Feb 23rd

Today the documentary team worked on interviews with various cast members. Six were interviwed in total.

Firstly, we devised open ended questions to try and elicit detailed responses from the interviewees and get them to reflect on what they have learned throughout the project. They were asked such things as 'what did you enjoy most about the project' and 'what new skills have you developed'.

It took a little while to set up the equipment as we wanted to have good sound quality so opted to use a small clip mic. We had to test it first to make sure it was working and some of the first ones we used didn't work.

When we were interviewing, sometimes we had to stop and start again as people laughed or didn't know what to say at times. Also, sometimes there were noises such as things being dropped or the bell going in the background.

We also spoke about the need to get some footage of the puppet show as that has not been filmed yet. We hoped to do some today, but it was not possible.

Tues 2nd February

Today the animators carried on with their title sequence. Last week all Diploma students voted on the title of the film, after Media students came up with a list of potential ones. The title they choose was An Unarranged Marrriage.

The documentary team started to review the footage and log all the shots, ready for editing. This is a time consuming process, so needs to be kept on top of to save time in the edit. Some of the scenes were filmed in the park involving Jack. There was also some filming in the house at lower school.

All the Media team tried on tops to see which would fit for the dance scene they are going to be in too.

REMINDER: Homework must be completed by next week.

HOMEWORK - Documentary and Animation Due Tues 2nd Feb

Bollywood Media Homework

You need to create a fact sheet about either ANIMATION or DOCUMENTARY. This must be done for homework and should be at least two sides of A4, with lots of information and pictures and very little white space.

You must include the following:

• A definition of the genre.
• How the genre started out, early examples.
• Famous examples.
• Explanations and pictures of the different techniques used.

You could include:

• Who the audiences are for different types of animation/documentary.
• The purposes of different types within the genre.
• How developing technologies have changed the nature of the genre.

DUE IN: TUES 2^nd FEBRUARY 2010

Animation Links

A short history or animation:

http://www.fi.edu/fellows/fellow5/may99/History/history.html

Animation history timeline:

http://joshuamosley.com/UPenn/courses/Ani/AnimationHistory.html

http://www.adigitaldreamer.com/articles/animation-history.htm

Documentary Links

http://www.mediaknowall.com/Documentary/definitions.html

http://www.screenonline.org.uk/education/id/1271387/index.html

http://www.museum.tv/eotvsection.php?entrycode=documentary

http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/MRC/docexhibit/docuchron.htm

http://pov.imv.au.dk/Issue_22/section_1/artc1A.html

Tues 26th Jan

Today we filmed a little dance and some of the animation. We started to interview people about what they are doing and also recorded a short piece to camera about the auditions that were taking place for the male actors. Some people found it hard trying to figure out what to say on camera about what is happening. It is often hard to sound natural when put on the spot, so some people froze and needed to rehearse what they were saying.

After break, some went to film in the park, some carried on animating and some did blogging.

Tues 19th

Today, most students carried on with animation, dance, drama and art work in their small groups. With the documentary crew, we looked at the Making of Son of Rambow and made notes on the content such as camera shots and editing techniques. We then devised a storyboard for the documentary and came up with questions to ask interviewees.

Period five, some filmed in the park and the rest either rehearsed in the drama studio or blogged with me in room 203.

18th Jan - Flexible Day

This morning we all met in the hall briefly before separating into Dance and Media. The Media students did a textual analysis of Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna (Never Say Goodbye) which is a dramatic romance.

Students learned the different shot types such as wide shot, close up, over the shoulder and point of view. They also learned movements such as tracking, tilting and panning, as well as the 180 degree rule.

They looked at different types of scenes to see how the filming techniques varied according to the location, action and mood. For example, they learned that for tense action packed scenes, lots of shots, fast edits and the use of slow motion creates suspense. For conversations, they learned about using close ups to show emotion, and the 180 degree rule so the characters look like they are looking at each other.

Dance is mainly wide shots to allow for the movement within a frame, but they often use crane shots to sweep across the room and higher angles to fit everyone in.

Period three we all went to the hall to learn the wedding scene dance.

Period four we began storyboarding scenes 1-4 of the film.

Period five we did some more storyboarding and then went to the park to recce the location and try out the wedding dance scene in there.

Starting the animation/documentary

Please write about working with Don, Wendy from the CLC, Mr Dubasiya and Mr Le Marechal from here. What did you look at first for inspiration?

Evaluate what you did so far?

Questions for evaluating footage filmed so far:

1. Was it steady enough?
2. Were the shots framed well? (Not too much ceiling or floor etc)
3. Was the movement steady for pans and tilts?
4. Were the interviewees lit well?
5. Could you hear them?
6. Was the background interesting?
7. Were the questions appropriate?

What do you need to do before next lesson to make it even better?