My Brief and the Level I Am Aiming For

10. A short film in its entirety, lasting approximately five minutes, which may be live action or animated or a combination of both, together with two of the following three options:

A poster for the film;
A radio trailer for the film;
A film magazine review page featuring the film.

Boundary Performance for AS / AB

Points awarder for each level

Sample Marking Criteria for Unit G324: Advanced Portfolio in Media

Level 3 12–15 marks

There is proficient research into similar products and a potential target audience.

There is proficient organisation of actors, locations, costumes or props.

There is proficient work on shotlists, layouts, drafting, scripting or storyboarding.

Time management is good.

There is a good level of care in the presentation of the research and planning.

There is proficient skill in the use of digital technology or ICT in the presentation.

There are proficient communication skills.

Level 4 16–20 marks

There is excellent research into similar products and a potential target audience.

There is excellent organisation of actors, locations, costumes or props.

There is excellent work on shotlists, layouts, drafting, scripting or storyboarding.

Time management is excellent.

There is an excellent level of care in the presentation of the research and planning.

There is excellent skill in the use of digital technology or ICT in the presentation.

Marking criteria for anything involving; Film/Television/Video

Level 3

The candidate is expected to demonstrate proficiency in the creative use of most of the following technical skills:
holding a shot steady, where appropriate;

framing a shot, including and excluding elements as appropriate;

using a variety of shot distances as appropriate;

shooting material appropriate to the task set;

selecting mise-en-scène including colour, figure, lighting, objects and setting;

editing so that meaning is apparent to the viewer;

using varied shot transitions, captions and other effects selectively and appropriately for the task set;

using sound with images and editing appropriately for the task set.

Level 4

The candidate is expected to demonstrate excellence in the creative use of most of the following technical skills:
holding a shot steady, where appropriate;

framing a shot, including and excluding elements as appropriate;

using a variety of shot distances as appropriate;

shooting material appropriate to the task set;

selecting mise-en-scène including colour, figure, lighting, objects and setting;

editing so that meaning is apparent to the viewer;

using varied shot transitions, captions and other effects selectively and appropriately;

using sound with images and editing appropriately for the task.

Research into Tarsem Singh - Inspiration and technique

Tarsem Singh has amazed me now with two excellent films under his belt and with a whole range of excellently executed music videos from artists like REM to Deep Forest, along with an amazing collection of at least one hundred directed commercials. His most famous and most praised commercial to date is the more outlandish Pepsi advert - Gladiators, shown below.

Another one of Singh's best works is the advert Voodo for Levi's. This was however banned from ever being shown publicaly due to an innapropriate message.

I simply love his two feature films however, The Fall and The Cell because of their outlandish visual magnificence. The creative element in his films that make each and every frame appear more like a photography than a video is stunning. In the Fall or example the opening sequence simply looks like a collection of black and white photographs strung together, you could stop it at any time and see a brilliantly framed and composed photograph. (Shown below)

I love the composition of the frames, especially the ones in the desert or vast lonely landscapes, they are amazing. There is such simplicity and bleakness, I just love how they have been composed with the landscape being dominant over the characters and cast. Something I know I will not be able to do, but would love to do in my own short film. Also below is an example of his magnificient ability to shown one landscape, or character, and turn them into something else. The example below is the monk into the snowy mountains.

The Fall trailer.

Singh's other unbelievable achievement is his first feature film, The Cell. A psychological thriller that gives you a real head trip when you watch it.

"This is 'SEVEN' meets 'SEVEN' for the post- 'SEVEN' generation." - Q magazine

"Jennifer Lopez sizzles! In a 'SILENCE OF THE LAMBS' style psychological thriller." - Vogue

I simply love to hate and be disgusted at this film. The visual style once again is breathtaking, his ability to manipulate these magnificently preserved and beautiful places in the world into weird and wonderful dream like landscapes for his film is brilliant. And his ability to disgust in The Cell, is also brilliant. I myself am a big fan of anything disgusting/disturbing macabre/twisted and also bright/elegant beautiful/enchanting; The Cell does both for me. On one hand you have the vast desert landscape seen later again in 2006 with The Fall matched against the dark and twisted rooms of the serial killers brain. Below are snippets of the film at two points, the brighter 'happier' scenario and the dark and video game like memories.

He is also hugely inspired by artworks, such as Damien Hirst and Odd Nerdrum, artworks that you can see replicated in his own work.

I myself love the twisted characters he has created for the film, and how they replicate something almost from the video game Silent Hill and also how you can see he is inspired by artists like Marilyn Manson and their music videos.

Stills from The Nobodies music video by Marilyn Manson

One a website I was searching on for information about Singh's inspirational background, I came across an interesting comparison one writer has looked at, between Tarsem Singh and Mark Romanek. I myself had never heard of Romanek but after hearing that he directed the $5million Madonna music video for Bedtime Stories I was instntly familiar with hsi work, along with Nine Inch Nails - Closer. (I have recently found out however that Tarsem is hugely inspired by Mark Romaneks work and so the following work is slightly pointless as I know now that he was inspired by him.

"I have read that this is based on Islamic symbolism. I have no idea if that is true or not, but on the left is Romanek's "Bedtime Story" and on the right is Tarsem's The Fall." - Brad Brevet (Ropeofsilicon.com)

Brevet is right, when you compare the two pieces next to each other you really can see the huge inspiration that Romanek was on Tarsem.

The same with this scene, you can see the extreme similarity between the two directors work.

- I guess I am in fact inspired by Tarsem who was inspired by Romanek so, Romanek is my key source of inspiration. -

Comparison between Romanek and Tarsem courtesy of;
http://www.ropeofsilicon.com/article/comparing_tarsems_fall_and_cell_to_romaneks_bedtime_story 29th September 2010

The Cell Trailer

Un Chien Andalou

Salvador Dali's work was, and still is, of such high ability and style that you cannot help but feel this sense of awe when you see his work. The ability of his technique that goes into the vast and intricate landscapes is unbelievable. His artowkr is something that I am looking deeply into in art, and his photography I will briefly look at in photography. However the area I am looking at in his work at the moment, is his short film Un Chien Andalou and quite simply I am glad I do not have to look at it to deeply.

I think I had too high expectations before watching the film and to many pre-planned oppinions of what the film would be like. Being fairly familiar with Dali's painted work, I had already assumed that the film would be replicating his artwork. I was expecting more surreal imagery and a more varied use of bleak and surreal landscapes. The argument stands I guess, to how little I think a hole in a man's hand with ants crawling out of it, or a man cutting a woman's eye open with a razor blade is surreal. I think as it is a dream sequence there is no real meaning or symbolism of reality in it. As it is a dream sequence there is not a real strong narrative that you can follow throughout the piece, however there is a recurring feel or emotion of love and relationship in the piece, and this is represented by the constant usage of the two protagonists having various encounters. There is an hidden feel of longing and belonging to somebody in the slight element of love that is present in the sixteen minutes of film. The film, as it is so short has to capture its main qualities quite quickly, however as it is a dream sequence it is hard to see any real messgae or opinion of belief.

I do admire the ability not to establish any real narrative or point of origin in the piece, and the completely surrealist attitude toward composition and mise-en-scene. It makes the piece like the dream it is supposed to be, and makes the sense of creepiness and slight macabre actions in the film seem acceptable and believable, it is very convincing as a dream sequence. The ability that the film has to chop and change quickly, makes the sense of a dream sequence real, it holds no fixed narrative path however, but the fact that you know that it is a dream sequence, or at least as it appears to be a dream sequence, makes the obscure mise-en-scene and edited pace acceptable as also easy to follow. Simply put, the fact that you know it is surreal and a dream sequence makes the, what would normally be difficult to follow cuts easy to follow.

The only thing, unfortunately, that I will be carrying away from watching Dali's work, will be a stronger inner feel to comfortably and hopefully successfully allow my own piece to be slightly surreal. It has made me more confident, to see a juxtaposed and complicated narrative short film and to see that it works quite well, that my own work can have a same strength of surrealism throughout the piece, without it being confusing or boring.

Bunuel made clear in his writings about Un Chien Andalou, that he and Dali had numerous conversations about what the film should embody, the came to conclude that, "no idea or image that might lend itself to a rational explanation of any kind would be accepted." He went on to state, "Nothing, in the film, symbolizes anything. The only method of investigation of the symbols would be, perhaps, psychoanalysis."

- courtesy of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Un_Chien_Andalou

This sums up the film in exactly the same way that I viewed it, and what I actually expected in the film as well, that nothing makes sense and nothing has too. Surreal films can be about the subconscious and the dreams, memories and fantasy of the mind. Creating a surreal film allows me to capture the deeper feelings of human emotion in a fairly random and juxtaposed film. It will be a chance, like how it appears Dali was thinking when filming his film, to create something not replicating reality and to show symbolism and inner belief and emotion is a collection of random events.

Inception

Wow! ...

I was just rewatching the trailer, and I am just as impressed with that as I am the real thing!

This film was brilliant. Not for a new breakthrough piece of technology, it is nice not to have to watch a film in 3D at the moment, and not because of such unique and indidividual camera angles or technique, even though Nolan's technique is brilliant, and not because of a big hollywood a-list celeb. crammed pack film... No it is because it makes you think. About the ability to be able to jump into a dream, to be able to steal a dream. The ability to manipulate the world around you through thought, that is what I love about this film.

Nolan had already captivated me with his reincarnation of Batman, Batman Begins & The Dark Knight , a new fresh and cleverly skilled director/writer who could bring new life in to Burton's slight cock-up of the classic DC legend. The Prestige blew me away with the complex, up and down 'twisty turny' plot that captivated me from start to finish and which left me wondering what had just happened, not in the sense that I did not understand it but there were so many little clips of the film that needed to be rewatched to see the obvious (and unobvious) clues to the final twist.

Inception beats them both. The visual elements of The Dark Knight, the dark and creepy city with its darkly emotional characters and brilliant street scenes of train and car chase wreckages, with the brilliant and deep plot of The Prestige.

I won't say to much in the way of plot, except for the brillaint layer after layer formula that is applied to each see. Meaning that each scene has so many meanings and metaphors in them that they relate to an almost scientific or mythological book. It is such a deep plot and such a successfully sculptured one that the complexity of it just amazes me.

Powerpoint presentation - selected production unit

Below are screenshots of the production unit that I will be focusing on for my A2.