Sustainability

This blog post will be talking about the sustainability in film production for UK.

I found out a lot of information on this topic using several websites which some of which I referenced in my essay. I am not going to talk about them as I mentioned some in my essay but here are the link so you can look at them yourselves,

•  Tim Dams, 2014. Can the UK film production boom be sustained? Televisual (Online Blog). 14^th February. Available at: http://www.televisual.com/blog-detail/Can-the-UK-film-production-boom-be-sustained_bid-957.html (Accessed 17th May 2017)
•  Zena Harris 2014. Sustainability could play leading role in film industry. Available at: https://www.greenbiz.com/article/sustainable-production-movie-industry (Accessed 15th May 2017)

I hope you enjoy reading those articles about sustainability - I sure did and found them very interesting :)

Best,
C

Editing

Hi guys!!

Today I am back and today we will talking about the editing process for both films (very brief as I am mentioning more in my essay).

2001: A Space Odyssey

This film was made in 1968, this means that digital cameras weren't around them so they had to use film.
The editing system 2001 used was called linear flap bed editing.

The Martian

The film was released in 2015.
As this film is more updated and modern than 2001: A Space Odyssey due to it using computer software - it was edited using AVID Media Composer 7.


Sorry if it so brief, I have done a blog post on editing The Martian, so go and check that out!!

Best,
Christie xox

Clips - 2001: A Space Odyssey

And I'm back....again!! Two blog posts in one day :)


2001 A Space Odyssey

Below are two clips I have decided to mention in my essay.  I will talk about each clip (how many cuts are in the clips and the camera techniques) and say why I choose this particular clip.
Both clips include Dave and HAL - Dave is a scientist and HAL is the ships computer.

Clip one:

This clip is called HAL 900.

I decided to pick this clip because it is showing an argument between Dave and HAL - HAL is refusing to open the pod bay doors.

Basic camera angles are used in this scene which allows it to be a very easy scene to film - there was only a couple of wide angles, mid shot was used when only facing Dave and then when a camera was facing HAL it was a close up.

HAL is refusing to open the doors because he mouth read the conversation between Dave and and Frank saying

There are 13 cuts in this  minute 49 seconds clip

2 different locations are used in this clip - emergency air-loft and control centre.


Clip two

This clip is 2 mins and 21 seconds

There are 16 cuts.

Different camera angles - mid shot, close-up, wide and rotating anti-clockwise (beginning)

The angle I really like is HAL's POV - this because it is shown as a fish eye effect.

The longest take in this clip is 53 seconds and it is when Dave is showing HAL is sketches.  Dave and HAL are the only two characters in this scene which allows it


Love,
C

Source: The Making of The Martian

Hey guys! I'm back and today I am for another blog post...

This source was really helpful in terms of my producing my essay - this is because it had a lot of information about the behind the scenes of The Martian and also I felt when I was reading it, I was learning something different.  On this blog post, there are points talking about the use of the GoPro, the visual effects in the film and also the music.

Link:

http://jonnyelwyn.co.uk/film-and-video-editing/the-making-of-the-martian/

Screenshot:

The use of GoPro in the movie

GoPro CEO Nick Woodman talked about how GoPro managed to get a very important role in The Martian.  He firstly explained that it wasn't product placement - below are points he mentioned in the video:

"I believe that originally it was...just supposed to be a prop...part of their spacesuits"

"Once Ridley started to see the camera being used in the film...he was really impressed with the image quality"

"I was told he started realising that they could incorporate the GoPro more and more into the stealth storytelling"

Editing

I have done a blog post of editing but I am going to be explaining how this source talking about the post-production stage of The Martian. The editor, Pietro Scalia, got interviewed by Studio Daily and he are some main points I liked the look of.

"Principal photography was shot in stereo 3D with some 11 Red cameras, including Epic Dragons and Scarlett Dragons fit with Angenieux Optimo lenses and more than a dozen GoPro Hero4 cameras"

"In the end we had 250 hours of footage, per eye, and another 60-70 hours of GoPro footage"

Colour grading

I have explained a bit more information on colour grading in the blog post titled 'The use of colour in The Martian'.
Stephen Nalamura was the colourist for The Martian and here are a few points he mentioned while having a conversation with Randi Altman's post Perspective.

"Quite a few shots involved a lot of sky replacements and the addition of mountains in the background"

"When I added the heavy colour correction Ridley wanted...that kind of orange look"



There are a lot more information on the source itself but I thought I would just mention some facts I found out in the source..
Hope you enjoyed!!

-C

Source: 17 little known facts about 2001: A Space Odyssey

I'm back with another source and this time it is about facts some people didn't know about 2001: A Space Odyssey.
When researching facts about 2001, I saw this link that was saying 17 facts about the film that most people might know.
So, I looked at the source and read through it, and yes I didn't really know that much about behind the scenes of making the film.

I will share a few facts I found...not too many though as you have to read the source if you want to find out more.

Harvard Reference:

• Joel Willans, 2013. 17 little known facts about 2001: A Space Odyssey (online) Available at: http://inktank.fi/17-little-know-facts-about-2001-a-space-odyssey/ (Accessed 12th April)

Screenshot:

The first one I found was interesting was that the first 25 minutes of the film and last 23 minutes had no dialogue - I think this is really cool because it means in total that the film has 48 minutes in total with no diaglogue.

Another fact I found really interesting and was very shocked when I read it was it has only 205 shots that include special effects.

HAL, the computer generated machine, was organically going to be voiced by a female and was going to be called Athena.

During the scenes when the film is set in Space, there is no music apart from background music - this is because in real life, there is no sound in Space so Ridley wanted to make the film as realistic as possible.


And that is all the facts I am going to give you today, some facts will help me with certain learning outcomes for my essay.

Best,
C

Clip - The Martian

For this blog post, I will be talking about my favourite clip from The Martian and explaining why I chose it.
I will be talking about the cinematography, location used in the clip, acting, how it is edited, lighting and just generally about what I can see in the scene.

Clip 1




I chose this clip because I really like the camera-work especially and also I feel that this clip allows to show the viewers when Mark (Damon's character) at the point he is struggling.
As you can tell by the lighting it isn't as bright as other clips I have chosen, this is because this scene is filmed in the middle of night (you can see outside the window).  There is a blue cast towards it to show how cold is it and it allows the viewers as well watching feel cold too.

There are different camera angles used in this clip.  It starts of with an establishing shot which allows the viewers the location where this clip is set - it is in the middle of 'Mars' and it is showing Mark on his journey.  It then cuts to inside the car which used a basic camera angle - a mid shot of Mark explaining how cold it is and how he is going to turn on the heating.
I don't know exactly what cameras were used when filming this scene but I do know that one was the GoPro Hero 4.  I can tell this by the beginning and near the end of the scene by a camera angle which is attached on the top of the car looking towards

There are very simple cuts in this scene from one camera angle to the other which shows that the editing in terms of editing clips together was very simple.  In total (for this clip alone) there are only 8 cuts and 5 different camera angles.


Harvard Reference:

• The Martian 2015 - Heating Problems clip, 2015 (YouTube) Fortia Alfeche, 19th January. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4QHthglsm6s (Accessed 12th April)

Love,
Christie

The use of colour in 2001: A Space Odyssey

Hey guys :)
So I was looking at my feedback from my draft essay I handed in and noticed my lecturer said I should mention the use of colour in both films...
I did some research and came across this really interesting source about colour in 2001 and it explains why they used a certain colour, I found this very interesting and I would love to share it with you.

Link: http://5280press.com/color-in-film-2001-a-space-odyssey/

Screenshot of the first part of the source:

I really liked this link because it made me think of things in the film I have never noticed before and it also explains why which is really useful because it is good to know what red simplifies.

For example, it told me that the colour red means a lot of different things in different parts of the film. Such as; the red chairs in the space station is a huge contrast to the white walls - this allows the chairs to stand out a lot.

Some people when they think of the colour red will say it is blood but then others would think of romance and love.  In this film, there isn't a lot of blood or romance but when viewers see the colour that is what they think/feel.

If you want to find out more...you have to read the source :)


This source allows me to use this information for LO2.

The Martian - Article One

Hey there!! I'm back again :)
This time I found a really interesting article on The Martian and how it was a coincidence it was released around the same time scientists found water on Mars.

https://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2015/sep/28/nasa-water-found-on-mars-the-martian-movie-matt-damon-coincidence

First part of the article

I found this article on The Guardian.  I really liked how the article was reviewing The Martian as a film.

At the end of the article, I found it funny that Peter Bradshaw, the writer of this article, mentioned about 2001: A Space Odyssey.  He mentioned that when 2001 was released, space-aliens were trying to reach contact to Earth.  So I feel that this article was useful for parts of my essay because it allows me to talk about the year it was made to present day. This is because I will be allowed to talk about

This source is helpful in terms of LO4.

Love,
Christie xox

Visual Effects - The Martian

Hey guys :)
This blog is going to be talking about a source I found on the Visual Effects for 2001: A Space Odyssey.

This source will help me specifically with Learning Objective Outcome 2 (Summarise the key technological developments). I found it really useful because it explained some technology that was used as well and also how

There was an example of how the crew created the space travel scenes just using cameras and lights.

Harvard Reference:

• Leonardo Costa, 2011. The visual effects in 2001 – A Space Odyssey. Admin (Online Blog). 21^st January. Available at: http://www.leocosta.me/the-visual-effects-in-2001-a-space-odyssey/ (Accessed 28^th April 2017)

Love,
Christie oxxo

The Martian - trailer

As the previous blog I was talking about the trailer of 2001: A Space Odyssey, I thought it would only be fair to talk about the trailer for The Martian.

This trailer is 3 minutes and 8 seconds which is longer than 2001's trailer. 

The trailer starts off with a voice-over, and then the edge of Mars appears.  You then get to see a group of astronauts about to leave a space-ship.  The next scene is them in a storm on Mars and Damon being hit by a satellite so his crew thinking he is dead, leaves Mars because it is too dangerous to stay.

Through out the trailer there are a few fade to black transitions but then there are very quick cuts, which I like a lot because it makes the trailer sort of an action based movie as well as being a sci-fi. The difference between cuts is really interesting because it gives the viewers different emotions through out watching this trailer.

Matt Damon does a voice-over during most of the trailer which allows me, as a viewer, to know that Damon is the main character in this film. It mainly just shows Matt Damon's character in the trailer with a few other characters here and there, this is because he is the main character and also it is showing his journey of survival/hunt to try and get help from his crew which are on earth.

You also get to see many different locations in this trailer - you can see that most of the movie is set in space (Mars especially), Earth and also in a spaceship but in different parts of the ship.  

This source allows me to look at the trailers for each of the two films and allow me to compare/contrast to talk about the different features of them.  I will use this information for L06.

Trailer - 2001: A Space Odyssey

Hey guys :)
I'm back!! And today I am going to talk about the trailer for 2001 A Space Odyssey.

2001: A Space Odyssey

I feel that this trailer allows you to see what type of film it is.  The genre is defiantly science fiction and you can tell it is set in space, so this allows the viewers to see if will be interested in watching it or not.  The trailer is 2 minuets 30 seconds long and in that time you see different parts of the film which I feel it a spoiler to the film because it shows you a lot of different scenes.  The background music changes a lot during the short trailer, from very up-beat and loud music to slow and ballet style music.

In the trailer, you get to meet a lot of characters in a short space of time.  I noticed while watching the trailer that there are only a few female characters, there are a lot of male ones.  From what I can see, there are only 6 females in the trailer, there might be more in the actual film itself though.

There are also a lot of locations shown in the trailer which allows the viewers to know where it is set - most of the film is set on a spaceship. By showing a lot of locations in a trailer allows it to be clear that it is a sci-fi based film.

At the start of the trailer, there are very quick fade to black transitions which is really interesting and I feel it adds more tension to the movie.  There is also a voice-over explaining a set of instructions which at first you don't know who is speaking and then it is revealed as someone on a screen explaining things while two men watch.

Editor Pietro Scalia on Cutting The Martian

Hey guys

I am back today with another blog post and today I will be talking about a source I found on the internet.  I simply typed into Google 'The Martian editing' and I saw this link which looked quite interesting...I was right!!

Harvard Reference:

• Beth Marchant, 2015. Editor Pietro Scalia on Cutting The Martian. Available via: http://www.studiodaily.com/2015/10/editor-pietro-scalia-cutting-martian/ (Accessed 25^th April 2017)

I found this source really useful because it explained how the film was made in post-production by the editor himself.and also I got some amazing quotes I can use for my essay. This website explained the process of making the film, how they edited the movie itself.


I am defiantly going to be using this source for LO2 (key technological developments).

Love, Christie xoxo