Understanding Film & TV Task 2

Job Roles in Film & TV Industries

There are many job roles in the Film Industry, that fall into 3 different categories; Management, Technical & Creative. I'm going to be talking about some Technical job roles, but first here are some examples of Creative & Management:

Creative

• Director
• 1st Assistant Director
• Producer
• Executive Producer
• Costume Designer
• Make Up Designer
• Prop Maker
• And More...

Management

• Casting Director
• Transport Manager
• Location Manger
• Assistant Accountant
• Director
• 2nd Assistant Director
• 3rd Assistant Director
• And More...

These are just some examples of Creative & Management job roles. Some job roles can sometimes be in 2 of the categories, I've shown an example of this with the highlighted "Director" job role in the lists above.

In more detail of the job roles, here are some Technical job roles:

Camera Operator
A camera operator's job is very important in the film industry as they are the ones creating the picture. A camera operator's role consists of:

• Preparing and operating the camera and all its equipment,
• Working with the Director and Director of Photography to achieve the visual style of the film,
• Managing other camera department staff and communicating with Actors.

You begin your career as a Camera Trainee or Runner, progressing to 2nd AC and, as you gain more experience, to 1st AC. You will have to continually build upon your experience and competence when operating a variety of cameras in order to achieve the role of Camera Operator.

Sound Designer
Sound Designers are very important in the post production of Film & TV. A sound designer's role consists of:

• Creating sounds effects for giant explosions or car crashes,
• Creating more subtle sounds to enhance mood and feeling,
• Managing the sound post production process.

You will learn on the job, starting in a junior role. If you have a background in music you can learn editing skills in television production.

 

On films you might get work as a Runner in picture or sound cutting rooms, or in an audio post production facilities house. With experience you can go on to become Assistant Re-Recording Mixers or Assistant Sound Editors. In this role you will assist experienced Sound Editors. Once you have learned your craft, you can move up to Supervising Sound Editor, then Sound Designer.

Boom Operator
Boom Operators are a key role during production because they are the right-hand people to Sound Recordists. A Boom Operator's role consists of:

• Controlling the long boom arm, and maneuvering it as close to the action as possible in order to achieve the best quality recording.

The best way to start your career in sound is to develop and demonstrate an interest in, and enthusiasm for sound. You can do this by exploring, experimenting and learning about audio technology and its capabilities.

Your first steps into the industry will normally be in a trainee role. On the job training or shadowing of more experienced personnel is the best way to learn.

Experience of working in theatre or the music industry, hospital or community radio would also provide you with a useful background for this role. Alternatively, getting a job with an equipment manufacturer or hire company could also provide valuable experience and training, helping you to learn about sound equipment, make industry contacts and get a foot in the door.

Sound Recordist
Sound Recordists work along side Boom Operators during production. A Sound Recordist's role consists of:

• Recording sound on location or in a studio to enable the highest quality “real” sound to be recorded at the time of filming.

The best way to start your career in sound is to develop and demonstrate an interest in, and enthusiasm for sound. You can do this by exploring, experimenting and learning about audio technology and its capabilities.

Your first steps into the industry will normally be in a trainee role. Experience of working in theatre or the music industry, hospital or community radio would also provide you with a useful background for this role.

Alternatively, getting a job with an equipment manufacturer or hire company could also provide valuable experience and training, helping you to learn about sound equipment, make industry contacts and get a foot in the door.

These are just some of the technical jobs offered in the Film & TV Industry, but there are some jobs which you need to work for, my first example:

Editor

 

The first job you need in most scenarios to make it in the Film & TV industry is a runner. A runner's job consists of:

• Working in the office, around set and on location,
• Dealing with varied office admin tasks,
• Dealing with a range of jobs on locations.

After doing your time as a Runner if you want to take the route of an editor you have to become a Trainee Editor. A Trainee Editor's job consists of:

• Working along side the Editor & Assistant Editors,
• Learning the ropes of being an Editor.

After proving yourself as a Trainee Editor you go up the ladder to become an Assistant Editor. An Assistant Editors job consists of:

• Running and maintaining editing systems,
• Taking responsibility for the smooth running of the cutting room on feature films,
• Supporting the whole of the post production process on feature films and working closely with film labs, and with the camera and sound departments.

Once you have made your mark as an Assistant Editor, next is what you've been working for the entire time, the Editor. The Editor's job consists of:

• Working closely with the Director to craft the finished film,
• Working in an edit suite for long hours,
• Running a team of assistants and trainees on big productions.

Michael Kahn

Michael Kahn is a Film Editor who is known for his editing work with Steven Spielberg. He holds the record for most Academy Award Nominations with 8 nominations and the record for most wins with 3 wins.

He done his first film edit in 1969 for the film, The Activist. He is still editing today, his most recent is St. James Place. The films he was nominated for best editing in the Academy Awards were:

• Close Encounters of the Third Kind, 1977
• Raiders of the Lost Ark, 1981
• Fatal Attraction, 1987
• Empire of the Sun, 1987
• Schindler's List, 1993
• Saving Private Ryan, 1998
• Munich, 2005
• Lincoln, 2012

The Films that won the awards were:

• Raiders of the Lost Ark, 1981
• Schindler's List, 1993
• Saving Private Ryan, 1998

He has various other award nominations and wins from different Award Shows such as; Satellite Awards, ACE Eddie, BAFTA, Onlime Folm Critics Society, Saturn Awards and Broadcast Film Critics Association.

Bibliography

Image: http://www.joseflebovicgallery.com/Catalogue/CL_151_2011/Pages/pg16.html

Camera Operator: http://creativeskillset.org/job_roles_and_stories/job_roles/3073_camera_operator

Sound Designer: http://creativeskillset.org/job_roles_and_stories/job_roles/3079_sound_designer

Boom Operator: http://creativeskillset.org/job_roles_and_stories/job_roles/286_boom_operator_tv

Sound Recordist: http://creativeskillset.org/job_roles_and_stories/job_roles/312_sound_recordist

Editor: http://creativeskillset.org/creative_industries/film/job_roles/2940_editor

Editor Image: http://www.scriptmag.com/features/write-direct-repeat-four-lessons-film-editing-taught-me-about-screenwriting

Michael Kahn Image: http://www.editorsguild.com/v2/magazine/archives/0106/cover_story.htm

Michael Kahn: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Kahn_(film_editor)

Runner: http://creativeskillset.org/creative_industries/film/job_roles/1701_production_runner

Trainee: http://www.craftandtech.org/trainee-editor/

Assistant Editor: http://creativeskillset.org/creative_industries/film/job_roles/3085_assistant_editor

Unit 27:Factual Programme Production Techniques For Television

Understand Issues relating to factual programming for television

Factual Programmes are made with different types of issues, that the director needs to keep track of throughout the production of the Factual Programme. These issues are; Accuracy & Balance, Impartiality, Objectivity & Subjectivity, Opinion, Bias, Representation and Privacy.

A factual programme is exactly what it says, a programme stating facts about a certain subject which means that the audience will be watching expecting to learn something and find out facts and stats about the subject which means that the director must deliver, this is known as a "Contract with the viewer" which is an unwritten contract from director to audience that they will deliver what they say they will. Ofcom is an organisation which makes sure that aired programmes are real and will not scam, harm or mislead an audience. This is for the benefit of the public and not for commercial purposes.

Accuracy
Accuracy is when something is as close and precise to the truth as it can be. This is a big factor in the 'contract with the viewer' because it means that the audience will be learning what they were expecting to learn at the start of the programme. In order for factual programmes to be accurate, a lot of careful research must be done to know that the facts are true. If a factual programme is found out to not have accurate facts the production company and/or director will lose the trust of their audience.

An example of an accurate Factual Programme is The News: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/

I chose The News because it is a factual programme that has a huge audience and must be trustworthy. The News tells facts about current news around the world so must be reliable which is also means they must do careful research of the subjects they talk about to know they aren't telling their audience false information. News reporters/presenters read from a script or teleprompter and have to be unbiased with only few acceptations. The News can sometimes be biased when they do interviews and vox pops because they answers they get may be one-sided.

Balance
Balance is when an argument or discussion is kept equal in factual and isn't biased. Both sides of an argument should be said equally an not more one than the other. For an argument to have balance the interviewer/host doing the debate must be impartial.

My example of a balanced factual argument is from "The Big Question" with the discussion 'Is the Bible still relevant?':

I chose this because it has balance as one side of the argument is a historian of the bible arguing that the bible is mostly fiction not fact and the other side is a Reverend who argues that the bible shouldn't have to be about fact but about truth.

Impartiality
Impartiality is when a director or producer don't take any sides in the subject they are doing about and stay neutral. Being impartial means not being biased and as a producer host a discussion but don't get involved in the answers or push the interviewee/s to say a certain answer.

My example of an impartial factual programme is "David Icke: Was he right?":

I chose this because it tells the story of David Icke's career and asks the question "Was he right?" and in it the producer doesn't give an unfair answer and lets it build out in its own way to answer the question.

Objectivity
Objectivity is when the programme is based solely on observation. It doesn't involve anything emotional and the audiences reactions come from what they see not what they are being told. To be objective means getting your point across using all the research you have gathered, and not giving your opinion whether it's biased or impartial. It means that the audience isn't fed an opinion, they instead make their own from what they're seeing and learning.

My example for an Objective Factual Program is "Man On Wire":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gs8ZcwGrOU

I chose this because it shows us re-enactments and rare footage of Phillipe Petit preparing to tight rope over the World Trade Centres and doing the tight rope over them. It has interviews with Phillipe's friends but we never get an opinion from the director or narrator they just tell his story as it is being shown.

Subjectivity
Subjectivity is when the director or producer make the subject based on their own opinion. They don't care to show footage or facts to show their opinion so keep it to themselves to try and make the audience think the same way they do and not have another opinion on the subject. Subjective Factual Programmes are highly biased.

I couldn't pick just one documentary for Subjective so went with Filmmaker Michael Moore  who has made Documentaries such as:

• Sicko
• Fahrenheit 9/11
• Capitalism: A Love Story
• And many more....

Michael doesn't like to find out other peoples opinions, he gets an idea, a subject and then just does it solely on what he wants it to be about, Michael's documentaries tend to always be giving a bad view of things instead of mixed or just positive.

Opinion
Opinions are based on your own individual thoughts on something. Opinions aren't always based on facts, opinions instead are based on arguments. This is where you can find conflict in opinionated factual programmes because everyone has different opinions on most things.

My example of an Opinionated Factual Programme is "The Obama Deception":

I chose this because it is someone giving their opinion that Obama was being deceived in office,  where he is saying he is changing America for the better but is actually making it more into being like a Nazi Germany.

Bias
Bias is when a director picks one side of an argument and documents on them. Being biased is a very unfair way to document, especially to a passive audience because they will take in what they're being told and not give it a second thought. Biased also means not giving any information or evidence at all of the other side of the argument and only doing the side you support.

My example of Bias Factual Programmes is one of Michael Moores "Bowling For Columbine":

I chose this because Michael is looking for the main causes of the Columbine High School Massacre of 1999 and he looks for anything can ensure violence from the surroundings of the shooters and doesn't look at it from the side, that everyone has access to these things but have never done a shooting.

Representation
Representation is when a subject is shown in a particular way. This is similar to biased as the director is trying to represent the subject in a certain way whether positive or negative. Positive representation is done so the audience feels sympathy towards the subject and negative is used to make a villain of what is being represented.

My example for this is Catfish:

I chose this because when we first meet Angela they represent her in a crazy way but as we find out more about her they represent her in a more sympathetic way.

Privacy
Privacy in factual programming is an important factor. Everyone has a right to privacy if they don't want something to be seen or don't want to be recognised in a production they have a right to that. Keeping interviewees private in an interview for a factual can be done by; changing the voice of the person, blurring their face, only showing the back of them or blacking them out.

My example for this is only showing the back of them: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-27784852

  I chose this because a victim of racist assault was interviewed and asked to stay anonymous and the News did as he asked as it is a right to privacy.

The Animal Man
My Documentary is about pets being abandoned and how my Dad has helped some in and out of work. My documentary will have Representation as I will be representing my Dad in a heroic manner. It will also have opinions on what the public think about animals that are abandoned and family and friends will have opinions on how they feel about my Dad and the animals he helps.

Short Film Edit Review

Review of Missing In Action Edit
Editing Technology

Editing the short film is done on Adobe Premier Pro. Premier Pro is an editing program (Software) it can be used to edit a range of things such as; Short Films, Feature Films, Montages and Music Videos. Premier Pro is a great program to use for editing as it has a very organised layout and isn't too confusing to use.

Doing a Short Film edit on Premier Pro starts firstly with capturing the footage you have filmed doing the production process, to get to the capture screen you can either go to File < Capture or press 'F5'.

 

 

Once you get onto this screen, using the top box on the right-hand side select where you want the footage to be saved, then in the boxes underneath name the tape and clips. The last thing you do before the edit begins is, make sure the scene detect box is ticked, meaning it will know when to cut each clip.

 

Once the clips have captured, the next thing to do is organise the clips into bins (folders) this makes it easier to find the necessary clips for each scene.

 

 

You create bins in this area of the program, you create a new bin by clicking the folder icon at the bottom of it.



 

As also seen in the image above, making a short film edit easier instead of working on one sequence create a new sequence for each scene.

 

Editing Process & Post-Production Tools



Starting the edit process begins with putting the clips into their sequence. Then use the Razor Tool to cut the clips to be edited together in linear and understandable order. Missing In Action is a voiceover-based story which means editing the voiceovers into the sequences.



 

I edited the voiceovers on in two different ways. The first I ungrouped the scenes that were going to be used in the voiceover, this means I can edit both the visual and audio seperately, to do the voiceover I deleted the audio track and replaced it with the voiceover. The second way was to put the voicover on the sequence and edit the visuals of the needed clips over the voiceover.

After completing all of the scenes, the sequences are saved on the clips window then from there I put them into the master sequence.



After having all of the scenes put into linear order on the master sequence, the offline edit is complete. After this I put on the opening credits, end credits, transitions, music and cinemascope. This makes it an online edit. To create credits/titles you go to Title<New Title then opening credits is <Default Still and end credits are <Default Roll.

After clicking which you want this window will open, it should be automatically set to the standard size of your video so from this just give it a name then click 'OK' after this it comes up with a new window where the title is created.

After creating the titles the music was put into the sequence, the music was the most difficult part of the edit as it was very hard to fit the volume keyframes over the film without it being too loud over the top of the speech's.

Overall Quality of Finished Product

The final cut of the film had both it's ups and downs. The pro's of the film were the credits looked good opening and end. Most of the edits cut together well and the explosion effect looked to standard for a first timer.

The cons of the edit were in some scenes the sound was too up and down due to background noises such as the vehicles in Scene 4. Putting the cinemascope in was an issue for some of the scenes as the shot sizes made it so we had to lose something kind of important in a shot.

Putting the film together as a whole went well as it the film makes sense and nothing in it is too confusing or mis-understandable.





 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Poster Review

After doing all of my practising for the poster, DVD Sleeve and DVD Label and finished filming the production I began my poster for it. My first idea for the poster was:

This didn't go as very well planned, although it looked good at first, I got carried away with the lighting on the picture which ruined it but before I actually decided it was ruined I had saved the picture, then we had decided the background was too much so changed that in the final poster.

 

My final poster seen the background change happen, the image of Vera (Maddie) change, the font colour change and the credit block added.

 

The changes to the poster give it a much more effectiveness as the image of Jack never had to change as it shown his character very well. The new image of Maddie works better as it shows her in character more both images giving an affection look and also Maddie's image doesn't take up as much of the poster as it did previously. The background doesn't get as much in your face.

 

 

The DVD sleeve mainly advertised Jack as he is the star factor character of the front cover and is on every clip scene shown on the back cover. It took a lot of development as some images just didn't work. I feel as the sleeve is effective for the film as it shows the character/s and the images doesn't give a lot away about the film.

 

The DVD Label never had much detail in it as I felt like their was too much going on already with the poster and DVD sleeve. To compensate for the lack of image I made sure to keep the DVD have the colour scheme of war/army colours.

To summarise I feel as my Poster, Sleeve and DVD advertised the DVD well enough without giving anything away from the film.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Me & My Movies

Me & My Movies
Action

Active vs Passive Spectatorship
Action films tend to have a passive spectatorship because when people watch them they don't think "oh how did they do that" or "That's so fake" they just take in what they are seeing and don't question things such as the White house being blown up or vehicles transforming.

The two films I'm going to be talking about are Never Back Down (2008, starring Sean Faris, Amber Heard and Cam Gigandet) and Pain & Gain (2013, starring Mark Wahlberg, Dwayne Johnson and Anthony Mackie). Both of these films fit into the action genre because they involve a person/group of people facing a challenge, fight scenes and in Pain & Gain there is explosions. 

The spectatorship for both these films is passive although for Pain & Gain some people could view it as active since it is based on a true story so it makes people question if bits of it are actually true or not. Never Back Down on the other hand is fully a passive spectatorship as there is nothing in it too over the top for people to question.

To summarise most Action films are for a passive audience but depending on how deep the story becomes some people could view them as active spectators.

Fandom
Some action films do have fandoms such as Dark Knight but then others such as Never Back Down and Pain & Gain don't have a fandom because there isn't anything very significant about them for people to go fanatic about.

Frameworks of Interpretation
Action films can be interpretated in different ways depending on who the audience is. Teens and Young Adults can get very energetic over action films, but more older mature adults either don't really enjoy action films depending on how cheesy they are or they enjoy them but don't get energetic and hyper over them.

Never Back Down is one of the films that can get people energetic and hyper because it's very high on fighting scenes whereas Pain & Gain tends to just keep you on your toes because you never know what's going to happen next with the trio.

Intertextuality
Action films don't really use intertextuality references unless they are referring to other action films, an example of this could be in The Expendables 2 since the cast are all famous for various different action films, each actor makes a quote from there most popular action films making the intertextual reference to the other film.

Media Literacy
In action films if you're educated with the behind the scenes of films you can't really view them the same because you're always analysing things in them like the effects and how the unique styles of camera work are used.

Social Networking
Action films now always have a Facebook page & Twitter Account to advertise them and give sneak peeks which is a great way of promoting the films because people who want to see little tid bits before the film is released will like the page or follow the account giving the film more promotion.

Conditions of Reception
Action films are the better films to watch in the cinema 3D or 2D because it grasps you more into the action that it would sitting watching it on a much smaller screen at home. Other genres such as romance don't really make a difference but a genre like action makes a big difference from being on the big screen compared to the small screen.

Pre & post-viewing Experience
Action films can be seen much differently from Pre & Post-viewings because watching all of the trailers, sneak peeks & interviews before seeing an Action film can make you think, "Wow this film looks so great and highly action-packed" but then when you watch the full film you realise that all the clips you seen that made it look action-packed were all the action scenes in the film.

Conclusion
To conclude Action genre films are the kind of films where if you want to view them you must WANT to view them because if you're watching them without having the intention of enjoying them you most certainly won't. I enjoy all kinds of Action Films but less preferably Super Hero films because they seem very cheesy.

File Formats

Printing Poster Graphics

Are you a budding film maker? Do you want a poster for your film? In this article I'm going to be teaching you about the different files & formats that you will need to make a poster.

Formats

First lets talk about the 2 different formats you will need and which applications these formats are on. Lets start with Vector Graphics, Vector Graphics are images that use lines, curves, shapes and polygons to create their images. These mean that the image can be expanded and shrunk without losing the image quality.

Vector Graphic Applications

There are a variety of different Vector-based Applications. I will not be talking about all of them but just to name a few, first and maybe the most popular Adobe Illustrator with it's many different tools, Illustrator can be used to make very high detailed graphics:



Formats (cont.)

 If you don't want to spend a lot of money on getting Adobe products there are others such as Inkscape or Xara photo & Graphic Designer & Macromedia Free Hand just to name a few. All of these programs use Vector graphics so can all be used the same way.

The other format is Raster Graphics this means that digital camera photos or photos from the internet which are made of pixels, these are also referred to as bitmaps. Also the larger the image the memory it will take when being saved.

Raster Graphic Applications

The same as Vector Applications there are a variety of Raster-based applications. The first is another adobe program, Photoshop there is a lot of different tools on Photoshop giving you endless options for your images.

Other options for Raster programs if you don't want Adobe software are; MS Paint, GIMP or Painter. They all do the same as Photoshop but with a lot less tools to work with.

File Extensions

When it comes to programs such as Photoshop there are a lot of different ways to save files, although you need them all here are some examples of the extensions you will need for creating DVD images:

• .jpg (JPEG - Joint Photographic Experts Group) this is used for Digital images from Cameras or the internet.
• .tiff (Tagged Image File Format) this is used for images that will be desktop published.
• .png (Portable Network Graphics) this is used for palette-based images.
• .gif (Graphics Interchange Format) this is used for short animations.
• .bmp (Bitmap) This is used to save bitmap digital images.
• .RAW (RAW) This is a camera image that has minimal processed data.
• .psd (Photoshop Document) This is a saved Photoshop document that keeps all layers separated so it can be opened and edited another time.
• ai (Adobe Illustrator) This is used to save Illustrator files that can be edited when re-opened and vector files that can be exported from Illustrator to Photoshop.

Metafiles

Finally metafiles, these are a piece of graphical information that is stored in a format that can be exchanged between different software.

Remaking Movies-Total Recall

Remaking Movies

Total Recall

Total Recall tells the story of Douglas Quaid/Hauser a man who's really not enjoying the route is life is going in and discovers a place called Rekall, a place where you can have false memories, live the life you want. He goes to Rekall to find himself already in false memories and see's his real life a secret agent in a war he doesn't know which side he is on.

The original Total Recall was realised in 1990, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger as Douglas Quaid/Hauser. In this Douglas' memories take him to Mars as a secret agent. In 2012 the remake of Total Recall see's Colin Farrell taking the role of Douglas Quaid/Hauser although  in this his memories don't take him to Mars they instead keep him on Earth. Many people including myself thought casting Farrell to take a role once done by Scharzenegger was a bad idea, Scharzenegger done a great job of the 1990 original another wasn't necessary, proving us wrong, on it's US opening weekend Total Recall 2012 had a grossing of  $25,577,758 after working with a budget of $125 million. The 1990 Total Recall had a grossing of $25,533,700 on it's opening weekend after working with a budget of $65 Million.

Total Recall 1990 was directed by Paul Verhoeven previous to Total Recall another successful film directed by Verhoeven is Robocop, after Total Recall he then went on to direct Basic Instict & Starship Troopers plus others but these were the most successful. Total Recall 2012 was directed by Len Wiseman who also directed the Underworld Saga and Live Free or Die Hard but is yet to direct since Total Recall. You can see in both of the Total Recalls more the original that both directors put their own flavour into them.Verhoeven's trio of Robocop, Total Recall and Starship Troopers are all based in the future and use a similar styling. Another common thing with Verhoeven is Total Recall and Starship Troopers are both based on other planets. Where with Wiseman Underworld isn't based in the future but Total Recall is, you can still see his frames of work within the both films.

An iconic scene from the original see's Quaid meeting a three-breasted lady, this became one of the most remembered and loved scenes from the film which just meant Wiseman couldn't leave her out giving the three-breasted lady her moment in the film.

Although Wiseman's Total Recall is a remake of Verhoeven's being that the casting is totally different to the original and it being based on Earth not Mars, you get two "totally" different feels from the each of the films. Verhoeven's gives the full on Sci-Fi action feel where Wiseman's gives a full on action feel with futuristic settings.

In Total Recall Quaid's wife as portrayed by Sharon Stone in the original and Kate Beckinsale in the remake have also both been a part of both directors other successful films, Stone in Basic Instict and Beckinsale in Underworld. Both directors used their films main characters actors who were at the top of their game at the time of their respective films, taking the role of the Resistance Leader in the original is Marshall Bell who was fresh off Twins another film starring Scharzenegger in the remake the role was given to Bill Nighy who had previously starred in Underworld and was fresh off Wrath of the Titans. The role of Vilos Cohaagen the Colony Leader was given to Ronny Cox in the original who was fresh off Loose Cannons and Captain America, in the remake the role was given to Bryan Cranston who was in his final run of his most known role in Breaking Bad. Finally the role of Melina the love interest of our protagonist was given to Rachel Ticotin in the original who was just starting her filming career with only three previous films done, in the remake we see Jessica Biel as Melina who had just finished with New Year's Eve.

To conclude both films are differently the same, following the same story but expressing them in different ways, both films were strongly cast and all of the cast in both films gave of great characteristics of the same characters. Watching both films and knowing the directors other films you see that the same story can be told in different ways and still give off the same emotions at the end of the film.