Shooting Log

 

Evaluation Question FOUR

 After the entire process of research and planning, once i new what my target audience was like, and what it's expectations would be towards my product, i had an idea of how to come about satisfying it's wants. Audiences have a set of expectations as to what a genre text will contain in terms of transportation, costume, characters, setting, mise-en-sene, score etc. They expect to see genre-specific elements withing the media text. So in order to attract your audience, you provide them with these elements along with an interesting enough plot which would have them involved in the text as it goes on. I tried doing the same. Once my research was done and i was about to go for shoot, by that time, i knew the type of target audience i had and the expectations they acquired. Genre texts get very boring if they follow the very predictable conventions while having an unimpressive story line. Since i was making a product at this stage where i had my barriers, I obviously did not afford to break any conventions. So instead i used them all while having a plot that enabled the tension and involvement throughout the product to increase. Luckily art genres involve 'realism' so even the same conventions seem to look different every time, example location and culture. Showing cultural scenes and traditions might be a convention, but not all cultures are the same. So every new time, it has a new charm. As i made a Bollywood art film, it occured to me continuously that my target audience belongs to the elite educated class, from an age group from teens to adults, who would like to watch and understand such a plot since their intelect level, understanding and interest towards the 'real' world issues, i had to compile everything in way to address to them. I did this firstly, through my story line. Just so my audience wouldn't get bored, i made sure my product goes on having the right kind of thrill and suspense in order to create the required 'enigma'. Enigma really attracts an interest. I did this by the continuity of scenes by the help of editing and audio working in accordance to the camera shots. Every time suspense grew, for example, in my start credit, my actor slowly and gradually faints as he see's things within the market that disgust him. I made the scene stronger by intense close ups of all the things he sees while showing his reactions in a fast pace, having the back ground score and and his expressions to change as things got worse, and then i showed him fainting, taking the start credit to an end there. This kind of act leaves the audience curious as to what would happen, which is another way to attract it towards the product. Obviously, going completely with the codes and conventions keeps the audience involved. You wouldn't want to cheat your audience. This idea is to be taken into account while shooting. As an example, If i would have tried to show a weak boy fainting in market while having him dressed in an outfit of an underground gangster with a gun in his hand, it wouldn't give the right feel at all. Instead it would create a disequilibrium due to balancing out. This is why, i made sure all the things within the frame and without the frame were just according to my genre, be it, costume, location, script, plot, audio or the mise-en-sene. Mise-en-sene is very important. This is anything within the frame. In order to give the right feel and make everything look real, i went shooting in a real congested and filthy market, just so my result would come out as my audience would expect it to. If i'd set up a few fakes stalls on a road and tell a few actors to act as shop keepers and buyers it wouldn't really look like a market now would it? I also made a digital ethnic music after listening to a lot of ethnic songs played in Hindi Art films. This is because i happened to come across them in almost every reference film i watched, and so i assumed this is something the audience likes within the media text. I started my opening title with a voice over of my lead character as he tells his entire story within a short phrase. This was done so that the opening title conveyed the correct message of the story  easily so that the audience would not have to put in extra effort to try and understand what all goes on through the entire scene. Also, the location i chose was mainly because since my target audience belongs to the educated class, people would enjoy watching scenes shot in such a market because what a person does not experience a lot in life, is something he or she enjoys to understand. So if i represent such a location to someone who hasn't experienced it, it would appeal more to that person compared to someone who visit's such places very often and there's no thrill factor left. So yes, it i the thrill factor represented in my film that to me, would attract my audience towards it. I kept it simple and less glamorous throughout for two reasons, firstly so that it give's the right feel. and secondly in order to have the easiest media language possible so that the audience would watch it with comfort and interest. Lastly, i left the story close to social realism so that my audience could relate to it. I also took use of a character (the lead's mother) who i showed, belonged to the elite 'posh' class and i showed how people can become inconsiderate towards problems once they get everything their way and while coming up with this character, i thought of how my audience might belong from this class and how it might relate to the problems shown in my product.

Evaluation Question 7

Initially when i was making my priliminary video, all i knew was how to fix a camera on a tripod along with how to shoot a couple of simple camera angles and shots. Along with that i knew the names of these shots, that were mainly the basics, extreme close up, close up, mid shot, long shot, extreme long shot, establishing shot and high angle and low angle shots. The concept having the entire process of deciding a story, comleting research and preperation, studying genres and their conventions, studying institutions, all was completely alien to me. Infact, back then i did not even know what the importance of all this was. Frankly, i hadn't even understood how to use the correct media language. I broke the one eighty degree rule just because i didn't quite understand what it was. In other words, all i knew was how to handle a camera and also had a small idea of how to make lighting look good. Other than all that, direction and construction was not even a part of the little act. All i was to do was to get two people into talking and to capture them through diffent angles and to use shot reverse shot once they exchanged dialogue. Apart from the shoot, coming towards editing, by then i got to know little about editing since there were just a few shots to be cut and continued, however, it did teach me the basics. But when i look back now, Theres so much more to it than just shooting and editing and i believe this process of compilation of informtion and construction of data is what is really imporatant. Everone can hold a camera and turn it around, but not everyone can understand media as the source of intellect and communication it really is. Back then all i knew was the technical stuff, but now i know so much. Whether it is about different film industries and the institutions, whether it is about how different institutions cater to different genres, whether how diffenet genres have diffenet audiences or simply how to combine camera movements to audio and mise-en-sene providing the correct feel and genre specific elements within the media text. Then, i knew that films are financed by institutions and that is how they reach us, but now i can name institutions according the genres they like to distribute. Back then i knew that genres consisted of horror, comedy, action, romance, drama, adventure etc. But now i even know how genres colide into sub genres and what codes and conventions each of them follow. I knew how to hold a camera and take simple shots, now i am confident enough to use different techniques of camera shots along with the order of shots it is supposed to go in. Earlier on i didn't know what it took to come up wih a story line, now i know that films cannot go on without things like story boards and scene and shot divisionings. Initially i did not know there was an entire process to the constuction of a short media text, now, i not only know there is one, but also know each and every step it takes towards it. When i start thinking, i get so much in my head since i have gathered so much of information regarding all this. However, the only thing I feel I still need to understand completely is the technical stuff involved in editing. With time, i will learn that too.

STARTING WITH THE PRELIMINARY

It is strange how once i start recalling, i get a flow of memories of how things took the initial step. I remember one fine day calling up two of my friends and asking them if they'd want to act for me. I wouldn't exactly write an entire section on 'planning for the prelim-shoot', mainly because at this stage we told what to do. We were told to shoot a two minutes scene and show two people exchanging dialogue. Yes, now it seems simple, but back them it was like " OH MY GOD I HAVE TO SHOOT THIS! HOW?!' Well. again, as i said, it was more like the very first step. So i started shooting. It was rather funny since it was hard to get my friends to act as they wouldn't stop laughing. It was hard, for me, to understand the 'one-eighty degree rule'. As much ashamed as i am by writng this down, i even broke it, while not knowing until the teacher pointed it out. I didn't even know how to control the lighting. It was a mess, but i liked it. It was a very new and joyful experience, and i learnt a lot of things by just this process. So when i went out for my real shoot later in the next term, I didn' have to face these problems because i had already grown out of them.

TIMES IN BETWEEN
Well, i truly want to mention what a wonderful and full of experience journey i passed this year. Before going out for the fnal shoot there were a million things to do. I give both my teachers credit for getting all my work done on time, with effort and as nicely as i had in mind. All my friends had started complaining to me by this time, of why i never leave the media lab and spend time with them. Life inside that lab was so inspiring and dominating throughout. Getting familiar wih all the equipment inside, listening to songs and completing my blog, even sitting alone there, staring into nothing and trying to visualize how i wanted my film to be shot and edited, it was all a time of chances of finding out who i am and where i belong.

FINAL PRODUCTION

By now i had gotten very excited and i had all my plans sorted out. So i head off to shoot. Wow, there were a number problems i faced. Location issues, actors not being there on time, the scorching heat, camera's battery dying. It was all a hard process full of moments pf panic and stress. However, when i started shooting, and saw all the rushes i had in my camera, i was so happy. I loved it. A few problems lead my partner and I go out for reshoot. But we remained positive and made our sequence of shots even better than what they were before. Later when we started to edit, at the same time we recieved the music for our film. A friend of ine made the music, as per requirement. I told him each and every detail i wanted the sound track to contain. I remember the way i'd sit infront of him and explain things in the most confusing way, but he still understood what i had in mind and gave me a result that was definately better than my expectation. At the same time, i remember sitting in an issolated class room with all the fans turned off just so i could get to record my voice clearly. I basically sang for my film. This song is played in the starting of my film. I took this particular idea from the film 'Brick Lane' and I was hoping I'd get the same kind of feel delivered. As a matter of fact I did, to some level and once again, i was happy with what i had done. So looking back, i believe it is a journey of complete ups and downs but either way, we get to learn so much and that is not just limited to the creative aspect, but also to technology.

Evaluation Question TWO

In order to explain my repressentation of particular social groups, the initial step is to explain the social structure and divisions in my country. People are devided into three categories, like any other country, upper, middle and lower classes. However, being a third world country we have our majority still present in, partly the middle, and mostly the lower class. These devisions are mainly resposible due to income level, living standards and social set up and background differences. As explained above, having such a high density population in the two classes, it is well understood that very few people are present in our upper class. Now coming to the real question, what i did in my film was a little summary of how the upper class is, while slightly giving hints of the lower class too. I was able to represent this, by firstly, my characters who represent the upper class, and secondly, my location, which throughout, showed the low class culture. Before going on, i'm going to give a brief description of the story line of my film in order to be able to relate to it the rest of the answer that i will write. As i mentioned, my characters represent the upper class, i have shown a mother, a very posh one, who is responsible for her son's (my lead character) under confident and emotionally weak nature due to her extreme empowerment and dominance over him. In order to give the feel to the concept i tried to represent the strength and weaknesses of my characters by choosing a low class market as my shoot location. The entire time the camera shows how the boy's weaknesses are exposed due to, obviously, the life time torture treatment of his inconsiderate mother while the icing on the cake is the the market's filthy atmosphere itself. Now that the story is summarized, by now it is understood that i have represented 'classism'. However, thats not the only media 'ism' that is present in my film. How i visualized the 'over-pwering' nature of the mother and her dominance and fear casted over her son also represent's 'feminism'. I understand how feminism basically means ' the advocacy of woman's rights on the grounds of politicle, social, cultural and economic equality to men', i still consider that media is beyond just the definitions and we can show how it can be a problem aswell. Secondly, the way i picturized the son's character and nature including the relationship between him and his mother, i tried to represent 'humanitarianism'. This is because even in my film, it is basically about how that boy could have been something great within himself, but that ability, to be something dies in him before he can nurture it because he never gets that chance or that confidence to. And as humanitarianism has it, it is everyone's duty and responsibilty to respect human rights and to promote human welfare. I tried giving the same message  through a very minor example of simply a mother and a child, rather than being bold and giving the same message through bigger problems like racial descrimination etc. Other than that, i showed the typical culture of a third world country by the help of my location, as mentioned earlier. I chose that market just so it is visible to the audience how things can be absurdly exposed and dealt with in these low class markets. The way you just see meat hanging here and there, or a bunch of flies literally trying to devour the fruits and vegetable around, it all seems so amusing and different to those who dont get to see it much, but to those who're a part of it hardly care. In my film, thats what i was most anxious to show. I made my lead character faint in the market as he sees shrude and bold things happening around, just so that the difference between the standards of the upper class and the lower class are visible, even in a developing country like ours. He faints, but every where around, the rest of the people just walk in search of something to purchase. Things are how you see them, your vision is your way. But the reason i showed both characters going to that low class market rather than going to some mall is basically to show that even though our upper class has high income levels and living standards, it is the hippocracy that they'd still shop at that market, and later would be the ones criticising it aswell. I have noticed this a lot and so i wanted this fact to be a part of my film aswell. However its still a petty part of the product. The main ideology was to show how members of the elite class live their lives, whether it's about the way they feel superior, or whether they get so astonished by their 'new money' that they forget their very own responsibilities, be it towards their own close ones. And i chose to show a mother, not a father, because fathers are dominating figures anyway, but in the elite, women tend to be extremely dminating. This is mainly because they're educated and modern and usually they dont have that entire concept of men being the stronger ones. And i couldn't have showed this in a better way than to show it by the a mother's behaviour towards her very own son.

Evaluation Question Six

 Initially, when i started media, i honestly did not know much, It was just decision i made completely out of passion. However i knew, with time, i will gradually learn how to come about with it. And i was completely correct. With time, the process of construction of things present in our course, i automatically learnt a lot. Whether it was about media as a proffession or simply the basics, like how to hold a camera, or in other words, how to deal with technology. Coping with the course, i managed to firstly, handle a camera in a proffessional way, along with how to make good use of a tripod. The buttons of the camera now make more sense to me than they did a few months ago. Now i am cofortable enough to be able to shoot with different cameras, I'm confident enough to. I always read the option of 'white balance' but never really knew the purpose. Now i know that it is very necessary to use that option before shooting in order to capture light in a clear way. I have understood how a camera works like an eye, its right and left, its frame, and even its memory. However, abviously its nothing like a human eye when it comes to capturing light. We see light as it is but a camera lense can only see what's dominanting. This is where white balance steps in. So now i make sure i use white balance before capturing anything within a frame. I've even understood that out-door shoot can neglect this option, but it is heavily needed once shooting in-door. Coming towards the computer, well. starting with a lowest most things, its easier for me to work on and manage my own blog now since we have to have a blog of our own. I am able to attatch any sorts of files, videos, pictures or any data i want on my blog, in the order i want them to be. I make good use of other programmes on the computer other than just facebook, youtube or google. I was completely alien towards editing softwares and music softwares before but now I'm starting to understand them. I know how important it is to render files, or even how long it can make you wait. I know the type of generation loss that occurs after the raw footage goes through the entire editing process. However, after completing my film, it really amuses me how just plain camera shots turn into a complete film just by the help of editing. The importance of sound and video effects is now understandable. These effects are the essence of media products. They create genres out of ordinary camera shots. However,i still have to learn more about editing because this was my very first time and there is so much available on these softwares and i want to know each and everything about them which i know i will by next year. However i do understand the variations of these softwares that keep changing with time as technology is becoming more advanced. I feel media keeps changing just because technology brings in so much more. So at every step, we tend to learn something new. Today i know things, but tomorrow, these might become just the first few letters of the alphabetical order. Technology plays the biggest part in this process and i have learnt so much about it in very little time and i am hoping to learn more at every step i take next.

Evaluation Question FIVE

 The target audience is a percentage of people film makers are willing to cater to, while producing a media product. It can be categorized in two, attitudinal demographics and sociological, consisting of intensions, habits, likes, dislikes, responses, behaviour etc, while on the other hand age, gender, income, residence and social background also come under a different category. Coming to my product, i have analysed and researched that for an art film my target audience consists of multi-sex people, mainly between the age group from late teens to fifties having high income levels and usually educated backgrouds, at times elite house holds. Their interest is usually towards any sort of intellect conveyed an not just the typical entertainment. It also consists of art film critics and scholars who would observe the representation, construction and composition of my film. The age limit tells me they expect a film having a mature story line dealing with relavant important and understandable issues that they can relate to. At times, indirect use of language can be used, since these educated grown ups would easily understand it, however not always is it necessary and advisable since media language should be easy to read. These people come to consume the product with immense interests, mainly due to their likes and dislikes, and their habits and also because art films release within gaps leaving them more interested in whats produced. Also, these people are open minded and so even obsurd plots can be understood rather than being misjudged. Since they belong from rich house holds, they have the ability to consume the product more than once. They tend to use their maturity and knoledge to critically analyse the product and respond accordingly.

MY FILM- ME MYSELF AND MA

Evaluation Question Three

 

Institutions play an important part in the entire process of making a film. These are the sole producers, financers and distributers of films. There are number of institutions in the world, divided within different film industries. Since i chose Bollywood as my industry, the institution for it should be from Bollywood as well. Out of the many i searched, there were two that cater to art films as well. These are, Eros Entertainment and UTV. However, i see Eros entertainment as the institution that would finance and distribute my product. It has a core trade in the production, distribution, finance and acquilision of Bollywood films. This is mainly because it has a vast range of films and their genres types that it caters to. Having the largest share in the Film library of Bombay, Eros International has happened to buy films that are of different genres and sub genres like, horror-romance, thriller-romance, romantic comedies, thriller-action, action-drama,action-romance-comedy etc. It has a huge vereity of films that it has distributed, and after examining and studying this institution, along with observing the types of films it caters to, i feel such an institution would want to buy the type of media product i have created. Keeping all the entertainment and drama films aside, coming towards art films, Eros entertainment has financed one of Bollywood's most successful art films. Some of these include, Dhobi Ghat, Rockstar, Zindagi na mile gi dobara etc. Taking Dhobi Ghat as an example, this is a pure art film, outside the mainstream cinema that has no special affects and drama to it but is completely close to reality and simple, like the product i made. I had taken this as my reference film and i studied it before going out for shoot. Another art film it had financed was Dor, that was again a very serious, cultural film. Other than this, Eros entertainment has offices all around the globe and so it is easy and more accessible for it to distribute films through different channels. And since it has catered to all these art films, along with the one I've chosen as my reference, that has been successful, i believe my art film is meant to be financed by such an institution, not only because it has distributed a number of art films but also because other institutions of Bollywood mainly cater to those art films that either have super stars in them or simply other films that are pure entertainment. So Eros International seems most suitable for my media product.

Evaluation Question 1

Qs 1. In what ways does your product use or change codes and conventios of real media product?

                                                                    
                                                                                                  
Before giving an explaination to the particular question, first it is important to explain the ideology of my product and the film industry i chose for it to be catered to, as well as the genre it belongs to. It is an art film coliding with sub genres of drama and adventure. As i mention 'art' film, that automatically indicates that it belongs to 'art house cinema', that shows films of artistic merit, low to medium budget films, mainly produced outside the mainstream. And so i've chosen Bollywood, the Indian film industry, 'industry of Mumbai'. This is because in my film, the location, the structure, the actors and the idiology, all belong to the culture that places like India and Pakistan present. If i'd choose Hollywood for such a film it wouldn't seem appropriate. Coming towards conventions and terms, all different industries cater to genres in different ways. E.g conventons of an English horror would completely differ from that of an Indian horror. Same goes for art. This is mainly because art films are usually close to reality, that inludes the culture, traditions, beliefs and problems of the places the industries are located in, and so different industries have their own elements of reality shown in their art films. So it is very obvious that the conventions of same genre films from different industries will differ. An art film from Hollywood would cannot be compared to an art film from Bollywood. Bollywood art films have their own set of codes and conventions. These include, location and colour, that is, usually Indian art films tend to show areas of heir country, presented in vibrant colours, allowing the feel of the location to be vividly expressed. Audio works on its own way. It usually involves slow, emotional, sometimes adventurous and ethnic kind of music. Lighting is very unique. If the movie involves scenes from somewhere outside on the road, or in a market, a lot of natural light is used, along with color filters. I have mainly happened to notice blue and yellow filters used a lot in Indian Art films. The ideology behind these films is usually dramatic, close to reality, in other words, it represents social realism. Mainly you see no glamour and the typical spiced up entertainment. Things are left natural and simple in all ways. In order to make it closer to reality, The story line is extremely intelectual, at times even slightly obsurd, however, proper and simple media language makes it easy to read. The actors in the film are mainly ordinary looking with a simple appearance, appropriatly representing ther character. Also, these films tend to have a precise amount of narration or voice overs, e.g, at the start of the film or in the end, or simply as the movie goes on and events take place. The story line usually has a message to convey or a story to be told, at times, real events in the past are represented. Camera angles and technigues are mainly very 'artsy' giving the typical feel required that would appeal to the audience. Speaking of audience, these films have a very low level of target audience, maily the elite, educated class of people with in the age limit of seventeen to fifty, who easily unerstand the story as well as feel attracted to the plot. Coming towards my film, i dont think i have broken or changed any codes and conventios however, have managed to use as many as possible according to the research i did. Starting with my location, like real Bollywood art films, i chose to shoot my film in a very low class, congested and for the posh, 'filthy' market in order to represent the culture of my country. It was an outdoor shoot so a lot of natural light was used, which also enabled all the colors to show bright, just like any market would have in real.The idiology was realistic too, as i showed how the people of the elite class in our country react to problems and the way the deal with them. This is shown by the characters and their attitudes. I have shown a very posh mother, who is inconsiderate towards the problems her son is facing, this is made obvious by the actions and behaviour of her son throughout the scene and her vague and careless reaction towards it, being showed by her expressions and acting, same goes for her son, who by his expressions, act and appearance, makes it clear that he is over powered by his dominating mother and is slowly going weaker with time. I did not use any props since it was an out door natural shoot and i simply captured what was already there. The appearance of my actors was ordinary just like it wold be in real, no glamour, no spice.Coming towards conventions including audio, I made a score (background music) using digital insrtuments like the 'sitar' and 'tabla' that gives the ethnic tone to the entire product following a touch of other western instruments such as, the kick grand piano, oboe, triangle, strings and orchestral ensemble. While on the other hand, my film also starts with the voice over of my main character colidng with a back ground voice singing a luluby that i have done myself, just like art films from the real cinema. One thing i was most pushed about throughout my shoot was 'sound'. I made sure i recorded room tone that i have used thoroully. The exsistance of 'Ambient sound' makes my film look very original and real. There is a slight use of synchronous sound, however, most of the sounds in my film are asynchronous. This gives the right feel and i made sure i captured these sounds after i had examined art films in my research. According to conventions again, the language throughout the product, whether oral or media related, remained according to the story line. Even though my voice over is in English, I made my actor speak the way he does in real in order to capture the correct, original accent which enhances the mood of the product. Along with everything mentioned above, i made sure i used a few camera shots that would look unique and realistc, and so i took a number of 'Point Of View' shots and also left the camera shaky in a scene where my character walks along a street. This really gave the required affect, as my character's fainting in the scene and the camera movement makes that feel expressed strongly and i took this Idea from an Indian Movie 'Dav D'.

 Lastly, art films that colide with sub genres like drama and adventure usually create a sort of enigma. As we were supposed to make an opening title, i made sure my product was a combination of sub genres of art and drama, and i kept in mind to use all the techniques and plot the scene in way that it creates that enigma and suspense and luckily, i was capable to do so as i ended my opening title when suspense grows to the fullist and the lead character faints, since such scenes leave the audience involved and curious to what happens next. My entire idea was to create the product in the utmost realistic and artistic way as possible, while conveying the story.

MY FILM POSTER

When intially i had started planning how i wanted my film to be, i had in mind that my poster should be unique, containing the main aspects of my film. I studied and obseved a number of posters that helped me in coming up with numerous ideas. Accordingly i took my actor's pictures and converted them into this, including the 'siluette'. Even by closely, on the left hand side corner there is a slight glimpse of the market that i shot in and lastly, i kept it all in light and dull colours according to the theme of my film. I suppose having extremely bright and vibrant colours would not have reflected my genre as well as these dull colours do since in my own mind, when i think of my film, it is serious, simple and portrays no sort of glamour or drama.