Supersize Me

How has the director portrayed companies?
The director of this documentary, Supersize Me, has positioned the viewers to think that food companies are very manipulative, evil and do not have any care for their customers. They are seen as not valuing anything but money from their business and that they do not care if their customers are aware of what they are eating, or have any value in their health.

How has the director portrayed people?
The director has portrayed people to look as if they are very gullible to the manipulative ways and advertisements of food companies. In the documentary it seems as if the people do not know the first about health (eg. not knowing what calorie is). The people are fat, stupid and gullible to anything that is put in front of them.

Do you think the film is exaggerating anything?
Sometimes it seems as if the director, Morgan Spurlock, is faking or over exaggerating some situations and reactions, for example when he threw up the first time her ate a supersized meal.

03/02/16

Types of Documentaries

Today in class we looked at this link: https://collaborativedocumentary.wordpress.com/6-types-of-documentary/

1. Poetic Documentaries
-First started in 1920's
-Fragmentary, impressionistic, lyrical
-Moved away from continuity editing and involved more organized images of the material world by means of associations and patterns, both in terms of time and space

2. Expository Documentaries
-Speak directly to viewer
-Proposing a strong argument and point of view
-Images are often not paramount; they exist to advance the argument
-The films are rhetorical and try to persuade the viewer
-May use a rich and sonorous male voice

3. Observational Documentaries
-Attempt to simply and spontaneously observe lived life with a minimum of intervention
-First started in 1960's
-Use of mobile lightweight cameras and portable sound recording equipment for synchronized sound as a result from advancing technology
-Voice-over commentary, post-synchronised dialogue and music

4. Participatory Documentaries
-Involves themselves in the story, filmmaker is apart of the film
-Shows how the situation and events in the film are affected or altered by the filmmaker's presence 
-The filmmaker retains the camera therefore having a lot of power and control over the documentary

5. Reflexive Documentaries
-Draw attention to their own constructedness 
-Self-conscious and is highly skeptical of "realism"
-"How does the world get represented through documentary films?" Is a central question in this sub-genre of documentaries

6. Performative Documentaries
-Stress subjective experience and emotional response to the world
-strongly personal, unconventional, perhaps poetic and/or experimental
-May include exploring events and situations that are not our own (e.g. massacres, war, important historical events)
-The sub-genre may lend itself to certain groups (e.g. women, the LGBT community, ethnic minorities)

WHAT I LEARNT FROM THIS
What I learnt from this is that there definitely isn't just one type of documentary. Before this lesson I had the perception that a documentary was a type of film and that was it. I had no clue that there were sub-genre's within the genre. Now that we have identified these sub-genre's I feel that I have a better understanding of documentaries and I will be able to identify the different types when I come across any in the future. I also know that this information will help me create a documentary in the near-future with the up-coming film assessment.

01/02/16

First class of 2016

Today in class we watched a documentary.

I am still unsure of the name (Edit: It is called Forgotten Silver) but it was a film about a man named Colin Mckenzie and he was introduced as the inventor of film. The documentary was about his life and how his movies/films came to age. My peers and I were very involved in the documentary and we thought that we learnt a lot from the film.

Unfortunately, at the end of the film, our teacher had told us that the entire documentary was a lie and that it was really a 'mockumentary'. We all felt cheated after knowing this and reflected back at the information that was given to us in the last hour. When looking back it was quite clear that a lot of the information seemed a little bit dodgy and a lot of it didn't make sense.

We thought this was very clever, but really what we were being showed was the style of the documentary and how one is filmed and put together. I found that a very funny and creative way to teach us this lesson.

29/01/16

Year 12

It is quite scary to think about this being the last year of my high schooling life. With that in mind, I know that class work will get more difficult and time will be even harder to manage. This includes FTV. At the start of last year, I knew that I had some difficulties with managing my time with filming and editing the short films that we were given to as tasks. By the end of the year though I found that I was getting much better at organising myself which gives me confidence into going into 2016 on a good foot. My aim this year is to give 100% focus and contribution in class and apply myself fully to each task. I know this is a very cliché goal and you probably will think that I will not uphold these goals throughout the year but this will not be the case. I am determined to get the best results possible out of the work that I know that i can do successfully.

Monologue Changes

The monologue section in our film, we just learnt, is probably the most important part in portraying what is actually happening in the storyline. We were told by Mr Andrews that our story is as clear as it could be so we manipulated the wording and information that we exposed through this monologue that Charlie speaks to make the link between the Rumpelstilskin storyline even more clear.

This is the monologue before the change. 

Charlie:

Detective Stilts. I’ve been working on this project for 3 months. Company Name: SpinStraw Incorporated. Founder: Veronica King. Accomplice: Anna.. Unknown sir name.    Their company forges money and assassinates anyone who finds out about it. I’m in a risky situation.  Anna has blackmailed me to hep her take over the illegal business by finding dirt to blackmail Veronica. I have a feeling that Veronica knows what’s happening. I could potentially be killed but the money I’m getting is too good to back out now. 

This is the monologue after the moderation.

Charlie:

I’ve been working undercover on this case for 3 months with limited success.

Veronica King a wealthy… appears to be in charge. Her accomplice Anna is trying some kind of power play. They are counterfeiting and laundering money through a number of shell companies. Anyone who stands in their finds their employment…. terminated. I’m in a risky situation. Anna knows who I am and has blackmailed me to help her push Victoria out. I have a feeling that Veronica knows what’s happening. Anna is pushing me hard.I feel like she expects me to spin straw into gold. I could potentially be killed but the money I’m getting is too good to back out now. 

I feel like now the information that we're getting across is clearer and very relevant to what is happening.

Film Noir Feedback (Test Block)

During our test block schedule, Mr Andrews gave us a few pointers on our film to make it look better and tighter.

• Make some shots a little more canted (so it doesn't look like a mistake)
• Make sure shots are either straight or completely canted
• Gunshot flash needs to be added to make it look realistic
• Unclear who is who (Veronica King? Introduce her character)
• Narration from Charlie to make character clearer "Been working this case for months after stumbling across clues from other crime scenes." "After following some leads I've been drawn to this man and the only way to look into the case any further is to see what's happening from the inside."
• Anna says she feels like she was promised byVeronica
• Charlie narrates "I feel like I'm being used. It's funny how it's called Spin Straw Inc. as if we were making money out of thin air. I'm into this case so deep, this better be worth it." "I feel like Anna asks for the impossible."
• Get another peer (not in our group) to watch it and give some feedback
• Money forging -> Counterfeiting racket
• Charlie: frustration and crankiness in voice "laundering money"

Progress 9th Nov. 2015

Today, in class, Bella, Minnie and I are beginning to record voice overs for our film. Things we need to be cautious of are:

• Specific lip sync timing with the visuals
• Tone of voice & Characterisation
• Clarity; no crackling or fuzzing sounds in the background

By the end of the hour, we had finished recording all of Anna's (Minnie's) voice overs for the short film. Out next objective is to record all of Charlie's (mine) voice overs, then when Libby eventually recovers from her surgery from today, she can do her voice overs.

Dialogue wasn't a crucial part of film noir but we thought that it would really help enhance the delivery of the storyline, plot and the entire short film altogether.