Sound Testing Evaluation

I really enjoyed working on garage band using sound because it was something I have never used before and I found it fun to experiment with different sounds.

We did a task where we had to put sounds in the back of some footage, which we had randomly filmed, and I found it quite hard, as I had never used garage band before. I think that I struggled with it because I was trying to find some sounds whilst editing our footage. I think if we did it again, I would get another team member to look for sounds while I edit.

It was really fun testing sound with a scene from the Dark Knight because I had now gotten the hang of garage band and me and my partner found a really cool sound and matched it with a beat to set a mood from the scene. I think that our background sound was successful because the sound effects matched the video clip and we used effects, which connected the audience with the mood of the clip.

If we could change anything, I think I would have tried to finish the sound testing video. I would also like to finish the Dark Knight background sound because I really enjoyed playing around with garage band and making new sounds.

'Stalker?' Prelim Task

This is our Prelim Task. We used the college to our advantage using the areas we needed. This task helped us advance our skills using the camera and tripod, using different angles and shots. We used a stereotypical hooded figure as the main character of our 'stalker' short film and made a twist at the end to fool the audience of thinking that it was all serious.

Thriller Audience Research

We researched the Thriller Audience because we wanted to see how popular it was to decide which genre our film was going to be in. I think that the thriller genre is more popular and has a larger audience group than horror because the age rating is more at PG-13 than R so it has a wider variety of ages viewing the film.

History of Action Genre

Action films usually involve one or more heroes where they are put into a series of challenges that can include physical feats, extended fight scenes, violence, and frantic car chases. They also require extensive stunt work and special effects. They tend to also have a character, which is struggling again incredible odds, which could include, life-threatening situations, a villain, or a pursuit that usually concludes with a victory for the action film’s hero. The genre of Action is closely associated with the thriller and adventure film genres.

The early action films were during the 1920s and 1930s, which were often “swashbuckling” adventure films with wielded swords and westerns. Action was seen in a new form in the 1940s and 1950s through war and cowboy movies. The success of the James Bond films (or series) in the 1960s introduced a staple of the modern-day action film: the resourceful hero. It also used fast cutting, car chases, and fistfights, a variety of weapons and gadgets and elaborate action sequences, which are commonly used in Action films now.
In the 1970s, martial arts themed action movies were made which were inspired by the James Bond movies such as Enter The Dragon and Rush Hour. In the 1980s and 1990s, action got more and more popular from the mega-hits like Raiders of the Lost Ark (1980) and Batman (1990).
In the 2000s, Sci-fi action was getting more attention with films being shown like Star Trek and the Dark Knight Trilogy, which are well-known films now.

The Action genre is split into many other sub-genres such as:

Action Comedy – This involves action and humour. The action scenes within this genre are generally light-hearted and rarely involve death or serious injury. Two examples of an Action Comedy are Beverly Hills Cop (1984) and 48 Hrs. (1982).

Action horror – This combines gunfights and frenetic chases of the action genre and things like gore, demons, zombies etc. from the horror genre. Two examples of an Action Horror are Dawn of the Dead and Ghost Rider.

Martial Arts – These films contain numerous fights between characters, which are usually actors who have been trained to be martial artists. They are often a method of storytelling as they are usually for primary appeal and entertainment value. Two examples of Martial Arts are The Karate Kid and Enter The Dragon.

Sci-fi Action – These films contain gunplay, space battles, invested weaponry, and other sci-fi elements which are weaved into action elements. Two examples of a Sci-fi Action are Star Trek and Transformers.

Action Thriller – This involves guns, explosions and interesting set pieces. They also include lots of violence, crime or mystery and are usually based in a limited location e.g. a single building. Two examples of an Action Thriller are Snakes on a Plane and Speed.

Other Sub-genres:

Disaster film
Spy film
Superhero film

There are also many famous actors who are mostly based on Action films such as:

Bruce Lee (1970s)
Chuck Norris (1970s)
Mel Gibson (1980s)
Arnold Schwarzenegger (1980s)
Sylvester Stallone (1980s)
Bruce Willis (1980s)
Jackie Chan (1990s & 2000s)
and many more…


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Action_film

Prelim Evaluation

I think that the overall filming for the prelim task went really well because the locations we used were perfect for the short film we had thought of and, nobody got in our way. The angles, which we used, reflected off our storyboard and we improved some of them so you could see facial expressions and body language.

I think the whole task was successful because we had good actors who listened and followed the storyboard well but we also had good teamwork behind the camera. 

We didn't have many problems but when editing, we ended up cutting out some footage because we had recorded more than we thought we had.

I enjoyed this task because we had a lot of fun making it and we were all happy with the end result. If we could change anything from this task, I think I would have added a couple more sound effects in to create a creepy effect because it would set a feel to the short film.

Overall, I think the final short film was successful for our first video because of the camera angles we used and I think we used our surroundings to our advantage.