Visual Culture Adventure/Fail

https://www.tumblr.com/tagged/i'm-going-on-an-adventure-gif

I went to a few libraries the past few days to try and find some books I could use for my essay (since I have to use 6 books minimum). I went to CCAD library first and found two books on Luis Bunuel which could have been useful. Closer inspection when I got home revealed they were about two different films by Bunuel: Un Chien Andalou and The Discreet Charm of the Bougeoisie (this is bad as I am doing 70s surrealism and focused on different films). I still remained optimistic and hoped there would be some useful quotes on surrealism in general. The Un Chien one was useless, but I am still reading through the Discreet Charm one so fingers crossed there's something!

I also went to Blackhall Library which was a complete fail- they don't even have a cinema section! I could have possibly reserved some books but they might not have come in time.

My last hope is some of the books in Google Books. I wanted to scavenge the libraries first as I scan them and can read them better (what's wrong with the old fashioned way!) 

Remembering Legends

This isn't really relevant to the course, but I felt I had to upload something to my film blog to remember the film idols we sadly lost this week.

David Bowie is an idol to me, embracing and encouraging people to be different and proud. I love his music too and was one of the first artists I followed alongside Adam Ant. His film career was also something else, Labyrinth being my favourite.

http://imgur.com/gallery/TmdaK9X

I also remember watching The Hunger at a young age (which I regret to this day. Scarred for life) I'd like to watch it again though since I have matured a lot.

http://www.altfg.com/film/david-bowie-movies/

"I'm always amazed that people take what I say seriously. I don't even take what I am seriously."

Alan Rickman was another idol in my house, with my Mother being the biggest fan (honestly I have no idea who else likes Rickman more than my Mam). I have probably seen all his films thanks to my mother's peer pressure haha :P I remember a few Christmases ago, she got Rasputin on DVD (very rare!) and it was awful, but we still sat through it just for Alan Rickman.

"Each character I play has different dimensions. I'm not interested in words that pull them together."

Of course, we can't forget him as Snape in the Harry Potter franchise. 

http://www.mtv.com/news/2070159/harry-potter-death-rankings/

Professional Studies #6

Today we looked more at breaking down a script, looking at script revisions and a technique to clearly organise and see the script and possible shooting schedule using post-it notes.

We were given pieces of paper to put each scene from our scripts we were given last week. We then put the scene number, page number, scene description, brief scene synopsis, actors in the scene and props on the notes. We ordered them in scene number and also the hardest scenes to easiest, to see which to film first and which had multiple locations.

The scenes in my chosen script in order of hardest-easiest to shoot.

We then looked at script revisions and how to add updates to a script. Basically... don't. If you do, change the front cover to a different colour so the crew know when they need a new version and they have the right one. Add a revision by adding a * next to it. However, revising a revision is not fun. If you do, erase all existing *. 

http://glee.wikia.com/wiki/File:Confused-ron.gif

Once a script is marked as final, the scene numbers can't change. If there are any more revisions, you have to slot in some A and B scenes, so the order goes like this: 6, 6A, 6B, 7, 8... Omitted scene numbers still stay in. Page numbers also don't change in a final version of a script and also turn into A and B pages if you do add any revisions if the script becomes longer (if it becomes shorter with omissions, leave a blank space where the scene used to be). When new material makes you remove pages, also put in the page number the span of the page numbers that are missing so they look a bit like this; 12, 13-14B, 14C, 15... 

That's a basic summary of my understanding of the lesson. It probably won't make any sense when I look back at this but ah well. 

http://forums.smitegame.com/showthread.php?76180-Is-it-considered-carrying-if-you-still-lose

Visual Culture #14

Today in Malcolm's lecture we looked at Art Deco and the symbolism behind its decadence. 

The Great War (WWI, 1914-18) was depressing and according to Malcolm, everyone was "too busy killing themselves" to create art. 'Art Deco' came around in to spread optimism from the devastating war and to bring decadence with the new technology invented and mass production. The term art deco is more of a period of creativity rather than a stylistic element. However, the term 'art deco' didn't exist until the 70s; it was commonly known more as 'The Modern Style'. 

Art Deco included sweeping curves and lines, sweeping upwards like a rocket to symbolise movement and mass production, echoing the movement of a machine.

http://giphy.com/search/modern-times

Women were starting to have a voice and were made to reject ways of the past through various fashions of the era. People were also starting to reject religion because of the massacre of the war. 

Art Deco mixed both old and new techniques to create modernity. Art Deco took influences from Modernism, Cubism, Russian Constructivism, the Exotic (Blacks and the Africans) and Archaeology. Cubism is the reality of everything- you drew everything you know is there, even if you can't see it. Art Deco was not just visual culture, but material culture too and was inspired by architecture of the Aztec, Mayan's and Egyptian's, especially with the discovery of King Tut's tomb in 1922. Egypto-mania!

https://www.tumblr.com/tagged/horrible-histories-challenge

People were starting to want to be scared too with the release of The Mummy in 1932.

Travel-mania was also huge with new huge cruise liners that were also fast. The auto mobile was also huge with it's new 'aerodynamic' look. 

Professional Studies #5

Today we looked at breaking down a script, starting with the call sheets. I was already familiar with these after having to understand one for when I was on the set of Together. More exciting stuff about this can be found on my blog post here. The one I was given was a lot simpler to the one Mike showed us for one of the scenes in one of the Pirates of the Caribbean films.

http://metro.co.uk/2014/10/03/pirates-of-the-caribbean-5-yo-ho-yawn-the-pros-and-cons-of-another-sequel-4890836/

We then looked at Element colour codes and 'coloured in' a script. The Screenwriting pathway had their scripts printed of (some has multiple ones so I annotated one of Janice's) and Digital were also given a previous student's script to annotate. All the colours made the script look really nice and was overall fun to do.

http://gid71.rageyart.com/Lesson04/L04_learn.html

We also looked at The Rule of 1/8ths, where a page of a script is split into 1/8ths, but measure/mark every scene, not every page. This is put on call sheets and is used to measure out how long a scene is. It is not an exact science and a scene that takes up 1 1/8 of a page might not take as long to film as one which only takes up 4/8th of a page depending on the actual content of the scene. 

Visual Culture #13

This week in Malcolm's lecture, we looked at The Golden Age of Illustration (1880-1920). 

The term 'illustration' or 'being an editor' didn't even exist until later. Since then it was just called as 'art' or an 'artist'. Newer printing technology meant mass production and for cheap. Picture's were then commissioned for books with an unprecedented amount of books with illustrations being published (hence the 'golden age'). (This also meant more pornographic images being printed but that's another story). The revival of the gothic and medieval craftsmanship made people also rediscover hand printing and also using these as inspirations in some of the illustrations. 

Women were often looked down upon as illustrators due to patriarchy, however, they were taken completely seriously as illustrators for children's books due to their connections with children and maternity.

http://www.burgesspetcare.com/2013/09/a-list-of-the-most-famous-rabbits-ever/

The Aesthetic Movement was also in progress with people questioning what is beauty. The fashion for beautiful things was in full swing with art nouveau books being published as guides to beautiful interiors. The Queen Anne Revival was also in swing with focus on the middle class comfort and exteriors. There was no illustration pattern. It was all very creative and exciting. Visual language was changing.

The power of the guidebook was in full force in this age, telling people how to be perfect housewives, all with detailed illustrations. 

http://sagansense.tumblr.com/post/58924333797/the-42-things-you-should-know-about-the

The Ver Sacrum magazine was self-published to break away from tradition. People were questioning and rekindling their national identity (especially at the end of the millennium). The Vienna Succession was also experimental which explored all possibilities, and are anti-historicist. A new aesthetic (with some influences of the Japanese). New technologies such as chromolithography meant more colourful and high quality images.

The consumption of Christmas even changed with new marketing techniques such as new books, Christmas cards and Christmas stockings. 

http://rebloggy.com/post/christmas-elf-will-ferrell-15k-gif-elf/35529387448

Society became obsessed with fantasy which is prevalent in the illustrations in this era. With many Norse and medieval illustrations, even Lord of the Rings took inspiration from them.

The last gasp of the golden age in 1920 looked at the illustration of fashion more than models, which made its way into graphic design. It is debatable that film killed off the golden age of illustration with the invention of photography and film cameras.

http://www.missliterati.com/chapters/the-great-gatsby-5372a25c6b9f096d34001290

In Diane's session, we looked at various TED talks all with one main message- love your work. We watched a one about a 7 hour documentary of a train journey and how popular it was, one was about a big budget sci fi (which looked really good! I found this video the most interesting) made for a tenth of the budget but still with industry professionals, one about an app and one about YouTube and what makes a viral video. 

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!