So last night i had a bit of a bad night sleeping, mainly due to subconcious thinking about my act 2 and 3. When i wrote the post for my idea last night, i realised they were probably weaker than i had first thought. Waking up with a refreshed mind, after all that thought last night, it clicked this morning. I've had the idea of including the hunter painting whilst everything goes on through all the acts. I had the idea of cutting to him throwing paint onto a canvas, splatering it, whenever he kills an insect, or creates destructio. To me, this portrays the idea that everystory has more than one side to it. Essentially with this idea, we will be able to identify that what looks like destruction and pain to everyone, is seen as art and a masterpiece to the hunter, hunting is his hobby; pride and joy. In act 2, i have decided to have the insecs lure him into a trap where a net will capture him and hold him in the tree tops. during his struggle, i will cross dissolve to a bug restaurant which will be act 3. Here we will see a table surrounded by bugs with knives and forks. we see the insects then start to climb over the hunter's body which is on the table. we the pan acrosto the shadow on the wall of what is happening. Finally, as the bugs begin to eat him, we cut to the last bit of paint being splattered on the canvas. It will be red paint which runs down the canvas and drips to floor. i will then create a slow drip with the cho of the the hunter's screams over the top as it hits the ground and cuts to black... I feel this is must more refined than my previous post and is starting to come together nicely...
Interim Online Review 16/02/2010
ReplyDeleteHi Ethan,
I'm not sure I understand the relevance of the painting riff - and I don't think your audience will either; and it seems to be you've over-complicated something that's already working effectively.
Act 1 - establish butterfly hunter as a bit of a sadist - collecting bugs and skewering them with pins...
Act 2 - butterfly hunter sees exotic looking butterfly and pursues it - butterfly outwits hunter - but more than this, we realise the butterfly is a lure - Act 2 ends with butterfly hunter ensnared...
Act 3 - It is revealed that butterfly hunter is now on the 'menu' at an insect 'buffet' - hunter screams as bugs swarm - The End
Nice.
See the following for insect fun and games...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fp7F9oXIV74
http://www.insects.org/ced3/sextet.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gk35zer0T10
etc.
I think you may be 'over-thinking' it Ethan - the thrust of this unit is the 'telling' of stories - how ideas translate to screen - don't over-complicate; just start 'directing with a pencil' and get to grips as how it's actually going to play out. I like the work you've been doing re. the character of the butterfly hunter; for a clear understanding of the conventions of presenting a resolved character design visit:
http://animation.about.com/od/otherusefultutorials/ss/charactersheet.htm
See next 2 posts for general guidance re. the written assignment for unit 4... also, I'm not seeing any posts re. your retake of the environment unit - wasn't part of the deal that you 'unpack' your process and request help/guidance as and when necessary. Please post your digital set development asap.
“1,500 word written assignment that analyses critically one film in terms of the relationship between story and structure; you should consider camera movement, editing, and the order of scenes”
ReplyDeleteWhile the essay questions asks you to analyse one film in terms of the relationship between story and structure, you are nonetheless expected to contextualise your analysis – and that means you have to widen your frame of reference to include discussion of other, related films and associated ideas – and also the ‘time-line’ within which your case-study sits.
So, for example, if you are focusing on a scene in a contemporary film which makes dramatic use of montage editing and quick-fire juxtaposition of imagery (the fight scenes in Gladiator, the beach landings in Saving Private Ryan, the bird attacks in The Birds…) no discussion of this scene would be complete without you first demonstrating your knowledge of the wider context for your analysis – i.e., the ‘invisible editing’ approach as championed by W.D. Griffith, and the alternate ‘Eisensteinian’ collisions adopted by Russian filmmakers (and now absorbed into the grammar of mainstream movies). In order to further demonstrate your appreciation for the ‘time-line’ of editing and its conventions, you should make reference to key sequences in key films – ‘The Odessa Steps sequence’ from Sergei Eistenstein’s Battleship Potemkin (as in scene in the Cutting Edge documentary, but also viewable here in full
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ps-v-kZzfec
Also – if further proof were needed of the influence of this scene, watch
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yH1tO2D3LCI&feature=related
The Cutting Edge documentary, as shown on Monday 15th Feb, is viewable on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJcQgQHR78Q
If you choose to quote from any of the ‘talking head’ sections (Ridley Scott, Walter Murch etc.), in support of your discussion, ensure you put the documentary’s original details in your bibliography (as opposed to the You Tube url). For official title and release date etc. visit
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Cutting-Edge-Magic-Editing-Region/dp/B0009PVZEG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1266311784&sr=1-1
Put simply, whatever film you choose to discuss, you will need to link it to its ‘ancestors’ and also, where appropriate, to its ‘children’ – i.e., what influenced it/what it influenced.
Regarding the ‘language of editing etc.’ the following site is useful – if ugly!
http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/short/gramtv.html
I suggest you use it only as a starting point for focusing your research parameters – not as the fount of all knowledge (it isn’t!).
Something that keeps coming up is how to cite websites using the Harvard Method:
GO HERE!!!!! IT’S GOT ALL THE ANSWERS!
http://www.ucreative.ac.uk/index.cfm?articleid=25881
Stylistically, many students’ essays still lack the required formality and tone for a University level written assignment. Many of you write as if you’re ‘chatting’ to your reader or writing a blog entry. This is inappropriate and you need to cultivate a more appropriate style if your discussions are to be authoritative and properly presented. Below are some suggestions re. use of language; take note and use!
ReplyDeleteUse good, formal English and grammar,
see: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/internet-grammar/home.htm
Use objective language: e.g. rather than 'I find it difficult to identify ...'
'It is often difficult to identify...'
'It can be seen that...
'There are a number of...'
Adopt a cautious academic style; avoid conclusive statements: e.g. use may, might, it seems that, appears to, possibly, probably, seemingly, the evidence suggests that, it could be argued that, research indicates...
Avoid assumptions and generalisations: e.g. everyone can see, everybody knows, public opinion is...
If you make a statement, always present evidence to support it.
Within your essay you will be hoping to demonstrate or prove something. You will have a point of view that you wish to convey to your reader. In other words, your essay should 'say' something.
You should support what you wish to say with a reasoned argument and evidence.
A reasoned argument consists of a series of logical steps you make in order to lead to a point where you can form some sort of judgement on the issue you have been examining, or come to some sort of conclusion.
Paragraphs are organised in order to build your argument in a series of logical steps
A typical paragraph is concerned with a single step in your argument
The first sentence of a paragraph is the topic sentence. It clearly states which step in your argument you intend to deal with in this paragraph
Subsequent sentences explain, define and expand upon the topic sentence
Evidence is offered
Evidence is commented on
A conclusion may be reached
Try to make each paragraph arise out of the previous paragraph and lead into the subsequent one
Below are some useful ‘linking’ words and phrases that suit the formal tone of an academic assignment – get used to using them to structure clear, articulate and confident sounding sentences.
To indicate timescales:
when, while, after, before, then
To draw conclusions:
because, if, although, so that, therefore
To offer an alternative view:
however, alternatively, although, nevertheless, while
To support a point:
or, similarly, incidentally
To add more to a point:
also, moreover, furthermore, again, further, what is more, in addition, then
besides, as well
either, not only, but also, similarly, correspondingly, in the same way, indeed
with respect to, regarding
To put an idea in a different way:
in other words, rather, or, in that case
in view of this, with this in mind
to look at this another way
To introduce and use examples:
for instance, for example, namely, an example of this is
such as, as follows, including
especially, particularly, notably
To introduce an alternative viewpoint:
by contrast, another way of viewing this is, alternatively, again, rather, another possibility is..
conversely, in comparison, on the contrary, although, though
To return to emphasise an earlier point:
however, nonetheless, despite, in spite of
while.. may be true
although, though, at the same time, although.. may have a good point
To show the results of the argument:
therefore, accordingly, as a result
so, it can be seen that
resulting from this, consequently, now
because of this, hence, for this reason, owing to, this suggests that, it follows that
in other words, in that case, that implies
To sum up or conclude:
therefore, in conclusion, to conclude, on the whole
to summarise, to sum up, in brief, overall, thus
Hey Phil, cheers for the help on both the essay and my final story... I agree with you that i have ben overcomplicating things and maybe thinking a bit too hard about how it will look instead of 'directing with the pencil'... as for the retake for the environment unit, i think things have got on top of me recently and i've been juggling my work... However it has most definitely been in the back of my mind and i was gong to make a post today about what i intend to enquire about and then speak to Alan about problems that i had on Friday, and ask sam about creating the 3D fog... i was aiming to have this done by the end of Friday and hopefully just make these changes to show i have learned from the problems i had, i will also make a clear breakdown of things as you wanted, sorry for the delay...
ReplyDeleteHey Ethan - I know you're spinning plates at the moment - don't stress; there's only one way to eat and elephant, remember: slice by slice...
ReplyDelete