Last Seen Blogs
thunderstrukk
I Man I Gorilla 🦍
ammoknightsofficial
Louie Apologism Era
maccc24
Bez tytułu
idontneedtobeforgiven
I Want Adventure in the Great Wide Somewhere
Text
Weekly Blog #4 – The Script – c3350558 – Ky Callaghan
Over the past week I put my research on hold and began to script out the general layout of my video essay firstly by gathering a range of definitions that I will use in order to best catch the audience up to speed with the topic at hand.
Blockbuster – Defined as a film that stands out from the rest as being a major box office success, (must find an appropriate source) – “a movie has to gross at least $200 million to be considered a blockbuster e.g. Avengers: Endgame, Jaws, The Dark Knight
As well as doing this I continued gathering data that will be used in the final essay in order to get a more personal and Australian-based public opinion on the topic. The better version of the following graphs will be used in the final product.
This graph comes courtesy of Screen Australia who has data relevant to my specific topic ranging from 1974, and although I wont be stretching that far with my essay
Wrapping this up as you can see in the aforementioned graph, I have finally decided to primarily focus on the year range of 2018 – 2022 with other prominent and relevant years being used when necessary or when it feels required.
Bibliography
Cinema Attendance and other information: https://www.screenaustralia.gov.au/fact-finders/cinema/audiences/attendance-patterns
0 notes
Text
Weekly Blog #2 / #3 – Research and Interviews – c3350558 – Ky Callaghan
Over the past two weeks, I have primarily focused on continuing my general research of the current state of the cinema industry as well as gathering some interviews from frequent movie-goers.
For the research portion of my time, I continued to look at the box office numbers of more recent films along with putting an emphasis on the public opinion of the current state of the ‘cinema experience’ and whether it is ‘dying’ or not. As you would expect there are many articles about this topic all stating different information, however possibly one of my best sources comes from Director Sam Mendes (1917, Skyfall) who states “I look back at my films and I think American Beauty, Revolutionary Road, Away We Go, these would all go to streaming now and that makes me sad.” Him even went as far as to also state that “middle-budget movies are no longer made for cinemas, and most often go straight to streaming services.” In combination with last week’s research regarding Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, these statements would seem to be true as a film from a franchise like Indiana Jones would certainly have to be a success, especially with the iconic nature of the character and the previous films whether it be from the original trilogy or the heavily critiqued Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008), now of course the Indiana Jones franchise is not as big or prominent as its big brother Star Wars but it should still be noted as a primary factor in the debate of dying cinema.
Moving onto the second portion of this week’s focus is interviewing the ‘average’ cinema attendee as well as those that treat going to the movies as more of a special event. Having asked a few people at various times I believe so far I have gained a decent amount of data to begin to build a more personalised set of graphs for use in my final video essay, and not to spoil the majority of the data but so far with the interviews I have currently conducted as out of the 13 people interviewed 6 of them strongly believed that it is easier to just wait until a film is available on streaming, with the general cost of taking a family to the movies makes it more of a special treat rather than a regular family outing. So far my current interviews have swayed more in favour to streaming services being a superior format of watching a film, however, I believe that once I interview more single/couples the data will skew somewhat dramatically. This will lead to next week's focus on local cinema viewership numbers.
Jiangnan Photography
0 notes
Text
Weekly Blog #1 - Research Phase 1 – c3350558 – Ky Callaghan
Throughout this week I focused my time discovering the box office statistics of various popular films of this decade and slightly beyond as I focused on the trending types of films as the ‘superhero’ genre of films had a major rise in popularity as the Mavel Cinematic Universe came into prominence with hits such as “Marvel’s Avengers” (2012) which with a budget of 220 million USD saw a global box office of 1.519 billion USD made way for a dramatic shift in what the ‘super blockbuster’ can be as with only 7 years later “Avengers Endgame” (2019) having a budget of 356 million would make 2.798 billion at the global box office. With this in mind, this will become the basis of one of the more important chapters of my video essay as throughout these seven years there would be a shift in what film studios would give to make a blockbuster film. Most recently this can be seen with “Indiana Jones and The Dial of Destiny” (2023) which with a budget ranging from $295 – 300 million would have a global box office return of 369.6 million which would make the film a relative flop after consideration of the marketing costs associated with the film, this point can also be seen with films such as The Flash (2023) and Fast X (2023) which were all apart of long-running franchises that seemingly were guaranteed hits but for one reason or another had disappointing returns. Why this sudden change in what the general population wants to watch whether it be a boredom from the repetitiveness of some of these franchises to just waiting until the film releases on a streaming service. Furthermore, this point can be backed up by also looking back to 2008’s Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull which made 790.7 million with a budget of only 185 million. With all of this week's research in mind it should be noted that my video essay should aim to center itself more around the “Death of Cinema” so to speak and focus on why people are and aren’t going to the movies.
Avengers Endgame (2019) - Marvel Studios
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023) - Lucasfilm
0 notes
Text
Weekly Blog #5 - Behind The ‘Misery’ - c3350558
The last week of film production was spent primarily making the finishing touches on the film which included colour grading the shots, rotoscoping the protagonists tie and adding the royalty free score into the finished product. Personally my editing skills leave much to be desired hence my involvement during this process was purely in finding some of the music tracks that could be potentially used in the film.
Under includes some behind the scenes shots that Alycia took during the primary day of shooting, so all props goes to her for not forgetting to do so like I did.
In conclusion I believe that everyone did their best work in making the film, with my only dislike about the process being the somewhat restrictive time limit.
0 notes
Text
Weekly Blog #4 - The Filming of ‘Fowl Syndicates’ - c3350558
Throughout this week we primarily filmed both the A Roll and B Roll footage. In terms of the A Roll footage we were lucky in getting all of it throughout a single day despite the constant changing of sets. With the day being spent filming with the principle cast. We simply allotted another day to shoot the B Roll footage which would prove to be a quick process.
Other than that during last week's tutorial the idea of a possible name change was brought up as the previous working title "Fowl Syndicates" began to lack its original meaning after the shortening of the script. My primary goal was to create a name more fitting of the traditional film-noir opening credits
Other titles I have since came up with are:
"When The Bell Tolls"
"Brush With Darkness"
"The Big Fury"
"The Chime in The Dead of Night"
"Breathless"
"Out of One's Own Misery"
Already Taken Titles Include:
"The Departure"
'EDIT' During next weeks tutorial session the title "Out of Ones Own Misery" was chosen as the finished and proper title of the film.
For next weeks blog I will set out to research the music for the film with the possibility of being able to create some of it digitally
0 notes
Text
Weekly Blog #3 - The Intro of ‘Fowl Syndicates’ - c3350558
Prior to filming the film next week, i set out to further develop both the idea of the intro sequence as well as the how the end fight scene can be filmed in the most artistic way possible.
The Intro
In terms of a intro for the film I believe that it should be something relatively simple and just be an assortment of panning location based shots of specifically old but memorable looking building in Newcastle. During these shots the protagonist’s beginning monologue could play throughout. Primary locations include
Tram Moving
Shot of the bay/lighthouse
Shot of Skyline with birds in frame
Shot of Bell Tower
Tram Stopping
Pan Shot of Cemetery entrance
The Fight
For the climactic fight scene the group decided upon using silhouettes of the two primary characters to portray the actions of Billies revenge
In the aftermath of the fight, a quick shot of Billie recovering and pondering his actions can show the result and death of Michael on screen without it being to physically jarring to the audience, it is also possible that a Dutch angle could be used in order to ‘spruce up’ the shot and perhaps symbolise that Billie’s psyche could be in question.
1 note
·
View note
Text
Weekly Blog #2 - Delving Deeper (The Cinematography of ‘Fowl Syndicates’) - c3350558
During this weeks lectorial we delved further into our group projects by deciding upon a timetable, group roles and additionally delving deeper into the films script and aesthetic.
As my primary role within the film is the cinematographer I set out to re-watch various films from similar genres and or similar tones/aesthetics in order to gain some kind of inspiration for our film.
- Reservoir Dogs (1992) - Quentin Tarantino
- Watchmen (2009) - Zack Snyder
- The Untouchables (1987) - Brian De Palma
- Wrath of Man (2021) - Guy Ritchie
John Wick: Chapter 2 (2017) - Chad Stahelski
All in all I believe that watching these films has been heavily beneficial to me as I have gained many ideas for interesting shots that can possibly be used in the film.
Cinematography Notes
Intro Sequence
In terms of the intro sequences I can picture them mostly being pan shots that follow Billy as he walks through Newcastle.
possibly with an opening credits being laced in between or over the footage.
Could have a foot tracking shot just depends on timing.
Cemetery
For the cemetery seen I believe that we need something to begin the transition from a slow moody tale of mourning into the dark revenge story. At the very least I believe that this scene could indicate that our protagonist has other intentions than just mourning the death of their brother.
The camera starts reasonably far from the protagonist as they are standing over the tombstone of their recently departed brother (the shot clearly shows other tombstones to denote that the protagonist is clearly in a cemetery, possibly in order to hide names the shots can be from a side angle) the distant sound of the Newcastle bell chimes has the camera zooms or cuts a step closer to the protagonist as the faint sound of moody music kicks in.... moments later another bell chimes, again bringing the camera in closer. This continues with the bell chimes getting louder as the camera stops with a close up of Billies face has their expression changes from mournful to vindictive.
Superman (1978) - Richard Donner
Logan (2017) - James Mangold
John Wick Chapter 2 (2017) - Chad Stahelski
Alley - (Meeting With Lucy)
This shot begins by panning down from the bird/sky transition and settles reasonably low to the ground, still pointing up as Billie walks onscreen from one corner to meet Lucy with the camera staying still for the remainder of the scene or unless the camera cuts to the average close ups of the two speaking
Carpark (Meeting With Tommy)
For Billies meeting with Tommy or at least as a quick introduction to the new location I think something similar to the shot directly under would bring a level of intensity to the scene prior to the harsh language, however simple it may be it could possibly symbolise that these characters were once close but have since fallen out since Billie’s betrayal.
Jackie Brown (1997) - Quentin Tarantino
During the passing of the photos or just during the dialogue the camera can move into closer the more classic close up of the two characters as they argue. It would probably be worth it to attempt to emulate a similar sense of shadows on Tommy and or Billy’s face for these close ups if possible.
Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998) - Guy Ritchie
Heat (1995) - Michael Mann
Tunnel - (The Revenge Scene)
Billie’s shadowy entrance would have do be determined on set however something in the same vain as a John Wick, Batman style emerging from the natural shadows would indicate that Billie is focused on his target.
For the pinnacle scene of the film it is clear that there should be a certain level of intensity with Billies vindictive actions, finally the protagonist gets their revenge . From a budget standpoint the results of Billies attack should be kept off screen for as much as possible, however in order to not rob the audience of the velocity of the scene I believe keeping the camera on Billie for a majority the scene will allow the actor to express a variety of emotions throughout the scene
An extreme low angle shot facing Billie as he kicks towards or below the camera will easily hide the more grotesque parts of the scene.
Goodfellas (1990) - Martin Scorsese
Joker (2019) - Todd Phillips
0 notes
Text
Weekly Blog #1 - Making The Idea - c3350558
During this weeks tutorial we made our groups for the final film project, we were tasked with brainstorming ideas on what the film was going to be about. Very quickly we agreed upon a noir-esque mourning/revenge film that centres around a lone protagonist who has recently arrived at Newcastle to mourn the loss of a beloved family member. The beginning half of the film will delve into the protagonists mourning and in an unexpected turn their drive to solve their murder. Up until now the film would have somewhat of a slow pace with every hint and clue of the identity of the murderer picking up the pace. One of, if not the final scene of the film aims to be a true peak of suspense and action as the protagonist finally comes face to face with the antagonist in a blood-filled scene of revenge.
The Setting/Character Design
In terms of the design of the characters and look of the film some of the gritty backstreets of Newcastle can easily serve a seedy underbelly of crime as maintaining the illusion of the film being set in another time period should be simple. With any noir film also come the classic 1940s based time period, I personally believe that the film should looks similar to that of Roman Polanski’s ‘Chinatown’ (1975) and Rockstar Games’ L.A. Noire (2011) video game as the late 1940s serve as both a simple way to get across that the film is in fact a noir-esque revenge film whilst also setting our film apart from most others final assessments.
The Music
Despite not being skilled in creating music i believe that something in the same vain as the soundtrack of Rockstar Games’ L.A. Noire would fit easily with the tone and design of the film.
Temptation (Part 2) - https://youtu.be/nCx6NYv2o58
2 notes
·
View notes