Maxwell Crawford

Wednesday 19 September 2018

WHY?

Preliminary Task 1

The Interrogation

Foundation Portfolio

Shattered

Wednesday 8 August 2018

Downton Abbey

The seven main representations of society in media are gender, age, physical ability/disability, class and status, ethnicity, regional identity, and love and romance.

In this clip from Downton Abbey we get a good representation of class and status. It is mourning time and the rich (upper class) are just waking up the poorer maids and servants (lower class) are already up and have started working. The news paper talks about the sinking of the Titanic, everyone is shocked. Robert Crawley (Lord) receives a telegraph stating that two of his friends were aboard the Titanic. He goes and talks to Lady Mary Crawley about it.

The mise-en-scène also shows the distinction in classes between the rich and the poor. the rich are shown in in silk and nice clothes, for instance Robert Crawley is wearing a nice suit and tie, they are also in grand and nice looking rooms. The poor servants are shown in quite rough looking clothing and are also quite dirty, "we wouldn't want his lordships hands to be as black as yours", they are also down in dark and cramped rooms. the servants also don't have as much choice. They have to wear a uniform and have a set breakfast. Whereas the Crawley's have a buffet breakfast so the have a choice of breakfast, and they can choose what to wear (nice clothes)

The diegetic sound in the kitchen of the utensils clashing and the servants cooking is used to represent the all the hard work they do. The the quietness in the rooms where the rich are represents their laid back nature. The accents also show their class. The rich speak with a slow and more proper English accent, while the poor servants speak with faster and more casual English accent (Cockney).
The camera also shows the difference in the representation between the rich and the poor. It follows the servants quickly and pans between them quickly showing that they work hard and fast to get the job done, and also how how busy they are. The camera tracks the rich quite slowly showing that they are not in such a hurry. The camera also does close up shots of the poor showing that they are quite confined , compared to the wider shots of the rich showing that the rich are more free than the poor servants. The camera also looks up on the rich with a low angle shot such as Robert Crawley, showing that he has more authority over the servants.

Editing also shows the representation of class and status in this clip. When we are watching the kitchen scene and following the movements of the servants, all the cuts are quick and the shots are short. This shows the how they work fast in order to get everything ready for the Crawley's. when we are around the Crawley's the shots are much longer. this shows that they are not in as much of a hurry and are a bit more laid back.

Saturday 4 August 2018

CCR Foundation Portfolio

CCR

Question 1

Question 2

Question 3

Question 4

Tuesday 15 May 2018

Logos

Logo Investigation

Disney

Disney began in 1983 created by Walt Disney.
The original logo for Disney was just a card that read Walt Disney Productions Present until 1985. In 1985 Walt Disney introduced the fantasy castle logo, this consisted of a white silhouette of the sleeping beauty castle on a light blue background. This logo was created by the Walt Disney Feature Animation in a traditional animation style. In 2006 the more modern and detailed logo was created, featuring the sleeping beauty castle along with moving features and a moat. This design was created completely in computer animation by Weta Digital and featured a redesigned 3D Waltograph typography. In 2011 the Branding featured on the logo was changed from "Walt Disney Pictures" to just "Disney".

Marvel Studios

In 2002 the original Marvel logo featured a flip book logo created by Imaginary Forces. In 2013 a new logo was created, it still starts with the original flip but then it becomes more dimensional it then reveals itself with the metallic sheen before becoming the more well known white on red. It also has studios beneath it. In 2016 the most recent logo was created, it begins with the original comic book panels but transitions into footage and art of the characters from the Marvel Cinematic Universe films. The Perception team animated each being from scratch ,the then mapped these onto 3D models to give them a sense of depth.

Paramount Pictures

Paramount pictures began in 1994. The Paramount mountain is the longest running Hollywood logo. It is said that the mountain is based from a doodle drawn by W.W.Hodkinson during a meeting with Adolph Zukor. The logo was originally a charcoal work of the mountain ringed with 24 stars. In 1951 it was redesigned as a matte painting. In 1953 it was made to be more realistic and 3D. In 1968 the text was reduced from " A Paramount Pictures" to " Paramount". In1974 the number of stars was reduced to 22. In1975 the logo was simplified in a shade of blue. In 1986 the logo was recreated using computer generated imagery so that the stars moved into their arced position. In 2002 the logo was recreated to include shooting stars, and this was enhanced in 2011.

20th Century Fox

20th Century Fox began in 1935. The original logo was designed using special effects and matte paintings. It was a matte painting on several layers of glass and animated frame by frame. In 1953 the logo was recreated for the new CinemaScope picture progress, it also had an extended fanfare. In 1981 the logo was repainted and updated by recolouring it yellow. In 1994, after a few failed attempts including trying to film a 3D model, the logo was recreated using CGI. In 1997 a new version of the fanfare was recorded and this is still used in the modern logo.

Universal Studios

Universal Studios began in 1912. The 1914 first logo showed a globe with a ring around it. In 1923 the globe was made to look more like earth and the ring became Universal Pictures. In 1936 the logo was built out of plexiglass with words Universal Picture circling around it. In 1963 the camera zooms through space and the word Universal fades in. In 1990 the more life like logo was made. In 1997 this logo was recreated using CGI into the logo that we know today.

Tuesday 8 May 2018

Foundation Portfolio plan

Foundation Portfolio planning

Concept

PTSD

My target audience is teenagers aged 16 to 18.

The thriller conventions i will include in my film are:

Mirrors/reflections: to show inner conflict.
Quick cuts: to imitate racing thoughts
A character that is mentally unstable.
Darkness/shadows:represent inner dark
Blood: to represent pain.
Distorted voices
Lonliness

Plot:

Christian is in class and his teacher is giving the there report cards. His teacher is telling him how well he did and congratulating on all of his A's, but he hears other voices telling him what a failure he is. As he walks down the corridor he looks at himself in the window and his reflection begins to move on its own and talk to him, discouraging him. As he enters the locker room one of the other boys begins to congratulate him, but he imagines the boy tormenting him. He punches the boy and when he comes out of his hallucination he sees everyone staring him and realises what he had just done. He walks away confused and angry, with himself, into the bathroom. He walks up to the sink and begins to take his pills, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI), wash his face. He looks at himself in the mirror and his reflection once again takes its own form and once again begins talking to him in a demoralising way. Christian gets angry at his reflection and throws his pills container at the mirror. The mirror cracks he stares at his reflection then he runs out of the room. His reflection is still there and we see a disjointed psychotic smile.

Characters:

Christian: He is a teenage boy in his high school years. In his past years he was susceptible to major bullying because of how smart he was. He now suffers from PTSD because of those traumatic experiences. He takes SSRI pills to aid him. Part of his PTSD is that he imagines people bullying and demoralising him even when they are actually encouraging and congratulating him.

Practicalities of filming/content:

Although our film has people changing and reflections with their own kind of conscience, it is still realistic as this is all imagination in Christians mind.
The only health and safety is that we will have our actor fake punch another actor (they could possibly accidentally actually hit the other actor), and they will also be smashing a mirror so we have to be careful of any glass that might fly off or be on the ground.

Treatment

A Treatment For PTSD

Prepared by Max

09/05/18

It is proposed that this film will be of 1 to 2 minutes duration, and that it will be filmed at City Impact Church School (this is a good location as it is easy access as our media studies lab is at school so we won't have to transport the gear far. It also has the school and bathroom set up that we need).

The film will include the following conventions of thriller films:

Mirrors/reflections: to show inner conflict.
Quick cuts: to imitate racing thoughts
A character that is mentally unstable.
Darkness/shadows:represent inner dark
Blood: to represent pain.
Distorted voices
Lonliness

After watching the openings of The Dark Knight, Taken, and Edge Of Tomorrow, I have been influenced by the intensity and suspense that the have given and will co-operate these into my short film opening.

Some of the problems that could be encountered are that we need some mirrors that we are able to smash and also the glass is also a safety hazard that we will need to be aware of. And we will need to act the fake punch without anyone actually getting hit.

Brainstorm

We used this scene from Spider-Man as an idea for our mirror conversation. As it shows the character having a mental conversation with his reflection/conscience.

We used these pictures as an idea for our cracked mirror reflection shot.

Story Board

I was incharge of creating our story board this time. In our past two films our storyboards had been the bare minimum. So for this one I have made the pictures a lot more detailed a written a bit more as well.

Shot List

I was in charge of the shot list

Script

Vernnon wrote this script

Props

Pills: (These are used to represent his problems/mental illness, as SSRI is the pills that you take when you have PTSD or depression. It also shows that he is succumbing to his illness which is taking over him.)