Evaluation and Reflection

The Locker (Blurb)

A young schoolgirl goes to her locker after one of her classes. She puts her books into her locker and starts to leave when a ‘BANG’ sound is produced from it. She then discovers that her books aren’t in it anymore, and a second later another loud ‘BANG’ is emitted from another locker not far away, where she finds her missing books. As a result of her curiosity, she decides to make a play doe man and puts him in the locker to see what would happen. The play doe man then comes to life and is then transported into a parallel universe in the locker and experiences a fantastic adventure!

Special Effects Commentary

Intro-

Hello, my name is Shae Mahony and I am head of Special Effects for “The Locker”.

Scene 1-

·      For first scene, had to do special effects for the ‘bang’ sound coming from locker.

·      Basically squiggly lines appearing from where the sound came from.

·      There were two shots where this had to happen.

·      I saved the shots pictures and pasted them into a program called ‘Animation-ish’.

·      Drew the lines emitting from first locker one by one each frame.

·      Saved the finished work as an iMovie.

·      Deleted the shots that I drew on from the original film and pasted the knew movie in it’s place.

·      I then did the same process for the second locker.

Scene 2-

·      I had to animate the play doe man talking n this scene.

·      It was the same process as before but instead of drawing bang marks, I had to draw eyes and a mouth moving to create the words I wanted him to say.

·      I then got my friend, Peta, to be the voice of the play doe man.

·      I would first tell her to say the lines in time with the moving mouth.

·      That would give me a chance to describe what type of voice I wanted her to do (e.g. Higher, lower)

·      It would also help her practice the speech of the mouth movement so that her voice would match it.

·      I would let her practice the words over and over again at the same speed, then quickly change to garageband and record her saying it so it would sound exactly the same and have the perfect speed.

Scene 3-

·      This was the same process for the next scene when the play doe man had to say, “Hmm” and “Aaha!”

·      The breathing at the end of the scene was harder for Peta to time correctly, but she eventually got it.

Scene 4-

·      No special effects were used in this scene.

Scene 5-

·      This scene was easy to edit, partly because it was the last scene edited so I had already got used to the process, and partly because it was very simple.

·      There was no voice acting needed.

Final Poster

I think that this is going to be my final poster for my short film. Even though I like the other one a lot and I like the simplicity of it, I think this suites the genre of the film. This one looks more like a children's movie. All I did was add more colour to the text and changes the font to a more childish kind of look. Overall, I am very happy with my poster!

Director's Commentary

-->

Intro-

Hello, my name is Shae Mahony and I’m the director of “The Locker”.

Scene 1-

·      Used camera stand to steady camera.

·      Found it very hard to keep it smooth and be able to move the stand inch by inch steadily.

·      Rest was reasonably easy.

·      Technique- showed actor (Charli) what actions I wanted her to do.

·      Said action- Charli did the action shown and I took continuous pictures.

·      Made process faster and film smoother.

·      Music- Part where locker made loud bang, had to measure time from start to first bang, first bang to second bang, from second bang to end of scene 1.

·      Took long time putting bang at exactly the right time.

Scene 2-

·      Having the camera move through the bush was easier than expected to do, and I think that it’s a really cool, unique shot.

·      Getting the play doe man to walk down the walk way was much harder than anticipated. Took a very long time, eventually got the idea to have him walk and cut at different stages as it was taking to long to shoot.

Scene 3-

·      This was reasonably simple as the play doe could stick onto the stairs allowing him to do backflips and climb the stairs.

·      The breathing was also simple movement too.

·      I found the breathing very well done and realistic.

Scene 4-

·      Trying to get the play doe man to run through the dirt in the bush was very difficult as the dirt at this point was thick and soggy as it was just raining. This made it harder to do the running properly.

·      I ended up just dragging him through the dirt while moving his arms to make it seem like he was still walking properly.

Scene 5-

·      The last scene was very simple to shoot. Most difficult part was the special effects of him smiling (and that was probably the easiest special effects I had to do for the whole film).

Poster Draft

I'm very happy with the photo I took for my poster and I think that my poster looks really good, but I think it might be too simple. For a children's movie, it needs to be more colourful and playful. Right now, because the text is white and very plain, the film looks kind of serious. I might change the colour of the text to something more brighter and eye-catching. I think I also might change the font that the text is in now to something more childish. Another thing I can do is make the atmosphere in the photo brighter which will make it more cheerful. Other than that, I am really happy with my poster and the camera I used really makes it even better as the quality is amazing.

Possible Poster Photos

'Circus' By Miwa Matreyek

Creative Media Essay

Miwa Matreyek is an animation film artist who created the complex but meaningful short film ‘Circus’. This film, even though hard to interpret at first, holds a hidden message that brings up modern social issues and effects the way people see the world (which is some what still in a old-fashioned frame of mind). These meanings and hidden messages are shown through the film by using textures, shapes and sounds. Her unique techniques showcase the way some people think in today’s society with thoughts or prejudice, racism and others in the form of a Circus.

The textures Miwa uses in the film ‘Circus’ help give the main message, arranged with a kind of bold, creepiness to it with an old-fashioned feel. Texture plays a big role in the film. The artist has used the illusion of texture and it is being used in a scratchy and indefinite way. The images also appear vague as the use of texture becomes heavier. The texture of the film has a black and white glow that makes facial and certain body features hard to distinguish. This makes the film have vagueness to it that makes you hesitant and on the edge. You can’t even tell what time of day or night it is as the texture makes it hard to distinguish what light used is real or not and what darkness used is real or not. The use of the black and white is a decision you would initially think to be a bit odd as the title of the film is ‘Circus’ and circuses are suppose to be colourful, but in this case, the circus she is copying is the old version of a circus and gives an old-fashioned vibe. The texture gives off confusion, eeriness and uncertainty. The effects the black and white shades also give is the idea of the unnerving and ambiguous nature of what appeared in the old original circuses that included a ‘freak show’ (a sideshow, featuring abnormally developed people or animals in bad taste). The use of the old textures and the unique technique Miwa used to make the movie look like an older, outdated film helps express the hidden message of people still in modern society having an ‘old-fashioned’ way of thinking and way of life in terms of how they treat or think of other people.

The shapes being used in Miwa’s short film contribute to the feelings and emotions being expressed towards the main meaning. The shapes used aren’t definite shapes as the edges of the shapes flicker and aren’t certain. This effect is the same kind of effect that old films had in the 1890’s used to have. The shapes of the people in the film’s edges were done roughly instead of smoothly. This is a technique that Miwa intentionally made as it makes the film more older and un-nerving. The use of shape help the overall message of the film is expressed as it brings out the emotions fitting the old-fashioned hidden meaning. It also supports the kind of uncertainty and feeling of fear that come with prejudice and all of those other hateful feelings.

The sound and music being used in the film help express the feelings associated with the message. The music melodies playing throughout the short were the kind of genre of music that played as the main themes in the old original circuses. The emotions that come from hearing the music (especially the sounds at the beginning and end of the film) are feelings or eeriness and confusion. The reason feelings of confusion are associated with the sounds is because at the start and end of the film, the sounds being produced aren’t really recognizable. This is another hidden message connecting to the final main message.

The short animation ‘Circus’ by Miwa Matreyek is a statement that some people even in today’s society where most of the population has grown to dislike prejudice and racism (etc.), some people still have that way of thinking. This message is portrayed by using texture, shape and sound. Even though the message itself is simple, however, the way it is portrayed is hard to digest. It gives the viewer something to think about.