Presentation Feedback

Presentation Feedback

Pre Production Paperwork- 'Badvice' short

Storyboards - My Section

Other Pre Production Paperwork

Script with no changes

Normal script with changes

Screenplay with my scenes highlighted

Prop List

Production schedule

Budgeting sheet

Risk Asessment

Location Recce

Talent Release

Talent Release

Talent Release

Location Release

The requirments of woking to a brief

The Requirements of Working to a Brief

The Brief

A brief is a list of requirements that companies or 'clients' set for you to keep to throughout the production of the media text. Clients set briefs to make sure that whoever they hire give them exactly what they want. It is very important that the filmmaker pays attention to the brief so that they know what they can and can't do.  if they do no pay attention to the brief then the client could turn it down all together. Briefs are used in competitions like this to see if people have what it takes to be able to follow instructions in the industry. 

Commission

'To Commission' literally translates into 'to put in or make ready for service or use' this is what commissioning bodies do  A commission is when the client you are working for, in this example, E4 is the commissioner. the commissioner is the person responsible for putting the media text onto a media platform. The text has to be 'commissioned' before it is put on a television or cinema screen. Commissioning bodies are companies like E4, ITV and Sky. Usually Commissioning bodies will pay the film make for their work, however the E4 competition doesn't because its more based on getting your name out there and not being worried about monetary gain.

Tender

A Tender is an opportunity that is open to everyone. Anyone and everyone can apply for the competition. Other competitions are usually only open to people who specialize in the media however tenders are literally open to anyone to take part. It is a great way for people to get some experience without too much pressure being forced upon them. however they will still need to keep to the brief even if they are completely inexperienced, otherwise it will not be considered by the judges whatsoever unless there are some very special circumstances. I managed to get an example of a tender from the website ideas tap. Here is the one I found;

Responding to the brief
A way of responding to a brief is getting involved in the competition that the brief is included in. Competitions are a great way to get a lot of people involved in the process. If it is a tender then the amount of people who can respond the brief is greatly improved as I mentioned above a tender is something that anyone can apply to so the brief can be responded to by a far greater audience. An example of a competition that people can respond to is the Blue Cat screenplay competition which is described as 'The competition to find the top screenplay in the world' here are the details of the competition.

Reading a Brief
when reading a brief you have to take into consideration the rules that the client sets out for you. if you do not adhere to these rules then you will not be meeting the expectations of the brief. Our E4 brief had several 'targets' if you like that we had to meet to make sure we fully fulfilled the briefs expectations. It is very important that the filmmaker reads the brief carefully to find out what they need to do, if you make something that doesn't keep to the brief then that is a lot of time wasted and the media product will not be accepted by the judges. Here is the list of objectives for the E4 E sting brief:

• We can’t show anything explicit or violent in the daytime, but we might be able to after the watershed as long as it’s broadcastable. So – within reason – your idea can be quite naughty / irreverent / provocative and the like. Use your common sense though; anything too grim or sexually explicit won’t get shown at all.
• It HAS to be EXACTLY 10 seconds long. If it’s not 10 seconds long IT WILL NOT BE CONSIDERED BY THE JUDGES. Sorry, but we’re strict!
• You HAVE to use one of the 10-second audio beds supplied.
• It HAS to have the E4 logo in it… but you probably could’ve guessed that. (Preferably, integrated into the idea rather than simply slapped on top of your piece at the end.)

When responding to the brief you must keep to these guidelines or your entry will most likely end up being disqualified and your work that you would have spent a lot of time on will not even be considered for the competition, This brief is quite lenient compared to some one can find in the industry. we were given a lot of room to negotiate the brief which i will discuss in the next paragraph.

Negotiating the brief
In our brief we had quite a lot of room to negotiate. We could choose the type of animation we wanted to use, Whether it was Claymation or live action animation- we could choose the material that we animated with. we could also choose the genre that the animation was. I'm not really sure what genre my animation would be. I think it probably would be action maybe as the character is flying through the air. we could slightly negotiate the soundtrack and choose which E4 sound we could have. Overall we had  quite a lot of freedom when it came to our brief. we could come up with our very own unique idea, Which is a really liberating, however for some people it can be quite daunting as they may find comfort in being given the instructions on what they have to do.

Another constraint we faced however was the fact that our E sting had to be more or less exactly ten seconds long. this could hold different problems for people as their E sting may turn out to be too long or could turn out to be too short, it all comes down to how well the person planned their animation. I was quite proud that my E sting came up to exactly 10 seconds.

Negotiating and commission in the real world

The following story is about the BBC television programme Sherlock. The writers Steven Moffat and Mark Gatis went to the BBC with the idea and pitched it, the BBC loved it and commissioned them to make six 60 minutes episode, however they wanted three 90 minute episodes. here is the full story here from wikepedia;

Opportunities in the brief
Responding to a brief is a really great way for inexperienced to get that precious experience. It is a really great way for people to get a foot in the door. things like this are a crucial tool in trying to get into the media industry. They give inexperienced people the chance to hone their skills and attributes and get some recognition. For me it was a chance to see that animation was not for me. however I did learn a few things about stop motion animation, how it works and also what it takes to do it well.

The Journey of a Script

Animation Evaluation

Animation Evaluation

Here is my final completed Esting

             
I first came up with the idea for my E sting when researching other E stings. I tried to come up with an idea that was funny and would appeal to the E4 audience. I thought that it should involve a character that thought they where really good but ended up failing in some way. I remembered the tale of Icarus what I was taught about in middle school. this story is about the son who flies to close to the sun which ends up being his demise as his wings begin to melt and he falls to his death. I thought I should have a character that wouldn't fly too close to the sun but instead do different tricks while flying through the air and eventually over does it. Let me start off by saying that I am not the biggest fan of my E sting. I did not comprehend how much detail something so small like a ten second stop motion animation clip needed. This is the reason I think it looks very amateur and for lack of a better word, lazy. I also think that my animation in general should have been smoother as I  think it is very jumpy and not fluid enough to be taken seriously as an E4 E sting. I also rushed making the set as I was seriously running out for filming time for my animation. I think the main problems with my E sting where my time management and not paying enough attention to detail. I screened my animation to my peers who had a mix of positive and negative comments towards it.
Positives
People thought that the animation had 'nice movement'
Some thought that where the camera is situated was a good way to show the character flying through the air.
Some thought that the very rough look complimented the effect that it was just simply a child's play set.
Negatives
Some thought that my E sting lacked imagination
Some of my peers didn't think that the spiral part of the animation was done very well, they thought it was jumpy and wanted it to be smoother

Survey Results

For a broader amount of audience feedback I sent out a survey using the website survey monkey. It was very beneficial for me to send a survey out because it allows me to get the points of view of more people in my target audience and allows me to draw accurate conclusions on what people think about my E sting.
The first question I asked was simple and to establish whether my survey audience actually know what E stings are. I asked "have you ever seen an E4 E sting before". Here are the results I received.

This shows that most of my audience had in fact viewed and E sting before which didn't surprise me as most of the people I am in contact with view E4 on a regular basis. Most of the people in my email list are my age which fits the demographic for E4.

For my third question I asked whether this E sting was instantly recognizable as an E4 E sting. here is five of the responses I received:

These five answers vary from good to bad. one of the people who say yes say its only because of the E4 logo at the end which is a little disappointing to me as if it takes until the end of the video for people to realize that it is an E4 E sting then i haven't accomplished what I set out to do. I do wish that the person who said the last comment had put a reason but that's just a flaw in making an online survey like this one.

The next question I asked was 'What did you enjoy about the use of clay'. Because clay is a rather unique and and interesting way of animating. Clay is rather aesthetically pleasing and it is held in quite high esteem as everyone has heard of Wallace and Gromit. These are two of the answers I received: 

Both of these responses are positive. one of the most important things about stop motion animation is making it as smooth as possible. so the top comment is very important to me as I must have succeeded in making it smooth. the second comment lets me know that people appreciated the narrative of my E sting and enjoyed said narrative.

Skipping ahead now to the question about the narrative of my E sting. specifically, my question was "what did you like/dislike about the narrtive of my E sting" although the E sting is only 10 seconds long it is still very important because this is one of the main reasons the viewer will engage in. Here are some of negative viewpoints I recieved.

As you can see, the main issue was the mise en scene took the viewer out of the narrative. I regret that I didn't spend as much time as i would have liked to. if i had more time i would have used real sand and would have made the sky a lot more detailed. Although these reasons are valid, they do not directly address the narrative so these are not overly helpful. Here are some of the positives i recieved for my Esting:

The flying of my character was one of the things that my
 audiences enjoyed most

Most of the viewers seemed to enjoy the fun, upbeat quality of my E sting. Making it fun and enjoyable to watch was one of my main objectives. I then asked about the technical aspects of my Esting, asking; "do you think my animation flowed well?" here are a few of the responses.

There are a few mixed responses here however I think that the flow of the animation was one of the stronger points of my E4 E sting. This is the part of the animation that gets a little bit jumpy however.

My final question was "In general what do you think could have been improved in my E sting". I tried to have more of a general question for my last to just get a general feel of peoples reactions to my E sting. here are a few of the responses;

All of these opinions are very valid and i will be sure to take them into account when I make my next stop motion animation project. Especially the comments about detail as that is something I really need to improve on as I believe the detail really lacked in my E sting.

I think I have learnt a lot of lessons for this project. possibly the biggest lesson I have learnt is that I do not like the idea of working in animation in the future. I don't think it is for me because it is too small and fiddly. I think to be good at something like claymation you need to have a bit of artistic flair to make the characters look good. I have never been overly in to animated works in film and now I know that I would not really enjoy it when i'm behind the camera in animation as well. that is the biggest lesson i have learnt. In terms of working to a brief I found it quite nice that the rules are set out for you,I didn't think of them as rules really I just thought of them as guidelines that assisted me in coming up for my E sting idea. In terms of meeting the brief I believe that I have done rather well and would be quite happy to work with briefs in the future.

Research and Planning: E4 and the brief

Research and Planning: E4 and the brief

E4 is a UK television channel. It was launched as a companion to channel 4 on the 18th of January 2001. E4 has many well known and very popular shows, they seem to focus more on the comedy genre as it appeals more tot their target audience. E4's target audience is teens to mid 30's adults as their programmes cater to that demographic(more on this term further on) . E4 regularly shows programmes such as the classic american sitcom Friends. The comedy spin off The Cleveland Show. The comedy show the Inbetweeners and The Ricky Gervais show, this kind of alternative, close to the bone comedy would not really appeal to the older or younger audiences. Its not all comedy though however, its has its share of dramas as well such as Misfits and skins.  Demographic is a term that the media use to divide up audiences using age, gender, race and other different categories. Every media product out there specializes in different demographics. According to the chart below E4 specializes in the age range from 18 to 24. this is because of their choice of shows and also their informal approach to their audience. The sex demographic is almost half and half. also their audience are mostly childless so this also allows them to show more edgier comedy shows.

E Stings

An E sting is a short animated short clip that E4 use to advertise their TV channel. They can be any type of animation. they are usually funny and are designed to give the audience a few seconds of fun before the programme they  are going to watch starts. I am going to analyse three E Stings.

The first E Sting I am analysing is this one entitled NosE4atu. It is hand drawn animation and it is referencing to the film Nosferatu. It is rather comedic as nosferatu is known as one of the first horror movies and are using this to make it funnier as it shows nosforatu, a usually scary figure being mocked and beaten by the E4 logo.


The second 'E-Sting' I watched and analyzed was the one entitled 'Breakfast Surprise'. I liked this E sting more than the previous one, I thought it was funnier because of the type of animation used. although they both are cartoons this one is more roughly animated which I think adds to the comedic affect. also at the minute zombies seem to be the fashion in film and television at the minute. so this would appeal to a larger audience than the 'Nose4atu' E sting.


The third and final 'E-sting' I watched was definitely my favourite. The E sting is called 'Crabby and the salty sea dog'. I really like this E ting mainly because of how odd it is. the characters looked warped and strange and I really love the style of the animation its all very stiff and rather lethargic. I also really like the colour scheme. the colours are quite bland and weak which I think adds to the quirkiness.

Preperation

In preparation for my E sting I looked into the different forms of animation and tested them out for myself. find below the video of my first attempt of a Thaumotrope, i say first attempt because i ended up holding it upside down! I wasn't quite sure what the concept was however after making it and viewing it i could see why I thought I had to hold it upside down!

Also for my prep work I attempted some stop motion animation work (seeing as this was the type of animation we would be using according to the brief). me and my collegue just made a simple sketch of a giant Lego spider scaring a man off of his wheelchair. This is very ameteur however i didnt think it was too bad for our first attempt.


We did another stop motion test where we were given the task of filming some sort of race/ chase sequence. in my groups video we decided to have the protagonist throw down some debree that the other character slips over on. After seeing this the protagonist gets in the box that he is carrying and 'drives' away. however once he reaches the corner he crashes and spins out of control. finishing with the quip "drink and drive, drink and die"

Research and planning:Designing an Esting

Research and Planning: Designing an E-sting

For my E sting project I am going to most likely use the method of claymation. In my E sting  there is going to be a purple and white clay man flying through the air, doing flips and so forth. He then finishes flying and hits the floor when he hits the floor he explodes into the E4 logo. My character's background is that he is a diver who who jumps off the highest diving boards. He will be rather stocky in build as he is a a diver, he needs to be quite muscular. My character has no body accompanying him which gives sort of a lone wolf aura. My diver is not able to perform his dive however it makes the audience question whether he is a good diver or not. There is going to be funny sound effects such as the man jumps off and a large 'splat' noise as the man hits the floor. This E sting will be stop motion. My animation will be set on a sunny day outside, I will need to draw a background on a piece of cardboard. A blue sky and some clouds. The music will be quite calm and relaxed as the character will be flying gracefully through the air which would not go with fast paced music. when the man splats I will zoom the camera into the splat so the screen goes black then I will zoom back out and the original splat will have been replaced with the E4

symbol. My set for my Esting will be a hand drawn background of a bright sunny day. I thought this would go well with the upbeat feel of my Esting. in terms of logistics I am going to have to lay my background on the floor and film my character flying through the air from a bids eye view angle to make sure his flying looks fluid and real. when the character splats he will land on a small beach. this will most likely be a piece of yellow paper as this also compliments the E4 logo colour that will appear when he splats. Th targete audience for my E sting will be a younger audience as they will be attracted to the bright and vibrant colours and I think they will find it funny when the character splats onto the floor.

Animation Pre-Production Paperwork

Location Release

Location Recce

risk assessment

Production schedule

This is my original set I made for my Esting.
However it wasn't Vibrant enough for me to go
with the feel of my Esting.

These are my drawings of my character in my E sting,
he isn't meant to look realistic. I wanted him to look like a
character a child would have on their play set. I labelled the
colouration of my character. his head and feet would be white
and his chest and legs and arms would be 'E4 purple'.

This is my storyboard, I only had one page
for my storyboard as I could not document
all of the tiny little movements my character
would make.

Budgeting sheet