Task 4 Directors

Directors 

I am going to research film three directors who are famous for their directing in my chosen genre of chick flicks.

1. Gill Junger

(N) of films directed - Eight

Most famous film

His most famous film is 10 things I hate about you. 

Background information

Gil began his career in Hollywood by attending the university of Texas at Austins radio,t.v and film school. He is an avid photographer,golfer and musician.

Why people like his films

His films are popular especially for teenagers and young adults because they include themes of romance and some contain heavy emotion themes as well. The film 10 things I hate about you has a predictable ending and young people enjoy this because for an hour and a half they can get away from the reality of everyday life and watch his films as an escapism.

I have learnt from this that I will need to include themes of romance and a predictable ending in my short chick flick film for it to attract the young viewers attention.


2.  P.J.Hogan
     (N) of films directed - six
     Most famous film
Peter Pan and Confessions of a shopaholic.
Background information
He is said to have a bad time at school and was a victim of bullying at school. In one of his films called mental he uses his past experience of difficult adolescence years in it. I like this because it makes the film more realistic and personal. P.J Logan says 'I didn't have to go far from home because it all happened' and he also said 'my inspiration is my actual life'.
Why people like his films
My favourite film of his is confessions of a shopaholic, I really like it because it has lots of comedy aspects in it as well as themes of relationships and romance. This film may not be classed as a chick flick and classed as a romantic comedy. However a common aspect of a chick flick is a female potagonist and this is played as the main character called 'Rebecca Bloomwood'.


3.Kevin Smith
 (N) of films directed - 12
Most famous film
Jay and silent Bob strike back and Jersey girl.
Background information
He is an American screenwriter, actor, film producer, speaker and director he is also a popular comic book writer, comedian and podcaster. His films have aspects of comedy which means that his films are meant for teenagers and young adults.
Why People like his films
My favourite film of his is 'Jersey girl' , this film is based around a family and a single man has to bring up his child as the mother died whilst giving birth. Again this film is not exactly a chick flick but I really like it because he tries to be a good father to his daughter 'Gertie' and overall it is quite a sweet film.

Preliminary Task Evaluation

 My preliminary task was to film someone entering the room and sitting down opposite someone else and exchanging dialogue. To plan the task i used a storyboard that was split up into eight scenes this showed all the different camera shots i needed to include in the text box below each scene.

The equipment I used for this task was; film camera, i movie,tripod and mac. I haven't used any of this equipment before. I found that i movie can be quite difficult/fiddly at times at times but overall it did a good job. I enjoyed using the tripod especially because its easier to pan when someone is walking and makes it more smooth.

I noticed a lot of mistakes myself such as the camera being ahead of the person in front and on I movie a had a tendency to edit too much out. These mistakes were mainly down to never using a tripod before. 

I didn't change any ideas until on the day of filming one of my classmates were away which meant I had to change the story completely. My first plan began with two people sat opposite each other chatting about a party. However I needed to change an actor to a teacher which meant that this time the dialogue was about a pupil not doing enough homework and getting told off for it.

What challenges did I face? 

I mostly found the editing part quite difficult because at one part for example I said 'Go' as an alternative for 'action'. I needed to cut this word out without cutting anything else out. 

What feedback did I recieve?  

I was told that my match on action needs to be more precise because it jumps at the beginning. The camera cut of out one of the actors head by accident. I was told that Chaya, who was one of the actors needed to be more to the left of the frame at the shot reverse shot and also the conversation. In the shot of the conversation I was unable to see the teachers eye level.


At moments in the film the camera was not steady and Chaya moved too quickly, so if I filmed this again I would have told her to slow down. Finally the good points I received were a good shot reverse shot and the continuity right at the end was smooth although this was not the case at the beginning of the film.

  

My Preliminary Task

Collage of chick flicks

In our lesson we decided that for homework we would create a chick flick Collage.
 As a part of preparation for our short film that we will produce nearing the end of the year. The genre I chose was chick flicks because I have watched plenty of them and there are many patterns/themes that occur in most. These are; the colour pink, high heels and girls. This is only the first step into my research and I know that I need to start writing notes on chick flicks and watching them too!

 

        

  Here is mine.

Preliminary task prep

In preparation for my preliminary task the other day in class I created a storyline. On this it showed the scene of two people walking into a room sitting down at a table. I decided that they would be talking about a party. I am unsure of how this will go when filming it but I think that with research of the three techniques I am optimistic of the final result. I will show a picture of my storyline soon.
As a reminder of the camera techniques these are;

• shot reverse shot
• 180 degree rule
• Match on action 

When I have done my preliminary task I will need to look back at it and I may need to edit parts of it on movie maker.

This is my story board

On the day I filmed I decided to change the original story of the preliminary task . The original story was of two friends talking about a party. I changed this to a teacher telling off a pupil about bad homework.

 

Three Rules

In our lesson we learnt about the three rules the first one is shot reverse shot. This is a film technique where one character is shown looking at another character and that person is looking at the other character.





We learnt about the 180 degree rule this is where there is two characters that are sat opposite. An imaginary line called the axis connects the characters this means that the right of one characters is always the left of the other character. The camera is always meant to be faced towards the characters.






 To the left is an example



Match on action
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This is an editing technique where one shot cuts to another shot. This also draws the viewers attention away from slight cutting and also causes the shot to flow better. If a character begins an action shot and completes it in the next, a visual bridge is created which acts to cover up the cut from one to another.

Film openings

Yesterday I learnt about the as media studies course and looked at some other students film openings. I learnt one of the rules in film making- shot reverse shot. I will use this when I do my preliminary task.