Video Production Project

Video # 1

Role-Director and Actor


Video #2

Role: Camera Op

Animation Deconstruction

The show I chose to critique is Family Guy and is a very popular cartoon targeted towards teens and young adults. The first picture that shows Peter and Chris in the kitchen has lots of color to it. First the hue in the picture is very wide. There is a large variety of different hues within this one shot alone. The brightness in the shot is also high. The colors the choose pop off the picture and make it snap. The saturation is lower however because the colors they choose were lighter to make it easy on the eyes. For the second picture, it is very similar to the first because they are from the same show. In this picture Stewie is with Brian in the car. The hue is also wide but not quite as much as the first because there is a lot of brown in that one shot alone. The brightness is also high but no quite as much as the first because of the certain action taking place. The saturation in this shot is higher than in the first because their are more dark colors incorporated into the shot.

The lighting in both shots is also very similar even though what is going on in the scene is a completely different feeling. In the first picture of Peter and Chris, the only shadows used are for items that are stationary such as the table and the window seal. The characters themselves have no shadowing. The symbolism for the first one is clear, because it is bright and happy. During that shot it is meant to poke fun and be a light-hearted moment. The mood is also illustrated by this because of the lighting being so bright. It makes it seem as though its the perfect setting for something non serious to happen. The second picture, however, is hard to understand of the terms of lighting. First there is no shadowing in the whole shot. The entire image doesn't use shadowing to create another element, it is strictly straight forward. As goes for symbolism, the lighting is very bright and this may seem odd since Brains getting a gun pulled on him. The lighting doesn't necessarily match the mood either. This would in any other case be a serious situation, and the lighting would normally match the feeling. However this show pry's itself on going against the grain. There for there is some discrepancies in the mood and the lighting.

Storyboard Imitation

The director of the movie followed all the rules while shooting this scene. The only one that isn't 100% is, the rule of thirds. While in the third and fifth scene it is easy to see, the others are not as close. The third and fifth scene line up with the girls at the end of the hall and the boy on the bike. The 180 degree rule is plain because of the shots they use. They focus on certain aspects and shoot in a non traditional way in that the rule isn't broke but unnecessary. The 30 rule is the easiest one to spot when watching the video clip. The first scene is of the boy on the bike riding away from the camera. The distance is between the character and the camera is pretty great. However in the second shot, the camera moves more than 30% in, to focus on the boy riding the bike. These rules worked so well for the director when he was shooting. The rules helped to create tension within the scene and keep the audience on the edge of their seats. When it transitions from the second to the third shot, the use of the 30 rule, made the audience feel the shot as if they were there. Rounding that corner and seeing those twin girls standing there. In the particular scene it is harder to see the rule of thirds, however in this particular scene it wasn't needed. By using the 30 rule instead, the suspense was higher and it kept the audience from know what going to happen till the last minute. It also wasn't used as to keep the viewer focusing on only the key things in the shot, so as to know exactly where the audience will have their attention focused. Which was in the middle of most shots, the boy on the bike and the twin girls.

Song Deconstuction

The Black Keys - Psychotic Girl

The Black Keys - Strange Times

LISTENING FRAMEWORK

(SIMPLIFIED)

The Black Keys - Psychotic Girl

LISTENING PHASE 1 (Rhythm)
Tempo - The song has a slow tempo throughout.
Source - Electric Guitar is the main source that drives the tempo of the song.
Groove - The personality of the rhythm is calm and easy going.

LISTENING PHASE 2 (Arrangement)
Instrumentation - Drums, Piano, Symbols, Electric Guitar, Banjo, Synth
Structure/Organization - Intro, verse, chorus, verse, chorus, solo, verse, chorus, solo, outro
Emotional Architecture - The song starts of low and picks up after the first verse. Then drops back off after the chorus and continues to build and drop from verse to chorus, and vice versa.

LISTENING PHASE 3 (Sound Quality)
Balance
Height - The song has high frequencies, because the drums and guitar are very low, the piano and synth however is very high pitch making a wide variety of sounds.
Width - There is low width because the song is balanced between the left and right.
Depth - There is a lot of depth in this song because of the large variety of sounds. You have to listen to the song closely to hear all of the instruments and effects they are using.

LISTENING FRAMEWORK

(SIMPLIFIED)

The Black Keys - Strange Times

LISTENING PHASE 1 (Rhythm)
Tempo - This song has a medium paced tempo, except during the chorus it slows down.
Source - The main rhythm is from the drums.
Groove - The personality of the rhythm is very unique, more of a mysterious feeling.

LISTENING PHASE 2 (Arrangement)
Instrumentation - Drums, Electric Guitar, Synth, Piano
Structure/Organization - Intro, Verse, Chorus, Verse, Chorus, Verse, Chorus, Outro
Emotional Architecture - The song starts off heavy with the drums and guitar. It stays steady throughout the song, until the chorus when the drums and guitar lower.

LISTENING PHASE 3 (Sound Quality)
Balance
Height - This song has a low frequency because there isn't much difference in the pitch of the sounds.
Width - There is small width to this song, and is balanced across both speakers.
Depth - The depth of the song isn't all that much. There are only a few instruments being used to create the music.

Since both songs are by the same band, The Black Keys, they have a lot in common. The lyrics for the first song, Psychotic Girl, are about a girl who treats her men bad. There was a time when they thought that she could change and she ends up doing them bad. So the lead singer says that he won't get involved with her because she is a psychotic girl. For the song Strange Times, the lyrics are very unique and match the song. It can be taken a few different ways on what message they were trying to get across through this song. I thought it was about angels and religion. Telling about how they can come down and rescue us before we hurt ourselves. The melody of the two songs is different. In Psychotic Girl, it has a slower, more relaxed melody, while in Strange Times, it is very loud and aggressive. For musical quality the only thing that is alike in these two songs is organization. Both are set up with almost the exact same structure. However they are different when it comes to pitch, speed, intensity, and rhythm. The pitch is higher in Psychotic Girl, and the speed is a lot slower that in Strange Times. The intensity in Strange Times is also a lot higher than in the other.

The Black Keys are my favorite band so it is difficult for me to not love both of these songs. I would pick Psychotic Girl as my more favored out of the two. I enjoy the melody and rhythm of the song because it is so chill. It is my favorite song to listen to when I am just sitting around taking it easy. It puts me in a comfortable place and helps me to relax.

Reflections on Sound Design

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79p57JJrMwo

I couldn't format the celtix into a PDF. I emailed amfaller19@gmail.com with the celtix file attached. Please let me know if you didn't receive it. I placed the script on here either way.

INT. Location hotel - night

Danny rides his Fisher bike down a long, abandoned hallway. Passing cabnits and vending machines with only the sound of the tires rolling across the floor.

He reaches the end of the hallway and turns right. Now going down a short hallway in which the residents would stay.

Danny turns his bike to the left at the end of the short hallway. He stops immediatly at the sight of two twin girls standing at the other end. He sits and stares in fear at the girls at the end of the long hallway full of doors.

Twin Girls

(Gong Sounds)

"Hello Danny."

(Silence)

"Come play with us."

(Piano)

(Gong)


Danny continues to sit on his bike and stare back at the twin girls in fear.

TWIN GIRLS

"Come and play with us Danny."

(Piano)


A picture of the two girls bloody bodies flicker in and out.

TWIN GIRLS

"Forever..."

(Shreech)

"and ever...

(Shreech)


The picture of the two girls bloody bodies flashes again.

TWIN GIRLS

"and ever."

(Shreech)


The picture of the Two Girls bloody bodies flashes again.

Danny places both of his hands over his eyes to block his sight of the two girls.

(Loud Noise)


He holds his hands over his face for a brief moment, then lowers them. The girls are gone and the hallway appears to be empty.

(Silence)


Danny continues to sit in complete silence, staring down the empty hallway.

Danny

"Tony, I'm scared..."

Danny then lifts his hand and sticks out his index finger. He bends it and begins to immitate his fingre talking.

He speaks to himself in a low, evil voice. Continuing to stare at his finger.

DANNY

"Remember what Mr. Howland says... its just like pictures in a book, Danny."

(Shreek)

"It isn't real."

(Shreek)


The end










In the scene I have chosen, the beginning shows a young kid, Danny, riding his Fisher bike down a hallway. The listening mode changes from the casual in the beginning to referential. The only sound used in the beginning is casual or literal sound. This is the tires of the bike rolling across the hard floor. This sound continues until he reaches the hallway with the two twin girls. Danny then stops and you hear the sound of a gong. This is a referential sound because it is used to draw fear in the audience. The time of this gong sound is loud and fast. It is a sudden and seemingly loud noise after dead silence. This is used to spike the adrenalin of the viewer. After Danny places his hands over his eyes, a quite sound ques and drags out. It lasts as long as his face is covered and then starts to rise in volume as his hands drop. The recognition of time passing is incorporated into the viewer when they hear this sound.

Finding Your Howl

In the first story by Flaum, he tells of a red wolf named Muman. This particular wolf was raised in captivity and then released in to the wild. Once on his own he found that there were certain things about himself that he didn't understand. He lost some of his natural instincts and was destined to find time. Muman killed a deer and found a piece of himself but also felt remorse for what he had done. He realized how the world worked and there was no choice in his actions. This made him stronger and feel more alive than he had ever been before. When he was shot by a hunter he found his howl which represents his true and natural self. He wasn't upset and realized that it was the way in which the world revolves.


Kid Cudi - Soundtrack 2 My Life

"I'm super paranoid, like a sixth sense.
Since my father died, I ain't been right since.
and I tried to piece the puzzle of the universe
split an eight of shrooms just so I can see the universe"

Kid Cudi is my favorite musical artist and is very inspiring to me on a personal level. His lyrics are about the struggles of life and how he has overcome them to prosper and live a substantial life. I choose lyrics from on of his self titled songs, Soundtrack 2 My Life. The name of the song is telling in itself about what he has had to face throughout his life. As a creative person, I use his music to connect with on an emotional field. I use my emotions to spark creativity in my work that I do and his music helps to encourage that.
The fist lines of the set is "I'm super paranoid, like a sixth sense. Since my father died, I ain't been right since." Because I lost my father at a young age, it hits close to home. I draw my own emotions from this and how I was effected after such a devastating loss. The first line of it relies on the second to make sense in itself. Since the loss of my father, I have been more paranoid about life and things to come. You fear the worst when something such as that happen. I am always looking for the worst to happen in a situation before I consider the positive outcomes. I changed a lot when that happened and moved on in my own way. I tried to find positives to look for so not to get depressed. However I realized that just because it isn't the best circumstances doesn't make it dull. You can have creativity under darkness. Many projects I work on have a darker feel to them but it doesn't mean that it lacks creativity.
The second set of lines go hand in hand with the first set. Kid Cudi says, "I tried to piece the puzzle of the universe." When my father died, I had a million questions of why it happened. I was confused at why it had happened and what was going to happen now in my life. How was I supposed to continue on without him and how much my life was to change. The second line of the set says, "split an eight of shrooms just so I can see the universe." With such a dramatic change, turning to drugs was a way of escaping while at the same time understanding what was going on. I used them to try to help cope with my loss. They helped to escape from a world I thought I was trapped in and feel like everything was going to be alright.
This is one of my favorite songs all together to listen to while I work on projects or assignments. I derive most of my creativity from emotions I feel. I incorporate it into my work to make it unique and feel like I have placed a little piece of myself inside. To be creative you have to give things your own little twist. Kid Cudi's music inspires me to work hard to overcome my problems and use them to gain strength. There are many similarities between Kid Cudi and myself, so it makes it easy to relate to his songs. His beats, as well as his lyrics, put me in a place of mental clarity. When emotion is derived from someone, then it sparks creativity in anything they do. This is why I have chosen these lyrics to inspire my self as a creative individual.

Deconstructing Characters

The picture shown here best describes the color motif for my hero, Electro-Man. He uses a split complementary color scheme to make up his costume. Using yellow as his starting and main color to help represent his main power which is electricity. To accent his other attributes, split colors from the opposite side of the color wheel are used. The blue and the purple help to give him a bright and friendly appearance since he is a hero. This color motif makes my character stand out among the traditional super hero colors of red and blue.

Electro-Man being the hero stands out among the rest of the general population. He is shown in a strong light to represent that he is standing up for good and never stays into the darkness. He is an icon for people to see and believe in. He uses his image to give hope to the people of the city and show that their is still good in this world. The darkness around the image also represents the criminals and all the bad things that he stands up against. It is a good representation of the light at the end of the tunnel, in the midst of total darkness.

The lightning picture is a great representation of the shape and general structure of my super hero. The lightning has very straight lines with sharp edges giving it a look of power and speed. Electro-Man has a lot of sharp edges and a generally sleek design. He uses speed as one of his greatest weapons and what better to show speed than electricity. Which also happens to be his special ability. He can use electricity to move quickly and subdue enemies. The edges and straight lines also give the feel of a leader and person with passion and strong beliefs.

For the villain of the city I choose a character named Fire Show. He uses an analogous color scheme of red, orange, and yellow. All three colors are touching on the same side of the color wheel and work well with one another. He uses fire as his main weapon for causing destruction and terror within the city. These colors represent his passion and strength for superior control. These colors match his personality type and what he is willing to do to get what he wants.

The picture showed here is representing the light that my villain, Fire Show, is cast in. He uses the darkness and shadows of the night to his advantage. This helps him to remain off the radar when conducting criminal acts. This is also a good representation of the light the people of the city cast him in. He is the villain and is looked at in a negative light, so showing him in the darkness is fitting. The darkness of the picture also helps to illustrate the amount of evil he possesses. He is a dark and often misunderstood individual.

One of Fire Show's biggest strengths is his agility and strength. I choose this picture because of the smooth curves and sharp tips. Fire Show's agility is due to his stream line flow and rounded parts that make up his overall design. The fire can also represent his power and use of flame to cause damage to the city. As well as his color scheme he uses in his costume. Fire is resilient and can move freely just as Fire Show is able to move around from building to building. The top of the fire is very sharp and shows power and self-efficiency.