come in many shapes and forms; from peanut-sized surveillance units to heavy duty studio camera” i feel this applied to me as its sayin that even a digital camera is still a valid form of capturing the moving image

Psychological Reflections on cinematic terror- James F Laccino

Film directing Shot by shot: visualizing form concept to screen - Michael Wiese

Alfred hitchcok’s silent films – Marc Raymond Strauss

Digital Film Making – Mike Figgis

Problems exporting the edited file update

ciaranafc — Sun, 10 May 2009 15:38:50 +0000

ive had to save the file as .avi tofit to dvd as .mov was too large, but it now turns out my dvd player on the laptop has stopped working so i have to try an burn it in magee. The trailer has been edited in premier along with the movie, the next step is getting them onto dvd using nero to make a dvd menu screen.

Problems exporting the edited file

ciaranafc — Sat, 09 May 2009 20:26:51 +0000

im having a problem at the mintue exporting the actual file as a.mov file type, first thing is the file created is much too large, over 6GB in size an the film also stick then when tryin to view on quicktime, i’ll try and change al the setting to see if i can can get the.mov file working, ive already tried it on mpeg and it sem to work fine.. heres hoping.

Editing

ciaranafc — Sat, 02 May 2009 20:58:18 +0000

Now that the filming has been completed its time to satrt editing, to edit i’ll be using Adobe premier, the book adobe cs3, classroom in a book, loaned from magee library will come in very useful at this stage.

final script

ciaranafc — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 11:18:59 +0000

R.A.Mpage

Scene 1 – credits/delivery

Interior Day

Hallway with front door

The front doors letterbox is gently opened. A small delivery bag is coerced through the letter box.

Peter Gridley enters shot to collect his delivered RAM. Peter casually opens it, disregarding the delivery note on the kitchen table but is content with RAM.

Scene 2 – Insert Here

Interior Day

Bedroom

Peter Gridley installs RAM into P.C. Cut to loading screen, then to the desktop which is invaded with a large window warning a threat is detected. The message returns even after Peter closes the window, cut to close up of Peter looking unsure of the event unfolding before him

Scene 3 – And so it Begins

Interior Day

Bedroom

Cut to close up of Peter’s P.C displaying message “Suspicious File Detected”, A series of error messages appear on the screen and continuously reappear despite Peter’s efforts to resolve the problem.

Scene 4 – Repeat or Delete

Interiorl Bedroom

Peter having fixed the problem, continues with his project. Having completed the work, Peter takes a well earned break. Cut to close up of monitor screen deleting all the work. Peter returns to room making a dash to save the work but it’s too late.

Internal Bedroom

Late Afternoon

Scene 5 – Obey Me

Peter sits confused with his head in his hands, then slowly turns to monitor as if something has caught his attention

Cut to close up of monitor, the RAM Peter installed begins to communicate with him, typing messages onto the screen

Ram

“HELLO STUDENT. I AM RAM… OBEY ME OR PERISH LIKE YOUR WORK”

Peter paces back and forth then in an attempt to solve the problem decide to switch the P.C. off, an action which results in him being painfully shocked! Undeterred Peter quickly pulls out the power plug from the mains, yet the P.C remains on to deliver another message.

Cut to close up of the RAM using monitor to communicate

RAM

“BETTER LUCK NEXT TIME GENIUS, DIDN’T READ YOUR INSTRUCTIONS DID YOU”

Scene 6 – Return of the Mac

Interior stairway

Early evening

Peter runs down stairs into the kitchen.

Interior kitchen

Peter scans the paper and discovers a message. “For MAC use only!”

Interior Bedroom

Peter re-enters room to be greeted with another message

RAM

“YOUR WORK WAS JUST THE FIRST, NEXT WILL BE SOFTWARE, YOUR BANK ACCOUNT, AND EVERYONE WILL LEARN YOUR BROWSING HISTORY”

Scene 7 – Technical Support!

Interior Closet late evening

Peter rummages through closet, inspecting several items. Peter turns his attention to a slender yet heavy pool cue which gets his approval.

Peter stands above the pc waving the cue above his head, strikes down in a precise manner, sensing it is in trouble the RAM pleads for mercy

RAM

“WAITTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT”

Undeterred Peter begins to strike violently, cut to trunk shot of Peter pummelling the pc to get to the RAM. Peters final strike will be him raising his foot about to stomp the P.C.

Black and white film influneces

ciaranafc — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 00:41:40 +0000

This post contains alot of influences in both black and white and silent cinema. the reason for choosing the images and films below are due to the style the films are shot and are a testament to what i would like my project to appear like.

Pi(1998)

Directed by Darren Aronosky

Max is a genius mathematician who’s built a supercomputer at home that provides something that can be understood as a key for understanding all existence. Representatives both from a Hasidic cabalistic sect and high-powered Wall Street firm hear of that secret and attempt to seduce him. IMDB

Nosferatu(1992)

Directed by F.W. MurnauCount Orlok’s move to Wisburg and brings the plague, this reveals his connection to the Realtor Thomas Hutter, and the Count’s obsession with Hutter’s wife, Ellen – the only one with the power to end the evil.IMDB

nosferatu http://www.nosferatuscoffin.com/portal/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/nosferatularge.jpg

Sin City(2005)

Directed by, Frank Miller, Robert Rodriguez

“Sin City” is infested with criminals, crooked cops and sexy dames, some searching for vengeance, some for redemption and others, both. The film incorporates storylines from three of Miller’s graphic novels including ‘Sin City,’ which launched the long-running, critically acclaimed series, as well as ‘That Yellow Bastard’ and ‘The Big Fat Kill.’ Where Hartigan, a cop with a bum ticker and a vow to protect stripper Nancy. Marv, the outcast misanthrope, is on a mission to avenge the death of his one true love, Goldie; there’s also Dwight, the clandestine love of Shelley who spends his nights defending Gail and her Old Towne girls from Jackie Boy, a dirty cop with a penchant for violence. IMDB

sin cityhttp://www.filmcatcher.com/uploads/img/product/sin_city_front_cover.jpg

To kill a mockingbird(1962) (one of my favorite novels of all time)

Directed by Robert Mulligan

Based on Harper Lee’s Pulitzer Prize winning book of 1960. Atticus Finch is a lawyer in a racially divided Alabama town in the 1930s. He agrees to defend a young black man who is accused of raping a white woman. Many of the townspeople try to get Atticus to pull out of the trial, but he decides to go ahead. How will the trial turn out – and will it change any of the racial tension in the town ? IMDB

atticus Finch http://catherinegourley.com/yahoo_site_admin/assets/images/mockingbird_1.316123631.gif

The Great Dictator(1940)

Directed by Charlie Chaplin

During the last days of the First World War, a clumsy soldier saves the life of devoted military pilot Schultz. Unfortunately, their flight from the advancing enemy ends in a severe crash with the clumsy soldier losing his memories. After quite some years in the hospital, the amnesia patient gets released and reopens his old barber shop in the Jewish ghetto. But times have changed in the country of Tomania: Dictator Adenoid Hynkel, who accidentally looks very similar to the barber, has laid his merciless grip on the country, and the Jewish people are discriminated against. One day, the barber gets in trouble and is brought before a commanding officer, who turns out to be his old comrade Schultz. So, the ghetto enjoys protection from then on. Meanwhile, Dictator Hynkel develops big plans, he wants to become Dictator of the whole world and needs a scapegoat for the public. Soon, Schultz is being arrested for being too Jewish-friendly, and all Jews except those who managed to flee are transported into Concentration Camps. Hynkel is planning to march into Osterlich to show off against Napaloni, Dictator of Bacteria, who already has deployed his troops along the other border of the small country. Meanwhile, Schultz and the barber manage to escape, guised in military uniforms. As luck would have it, Schultz and the barber are picked up by Tomanian forces and the barber is mixed up with Hynkel himself. The small barber now gets the once-in-a-lifetime chance to speak to the people of Osterlich and all of Tomania, who listen eagerly on the radio. IMDB

Charlie Chaplinhttp://www.filmreference.com/images/sjff_01_img0206.jpg

Change of location

ciaranafc — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 12:30:53 +0000

The location of shooting has now been moved to my house from magee library, shooting in the room gave the movie a more natural and realistic feel. The magee study room could only be booked in two hour blocks whereas the house gave a 24 hr set. trying to book the study room near study time for potential reshoots could also be a nightmare, overall shootin in the house works out better

Filmed in black and white

ciaranafc — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 12:04:56 +0000

I’ve decided to shoot the movie completely in black and white to pay homage to some of the older monster movies and silent movies of the 30′s and 40′s similar to some of hitchcocks great movies dicussed in the influences category

Directorial Influences

ciaranafc — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 17:59:24 +0000

Quentin Tarantinohttp://experimentalchimp.files.wordpress.com/2008/07/tarantino.jpg

The first influence would be Quentin Tarantino, simply for some the camera shots used in his movies, he was one of the pioneers of the “trunk shot” camera angle which looks up at the actor, i want to incorporate this type of camera shot into R.A.Mpage somewhere, possible when the ram is being inserted into the movie. Tarantio uses the trunk shot in many of his hits including reservoir dogs, Jackie Brown, From Dusk Till Dawn and more recently planet terror. For non film based fans the shot was also used in the CSI:Crime scene investigation episode grave danger which was directed by Quentin.

trunk shot 1

image courtesy of Wikipedia- The infamous trunk shot from Reservoir Dogs

Alfred Hitchcock http://smashcut.today.com/files/2009/03/alfred_hitchcock_372x495.jpg

The next influence would be Alfred Hitchcock, especially his earlier works which were shot in black and white and some of them were silent movies, this is the theme chosen for the project so Hitchcock is a perfect research candidate. some of Hitchcocks work can be seen below including psycho and spellbound, Alfred Hitchcock began his career as an illustrator of intertitles for silent films. He resumed this work for his television show, Alfred Hitchcock Presents. Aswell as black and white films, hitchcock also directed a number of cult colour films such as the birds and vertigo.

clip form the movie psycho

Peter Jackson

Peter Jackson http://www.smh.com.au/ffximage/2006/11/21/peter_jackson_narrowweb__300x460,0.jpg

The reason for choosing Peter Jackson is the fact he consisntenly directs award winning films time and again aswell as playing a small walk on part showing that directing and appearing in the movies can be done. Peter Jackson directed one of the highest grossing movie trilogys of all times in lord of the rings and followed up that success by directing King Kong.

Stanley Kubrick

http://www.movieforum.com/people/makers/stanleykubrick/images/kubrick.jpg

Stanley kubrick gave us the HAL super computer in 2001 a space odyssey and one of the most famous lines of all time which has been parodied in shows such as the simpsons – “Here’s Johnny” from the shinning.

The coen Brothers

The Coen Brothers(Ethan and Joel) are in this list for the big lebowski alone, one of my all time favourite films, the use of comedy and some of the camera work is outstanding, the coen brother have directed a number of cult hits other than the big lebowski such as burn after reading, fargo and raising arizona.

project influences

ciaranafc — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 20:46:16 +0000

Little shop of horrors 1 http://www.loughboroughtownhall.co.uk/themes/base/cimages/300x300keep/events/little_shop_of_horrors/thumbnail/0/little%20shop-web.jpg

Little shop of horrors 2 http://media.herald-dispatch.com/blog/theater/uploaded_images/Resize-of-little-shop-color-796070.jpg

In the movie Little Shop of horrors the idea of what starts as an innocent feeding turns to something more sinister, the plant demands more and more blood from the star forcing him to kill people and feed them to him, in a similar fashion the RAM in my movie RAMPAGE demands more memory from the user, threatening to expose details about him and delete work

Skynet terminators http://www.digitaljournal.com/img/2/1/0/8/2/9/i/3/9/6/o/skynet2.jpg

Skynet Logo http://elsiemo08.webfactional.com/media/images/uploads/productimage-picture-skynet-43.jpg

nano man http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/citydesk/files/2009/02/nanoman-frontcover.jpg

t 100 http://moldychum.typepad.com/moldy_chum/images/2007/07/31/term.jpg

The reason for choosing these images as influences from the film terminator is because of the idea of a machine starting as a computer and then becoming self aware to take over the world and destroy humanity.

2001 a space odyssey

http://cecelia.physics.indiana.edu/life/chess.jpg

HAL

http://www.diagonalthoughts.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/hal3.jpg

The above images shows certain scenes form the movie 2001: A Space odyssey which feature the famous Hal 9000 super computer. The reason for choosing this is because of the idea of the computer rebelling against its user and directly disobey orders, similar to the memory in R.A.Mpage

i robot

http://eightface.com/photo/IRobot_fromWired.jpg

i robot 2

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_3i6ROTVOQZk/SMRMPfFKm_I/AAAAAAAABg8/ZxbpRnmBKr8/s400/I+robot+Viki.jpg

3 laws

http://fc35.deviantart.com/fs7/i/2005/171/a/0/3_Laws_Safe_ID_by_3LawsSafe.jpg

The images above are taken from the movie I Robot again following on from the self aware systems theory, where one machine was created differently from the others and starts a revolt is the newer created models.

resi evil

http://www.filmdope.com/Gallery/ActorsD/41186-25487.gif

The image above show the red queen self aware computer defence system from the film resident evil which tries to manipulate its users, silimar to Ram in the project

Cylon Centurionhttp://www.thegreenhead.com/imgs/battlestar-galactica-cylon-centurion-1.jpg

battlestarhttp://cache.kotaku.com/assets/resources/2006/08/battlestar-galactica.jpg

The reason for chossin battler star galactica is down to the fact that man created the machine to do its bidding, over time the machines eveloved and developed as far as creating human copies with the sole puprpose of destroying the human race for once enslaving them, this concept is quite similar to the RAM wanting revenge for being put into a pc.