Class
We
watched two short clips on YouTube which were all the ‘making of’ videos for
two adverts.
T-Mobile
Flash mob: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVFNM8f9WnI
I
love the actual advert and the making of was great as well – although a little
short I think.
It
was good to see how the advert had been put together, with preparation starting
a few weeks before the actual shoot day. When I first saw the ad I seemed to
think that random people at the station just started dancing together but after
watching the making of I can see how much work went into trying to make everything
look polished.
Dancers
had to be auditioned and even rehearsals took place. The actual advert clearly
shows that all the hard work paid off as it’s absolutely amazing.
Like
typical documentaries – members of the general public were interviewed when
they exited the station and it good to see and hear their reaction towards what
had just happened.
On
the technical side – I think the interviews were well shot in regards to the
situation. There was a lot of variety in terms of where the subjects were
placed and the lighting and sound was really despite being hot outside.
Overall
I liked the making of as it told me the background story of the advert but I
felt it was a bit rushed (although this isn’t a bad thing). However I also felt
that the fast pace of the ‘making of’ reflected that of the actual advert which
I suppose is a good thing.
Honda
Accord Cog: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kI6geb2gVQw
When
I first saw the advert for this on tv I thought it was all fake (done with CGI)
but after watching the ‘making of’ I was amazed to learn that it had all in
fact been done for real and by hand. So people actually took parts of a car and
spent months trying to get them to knock into each other the right or drop the
right way to create the fantastic chain reaction which the advert shows.
I
think the making of was very good because it showed when things went wrong and
what people did to try and overcome it. Interviews were very brief but gave us a
lot of information. You didn’t hear the filmmakers asking questions but rather,
the interviewees included the subjects of the questions in their answers. (This
is a really good way to cut down on interview times). The music set the mood,
it was upbeat and kept viewers excited. The positions of the interviewees were
alternated – which is also very good.
Again,
I think this was another great making of as it gave us a lot of information and
it was fun and easy to watch. It was short and to the point which is another
reason why I enjoyed it.
Class Practical
There
was also a practical exercise where we had the choice of filming an
establishing shot, an interview and then a closing shot (all shots had to link
together somehow) or three short interviews with different people (also had to
link together).
Our
group decided to go for the first choice mainly because it seemed like the
easier option. We had little time to film and it seemed like it would be easier
to find one interviewee rather than three.
When
we got outside we all didn’t really have any ideas about what to film and ended
up dawdling a bit. But then we saw our class mate Joe Langlois walking around
the corner and literally forced him to become our interviewee. We made the
subject the essentials shop and how different it’s prices are from normal off
licenses as its supposed to be a UNI store.
The
setups were really simple with the establishing shot being and pan of Joe
walking into the essentials shop and the interview being shot right outside the
store.
I
guess this exercise was trying to teach us how important it is for all
clips/footage in documentary to link together in some way in order for it to
make sense?
I’m
not really sure to be honest but that’s what I got from it. I mean how weird would it be to be watching a
documentary about African wildlife and then you see a cutaway of people
swimming. Random I know, but it wouldn’t make any sense at all.
Documentary of the week
The
documentary I watched this week was ‘Beats, Rhymes and Life: The travels of a Tribe
called Quest’ – which has now become one of my favourite Hip Hop groups of all
time. I’m someone who prefers the music of generations before me rather than
the rubbish that comes out these days (Wouldn’t even class some of them as
music). So when I heard from my classmate that there was a documentary about
them I just had to and watch it.
‘Beats, Rhymes and Life: The travels of
a Tribe called Quest’ by Michael Rapaport

Rotten
Tomatoes : “A documentary film directed by Michael Rapaport about one of the
most influential and groundbreaking musical groups in hip-hop history. Having
released five gold and platinum selling albums within eight years, A Tribe
Called Quest has been one of the most commercially successful and artistically
significant musical groups in recent history, and regarded as iconic pioneers
of hip hop. The band's sudden break-up in 1998 shocked the industry and
saddened the scores of fans, whose appetite for the group's innovative musical
stylings never seems to diminish. A hard-core fan himself, Rapaport sets out on
tour with A Tribe Called Quest in 2008, when they reunited to perform sold-out
concerts across the country, almost ten years after the release of their last
album, The Love Movement. -- (C) Sony Classics”
The
documentary started off being about the group’s music, but then it moved on to
the personal problems (juicy bits) within the group which lead to its breakup.
I
would say I liked most of the documentary rather than all of it. The opening
sequence is absolutely amazing. It’s all animated with members of the group
included and it just looks really fun (only word that fit) to watch. I think
using this method was a brilliant move because it kind of diverted away from
the typical conventions of documentary filmmaking but it worked perfectly. It
fits in with the subject matter ‘A tribe called Quest’ because they are artists
and therefore need to be presented in an ‘arty’ way.
The
documentary gives a thorough history lesson about how the group came together
and what each person brought to the group – very informative.
It
has archive footage of the group’s previous concerts from the 90’s and also
clips of their first few music videos. It covers every inch of the group’s
lives as a whole but manages to also focus on each member and their personal
conflicts from each of their perspectives – It is COMPLETELY unbiased.
The
interview set ups were very casual but professional at the same time.
Interviews were filmed in their homes, at the park; sometimes even on a street
corner but the lighting and sound was always perfect (I really don’t understand
how they did it).
The
only bits I didn’t like were the handheld camera movements during the group’s tour.
It was really shaky at times and made a little bit dizzy – but this was the only
downside.
Overall
I think it’s an amazing documentary but I doubt you will enjoy it if you’re not
a Hip/Hop fan. If you are one however, prepare to be blown away as it will
leave laughing and crying at the same time.
Other
This
week I researched Public Service Broadcasting .(PSB) What I found out (this
could be wrong) is that it refers to TV programmes that are broadcasted for the
public’s benefit rather than commercial purposes. I didn’t understand how this
could be possible because I always thought companies (don’t know if that’s what
it is) like the BBC made money depending on the amount of viewers that tuned in
to each program but apparently it’s not so. PSBs can be viewed freely almost
anywhere nationwide Wikipedia says.
I
went on the ofcom site and it sort of made things clearer by saying that those
programmes were things like local news, arts programs and religious broadcasts.
Also TV and even radio broadcasters, have to include a certain number of PSBs
as a part of their licence to broadcast.
I
still don’t fully understand PSB but I guess that’s something I’ll have to
research more about myself.
Production Meeting
This
week I met up with my partner for the ‘Making of’ assignment Luke. We didn’t do
much work in terms of the assignment. It was just a meeting for us to get
together and get to know each other a bit more. Discussed the kind of films we
like and also the kind of documentaries we like.
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