Afterlife - Research

This blog post will cover inspirational films, camera techniques, colour and similar scenes to Afterlife. I will also discuss what we could test and duplicate.



Probably the most obvious scene that is a direct reference to a piece of work is the black room. There are subtle changes like the water on the floor just being a reflection. In the above scene, the camera is mostly mid shots, one wide of the Demogorgon. Moving the camera will be tricky for us as we don't have the budget for a fully black room so most of it will be effects in post. We did a few tests but just couldn't find anything that could make the movements smooth enough and would be too much for our visual effects artist. The wide shots are doable, but an extreme wide would probably require effects. There's only so much we can do in camera. The colours in Stranger Things are also very significant; the blues, use of shadows and depth of field in the series are gorgeous and something I want to recreate in the void scene.

https://www.buzzfeed.com/eleanorbate/how-many-lens-flares-is-too-many-lens-flares?sub=4321238_9309749

Feels a bit weird mentioning a music video as inspiration for a film but here we are. This video was the first thing that came into my mind when the director said they wanted a slow motion car crash. But obviously we can't crash an actual car like in the video so we have to be clever about it. At the 2:27 mark, there's a close up of Simon's hands and glass added in post and it looks very effective, and the next shot of him lying on the ground. Most of the car crash scene for us will be close ups and I don't think we are even smashing any glass. The heads and hair in slow motion look particularly effective, and the blood running down Simon's forehead at the end looks great and would be good to replicate. I also love the lighting in this, it's subtle like the red lighting on Simon in the car but also the natural looking lights outside, that close up of Simon on the floor too with the headlights flashing we can also duplicate.

The director also briefly mentioned having the main actress coming down on an umbrella with the camera directly underneath her, so only her foot is in shot. The only similar shot I can find is from The Greatest Showman but they use actual ropes and trapeze to film the scene. The only way around I can think of is getting the actress to jump from a height and use a higher frame rate (or slow it down in post). A light is also getting made similar to the one used in the film so reflections of it will also look great, especially in the cellar.

You'll have to ignore the Korean subtitles

How Films Tell Stories Through Mise-en-scène

This blog posts links to my Minor as I will be focusing on props and cinematography, and also exploring more in depth how films give emotional responses through Mise-en-scène. I feel like this will enhance my filmmaking decisions as well as my Minor presentation as it can back up my points and also explore topics I have covered.



Consumerism is a huge theme explored in Fight Club. Jack is chasing the American Dream; a white collar job and expensive furnature. However, he cannot achieve happiness. The reoccuring motif's of Starbucks cups suggest the capitalist culture and it effecting Jack's life. The above scene, he realises that he is a consumerist as he's after a "dining set that defines me" and is emasculated "we used to read pornography, now we read the Ikea catalogue". The slow pan and the writing exaggerates how bad his 'addiction' to consumerist culture is and how he wants to fit in. This also links to the 90s 'New Man' where men were becoming more paternal feminised.



The first few minutes of the above scene is rich in mise-en-scène to create tension and fear. The centre piece of the scene is an oversized table full with brightly coloured food. Ofelia lives where food is rationed so it must be torture for her to resist, then she gives in and eats the grapes. There is a close up of Ofelia, closing her eyes back with pleasure showing her captivated by the taste and lost in the moment to the action unfolding behind her. The red colours in the food (grapes, meat…) on the table is symbolic. In this case, red represents blood and danger. 

The fact that Ofelia’s dress was once a bright, luxurious green in the previous scenes suggests a happy, innocent and enchanting character. However, in this scene, it looks more dull and ragged suggesting trauma and possibly a change in character. 

Piled high in the creature’s lair is his collection of 'memento mori'. It consists of children’s shoes, they are small and poignant; the murder of the innocents is very symbolic, and creates anxiety for Ofelia’s fate, also shown in the paintings of the slaughtering of children. 

The hour glass is constantly cross cut to, with an incremental zoom; a constant reminder that time is running out. 

I've done an essay on this as there was just so much to talk about an analyse, which can be found on my Moodle page.



Costumes and colour are the defining factors in Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, with lots of mise-en-scène similar to a video game. For example, the prestigious vegan ex is dressed in white to show extravagance, who also wears a big 3 on his chest. Each ex has a number, apart from Scott who was seen earlier wearing a shirt saying "zero". Ramona is unpredictable, shown in her changing hair colours. Her hair is green in the above clip, symbolising Scott's jealousy (and is also mirrored in Scott's green shirt). Her hair could also symbolise each act of the film; pink when she and Scott aren't dating, blue when they are, and green for the resolution. Scott also wears a pink undershirt when he first meats Ramona (who has pink hair) which could signify he has feelings for her but does not want to expose them. When Scott and Knives drift apart, Scott's costume dulls down and also has a patch with an "X" on it, suggesting he could become her "ex" soon. Overall, the costumes are iconically 90s, as well as pixelated swords and writing that pops up (similar to the Fight Club scene) to mirror video games. 

References
Most of the above is from my own knowledge of mise-en-scène. 

Fight Club (David Fincher, 1999)
Pan's Labyrinth (Guillermo Del Toro, 2006)
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (Edgar Wright, 2010)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFHzD2w-meE (07.11.17)

How-To Video Research

My 3-5 minute film to present at the end of the module will be an instructional video. I felt like this would tie up all the footage of the props together and also show what I have been researching and doing for my Minor well. I looked at previous how-to videos online that tend to do fairly well as research, with a focus on film youtubers and how they present theirs.



This one is kind of how not to do comedy. However they do show how to do three point lighting set ups well. It feels scripted with mostly visuals. It also has 1 million views (and is also the go to video for our lecturers) so it must be doing something right. They make it look very simple, with no convoluted words.



Apart from the load of ads in the video, Film Riot do very well on YouTube. Their presenter is frequent in all their videos (apart from some guest speakers) and is very casual and friendly, sometimes funny and sarcastic. 




Every Frame A Painting is one of the most popular Film youtube channels. This one is voice over only and focuses on visuals (which is what I will do). He is very informative and is quite clearly scripted. There's not a lot of humour, but there is a lot of detail. I would have liked this much in mine, but I didn't want to take up half my presentation time on this video. 



This is what came up when I just searched for "editing tutorials". It has nearly 2 million views and is basically a load of screengrabs and a narration. I will be doing something similar but with filmed props rather than screengrabs of the software. I could do this with After Effects if I have time. The narration is informative, casual, but no humour.


Overall, a lot of the videos do not include humour (or include it well) so I will be focusing on this for mine and in the script. Visuals from films tend to do well too (but the films will be my filmed props and some behind the scenes stuff of how to film them). My narration will also be informative, like all of the above. 

TV Shows/A Possible Conclusion

During my research, I have discovered that vampire films are becoming less and less relevant and popular (which is making my dissertation rather tricky). The new Underworld was a flop as it was the "same as the others" and other films were quite independent with not a lot of marketing behind them. It seems like the vampire is dying (ironically).

However, there has been more and more successful vampires in TV shows; Shadowhunters, Preacher, The Vampire Diaries, The Originals, and upcoming Interview With The Vampire which has a lot of hype surrounding it. 

https://hiddenremote.com/2016/05/23/preacher-recap-review-pilot/

Preacher is a particularly good example with various award nominations and 90% score (season 2 getting 97%) on Rotten Tomatoes with people saying "Preacher's sophomore season benefits from more focused storytelling, without sacrificing any of its gorgeous, violent, insane fun." The show is still going strong, with Cassidy being many people's favourite character (yeah, mine too). 

Maybe the future for vampires isn't in films anymore, possibly because it's been done too much and people are finding it boring, or it could be a context link with more people choosing to binge watch TV shows on Netflix rather than watch a film. I will research into this further in my dissertation. 

Upcoming Vampire Films

For part of my dissertation research, I am looking at vampire films in production in the next few years and how they portray the vampire. I was very surprised when only two came up when I Googled it. There was also another vampire film released late last year/early this year (a part of the famous Underworld franchise) which I am also looking at.

Underworld: Blood Wars (Anna Foerster, 2016)

Vampire death dealer, Selene (Kate Beckinsale) fights to end the eternal war between the Lycan clan and the Vampire faction that betrayed her.

All I can say about this film is, oh dear. Reviews are poor and they did not make back their budget nor achieve a good opening weekend box office. According to numerous reviews, it's very similar to the previous Underworld films and offers nothing new for old and new fans. Maybe the production company wanted to play it safe and go with what the franchise likes? 

To link to my dissertation, this goes against the idea that the vampire changes with societal context. The Underworld franchise is 14 years old and it is still the same in storyline and in their vampires. 

The Last Voyage of Demeter (David Slade, TBC)

Based on a chapter in Bram Stoker's "Dracula," which describes the arrival of the vampire count in England on a cargo ship that has crashed into the rocks at Whitby with no crew and the dead captain lashed to the steering wheel. Stoker tells the story via the captain's log of the voyage, which begins in Bulgaria and becomes increasingly disjointed as members of the crew disappear.

There isn't a lot of information or clips on this film as it is still in production by the looks of it. The story itself sounds like an old fashioned vampire tale. With the star studded cast of Viggo Mortensen and Jude Law, and the recent final Pirates of The Caribbean franchise, the film feels like it could do well, with people wanting more out to sea action.


The Redemption of Cain (Will Smith, TBC)

An epic re-telling of the Biblical sibling tale, Cain and Abel, this time with a vampiric twist.

Again, there is not a lot of information on this film. It certainly does sound interesting though, and curious to how Cain and Abel will be portrayed. There has been a few biblical blockbusters such as Noah and Ridley Scott possibly doing a Moses film, there is a franchise for it and they could be playing on that. There is definitely a franchise for Will Smith too so the film could do fairly well. However, biblical films don't seem to earn huge profits, and with quite a lot of religious people going to see it, they may be put off with the vampire twist.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Another notable project (not film related) is The Vampire Chronicles (Interview With The Vampire) being turned into a TV series. There is a lot of hype behind it with rumours of a star cast and a huge fanbase of Anne Rice's novels and of the film. However, there has been a few TV series based off films before, one good example for my dissertation is From Dusk Till Dawn. There is a huge fanbase behind the cult classic film, however the TV series plummeted and received terrible reviews.

The market is very unpredictable and it's hard to say what films will do well or not, even with a franchise, it does not secure a film will do well or people will enjoy or be affected with the take on the vampire. 

Minor Ideas

I know, it's probably way to early to start thinking about Minor, but I've had a few ideas I want to write down before I forget them. I also need to look carefully at the brief as I have no idea if it will fit. 

After going to the Kodak Awards last weekend (mostly gatecrashing since I missed out on this due to the different pathway system), we heard that a year previously has done the Kodak briefs for their minors. I asked Mike and Lee if this is a possibility and it looks doable. I would like to look into 16mm and cinematography as I want to be as adept in all formats as possible and would also be nice to enter the awards if they are good enough. I would probably need someone to help me with ideas (as I am not good at coming up with plots and scripts).

My other idea if the first does not get approved is how does camera framing, composition and movement effect a film? I will find a few famous film scenes and change the framing of some of them to see of they still have the same emotional impact. This idea is loosely based on the Cineflix videos on YouTube but it will be more researched and focused on cinematography. I may also put into practice what I have learnt and do different framing edits with a scene of my own.

The History of Streaming

Live streaming actually first had it roots in the 1920s with George O. Squier who was given the rights to distribute signals, which because Muzak, which was able to stream continuous music without the use of radio. 

The full development, including computers and the internet, didn't develop fully until 1990s/2000s. The increase of technology started to set things in motion. In 1993, Severe Tire Damage was the first band to broadcast live over the internet. In 1995 RealNetworks televised a live baseball game, and later that year, Paramount Theatre streamed the first symphony concert online. The first continuous streaming was Word magazine (not live), who streamed soundtracks online. The first large scale video broadcast was in 1996 with the Tibetan Freedom Concert.

"Live streaming" comes from a content source (video cameras and microphones) and is made available at the same time of recording. "On-demand streaming" (Netflix) provides content from a source, where you can watch it at will (live streaming occurs at that moment, in real time). The choice between streaming and buying hard copies of films is a major divide in viewing habits.

Live streaming is everywhere today, with the introduction of Facebook Live and Periscope and is likely to only improve and become more common in the future.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

VICENT, A. 'The History of Live Streaming'. http://www.dacast.com/blog/the-history-of-live-streaming/ (24.10.2016)

DIXON, W.W. 'Streaming: Movies, Media and Instant Access'. 2013.

Domestic Abuse Chairities

I have developed my visual culture creative piece lately and decided to cover domestic abuse in LGBTQ+ relationships. I feel like it's something not covered in the film industry, covers the topic of gender, and can also portray my idea of using one colour instead of dialogue in each scene (like Sin City). 

I have researched into a few charities I could possibly message to attach their name to the project (this is more for post production, but I felt that if I researched into it, I could portray it more truthfully).

Galop

National LGBT Domestic Abuse Helpline. 

Some useful information on what exactly domestic abuse is too.

Emotional and practical support for LGBT people experiencing domestic abuse. Abuse isn’t always physical- it can be psychological, emotional, financial and sexual too. Speak out, don’t suffer in silence.

London LGBT Domestic Abuse Partnership

If you are in London, the LGBT Domestic Abuse Partnership can help too. The DAP is made up of 4 LGBT agencies who each provide different services for LGBT victims/survivors of domestic abuse. With one phone call, you will be linked in with Galop, Stonewall Housing, LGBT Switchboard, and London Friend.

Stonewall

Information on LGBT's rights when it comes to domestic violence and guides to read through.

Safelives

Not for LGBT specifically, but they look for new ways to stop domestic abuse. My film might be useful.


A few more domestic abuse (in general) charities;

• Refuge
• National Domestic Violence Helpline
• Samaritans 
• Women's Aid

Ghostbusters - Review

Who ya gonna call?

My friend made me see the new Ghostbusters today. I was still very wary all week and on the bus there from being such a fan of the original, but hey I ain't afraid of no ghosts, so I tried to keep a fresh outlook. My friend is also a die-hard Ghostbusters fan and this is her second time seeing it, so it must have been good. I finally agreed to go because the 'sheetboot' interests me and so does Chris Hemsworth.

http://www.fandango.com/movie-news/ghostbusters-melissa-mccarthy-kristen-wiig-kate-mckinnon-and-leslie-jones-reveal-what-you-need-to-know-about-the-new-characters-750787

On the topic of Hemsworth, we may as well talk about him more, to like grab the attention of all you readers. Chris Hemsworth plays the 'dumb blonde' stereotype (normally a female stereotype) really well and it was certainly different to see it flipped on it's head. He was by far the funniest character with many memorable moments; "that guy went out the wrong door!" and "an aquarium is a submarine for fish" being a few. He gets quite a lot of screen time, a lot more than Annie Potts in the original with quite a big moment near the end of the film (I won't say anything because spoilers) but I really enjoyed it and was nice to see him be badass.

http://rebloggy.com/post/mine-mygif-chris-hemsworth-ghostbusters-chemsedit-gif-ghostbusters-kevin-the-rec/143432597180

Same Chris, same.

Even though Kevin was awesome, my favourite character was by far Holtzman- the crazy genius of the group. She was fun and relatable, with a great fashion sense and stood out from the crowd. I want to be her. Her badass moment at the end and with and developing the gadgets were fulfilling and enjoyable. Watching the gadgets evolve was interesting and fun. Even though Holtzman was fab, Patty was annoying with her unfunny "is it a race thing?" jokes and "the power of Patty compels you!". She tried too hard to be funny and really brought the team down, in my opinion (it's not a race thing! Just bad characterisation!)

http://poetzproblem.tumblr.com/post/147650688728

The one thing that annoyed me the most during the movie (apart from two kids sneaking in for 10 minutes then leaving) was the 3D. I loved the 3D for the ghosts at the end of the film (I ducked a few times) but the 3D was really weird and it went over the bars of the film (hard to explain, you have to see it to believe it). One scene where it particularly bugged me was when Abby got possessed and Patty was slapping her. The necklace of Patty came out from the main frame and was clearly on the bars of the film. It really distracted me and I didn't like it at all. 

http://www.theverge.com/2016/3/3/11150960/ghostbusters-interview-paul-feig-katie-dippold-trailer-analysis

The film had soooo many cameos! I loved it! I knew the original Ghostbusters were making an appearance, but Sigourney Weaver was a surprise, and so was Ozzy Osbourne. I loved each one and were nice Easter Eggs for the film. Fall Out Boy (one of my fave bands) also did a remix of the theme tune and when it came on I WAS SO INTO IT YES LIKE BOOM THE ECTO VAN AND FALL OUT BOYYYYY IN THE DISTANCE! A great song (Missy Elliott's bit isn't amazing but I can live with it because Fall Out Boy) and fits perfectly with the film.

http://io9.gizmodo.com/everything-we-learned-about-ghostbusters-from-its-trail-1762666819

I'm sure all the kids that went to see this are scarred for life now because even I was scared by the ghosts. The Ghostbusters logo ghost was SO CREEPY and those balloons SHEEZ like I don't have a fear for clowns but I do now. I'll take Rowan any day over them. Talking of Rowan (the villain), I loved his characterisation even though his back story is a little weak; destroys the world as he is bullied? Hmm. Bit much if you ask me. But it became clearer that he wanted to rule the world with ghosts as the new inhabitants. Still a bit much just because he was bullied (although now I think about it, some films do this, like The Incredibles). He, however, was really clever and felt real. Even though ghosts don't exist, the science behind it seemed plausible. The ending of the battle was a bit weak in my opinion, it was figured out too quickly and is similar to endings in the past such as Avengers Assemble and Big Hero 6.

https://www.inverse.com/article/15809-new-ghostbusters-trailer-offers-first-footage-of-new-villain

One thing that confused me was why did two of the characters suddenly get grey hair? Did I miss something? Was it so the actors could dye their hair? Or was it because "they had seen a ghost"? 

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this film. I had a smile on my face all the way home from it (can't remember the last time that happened! Probably when I went to see The Incredibles!) The post credits scene was intriguing and open for a sequel. Some annoying bits, but it didn't take away from the whole film experience and I still felt great afterwards. Some funny moments, great cameos and just a great film.

6.5/10

Live Project - Team Politics

We brainstormed what happened and was fashionable in the 80s with Di today. I was quite impressed with what we knew, but Di wanted us to look further into the politics, literature and design aspects of the 80s. We were given politics to look at. 

Beth and Janice took one for the team and pitched it while me, Jack and Ryan presented our actual pitches for a rehearsal. Beth and Janice did really well and was a good detailed presentation (despite Mike saying it was crap before they even got started properly). 

1980s Politics from LokiDoki9

Report Research

Today I made a start on my report and looked for sources I could use. I found quite a lot of interesting ones and narrowed them down by skim reading for quality and interesting facts I could use and also reliability. Here are the best ones I found:

Andrew Horton, Stuart Y. McDougal (1998). Play it Again, Sam: Retakes on Remakes. California: University of California Press. https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=Uramz-iT9Q0C&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false 

Constantine Verevis (2006). Film Remakes. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press Ltd. https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=-epMKoT-NO4C&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_atb#v=onepage&q&f=false

Jason Dietz. (2011). Are Original Movies Really Better than Derivative Works?. Available: http://www.metacritic.com/feature/movie-sequels-remakes-and-adaptations. Last accessed 18th Jan 2016.

Kathleen Loock, Constantine Verevis (2012). Film Remakes, Adaptations and Fan Productions: Remake/Remodel. Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan. https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=C0mxuFczSH8C&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_atb#v=onepage&q&f=false

Mark Carpowich. (2015). The Movie-Remake Craze: How Hollywood's Empty Ideas Are Filling Theaters. Available: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mark-carpowich/the-movieremake-craze-how-hollywood-empty-ideas-are-filling-theaters_b_7490992.html. Last accessed 18th Jan 2016.

Stephen Follows. (2015). The scale of Hollywood remakes and reboots. Available: https://stephenfollows.com/hollywood-remakes-and-reboots/. Last accessed 18th Jan 2016. (spoilers, the scale is huge)

Todd Cunningham. (2014). 11 Fascinating Facts About the 2014 Box Office. Available: http://www.thewrap.com/11-fascinating-facts-about-the-2014-box-office/. Last accessed 18th Jan 2016. (spoilers, there were 7 remakes in the box office, 8 if you include Maleficent)

Yohana Desta. (2014). Why Hollywood Is Producing So Many Damn Remakes. Available: http://mashable.com/2014/10/09/hollywood-film-remakes/#Bis97jVC.OqF. Last accessed 18th Jan 2016. (I don't know, but there's no need for that language Yohana)

Case Study - The Hillywood Show

Subscribers: 1,016,452

Biggest hit: Breaking Dawn Parody - 29,725,630 views.

The Hillywood Show started out as a low budget bit of fun between two sisters; Hilly and Hannah Hindi with their imitations of celebrities, especially Johnny Depp.

With more and more views, the sisters became more and more popular. With the increase in technology and people donating to help them create more parodies with a bigger production value, they became viral.

Hillywood still have a 'donate' part of their website and 'raise-a-thons' on their channel to boost views and make more videos. 

This parody is my favourite made by them as it is my favourite TV show and they even got all the cast to appear in it! How awesome is that?! Now watch the two video's embedded. The difference is huge!

How this relates to me

This example shows that anyone, no matter how small a production can become internet famous, from a free to use site. Gives us hope for our advert!

Case Study: Fright Night

Fright Night (Tom Holland, 1985)

Budget: $9 mill
Box office: $24.9 mill
Distributor: Columbia Pictures
Accolades: Saturn Award for Best Horror, Supporting Actor, Writing
Rotten Tomatoes score: 91%


Fright Night (Craig Gillespie, 2011)

Budget: $30 mill
Box office: $41 mill
Distributor: Walt Disney Studios
Accolades: Fangoria Chainsaw Awards- Best Wide Release Film. IGN Best Horror Movie 2011.
Rotten Tomatoes score: 72%

Differences/Similarities 

• Remake- Peter Vincent more sexualised
• Original- more a romance
• Remake- action straight away. We know it's a vampire/horror straight away. Gory-er?
• Remake- brighter lighting. More Americanised? Establishing shots of LA.
• Remake- find out people are missing with school absences. Original- news stories. Remake more school central- more a teen movie.
• Remake- more music. Original more quiet and dramatic.
• Remake- Ed not as annoying.
• Remake- Jerry more muscular. Changing masculinity.
• Remake- Ed jumps to the conclusion Jerry's a vampire. Original- Charley does. 
• REMAKE- WHY DID ED STALK JERRY? HE COULDN'T HAVE ALWAYS KNOWN HE WAS A VAMPIRE. 
• Original- Amy more sexualised. Remake- Amy more feminine in context. Changing femininity. Remake more sexually open (ish). Original raped by Jerry on camera. Original more darker?
• Remake- new technology. Peter Vincent advert, phone app, LA skyscrapers. More SFX/green screen.
• Remake- Jerry keeps victims alive. Darker?
• Remake- Peter Vincent stage show. Original- TV show.
• Remake- Peter Vincent alcohol and sex problem. Normal in original.
• Remake- more action and fast cuts. 
• Remake- club more sexualised and busy.

Case Study - YouTube

Founded: 14th Feburary 2005

Available content: video clips, TV clips, music videos, video blogging, short original videos, and educational videos.

Founders: Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, Jawed Karim

Bought by Google for: $1.65 billion

Platforms

Most smartphones can access YouTube either through the app or via the web, but not all of YouTube's videos are available on the mobile version of the site. 

A TiVo service in July 2008 made it possible to watch YouTube videos on TV. In 2009, YouTube launched 'YouTube for TV', a version of the site tailored for set top boxes and other TV based media devices, such as PlayStation 3 and Wii.

YouTube Red

YouTube Red is YouTube's premium subscription service. It offers advertising-free streaming, access to exclusive content, background and offline video playback on mobile devices, and access to the Google Play Music "All Access" service. *only available in the US at this current time*

Technology

How we will use this in our work

For our advert, we want to hyperlink the main advert using them boxes you get on YouTube. 

We want to put videos online of the interviews and the different pathways like this so it will be like a 'choose your own adventure' book and people can click on what they want to see more of. 

MM&I - The House

One of my shots in my MM&I requires a Gothic house. I have researched many different houses in the North East I could film and it has been harder than I thought! My first best bet was Tunstall House in Hartlepool. 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/alanhowe/7659271668

However, when I researched it further, it looks like it has been demolished!! Such a shame for such a lovely building. I am also wanting a building that has a 'lived in' feel so yeah not ideal!

I then remembered the place I could have moved into for Uni but someone else bought the flat. It is Park Tower also in Hartlepool. 

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-29864646.html

It has history and is an idea but it is a bit too big and industrial. I want it in the countryside surrounded by forestry. I might use it as a backup idea.

I then found this beauty of a house in Newcastle. It is called The Banqueting House.

http://www.landmarktrust.org.uk/search-and-book/properties/the-banqueting-house-4863#tabs=Overview

You can even stay in it! I absolutely love it. The only possible trouble is asking permission to film and also getting there. Otherwise it is perfect. This is my main favourite! 

I then thought about houses in Sunderland (which I can get to on my bus pass). I found a very strange building called The Elephant Tea Rooms.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elephant_Tea_Rooms

I would obviously just film the top of the building and not the bank. It's a very strange building and is an idea. Even though it could be argued that it is not gothic, it has been described as 'Hindu-Gothic'. 

There also seems to be another like it in Sunderland. I'm not quite sure where this picture was took though.

https://knoji.com/high-victorian-gothic 

https://knoji.com/hindu-gothic-the-bizarre-architecture-of-the-elephant-tea-rooms

Apparently this one has Gothic gargoyles and niches on the building, but also with Indian elephants. I will definitely have to find out where this is first-hand!

I then remembered Cherry Knowle Asylum in Ryhope. I have been there once but never saw this building! It has been described as the most haunted hospital in the UK.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/phill_dvsn/2106093779

I have just found out it has been demolished. What a shame.

I also remember this. This is the Sunderland High School.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/theunderstudy/2581463895 

The only issue with this building is filming there since it is a High School and full of children. 

UPDATE: I have got permission to film here! :D Yay!

I have also found the Sunderland General Post Office.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/davewebster14/2674670401

Again, I'm not quite sure where this is so I will have to try and find it one day. However it looks like good news!

MM&I - The Poem

My Mam wrote me a poem just for my MM&I (I didn't ask for it but I'm not complaining!) So I had an idea of having someone to read it as a narration throughout the film. The poem has one line with an ellipsis at the end. I could read that line and someone else (preferably male) would read the rest. It sounds great in my head but I just need someone male with a nice reading voice now. I have sent an advertisement on Facebook looking for one so fingers crossed!

18

18 feels...

Like stepping stones, borders and decisions.

Put away childish things.

Alcohol, voting.

Responsibility, choking. 

We live in a world...

Where nothing is shocking.

Not injustice or gore.

They want to see more.

The future is...

Seen through a colour filter.

Joy, success.

Heading towards some happiness.

We cannot predict...

What will become of tomorrow.

The cards, the dice.

Promising paradise.

We are victims of...

Our own successes.

Applause, adulations.

Fulfil their expectations.

And first love...

Like a punch to the heart.

Something lost, something found.

See you around.

But the music though...

Is ours to perfect.

Dance Dance, drum and sing.

The voice, the lyric, everything.

Childhood...

Potential we should store in a flask.

Wasted energy, shyness device.

Why isn't everybody nice?

What is left to be dreamed...

A house, gothic, warm with cats.

Money earned and stored.

Effort, reward.

And what of the soul...

Souls tell stories.

Pointy shoes and thieving magpies.

Darkness, lies.

The last word...

The world wants to be filmed.

Make your own movie.

I will film you, filming me.

Create, be.

- Ruth Maher

I have recorded it to see if I could get it within the three minute mark. I have managed to get it to 1:53 which is about perfect as I will add credits at the end. I have managed to find someone at CCAD who would do the verses and I am waiting for him to quickly send me one of the verses to see what he sounds like.