Task 1 - Single Camera

Dramatic Story Telling

Serial 

Serial storytelling is when there is an overarching plot (a plot that carries over from episode to episode). So the episodes are written as incomplete pieces to a metaphorical puzzle, each one adding to the whole picture and letting the true image come out, in this case, the story. This format will include repeated assets, like characters, settings, topics, and the plot as a whole to be carried over from each segment/episode.

Single Drama

Not very common in TV shows due to the topics that it covers, but single drama often covers subjects like terrorism, politics and war, TV shows that even attempt to do this are usually educational and rarely are taken into a drama standpoint to try and send a message. Rather, given how much of our history involves these topics, most of the time we have educational shows, or documentaries about these topics. Single drama can let people who view the show, get a piqued interested and search up the subject in a library or the internet and get a better understanding/grasp of the situation.

Soap Opera

This one is very similar to the serial format, soap operas use similar characters, themes and locations and have multiple stories varying from person to person, they can last for quite a while, spanning loads of episodes before ending.

Narrative Structures

Realism

Realism is the effect of a movie or show seeming as if it could happen in real life, to be perceived as realistic.  Realism can be how believable the motivations of the characters are, the story of the film and the events that take place may seem accurate and just real as a whole. Soap operas are the type to most commonly use realism so people can connect with them very easily and relate to the troubles the characters and the story is taking, much like real life.

Non Realism

Usually in film, non realism is the opposite of realism, going as far into fiction as possible, so viewers can expect to see things that often are not seen in real life. I.e, powers we are incapable of achieving naturally, demons, time travel. Depending on how characters are acted and written can also be portrayed as this.

Linear

Linear as a structure is used in films and shows, however it's very common in soap operas. Linear stories need to be followed in a chronological order, much like serial story telling. The reason this is used is so the events feel like they are happening when they should, at the right point in the time of the story. Soap operas also use this so people can easily follow and catch up on the story of each episode, so they can realise where they left off.

Non Linear

The non linear path is the polar opposite of linear. The story is not at all serial, chronological or carries over in any way. This can leave viewers a little lost and maybe curious as to what has happened in the story. A term often described as this is foreshadowing, where one hints at events that will happen in the future of the story, mainly through commentary and symbolism by people and moments in the show.

Lighting

Lighting is an important part of film. Lighting can cause certain tones, moods, and make it so the shot actually focuses on a certain element of the shot, like the characters or the environment.

Three-point lighting is used in a lot of films and consists of three main lights. A key light, a fill light and a back light.

The key light is the brightest, it is used to focus on anything in the shot, maybe a character or an object of importance. Key lights can be in two variants, being high key and low key. High key is more intense and viscous, while low key is darker and makes more shadows.

Shutter is a fine use of the director using low key lighting. The film The Dark Knight is about a crime fighting billionaire dealing with a psychopath causing mass destruction, and the relationship they have with each other.

The lighting used here, shows the character of Batman in a gritty interrogation room, the light contrasting off of his dark suit and his physical stance helps him stand out and tell you more about his character than words ever could. The director probably used this to show how the light reflects the dark tone of his character.

A fill light is used to be softer, more delicate and to have a more complimentary effect on a face of a person. This makes shadows that are cast by key lights seem way softer, making them lighter and not too heavy on the eyes.

The backlight is used to separate objects and characters from their environments, this makes the depth of the shot.

Sound

Sound in a film can be words, music, or even sound effects used in the film. The director can use sound to enhance scenes in the film, make them seem more realistic, or maybe to add some dramatic music and make the tone extra apparent to the audience.

Sound can be diegetic and non deigetic.

Diegetic sound is the more natural audio you hear in everyday life, stuff like cars driving by, doors opening or closing, chatter in the distance.

Non diegetic refers to fantasy based audio, things like sounds you don't hear every day, musical scores often have these elements.

An example of a film that uses a lot of diegetic sound is The Amazing Spiderman/2.

In the clip, the sound of cars is realistic, the impact sounds sound like they should and feel well implemented into the event.

More non diegetic sounds are the music and such.

Editing

Editing is the most important part of a film's final release, if not one of. Each shot has to be accounted for in the sequence. Editing can allow you be inventive and work with story, music, character and more.

The series Gotham is a good example  of a show which has serial storytelling and has narrative structure.

The story is split into episodes (about 20-23 a season) and uses the same characters, even going as far as to having a recap of each previous episode for every sequential episode. This plot compels the viewers to stick with it and watch and see what happens with the characters.

As mentioned, each episode starts with a recap saying "previously on Gotham", going over the key plot points used in the previous episode(s).

The show tackles subjects like murder, betrayal and moving on, all real topics within reason, and it is very realistic when it comes to the cop drama that Jim Gordan goes through. Well in to the series in when things get a bit more chaotic and then turn into a very fictional story.

While the show has some very gritty and dark moments, it knows when the characters and the bonds they have can shine, and how people in this city function as opposed to just focusing on one type of narrative.

Often the narrative focuses on the crime underbelly of Gotham, the villains, killers and crime lords. This gives a unique spin on the show, seeing how both sides are acting and having some sense of dramatic irony as we see that we know which side has what planned out. Yet neither side knows what they're in for.

The writers and directors do a solid job of delivering a consistent story, with various plot points brought up again and again (even some from previous seasons) and knowing how to handle it and what time to use this to put the pieces of the Gotham puzzle together.

The editing is very fine too, knowing when and show to use shaking camera shots, having some lovely establishing shots of the city and some decent panning shots of the Gotham Police Station (the central location of the show).



A great example of the sound editing in the show, was when Gordon and his (now psychotic ex) Barbara Keen get information out of a thug int he city.

When shes asks what he sees, the sound of the cars in the distance, the sirens blaring in the background and slowly rising ominous music, adds this layer of depth to the world.

This city isn't golden, it's not something that can be cleaned easily, and anyone and everyone can be affected.

Evaluation

Our team worked very well together, we had constant communication, we kept each other frequently updated, and we also let each other handle different aspects of the filming ahead of time so we had a game plan and knew what to do.

My partner made sure to do all of the filming, including booking out the equipment and getting a location and someone to interview.

Meanwhile I ended up doing all of the editing, so in the end we both did half of the work, she did the filming and I did the editing.

I feel we personally hit the brief, out advert is one minute and two seconds long (two seconds over the preferred time) so we were very close to our target. We asked the appropriate questions, most of which were included in out presentation from task 1. We also made sure that the music was appropriate in tone and made sense, we then added the right clips over certain parts so it had more to look at as opposed to just footage of someone sat and answering questions.

Personally I feel that where we went wrong was only during the editing but due to the filming, it seemed that the clip we had used had some visual bugs with it, such as some pixilated moments and we are not sure why that is exactly. To counteract this, we put some clips over the footage as to try and make it seem like it's not so visually distorted. This actually made our advert seem less dull and bland by comparison, so it stopped the visual issue with the clip (odd since the audio was perfect).

Here is two bits of feedback, one of which was a perfect rating (which I would partially disagree), and one which is a tad more detailed.

When I said I would disagree, I mean in the sense that, we barely had any shots, as in, we had one, personally I feel we really needed more than just one long drawn out take, granted we made it work out in the editing process but it was risky since we couldn't re-shoot.

I also feel that our editing wasn't perfect but it was better than just slapping the one thing we shot and exporting it as a film, I feel we handled it fine.

Unit 5 Working to a Brief in the creative industry

Structure of Briefs

Contractual - The type of brief that summarises the guidelines that everyone has to follow when they begin to work on the project. They also go over things like budgeting and completion dates. This contract is a legally binding contract, so if the work isn't finished by the deadline, then there are certain issues that can occur.

These briefs are made between an employee and client, so the client decides the guidelines and this means that the employee could have a few artistic restrictions put upon them.

Negotiated - The type of brief that is a result of when two different companies have two ways of going about something. When they then have an issue with the brief they negotiate with the client to see if there is a way to go about it without messing up, splitting up, cancelling the project, and sticking within the guidelines of the brief prior.

These briefs are made to be a solution between two companies having a spat about a project and trying to sort out their differences.

Formal - Formal briefs often detail what is needed in the production and nothing else regarding anything else. They don't talk about legal issues and are can be seen as a bit of a gamble for the client if their employees don't actually work under legal guidelines. They're often discussed in large groups of people working under a project.

Informal - Informal briefs are pretty open and are shown in meetings, in person. This makes people feel way more relaxed and lets them know who they're working with, what they want, and just how to do it. It doesn't have anything like a contract but it needs to appeal to the employer if they want to not work with a contract. Because the meeting is in person, people can discuss terms, meaning that if there was something those that are being hired wanted something, they could easily discuss it and let the employers know, without there being any complications.

Commission -  A commission brief is a brief that is made so the client can apply to have the money refunded after the product is done. If the client does get a refund it means that the product cannot be used whatsoever for whatever original purpose it had for has, and a new product will be made entirely.

Tender - Tender briefs are covered for multiple companies and let the production company deliver an offer to their client, send them their ideas and show what they want to accomplish. This lets the client to choose the best production company to match their preferences.

Cooperative brief - Cooperative briefs are where loads of companies are contacted and hired for one task/production. This can be very common with large productions like animations or film, and it is best to gather multiple ideas and include varied ideas from different groups to get the best idea of who to go to. Also having multiple people working on one project means that you can get it finished sooner, meaning productions isn't stretched out as much as it could be.

Competition - Competition briefs are made when an idea is made, and a brief gets released to the public to make anyone who thinks they can do what is wanted, come up and offer their services. Usually these briefs have high demand, hence the name, and often offer a huge sum of money alongside it, further emphasising the competition aspect of the brief.

Reading a Brief

The importance of reading a brief is a very serious matter, it's crucial to make sure you fully understand the context of the brief, what they're asking for and what they want. They also need to consider a few factors like the demographic, the style of the product, the use in marketing and advertising and specific technical things like aspect ratios and output.

It's best for the brief to cover everything from timescales to locations, crew and resources and it's even more important for whoever is reading it to take it all in and not misinterpret anything. Otherwise, they will end up in a project they don't want to be involved with.

Negotiating a Brief

Firstly, depending on the type of brief both the client and production company are dealing with, there is usually a consultation with the client. Be it either formal or informal, nevertheless the meeting between them is to discuss the brief and ideas within the brief.

Not only that, but the constraints have to be discussed also, legal, ethical and regulatory constraints have to be thoroughly discussed and spoke about between the client and company. So the final product needs to be made sure it's not homophobic or racist or going to harm/offend any sort of group that could watch the product.

When comparing the different Constraints that can affect any Media Product, it is clear that Legal Constraints are the hardest to avoid, as it requires a true understanding of all the laws and regulatory bodies that can have an effect on the product being made.

Finally, they have to discuss the budget, conditions and fees. The budget usually covers when new costs possibly arise or prices change, any new costs are discussed with the client to make sure they can afford the extra costs and pay for any extra amounts.

The conditions can change and have an affect on the final product, for example, if the client were to change the group they were aiming at, then the product will need to be discussed with the production company again to make sure that it is understood they are taking a different direction in their production. 

The fees comes down to the first consultation with the client, it's very important that every single possible cost that could be involved with the making of the product are discussed, at high priority.

Opportunities

There are a few opportunities for briefs, for one there is the opportunity for self development. If you work with a brief it means you can work with others, learn skills from them and even pass on skills to others, by teaching them you can see what you do right and wrong and improve upon those flaws. By doing this, the range of products you can tackle and make will enhance as you learn these new skills and potentially become someone you thought you couldn't be.

You can also become decent at multi-tasking, when you're working for any company there will pretty much always be more than one project in development at one time. As such you will need to be able to handle multiple briefs, projects, ethics, ideas and costs at the same time.

This can easily be done if you work on three different briefs, such as an advertisement, a trailer and an animation. The animation will need different costs and ethical values compared to the advertisement as one is fictional whilst the other is meant to be shown and grounded in reality. This is especially apparent when you consider how much different the advertisement would be to the movie trailer. For one, the movie trailer would use different editing techniques you would have to use as opposed to the advertisement.