Test #01 Tracking and 'Glitch Effect'

I am experimenting with After Effects to see how I would go about achieving the 'glitching' side-effects the 'subject' in my film will be beginning to experience. I'm still quite new to the software (The last module being my first real introduction to it), so have followed a tutorial for the basics of tracking etc. to see what it can achieve:

Video Copilot Tutorial - http://www.videocopilot.net/tutorial/the_healer/

Following the guide I tracked the face and added a texture (one more fitting for my project rather than the wounds the tutorial used) to produce the below Test:

A large amount of movement and loss of tracking points (see images below) meant the tracking isn't completely smooth, however once adjusting the choker and the speed of opacity this can be made less obvious. I'm going to look into this further and see how effective and subtle I can make this sort of effect but I'll also look into other ways of achieving a similar outcome, for example it's been suggesting I try out 'Meshwarp' in After Effects.

Susan Everett - Writer/Screenplays/Director

Susan Everett came into College yesterday to discuss her work and processes when writing for screen as well as her directorial work.

I really enjoyed this talk, finding the process of creating characters and truthful stories interesting. The importance of research was highlighted a lot in the presentation, as it gives stories and characters a sense of realism and depth. Research can also lead you to new ideas visually and narratively, usually giving your work a lot more substance. A script based on assumptions and guesswork can come across as weak and effect the over all programme, film or play, by researching the way in which certain things and situations work, this can be avoided.

This sense of realism and depth is especially important in the characters and their development. Susan pushed the point that people are like onions, they have many layers that aren't initially seen, and that they should always have wants and needs and reasons for acting the way they do. The mark of a good story is choosing when and how to reveal those elements of a character in the most 'true' way possible, even if it's through an action or lack of one. Susan explained she 'pushes ordinary people past the line of normal' and imagines how they would act in that situation, which in turn creates the drama.

I think this process is a more interesting approach in narratives than just making up a whole new world and rules. By giving real people consequences there's a connection with the characters and an understanding to their actions, whether or not they're good or bad. This presentation has inspired me to think more about my character's development in my current responsive project as well as in future writing.

Initial Crit - Feedback

Today we had an Initial Crit with members of our course who were planning to work in the same area for this module. In my case this was in Film and Effects:

I explained to the group my initial idea and how I intended to go about achieving the end result. I wanted to create a 'short film' that hung on a strong or 'believable' narrative. Originally I had intended to focus on the more After Effects side of things due to the possibility of using one of my course mates to act, but since I have the opportunity to work with someone studying drama I am looking into the more dialogue lead area of a film. Inspired by gothic literature, such as Jekyll and Hyde and Frankenstein, it'd have a slightly sinister tone. The basic format of the film would be through 'video diaries' of a subject of experimentation - who gradually is starting to have effects, possibly electricity induced. These would be  created possibly through prosthetic/latex and/or using After Effects.

The feedback I got after my presentation was quite positive, with the group offering help during the shoot which will be very useful, especially when it comes to using cameras etc. as I need more experience/know how in this area. When speaking to Luca and realising his project was slightly similar it became apparent that we'd probably need to do some tracking tests and experiments in After Effects. Also Chris mentioned he knew a make-up/Prosthetic artist who could possibly help too. I was also given suggestions of good reference material and where I could film (We were considering, since the camera would be locked off and the subject was meant to be in a room, to use the studio and dress it up a little  - though the concept of using a green screen was also brought up, however I would quite like a 'real' set if I could achieve it, time permitting.)

Overall I found this Crit very useful and it allowed us to become aware of each others projects, whether we could help them and who could be helpful to our own work.

Applying to The Network and other things

Yesterday I sent off my application for The Network - 'a free intensive introduction to working in the TV industry' that's held during 4 days of the Edinburgh Festival.


I applied last year and was unsuccessful but decided there was no harm in trying again, this time hopefully, with a stronger application. Even if I'm unsuccessful again, the act of applying has prompted me to evaluate my skills, areas of interests, and consider how I can improve on them. Specifically I'd like to have a wider range of experiences to talk about so will look to volunteer for events/festivals in the summer in the hopes to gain some more.

This opportunity appeals to me as it seems to offer an exciting chance to interact with other creative individuals and learn about the processes behind making TV, without needing too much prior knowledge. I'm also very keen to step away from the computer and learn by being more hands on.

I also applied to volunteer for the No Gloss Film Festival in October, I think this would help me gain a lot of experience and confidence working with and around film. It would also give me the opportunity to meet people with similar interests, creating contacts and networking. However I am yet to hear back about this so will have to see!

I also am hoping to volunteer at Beacons festival, as I feel it would benefit me personally as well as professionally building my confidence and experience as part of a team.

Further Development Moodboard

Story Development/Ideas - 'Scientific Video Diaries Documenting Progress'

Despite wanting to mainly focus on one scene, after a little story development I've realised I'd like to have some form of dialogue/ strong narrative to give some context to the piece. The concept at the moment is for a 'test-subject' to be beginning to be suffering from side effects from undergoing some form of experiment (side effects that will manifest themselves physically).

A constant in the three videos below is that the characters are the scientists who are performing the experiment, so dependent on how I want to present my character there's a possibility they may not only be the test subject, but also the one testing. Either way they'll be 'documenting' the process. This format of the 'Video Diary/Blog' allows the fourth wall to be broken, by the character looking directly into the camera, and the audience to directly be talked to. It also allows the camera to be locked off, which would hopefully make it easier for me to use After Effects, especially if using green screen.

The plan is for the character to be sitting down addressing the camera (as above). However narratively I quite like the idea of the 'film' to consist of a few different diary entries (e.g "Day 12 - No side effects, Day 19 - Starting to feel funny). This would also allow a little more movement in the performance (specifically where effects aren't really needed) and add a little more character to the edit.

I also should take into consideration who the subject is talking to - at the moment the idea that they're documenting progress so it would probably be directed to scientists, or themselves. Since it's documenting there probably won't be a large need to directly address a specific person, as the language will probably be quite factual (e.g 'I'm experiencing headaches'). The audience they are making the videos for, is probably faceless. There should also be a slight sense of isolation, so the turning on and off of the camera by the character (as Victor Frankenstein does above) is a useful way of illustrating this, it gives a bit of context. I also think by speaking directly to the camera the audience will connect with the character and hopefully care what happens to them (this however is dependent on my character, at the moment the concept I have is for them to be unsuspecting and innocent, however this could change with development).

I will draft some form of script once the concept is fully developed (eg. who the character is, what they have taken/what the experiment is etc.) as I will have to consider the tone (will it be creepy/end slightly sinister - what do the side effects mean? Is it, like in Jekyll and Hyde, a transformation into something sinister?) I plan to look into this sort of gothic literature (Jekyll and Hyde, Frankenstein, etc) for ideas and inspiration hopefully to find a tone to my project.

Responsive Brief Module - Initial Ideas

The brief for this module is pretty open, allowing us a bit more freedom to investigate our interests. I want to use this time to experiment with and learn a little more about Film and After Effects whilst also hopefully creating a finalised good-quality peace of footage. Because of this I am going to focus on a single 'scene' which I can hopefully get to a good standard. 

At the moment the idea I have is a scene involving one character, who in some way will be modified both by costume/make-up and After Effects. I will have to develop a backstory to warrant the distortion of the Character, whether it be something Robotic or something more natural. I am also aware that my environment will have to compliment this backstory in order for the piece to be visually effective.

Below is an Initial Moodboard of imagery, colours and concepts I am beginning to consider:

An idea that has surfaced is of the Character being diseased, which would explain the distorting features. As I want it to be set in the 'close future' I think there should be some form of 'electrical' element, even if this is just a flash under the skin. Visually I like the idea of skin being translucent, or fluctuating in opacity as well as the face being created/transformed by layers (Revealing under the skin etc).

I will have to research possibilities in how this sort of thing would be done, as well as develop my concept further.

CoP Practical Evaluation.

Despite my best intentions my CoP Practical has not really been that successful in illustrating 'The Gaze in The Media'. I was intending to make a film piece that illustrated the ideas found in Coward's essay 'The Look' and Mulvey's in 'Visual Pleasure. (Discussed here) This would be done by creating 'conventional close-ups of legs or a face' etc ,that often are used in film to present women, with inanimate objects.

Some of the footage I collected worked, to an extent, in illustrating this but some did not. For example I thought I could manipulate things with blur to achieve a desired effect with any form of footage (such as the eyes in the image below) but they did not come across as believable, and had to be scrapped, thus leaving me with only a few 'successful' pieces I could use.

I also think the overall result was hindered by my lack of consideration with lighting (I should have perhaps back-lit my objects) and quality of camera (Creating depth of field etc was difficult to achieve). In the edit too I could have chosen better quality of music, though I think it creates context for what I am trying to convey (slow smooth music to illustrate the 'parts' of the female body in a 'sensual' way for example.) 

Whilst filming footage for this I realised there weren't many different variations of shot traditionally used in presenting a woman in the media as 'eye candy'. I ended up using a slow 'lingering' track up along curves quite often as well as extreme close ups, I think this in itself highlights the concept of the Male Gaze and that it is quite superficial and 'flat' in certain depictions of women in films and media.

Coward, R., The Look, in Thomas, J. (ed) (2000), Reading Images, Basingstoke: Palgrave

Mulvey, L. (1975) Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema cited In Badmington, N. and Tomas, J (eds) (2008) The Routledge Critical and Cultural Theory Reader, London and New York,

Panopticism - Writing Task

Designed by Jeremy Bentham, 'The Panopticon' is a prison with specific architecture designed to create a sense of domination and surveillance. The cells he designed were 'arranged circularly or polygonally around a central watchtower with galleries and viewing boxes'  (Kaschadt, 2002)  to ensure prisoners were, or at least felt to be, constantly watched and observed an effect enforced by the use of light, the guards in darkness whilst the prisoners always in light, on show. Kaschadt goes on to explain that this created 'a comprehensive surveillance through "the gaze" took the place of any physical punishment', instead controlling the prisoner through surveillance, a sentiment Foucault agrees with stating 'Visibility is a trap' (Foucault, 1997).

Kaschadt argues that one of the most important innovations was to stop the use of single cells, instead putting prisoners in groups or three or four. This 'would create social relationships...as well as social control' (Kaschadt, 2002) and illustrates the positive qualities a Panopticon could have being a 'modern step towards the reintegration of a delinquent' (Kaschadt, 2002). 'People who constantly think they are being watched - because they know they are under surveillance but cannot control exactly when they are really being observered - would have to lose the possibility, and finally the desire, or doing wrong. ' (Kaschadt,2002). By doing this in a prison constantly, the prisoners in theory internalise this feeling of being supervised and observed and therefore leave hopefully having changed their ways. However, despite the positive successes of a Panopticon there is room for it to become abused, and used to intimidate and torment prisoners. Foucault suggests that 'the increase of power created by the Panoptic machine may degenerate into tyranny' and, though has positive words to say on the matter, also relates the practice to the precautions took in villages with the plague, which can be seen as being quite drastic therefore highlighting Panopticisms isolating control over people and their choices.

The idea of Panopticism and the negative tyrannical connotations it has is used a lot in film and video-games, especially in Dystopian futures where the people are oppressed and usually 'controlled' by a solitary figure in power. The Hunger Games, for example, illustrates this concept through 1984 like surveillance and control over villages and then further, in the actual 'Hunger Games' themselves, where every move is watched by cameras and a higher power creates the rules. This is an example of the power panopticism can grant when being used by the corrupt and for ultimate control. Foucault's statement ''Perfect the exercise of power' and 'reduce the number of those who exercise it, while increasing the number of those on whom it is exercised.' (1997) is very echoic of the ideas in the novel 1984, which, with screens constantly watching Winston and everyone else, creates a bleak oppressive outlook on society and those 'in charge'. Despite everyone being under the same system, the concept of being watched deters them from banding together and illuminating the semi-self-imposed isolation they live in. The fight for individuality and freedom is the spec of hope brought in a narrative based on Panopticism and can be very relatable to an audience, thus creating an often thought-provoking or at least entertaining piece of media, film or otherwise.

Kaschadt, K. 'Jeremy Bentham - The Penitentiary Panopticon or Inspection House' in Weibel, Levin and Frohne (eds.) (2002) Ctrl [space]: rhetorics of surveillance from Bentham to Big Brother, Cambridge Massachusetts, The MIT Press, pages 114 - 119

Foucault, M. 'Panopticism (extract)' in Leach, N. (ed.) (1997) Rethinking Architecture: Areader in cultural theory, London and New York, Routledge, pages 356 - 367

Psychoanalysis - Freud 'Fetishism' -Un Chien Andalou (Dali)

Created by Director Luis Bunuel and the artist Salvador Dali, 'Un Chien Andalou', is a short surreal film inspired by Freudian concepts. The film begins with imagery that creates a sense of unease and possible disgust with no real explanation. This sets the tone for the film, as it is strange and a bit disturbing. Released in 1929 it is a black and white silent film without much of a plot.

Un Chien Andalou follows a dream-like format, jumping between strange imagery without explanation or consistency. There's a slight perverse voyeuristic edge to it,  with connotations of sex, desire, fear and guilt amongst other things show through disturbing imagery, such as ants crawling out of someones hand. There is obvious conflict in the piece which could be seen to relate to Freud's theory of ID, Ego and Super Ego. This theory suggests that there are three parts to a persons 'psyche', the ID which are the instinctual desires we may not be aware of, the Super-Ego which 'protects us' from the dark sides of our ID, acting as a form of moral consciousness and produces feelings of guilt and the Ego which mediates between the two.

There is a suggestion of pleasure at macabre and disturbing things, signify repressed desires and infatuations people may have which seems in keeping with the idea of the Super Ego. Specifically there is the scene where the man suddenly begins trying to make advances on the woman, imaging her naked as he does so. He then is seen dragging pianos, dead animals and priests behind him which seem to be holding him back, this could possibly indicate the ID trying to 'hold him back' from his desires, his more animalistic nature, with connotations of certain society based structures he should conform with, such as religion (illustrated with the priests). However the things he drags also have a 'dark' edge to them, for example the the priests are seemingly being hung and the cows are bleeding, so the previous interpretation could be mistaken, instead it could be seen as the man trying to show the woman his darker side and corrupt her with them.

Other freudian concepts seem to be illustrated in this film, such as gender rolls, by suggestions of a man dressed as a woman and a woman dressed in more 'masculine' way and possibly males' fear of castration, illustrated at 10:00 with a father-like figure taking control. However this is all open to interpretation.

The filmmakers were surprised when people actually liked the film, as they had expected a negative response due to it's shocking content. Even today the film still has content that makes viewers wince. Without a strong narrative or plot however it is quite hard to understand the context and overall 'message' the director and Dali are trying to convey, despite the fact that it is attempting to follow 'dream logic'. The problem is that the experience of dreaming and of watching a film are completely different, one is based in the unconscious the other is a conscious process therefore the surrealism of the film can be jarring and confusing.