The Oscars.

The oscars happened tonight at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood. I watched the live television broadcast on BBC 1 and it was interesting to what films were nominated and which films won the awards.


The big event of the night was the award for 'Best Actor', this was such a big deal because Leonardo Dicaprio was a favourite to win the award. Leo has been nominated to win Best Actor six times with no success, being very close each time but only just missing out. The fact that he hasn't won one before had become an internet joke, with many memes being made about it, this is why there was such controvarcy surrounding the award, and why there was huge celebrations once he had won the award. He was certainly deservant of it, here is a clip of his performance.



Brie Larson won the award for 'Best Actress' for her role in the film 'Room'. I was happy to hear this because I have watched this film recently and I think she was very deservant of this award. Here's a clip of her performance.



The film that won the 'Best Picture' was 'Spotlight' Tom McCarthy's film on how the Boston Globe uncovered the massive scandal of child molestation and cover-up within the local Catholic Archdiocese. This is the best award you can win in a night and it was a very split year so it could have easily gone to the other contender. “This film gave a voice to survivors and this Oscar amplifies that voice, which we hope will become a choir that will resonate all the way to the Vatican,” said “Spotlight” producer Michael Sugar onstage at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood.

The future of media.

Less and less people are tuning in to their televisions, going to the cinema and the use of CDs has almost completely died out. Why?? because there has been a revolution; a digital revolution.

Why wait one week for the next episode of your favourite show when you can watch it right now? This has been made possible by the phenominon of online streaming sites such as Netflix and Amazon TV. Now you can even stream these things through a television screen, more people are failing to see the point of paying for a TV license. As for going to the cinema to watch the latest releases, illegal sites for streaming films are becoming more popular and even some legal streaming sites get the films as soon as they are released.

Recently the television channel BBC Three has moved online, despite hundreds of thousands people signing petitions and get very angry about this. Obviously the BBC thought that as it was a channel for young people and it is this group of people who primarily use the internet to watch television, that that would be the best move for the channel. This just shows how things are changing, 5 years ago the BBC would not have even considered this move.

Another thing that has changed to try and keep up with the times is iTunes, which is now called Apple Music. Many people were moving away from paying for separate albums and instead purchasing subscriptions for streaming apps such as Spotify. This meant that iTunes were losing lots of its business so they decided to make the same move to streaming and asking people to pay for a subscription.

Who knows what will happen in the future of media, but whatever happens will probably be something that we can not even imagine at the moment. Whatever does happen, we will all have to find a way to keep up with this constantly changing industry.

Preliminary Task.

We needed to film a preliminary task to practice out filming and editing techniques. We filmed a simple script which involved using a steady cam as well as a tripod.


The script is as follows:

Rachel walks into room, walks across room and sits opposite Maddy.

Maddy: Hey

Rachel: Hi

Maddy: You having school lunch today?

Rachel: yeah I am are you?

Maddy: Yeah, you want to eat together?

Rachel: Yeah sound nice, let’s go now.

Both get up and walk out.

Prop List.

Props:
Cigarette
Bath
Mirror (to then be smashed)
Make-up remover wipes 
Fake blood (for bath)

We needed to ensure that the fake blood we used would not stain the bath. We decided it would be best if we made our own (and make sure we have the correct equipment to clean it up!)
I found a recipe online for non-staining fake blood (http://fakebloodrecipes.com/2012/10/01/recipe-non-staining-fake-blood/). However to be sure we will test it beforehand.

We also need to find a cheap mirror (as we will be breaking it). However it has to look like it actually fits in with the bathroom.

*UPDATE* I found an old mirror in my basement that we will be using for our opening. I have asked consent from my parents and they have agreed that we can brake it.

The main benefit of using this mirror over a cheap one is that this one looks much more high class and would therefore fit in much better in the filming location, rather that looking like one we just put in there that doesn't fit in at all.

Analysis of thriller opening: Se7en.

The opening of 'Se7en' is very ambiguous and doesn't give you much information on the film, however i certainly believe that this works to the films advantage.

It starts with a Flash Cut watching a black and white picture with the title "Se7en" printed in white. Throughout the whole opening sequence there is no establishing shot, which is usually used at the beginning of a scene to indicate the location or setting. Instead the over-the-shoulder shot (point of view) is being used several times. The viewer has a very close look over the shoulder of a mystery character and at the things he does. This leaves open several possibilities of who the character is and therefore pulls the audience into the film, this also adds to the suspense. This extensive use of close ups serves to simultaneously absorb the audience presenting them with only a miniscule amount of detail, without allowing them to view the whole character, and attempt to decipher the message it carries. The editing technique is fast paced, with added dissolve transitions, this helps to create a notion of disconfiguration and disjointedness. The handwritten 'scratch' text used for the credits twitches and flickers in and out of shots to emphasise the disjointed and crude atmosphere of the film.

The mise-en-scene is very gloomy and eerie, this gives you an idea of the nature of the film and induces a feeling of fear in the audience. 

Moodboard: Part Two.

Moodboard: Part One.

Everyone in our group has our own vision for the mise-en-scene of the film. To ensure that the film was a combination of all our ideas, we all made separate moodboards which contained how we thought the film should look and feel. This moodboard is my one, I liked the dark twisted vibe and I included images of Kate Moss and Lana Del Rey, both figures who inspired the casting of our thriller. Luckily, both Millie and Rachel's moodboards have a simular vibe to mine, meaning that we all have the same clear vision which will make the filming and editing a much smoother process as we all have the same ideas in mind.

I have put Millie and Rachel's moodboards in 'Moodboard: Part Two'