Outcome 2 – editing

>>Outcome 2

You will be expected to research, identify and analyse the work of an editor working in new media; provide an illustrated report on the subject (minimum 800 words or equivalent), gathering and documenting your research and references in hard copy or digital format.

Maya Deren

Meshes of the Afternoon

Maya Deren (April 29, 1917, – October 13, 1961) Is an extremely respected Avant-Guarde filmaker, among many other things. I am going to look specifically at her film ‘Meshes of the Afternoon’ (1943) which she directed, produced, wrote, starred in and edited. I am going to be looking at her editing in the film alongside other techniques she uses to present her work

     When Deren’s father died of a heart attack in 1943, she purchased a pre-owned 16mm Bolex camera with her inheritance and went on to make one of the most culturally significant films of her time. The film has no dialogue and was originally silent, Deren’s third husband Teiji Ito added the music in 1959. The narrative is hard to follow, and has a strong ethereal feel to it, cutting to amplify what is happening in the film.

     The first cut of the film is extremely confusing and abrupt. This cut begins with the image of an arm placing a white flower onto the ground (the arm is actually a prosthetic), and then immediately jumps to the exact same shot, yet with the arm no longer there. This could be seen as a clue that we are entering another plane of thought, that this is not reality. It then cuts to Deren’s shadow walking, holding a flower, these few minutes in the lead up to the dream sequence are shot strangely, only partial shots of part of the bigger picture. We are only given a glimpse into this dimension and have to create our own analysis. The music aids this significantly, a perpetual thumping keeping us on edge, with key sound effects at the right time. The key bouncing for instance makes a cowbell sound and tumbles unrealistically down the stairs. We see her enter the house proceed upstairs and then fall asleep, it is this dream state that is the most interesting, she repeats her journey chasing a cloaked black figure. When she catches up with it it is revealed that its face is a mirror, maybe saying that this is creature is a reflection of herself. The music at this point is very sinister, what sounds like someone humming along with some sort of string instrument the effect is quite intense. Once she returns to the house she goes upstairs again and sees herself sleeping, looks out the window then sees the figure walking, and her chasing it. This is an extremely difficult narrative to follow and quite frightening at the same time, as we beleive we are in a dream world we know anything is possible and try to place meaning on what is happening.

     Near the end of the film she is sitting at a dining table with two other versions of herself, a key is on the table and every time she reaches for it, it appears back on the table. This in my eyes is quite symbolic, as this is considered a dream, it would appear the person has something troubling them, a puzzle they have to solve but are unable to find the answer. The key is then transformed into a knife, maybe meaning that this character is so frustrated that they would resort to violent means to solve the problem they have. I know this is only my interpretation of the piece but i think that Deren intended it to be interpreted like this. She wanted something people could almost understand, yet have completely different perceptions of the situation. This dream is captivating for the audience as it starts of strangely alluring then turns out to be quite nightmarish in nature. Having something that every viewer can take away completely different ideas from yet still understand partially is quite incredible. Maya Deren best explains it herself in this quote;

“This film is concerned with the interior experiences of an individual. It does not record an event which could be witnessed by other persons. Rather, it reproduces the way in which the subconscious of an individual will develop, interpret and elaborate an apparently simple and casual incident into a critical emotional experience.”

Evaluation

 

 

 

Project: Body and Movement

When given the brief my immediate response was to investigate body language, exploring how we interact with one another subconsciously, and to utilize it in creating a series of still images.

Constraints

One of the main constraints I faced with the topic I chose was that it was so vast it would be hard to investigate every aspect of it, as much as I wanted to. Another issue I was faced with was the implications of applying body language to the still image, when the brief is Body and Movement.

Technical Objectives

To become more competent in Adobe Photoshop in order to make the images I produce to a higher standard of quality and not noticeably edited.

Creative Objectives

My objective was to create images that cause us to question the content of them. Initially this was to use the knowledge of body language I had obtained to manipulate the positions of people in a photograph to alternate the mood completely. This lead on to me investigating our interpretation of the still image, how we apply this knowledge of body language we all possess to the images of other humans we see.

During my research of artists that used photo-manipulation/photo-montage. I realised that work that tries to convey a strong message resonated with me quite significantly. I particularly liked the work of John Heartfield, most of which was extremely controversial at the time. Most of his work had a strong anti-fascism/anti-nazi theme, and Heartfield was actually German. Even his name was a protest against the Nazi Regime, choosing a very English name in a country that had a clear dislike for that nation at the time. After looking into this is I discovered the power that an image can have when used in conjunction with language.

This use of language with images caused me to investigate semiotics, how we interpret signs and our thought process behind the assessments we make of what we see but more specifically their use in advertising. How people use symbolism and metaphor to almost control what we think of something, based on our social and ethnic disposition.

 

 

 

What I got from the project

A deeper understanding of human body language

An insight into some of the psychological techniques we see every day yet rarely notice consciously.

How to effectively plan a project and document my development

Being able to apply this knowledge to my own pieces

Implications

This project has altered my way of thinking greatly. In the past I didn’t really take huge notice of artwork that I didn’t deem skilfully executed. I would hope that now I can appreciate work that has statement it is trying to make, regardless of the quality the art itself, but respecting the thought process behind it.  In the future I hope to apply this effectively to my own work as I have realised the power images can have on the people that see them.

I feel I have met the aims and objectives I planned to an extent, yet digressed somewhat. I wanted to create images that cause the viewer to question what they are seeing, based on their preconceptions of what it should be. I hope I achieved in making a statement with my images with some humour as well.

Research

I used Wikipedia for the majority of my research, Flickr for some of the photographs, also http://www.businessballs.com/body-language.htm for a lot of the body language information. Some of the artists I looked at were; John Heartfield, Salvador Dali, Richard Hamilton, Phillipe Halsman. I also researched Noam Chomsky’s work in semiotics and advertising.

Resources

Mostly the internet, talking with other people to see their views/reactions, and magazines for photo examples.

Methodology

I used advertisements from the 1950s for my final images, I decided to do this as after looking into the use of language in advertising, I immediately thought of the extremely raw examples from this era. This was before the techniques were more subtle like they are in modern day. I hope the work I produced effectively conveys the message I was trying to put across, that the advertising industry has no real care for the people, only that they buy the product. How they exploit stereotypes to the extent that the mould they make for people affects society as people see this as normal.

 

 

 

Outcome 1 film

Outcome 3

Alastair Murray

Outcome 1: Video Practice and Theory for New Media

The impact of technology on this industry couldn’t be more huge, in the past 20 years it has skyrocketed in popularity and interactivity, modern day games being mostly online for that competitive edge. This has opened up a huge amount of viewers who could not travel cross-Atlantic to see the most popular league finals, instead it is streamed online or posted on YouTube. My favourite YouTube caster, Day[9], has around 300,000 subscribers and his videos have a combined view figure of about 50,000,000 (on YouTube alone).

http://www.esl.eu/uk/

This website is for the Electronic Sports League will show you some of the events in the next month or so, of which there are many. To get involved couldn’t be more simple as there are sections all over the website for joining the team as an admin, or the opportunity to attend an event.

The legal and statutory controls of these events have always been present, and with the UK organisations having contact with the police and government industries such as the BBC, it seems they are going out of their way to make sure the events are run under proper supervision and most of all so the competitions are completely fair.

Business and financial support has never been a concern really, lots of companies want to get involved as they are aware of the growing success in our culture that computer games hold. For example Be Unlimited the ISP was the official internet provider of the UKeSA in 2009 and on the 2 April 2009, HMV and UKeSA have announced that they are pairing up to organise the “GameOn! London” exhibition at the Olympia Exhibition Center, London. The governing body of the UKeSA also applied to become part of the International eSports Federation. Huge companies such as Red Bull, who have been known to sponsor a lot more obscure sports, usually of the extreme nature, like skateboarding snowboarding skiing, etc. Now have their hand in the eSports biscuit tin. I just finished watching the Red Bull Battlegrounds tournament, featuring 16 of the world’s top players competing for a prize fund of $41,000, safe to say it was extremely exhilarating.

Since the industry had grown, larger organisations have obviously taken the most attention and sometimes the most respect among tournament organisers.

http://www.majorleaguegaming.com/home

This is one of the best in the industry I would say, covering gaming of all kinds not dedicated to one title in particular. Using the size of their organisation to put on some of the largest competitions that people all over the world can access. I think this has had a positive effect on the gaming community because now people have an industry that they can belong to, and follow. In the past if you weren’t in to sport, you played games. Now you can not only play the games you love but watch games that have the same, if not more, tension and pressure as the largest sport tournaments.

Task 03

Continuity editing is a system that is over 100 years old. It’s the arrangement of your shots that tell your story clearly and intelligently. It allows the action to appear on screen without interruption giving the illusion of narrative continuity.

Continuity editing is the main style of film editing within narrative films and television programs. This particular style creates a sound consistency between shots so that they can be read easily by the audience. The technique was originally associated with Hollywood films but progressed on to other films and T.V programs. Its main intention is to create a seamless and following order of scenes using a variety of other techniques.

Continuity Editing is the predominant style of film editing used in narrative films and television programs. There has to be a clear consistency between the shots, edited to give a flowing seamless feel to the piece. It is this that holds the audiences attention and allows the film to be easily read. One of the most basic rules is the 180 degree rule, that means the action in a scene is only ever shot from one side. There are usually three cameras set up something like this;

The camera labelled wrong, has ‘crossed the line’ referring to the line of vision cutting through the middle. If there was a typical shot reverse shot, then suddenly we see the same image from a different angle, or the eyeline of the characters has changed, it confuses us and breaks continuous screen direction. The only time you can ‘cross the line’ is if you show the camera moving across it.

this video explains it further.

The eye line rule, as mentioned earlier, is important to get right as it allows characters to look off screen but when the shot changes  it is obvious that the new shot is who or what the character is looking at. This prevents the audience from becoming confused and maintains continuity. It is used particularly in scenes with a lot of dialogue as it works well with close up shots.

 

 

Task 07

Understanding different shooting techniques and different shots is essential for an editor. The ability to shape how the audience perceives your characters, whether they sympathise with them, or despise them. The more an audience engages or relates to a piece of film, the more they will enjoy it. Character perception is not the only thing though, shots can be used to build tension, help the flow of a scene, add humour, even scare people half to death. The more efficiently a film is edited, the more it captivates the viewer into believing that the world you have created is real. If there are mistakes in continuity our engagement is immediately hindered, we realise that we are back in reality. What we see isn’t everything, the use of music and sound can be equally as effective as the content of the film. Utilising minor chords at sad moments, fast paced music during action scenes and abrupt noises at moments of surprise are just some of the ways music can shape our attitude towards film as well.

 

in this scene from die hard 2 we see a typical chase backed with fast paced classical music, the pace of the music adds tention, almost increasing our heartbeat as the pace of the film quickens.

this scene from armageddon (another bruce willis film) we see the obvious sad movie ending scene, hes never going to make it out alive but they have 2 minutes to talk to each other and make amens for anything that happened previously, backed with slow string music on minor chords to tug at the heart strings of the audience.

Task 06

Point of View

A point of view shot is one in which we see through the ‘eyes’ of the intended character, represented through the camera. This is usually used to give the viewer a deeper understanding of whoever’s perspective we see from, it gives us more of an insight as we see what they are looking at and when, sometimes revealing concealed desires and feelings. The best example i can think of is channel fours peep show, the program focuses on two main characters who share a flat, and just so happen to be complete opposites personality wise. The POV shot is used frequently and as it is used we hear the thoughts of that respective character. This is what gives the show its edge, and its appeal, Mark, one of the main characters is a loan manager, very reserved, socially akward and really quite synical. His flat mate however is an unemployed muscician, optimistic verging on the diluded as he is still cut up over a bad break up. Hearing both of these characters thoughts is hillarious, they are both funny in completely different ways and you feel like you have a deeper understanding of them because of this filming technique.

Recently i was watching family guy and notcied one of the sections of an episodes implemented this style of filming, although it wasn’t actually filmed as it is an animation i still think that what it tries to achieve by using this style is the same. Stewie is a lot of people favourite character in the show and this 7 minute clip gives us a day in the life of him, and quite a funny look at what a day in the life of a baby would be like, this one is obviously an evil genius which just makes it more funny.

http://vimeo.com/42527036

Outcome 2

The area of the creative industries I am going to investigate is that of computer games. Looking more closely at the growth of eSports coinciding with the rapid growth of  technology over the past 30 years. Video games started coming into mainstream society around the early 1970s with the first arcade machines. These were extremely advanced at the time but looking back it almost seems quite primitive, pong being the most notable, a simple table tennis game that had the most widespread success with the developers Atari selling over 19,000 Pong machines. The games slowly became more complicated and captivating for the public over the course of the 70s, peaking around 78 for the so called ‘golden age’ of arcade games. So called because of the impact it had on society and the economy, arcade cabinets could be found everywhere, shopping centres, shops fronts, restaurants and convenience stores. In this same year Space Invaders was released and went on to sell 360,000 units worldwide and by 1982 it had generated an amount equivalent to $4.6billion in 2011, solely in the quarters required to play it. In 1981 the annual revenue for the arcade video game industry in north america was $5Billion, equivalent to $12.3billion in 2011.

The advent of electronic games captivated people across the globe, it was something completely new, and highly enjoyable. Today the situation is completely different, the NPD, National Purchase Diary conducted retail research that showed around 70% of people on the planet play video games, a staggering statistic that really shows the love of electronic entertainment. As someone who plays a lto of games myself my family and friends always ask why i play computer games, or why i get so passionate about them, and its hard to put in words really, but i feel this quote from Jane McGonigal’s book ‘Reality is Broken’ sums it up quite beautifully:

“When we’re playing a good game, we’re actively moving ourselves toward the positive end of the emotional spectrum,we are intensely engaged, and this puts us in precisely the right frame of mind and physical condition to generate all kinds of positive emotions and experiences. All of the neurological systems that underlie happiness — our attention systems, our reward center, our motivation systems, our emotion and memory centers — are fully activated by gameplay. This extreme emotional activation is the primary reason why today’s most successful computer and video games are so addictive and mood-boosting. When we’re in a concentrated state of optimistic engagement, it suddenly becomes more biologically possible for us to think positive thoughts, to make social connections, and to build personal strength. We are actively conditioning our minds and bodies to be happier.”

This could not be more true in my eyes, and i think its because of computer games ability to create happiness for everyone in a world of unhappiness, free from prejudice or judgement based on appearance, purely on what you choose to do yourself. It is because of this that online gaming has taken off, huge communities of people from across the globe competing, collaborating, and coexisting with each other. This has not gone unnoticed and with huge companies seeing potential in this as a business it has created a vast amount of job opportunities in a field most gamers could only dream of. Imagine you, who’ve played computer games all your life, to which your family and most of your peers consider a geeky hobby, find out you could become a professional gamer, making a living off doing something you couldn’t enjoy more. This has been the case for countless people since the advent of the eSports industry. The industry is so vast it would be hard to cover every genre of game there is so i am going to focus more on RTS or Real Time Strategy games.A typical RTS consists of two or more players that control a number of structures and units that try to gain control of the map, usually by defeating destroying their opponents forces. This is limited as every unit/building costs resources, that must be collected in order to grow, you can build units to collect resources more quickly, however finding a balance between offence and economy is usually the lynchpin in most RTS titles. With the development of the internet and the potential it had, so too did the RTS genre develop and gain a huge fan base, with titles such as Dune II, Command & Conquer and Warcraft being the pioneers.

In 1995 a stockbroker from Dallas who grew up in Puerto Rico, Munoz walked away from investment banking and decided to start  building “the first ever organised and full sponsored video gaming tournament,” wrote Michael Kane in Game Boys.
He founded the Cyberathlete Professional League in January 1997 after bearing witness to 90s LAN parties and tournaments, LAN meaning Local Area Network was somewhere where people played online games from one location, usually competitively and mainly for fun with other people who play games. Angel Munoz decided to pursue what he saw as the huge commercial potential of competitive gaming, and did so successfully securing huge sponsorships from major companies such as nVidia and Intel while paving the way for the future of eSports.

In modern day, eyes have been looking closely at the gaming industry due to its huge success, it was one of the few industries to actually grow during the recession, with some gaming titles making more that Hollywood films. On the competetive side of things eSports tournaments have over 500 sponsors and prize funds that sometimes hit the millions. Some of the most notable leagues are MLG (Major League Gaming), WCG (World Cyber Games) and GSL (Global Starcraft League)

Since the industry has grown, the competition sizes have grown immensely and governing bodies have been created to regulate the competitive aspect of games and make sure both players organisers are treated fairly. It’s this amount of passion and interest that has made these tournaments so suited as a spectator sport as well. As more and more tournaments emerge, and the existing ones grow, the prize funds available to contestants has exploded. Some of the biggest names in technology sponsor events such as Intel, Panasonic, IBM and many many more. This has caused an almost superstar status for tournament winners, getting huge cash prizes and top of the range gaming utensils. Like any industry with ‘role models’ the average player/fan wants to be them, and if that means buying the same hi-tech equipment up they have so be it. Lim Yo-Hwan, a Korean Starcraft player, who plays under the alias Boxer is considered one of the most famous and most successful as he had reported annual earnings of over $400,000 showing that there is serious money to be made if you have the skills.

This status that eSports has gained in the eyes of the world has not gone unnoticed with over $35 Million been invested into MLG recently, as companies have recognised it branches out to so many people due to its huge presence on the internet as well as TV and live competition. This is going to be part of mainstream culture extremely soon, millions and millions of people are actively involved with these events, whether in person, on internet streams, television, or if you live in South Korea Starcraft is practically your national sport. Advertisers and sponsors know this and have a huge market of people, mainly young men around 19, but an un-ignorable market regardless.

The UKeSA, or the United Kingdom eSports Association is responsible for governing amateur and proffessional eSports in the UK. Building a structure with the government, industry and community in mind. These include the Metropolitan Police, Electronic Arts, the BBC, Team Dignitas and many more. The association was launched on 31 October 2008 by Ray Mia. He explained that UKeSA will hopefully be the eSports equivalent of The Football Association, offering ‘a centralised infustructure to UK eSports as well as support towards semi-professional and professional team and UK community led projects with the government.’

 

 

teamliquid.net

Wikipedia

Google

Outcome 1

The Creative Sector in the UK comprises of many different industries that all mesh together and form a fundamental part of the economy. These industries are obviously concerned with the creative, for example music, film and computer games. However they are not limited to this and also include sectors which provide business-to-business creative services such as Marketing, Advertising and PR. To try and summarise, anything that utilizes originality in the form of intellectual concepts with the focus not as much on profit, more on the recognition of work. I think this is where we differ from America, as they focus solely on revenue, making as much money as possible with as little input as they can. The UK seems to encourage the conceptual, rather than have it replaced with the mainstream, I know David Cameron wants to try to stop this by going down the ‘Hollywood’ path and feel that it would be hugely contested as the UK’s creative industry is just becoming stronger and stronger, it will not change for the sake of a few extra bucks.

There is a vast amount of work in the UK Creative Industries, in many different sectors, for example Mark Millar’s ‘Millarworld’. Millar is a Scottish comic-book writer who’s work has been adapted into major Hollywood blockbusters, such as ‘Wanted’ and ‘Kick-Ass’ he was also allegedly the one who proposed the idea for the Marvel Avengers Assemble film. His creator owned company published the Wanted comic series which was the industry’s best-selling creator-owned book of the last decade until he smashed his own record with Kick-Ass. This goes to show that work and ideas produced in the UK creative sector can be recognised globally as he assists the screenplays for all of the most recent and upcoming Marvel titles, while still working on his own films. Mark Millar is also a firm believer in the UK’s creative sector, as he will go out of his way NOT to travel overseas, preferring his flat in Glasgow for some obscure reason ( I would leave Glasgow to work in L.A in a shot) In fact it has been said that for a lot of ‘Kick-Ass’ production, Millar remained in Glasgow, using a webcam to conference with his colleagues in America.

 

The difference between the Cultural and Creative industries is not so huge as to distinguish them from each other completely, they overlap and have similarities. It is best to describe the Cultural industries as almost a sub-category to the Creative, they both accent each other but have their separate merits also. Cultural industries focus more on delivering other kinds of wealth to the community rather than just capitol. For example Museums, Libraries and Outdoor activities would all come under culture, these obviously link in with the creative, Museums especially, maybe more so with galleries. It would be the goal of the cultural industry to educate or even just enlighten people with knowledge of their heritage that they would otherwise be unable to discover, whether that be historically based, or artistically based.

The economic importance of the Creative Industries is quite shocking, even to me, I had no idea of the amount of people involved with this whatsoever. In 2009 the creative industries accounted for 10.6% of the UK’s exports, while Television and Radio were the highest exports for services in this year (3.1% and 2.6% respectively). These staggering figures show the impact that the Creative sector has on us as consumers. It is not surprising to find out that the creative industries make a far larger contribution to the economy than Hospitality or Utilities. The creative industries do however bring in a lot less revenue than that of Retail and Manufacturing, but you have to think, what is being sold or manufactured, it is more often than not someone in the creative sector that designs these things, just not them that does the selling. Around 5% of people in the UK work in the creative industries.

I think the difference between cultural wealth and social wealth is that cultural wealth focuses more on, Museums, Libraries, Galleries, Tourism, and anything to do with the Heritage of a country and are typically ran by either groups of people involved in the sector, or ran by the government (Museums etc). Social wealth is that which is not private property owned by individual people, or owned by the government, rather wealth that is owned by no one, and everyone at the same time. Examples of this can be nature’s wealth, natural resources, arable farming land and so on. It can also refer to human wealth that is created and nurtured by communities and families, such as caring for children and the elderly, labour that is often performed voluntarily.

Task 02

3-point editing

3-point editing is what makes separate scenes cohere in a logical order and help form a narrative that the audience can follow. It can change our perception of the scene or the feelings trying to be conveyed. For example this video of Alfred Hitchcock

explains how the assembly of film can be utilised to control how we view, in this case and old man, with the interjection of two scenes in the middle, one of something innocent, making the smiling man appear kind, and one of a girl in a bikini making him look like a dirty old man. This is the power of editing and the invention of 3-point editing software such as Adobe Premiere and Final Cut Pro has made this easier to do and by people who dont have an in-depth knowledge of film making or editing. Making this available to the public and useable by them has meant vast amounts of otherwise unable people can now make films of their own without having to buy top of the range recording and editing equipment (although FinalCut is extremely expensive).

This kind of editing is used frequently in reality TV, trying to condense a days worth of footage into one hour while making it enjoyable for the audience. More often than not scenes are used out of context to try and shape the viewers opinion of characters and to make the dull that bit more interesting. Its quite funny that so called reality TV couldn’t be more manufactured.

In this video Charlie Brooker explores and explains this quite satirically