About The Group

I am a member of group 2 and my candidate number is 8720. The other members of my group are Phoebe Hung (8017) and Gabriel Meytanis (8560). To see my portfolio evidence please click on the three labels on the right named: A2 Research and Planning, A2 Construction and A2 Evaluation.

This is my music video

This is my music video:

My Music Video

Digi out

This is the outside panel of my digi-pak album cover:

digi out pic

digi out pic

digi in

This is the inside panel of my digi-pak album:

digi in pic

digi in pic
This is a link to my artist website, please click on the image below to go to GiGi Official website:


Monday 28 September 2015

Film Opening Analysis and AOTT Research (DYM)

 
Snow White and the Huntsman (2012)
  • Genre: action, adventure, drama.
  • The story takes place in medieval times- seen through the armor and swords in the title sequence and the time scale is a few weeks.
  • Images of a medieval soldiers are mixed with a crow, a red dress, glass breaking and fire in the background. The order of events is not very significant to the story telling as it only shows certain aspects that occur at different points throughout out the film. For example, the battles take place at both the beginning and the end but the breaking glass is only seen towards the end of the film. 
  • The events seem unconnected but the dark colour scheme links them together.
  • No distinct characters are introduced but the idea of a male soldier and maybe a rich female woman are seen through the armor and the red dress.
  • Not much story information is revealed to the audience as the events that are happening in the sequence are not very clear. For example, it implies that there is a battle but the importance of the crow, glass and dress are unknown but maybe deliberately withheld.
  • At the start of this film I think that the audience needs to know or at least see more of Snow White to understand why the battle is seen and why the colour scheme is so dark and mysterious. Perhaps the huntsman could be eluded to as it is not clear if the soldier in the sequence is him or not.
Up (2009)

A very contrasting film opening to Snow White and the Huntsman is Up. It contrasts Snow White in the sense that the main characters are clearly seen because through the scrapbook effect we learn a lot about their personalities and things they do together. Another contrast is the type of music Up using a very upbeat, catchy orchestral piece whereas Snow white had a dark mysterious song my a female rock singer. Another difference is the pace of the opening with Up being quite fast and Snow White being slow.

The openings are similar because they have the titles incorporated into the action. 

The techniques that have been used in Up to communicate film information is the use of snapshots/stills and in Snow White symbolic images have been used such as the breaking glass and crow. 

The aesthetic style of Up is animated, bright/colourful with wide shots and close ups in the snapshots. On the other hand, Snow White is very metallic, masculine and dark with closeups and fade ups and downs.

Wednesday 23 September 2015

Continuity Task 1 (BLK)




1) The story of my video is two characters (A and B) are walking down the corridor. Character B is oblivious of character A as she is on her phone and they crash into each other. Character A falls to the floor and drops his books but character B carries on walking then looks back right at the end.



2) I attempted to create narrative flow through a number of techniques/ideas. I attempted to re-position the actors back into their positions from the end of the previous shot as each new shot was prepared this was necessary because they came out of role/position to view the first take. Another way I attempted to achieve narrative flow was by re-shooting shots if they were not good enough to try to achieve fluidity between shots and continuity. A key technique I learnt whilst shooting to achieve narrative flow/continuity was to start the movement before the videoing began and then continuing after the shot ended, as the pause button took quite a long time to actually stop recording.



3) I did not achieve full continuity but I believe that I did quite well without using editing. In the first shot an establishing wide shot was used effectively as it gave a good sense of setting and character. In the first and second shots the use of cross cutting was effective as it helped to build up suspense and tension. However, the first and seconds shot look odd as both characters were walking straight towards the camera which made them look as if they were both walking in the same direction. I believe that the third shot was successful as it gave a good sense of direction and impending disaster. But the transition between the second and third shot was a bit jolty. In the third to fourth shot I attempted to pull the audience into the action by using a close up. Unfortunately, I did not completely get the match as the action was taken back a frame or two. A key problem in achieving continuity was in shots four and five where character A is seen falling twice. But in the sixth and final shot a very good sense of character was created by character A walking away still oblivious.



4) In hindsight I would improve the narrative flow and tell the story more effectively through a couple of changes. In the first and second shots I would position the camera so it stays on the same side of each character which would resolve the issue with direction. Also, in shot four and five I would trim the end of four before the books hit the floor so character A is not seen to be falling twice (once in each shot). Also, I would trim the ending of the sixth shot as you can hear our voices in the background. With implementing these changes and using editing I would hope that my group's 'Accident in Six Shots' would look something like this:


Friday 18 September 2015

My Still Analysis (BLK)





In the still you can see a female hand reaching out on a green background coming from a black area. There is also a silhouette on the background.

I believe that the shot effectively portrays the genre of thriller/horror. This is because of the use of lighting and the use of a spotlight which creates a silhouette which is a signifier of horror. The lighting also creates areas of complete darkness which connotes evil and mystery and could lead an individual to question what lurks within it and is obscured from view. The brightness of the hand successfully juxtaposes the darkness surrounding it. Another signifier of the genre is that the nail varnish connotes that the character is a woman and in many horror films women are seen as more vulnerable in dangerous or threatening situations so this could lead an audience to worry for and empathise with the character.

To achieve the effect in the shot we used the pack lights on a white filter and held them close to the green background. The arm was placed in front of the lights to create a silhouette on the background. By having the arm not central but towards the lower right hand corner and by using as moderate high angle shot we were able to create the sense of vulnerability and desperateness. Also, by having the arm in the bottom corner it could imply movement and cause an audience to question where the hand is coming from and where it is or who it is going towards. We intended for the audience to read the sill as one from a horror film. We wanted them to possibly interpret it in two different ways. The first interpretation being that the arm is a plea for help or rescue and the other being that the arm belongs to the villain or 'monster'. Also, by not being able to see the whole character we hoped that an audience member would question what is happening and that the levels of fear would be heightened by the uncertainty.

In hindsight I would like to have had the opportunity to use makeup/art on the arm to make it look bloody and bruised or perhaps like a zombie to make it even more obvious that the genre is horror. I would also like to have experimented by using different colour gels to see the effects that they would have on the arm and the green background. Also, I would like to have tried to make the whole mise-en-scene darker, have a smaller are spotlighted and have blood on the green background.