Narative and Genre..update..

To be honest im not getting as far with this yet as i hoped, despite watching all the smallville i possibly can squeeze in to my schedule. I'm going to be doing some more research into the production team of smallville, and whos who and why they are on the production team and what relation they have to the previous films, if any. This will help when exploring the iconography of Smallville.  The narrative tools im taking a special interest in at the moment are the lighting, costume, and the type of acting used. I have already discovered first hand some of the problems when viewing Smallvile on such devices as smart phones or computers, one of them is how they use lighting to set the mood, which can be poorly transmitted when using a different viewing device other than t.v, this can be a real distraction and cause the viewer to loose interest.
Anyway enough waffle, i need sleep, again...

direction workshop.

So Monday was interesting, learning how to direct our actors, how to get the best out of them, without upsetting them, or causing them to run away, although i think after Jo's performance some of us wanted to run away, kidding.... It was good throwing ourselves into the role of actor as well as director if gave us the opportunity to view the filming process from both perspectives. Understanding how to communicate with people is key to what you have to do, and if you can get this right it would appear that you can get even the most amateur of actors to give you a good performance. I really enjoyed this workshop despite being a slightly repetitive process. However practice does make perfect, almost...

Direction

So we are making an online t.v series, using dramas that are already featured on t.v. We have to take a 3 min clip from an episode, transcribe it, and direct it our own way making sure that we use the same dialogue and characters.
My chosen drama for this project is The Big C, this programm features a mid thirties lady named Cathy who has recently discovered that she has a terminal cancer, unwilling to tell her husband or child she sets about changing the way she thinks about the disease and life trying to discover the humour in it all, aswell as getting her weird back.
Funny, witty and deeeply moving at times i thought this was a great drama to do, and personally i cant wait to get my teeth into it.

documentary....update

Looking at events during the noughties we have to come up with a idea for a ten min documentary, then pitch it to Helen, Simon and an industry expert... OUCH.....

So my first idea was going to be the letters of a dead soldier that never made it home, incorporating one to one interviews with his mother and using archive footage of the Afghan war, which i was going to obtain from personal photos and news real footage. telling his story right up to when he was killed during the act of duty. Unfortunately it fell apart, as the mother wasn't happy about the letters being released or giving an interview.
So plan b, panic and make phone calls......

The new idea is about a South African couple who left S/A in the early noughties following the reversal of apartheid in S/A , concerned for they're family's well being and the financial situation they were facing with their farm, they made a brave decision to leave and start afresh in the U.K, without any major qualifications or having worked for an employer before they started to re-train and start new careers. This documentary would be looking at the trials and tribulations they faced using one to one interviews and personal archive footage. I have so far manged to secure the interviews on the condition i work around their commitments. I believe this will work well with the time frame i have been given and believe this will make an interesting documentary about life's struggles and how we overcome them. I will have to be careful about how i portray the subject matter insuring i am objective at all times and not racially prejudice .

Narrative and Genre

I have looked at the essay topic, and although slightly bemused by the question i took it upon myself to read other classmates blogs and see where they were at, this has helped a lot.

I think my chosen production will be smallville, apart from being a big fan, the history of smallville and how it how it has bridged the gap for the previous films makes it an interesting production to look at. I will especially be looking at the iconography of smallville, aswell as the genre and narrative tools it uses. I am really looking forward to researching this production.

Documentary/commision update.

Well better late than never, i know i haven't been on here much, but life has been getting in the way.
After last week's discussion with Helen about my ideas, i have realised that that time frame we have been given will make it nearly impossible to do any of my ideas, so i have come up with something new, but again i will need clearance from Helen as im not sure about the legalities. I hope to do it though as this one will fit into the time frame and i have access to the subjects and achive already.
I can't say too much on here just yet but when i get the all clear i will be happy to tell all..