POST #5 - HOW STARDOM IS SHOWN IN "MY WEEK WITH MARILYN" [FILM RESEARCH]

Hello all!

So in Media, we watched the 2011 film "My Week with Marilyn", starring Eddie Redmayne and Michelle Williams. It's a film based on a real week in the life of personal assistant Colin Clark, as he works on the 50's film "The Prince and The Showgirl", and shows the affair of Clark and Marilyn Monroe, the main actress of "The Prince and The Showgirl".

While "My Week with Marilyn" shows views of a lot of subjects, such as how women are treated, how people of different ages are treated, etc. However, I decided to cover how stardom and being a celebrity is shown in the film.

Firstly, it is illustrated that celebrities are treated as if they aren't normal people, which, upon first glance, could be expected; people still do that nowadays.

However, the film shows how the media and interviewers treat Marilyn with less respect regarding her privacy, asking very personal questions.

Arthur P. Jacobs - "Marilyn! Is it true you wear nothing in bed except perfume?"
Marilyn Monroe - "Ooh, darling, as I'm in England, let's say I sleep in nothing but Yardley's Lavender."

Nowadays, the media does not ask such personal questions, and mostly ask questions about the film they're working on; any other questions asked are mostly just a bit of banter or fun, such as asking what fun they had behind the scenes, or questions like "Does pineapple belong on pizza?" Some could pass off what was asked in the film as "just banter," yet if it was asked today, many celebrities would turn down the question due to it being too personal.

The lack of respect celebrities got in the 50's, along with celebrities expecting such treatment, made it so the question asked in the film, regarding what Marilyn wears in bed, would be considered a normal question to be asked for a bit of fun.


It is also shown how celebrities surrounded themselves with older "yes-men." What is a yes-man?

"Yes-Man - A weak person who always agrees with their political leader or their superior at work."

 Essentially, someone who agrees with their employer and always tries to stay on their good side, for example, George Lucas surrounded himself with them while making the Star Wars prequels. "My Week With Marilyn" showed Marilyn's yes-man in plain sight, as her mentor... Paula Strasberg.

She was Monroe's acting coach for many years up until the actress's death in 1962. The film shows her treating Marilyn very differently from the press.

Strasberg treated Monroe as if she were a goddess, alike how fangirls of singers treat their idols. After numerous bad takes, Monroe is very worried about how she can't get it right. However, Strasberg literally gets on her knees and starts praying to Monroe, claiming she did great, and she's the greatest actress of all time.

Monroe having this person around could be caused by 2 main reasons.

Firstly, some could argue that she kept Strasberg around to have an overinflated ego, and to be more selfish and narcissistic. However, I do not believe this to be true. "My Week With Marilyn" showed that Monroe had some serious self esteem and confidence issues, so my second possible reason for her keeping Strasberg around was to boost her confidence, yet also to keep her grounded, and not let stardom get to her.


One final aspect of stardom shown in the film is, due to celebrities being more known around the world, they can't just live a normal life (understatement of the year). 

In one scene during "My Week With Marilyn," Colin Clark and Marilyn Monroe try going shopping down a street. However, once one person recognises Marilyn, she's crowded by fans. This happens multiple times during the movie, including the shopping street, a school, etc.

Whenever Marilyn tries doing something normal or average, her celebrity status gets in the way, and while she appears happy on the outside, she admits to Colin later she wants to give it all up after they finish the film they're working on.


To conclude, Marilyn Monroe's celebrity life presented in "My Week With Marilyn" was not one she necessarily wanted, but one she had and simply had to deal with everything that came her way because of it.

Anyways, that's me done for now!

Catch you later!

~ Noah C :D

POST #4 - CHARACTER CROSSOVER FILM OPENING [PRACTICE]

Hello all!

So this post will be the whole record of the film opening project, which involves two characters created in class meeting at a location we were given.

CHARACTER CREATION

Firstly, I should establish the character creation, and who I managed to make. First, we were given a sheet with pictures of famous people, yet still obscure enough that they couldn't be identified by anyone in the class.

 I chose a man in his 50s, who reminded me of Ted Cruz.

I decided to make him a murderer/mercenary called Theodore Cruel, who has committed over 50 murders without ever being caught. He's in his mid 30s (he looks older than he is), has been divorced and has an 8 year old daughter who is his whole world.

My guess of who he was was fairly close; he was a presidential candidate, but not of 2016; he was 2012 Republican candidate Mitt Romney. I decided to stick with this character, and not make another, different one.

The other character created in the group I'm in was a man called Michael Blake, based off of Kenny Sansom, an ex-football player who is currently homeless, and "losing the battle with alcohol."

The character was a 48 year old actor on Emmerdale who fell on hard times, especially after his wife and two kids left him. He drinks to try and get through his depression, yet also goes to the club most nights, and wakes up to the worst hangovers. He is also an outspoken moaner, who always complains about how bad he has it.

LOCATIONS

The location we were given was a "shopping street", so we immediately started thinking of places to film the opening.

Firstly, we considered the main high street in Norwich. It seemed to embody the shopping street setting fairly well.

Yet, there would be some issues. During the night, when we plan to film, there would be a fair amount of security, which would not look too kindly upon two teenagers filming a fake murder. If we did decide to use this as our final location, we could've asked some shop owners if they were ok with us filming outside their shop/s. Also, the sound might be a bit echo-y, which would not be ideal, especially with one of my personal goals after the Wedding project being to improve audio quality.

Secondly, we considered St Benedicts Street in Norwich. It has a wealth of small businesses, shops and restaurants, so it would fit the setting fairly well.

However, there would be some issues; one would be that it's fairly tucked away, so there might be some issues with getting the actors, equipment, etc all there. Also, due to the busy night life, we would always have to deal with people getting in shot or concerned as to why we had a knife and were filming a fake murder.

Eventually, we ended up going more local and choosing just outside the main supermarket in Wymondham.

There's an alley that leads to the library to the left of this image, which is where around half of the filming will be done. The alley has some fairly good sound, but we should bring a good quality microphone to get less reverb/echo.

CASTING

The character Jordan created purely of the picture of Kenny Sansom. Jordan had to centre the detailed description around the single picture given to produce the character profile.

He was a heavy alcoholic who had to deal with the pressure of his wife and children leaving him. He spends the little money he has left on alcohol which helps him deal with his depression. He's forty-eight years old and depressed.

To recreate this character role we went with James Vardigans to play the role. James is sixteen years old but looks a lot older then he is. James has acting experience which will improve the two minute film. I think he'll be perfect to re-create the role set above.

My character, based round Mitt Romney, also started as a single picture to create a background story on the character. I've made him a thirty-eight year old serial killer with 52 confirmed murders. He's never been captured and is always on the run. His daughter begs for him to stop killing with the worry in her mind of her dad being taken from her. He would only accept death if it was for the sacrifice of his daughter. 

 For this character we decided to use Charlie Bird. He's a tall sixteen year old who also looks a lot older then his actual age. He also has acting experience so will be a perfect candidate for the role.

PROPS

As James is playing a homeless character there is a certain dress code he needs to follow. Ideally we would like James to wear old tattered cloths to fit the role of a tramp. We would also need to supply James with a sheet of cardboard and a blanket so he really suites the role ahead of him.

Charlie, the second actor, requires a knife and mask. This will make the movie more realistic and build in a dramatic affect for the audience. Charlie also needs to wear a hoodie so his identity is hidden at all times as he is a serial killer.

PLOT

As already confirmed above we will be using an alley on the side of the co-op in Wymondham Town Centre to film the two minute clip. The alley is dark and adds affect to the clip which will intensify the overall experience. Below are some bullet points summarising the plot of the opening.

James Vardigans = Kenny Sansom

Charlie Bird = Theodore Cruel

• James prepares his sleeping arrangements in the alleyway
• James then falls asleep in the alleyway
• Charlie is then pictured murdering and then walking away from his latest murder
• Charlie then walks further and raises his mask, revealing his identity, then continues walking
• Charlie gets to the alley and then walks down the alleyway where the tramp is
• Charlie then trips over a sleeping James
• Charlie turns and shouts 'WATCH IT!'
• James is awoken due to the shouting
• James stands up and retaliates by saying 'OR WHAT?'
• The next shot is zoomed in on an angry Charlie
• Charlie then pulls a knife from his pocket to scare James
• James reaction is then shown on the camera to show the sudden fear.
• Charlie takes a step forward to show a threat towards James. Knife posed to show his threat
• James turns and runs in fear
• The camera shows James running and as he turn the shot fades out.

FILMING SCHEDULE
I filmed on Saturday, the 26th of September. It was filmed in three main locations; on the street outside Co-Op, outside the Heritage Museum, and down the alley near the other two locations.

There were issues while filming, namely a group of teenagers who were very loud, and eventually got arrested just before we started filming. After that, I made sure to film fairly obviously, so that if there was any issues with the authorities, we could easily explain what was going on. In light of this, the prop was also downgraded to a much less potentially dangerous prop.

The lighting in certain areas we initially planned to film in were also poor, but the substitutes we found were even better, especially with the alley's orange lighting giving a more dramatic effect.

One final change I made was to add a tiny bit extra to the beginning, to extend the runtime of the intro and to flesh out one of the characters a bit more.

FINAL VIDEO
https://youtu.be/7iS1nPZ13PM
The video above... isn't the final one. <gasp>
It's still a preliminary, and I still need to go out and film some more.
Namely, I need to film some establishing shots of the shopping street; right now, the only indication of the setting being a shopping street is one shot of Charlie's character walking in front of Co-Op.
[UPDATE]
The video is finished! :D I was unhappy with the edit that Jordan did (and how he wasn't concerned with the project but shhhhh), so I took initiative and edited the WHOLE VIDEO. Yay :3

I edited it in iMovie, and had to use 3 separate projects and then bring them together for the final video. But alas, it is a final result I am happy with.
However, I feel like my music mixing could do with some work. Apart from that, I'm happy :D
See you later!

~ Noah C :D

POST #3 - CHARACTER STUDY: IRON MAN [PRACITCE / RESEARCH]

Hello there!

So today, I'm going to be analysing an iconic film character, Iron Man, also known as Tony Stark under the armour. Mainly, I will be focusing on the Iron Man from the Iron Man and Avengers films, portrayed by Robert Downey Jr.

ORIGINS
Just to clarify, this is about the character's CREATION origins, not origin story. No mention of the Ten Rings or Jericho missiles... yet.
Back in March 1963, Marvel released "Tales of Suspense #39", which featured the newest superhero, Iron Man. He was created in part by four people; Stan Lee (current head-honcho of Marvel), Jack Kirby, Larry Lieber and Don Heck. Stan Lee was quoted saying:

"I thought it would be fun to take the kind of character that nobody would like, none of our readers would like, and shove him down their throats and make them like him...."

This worked, since his success skyrocketed, leading to more Iron Man centered "Tales of Suspense" issues, his own solo series known as "The Invincible Iron Man", and even lead him to be a founding member of the 1963 "The Avengers" series, along with other iconic characters like The Incredible Hulk, Thor, Ant-Man and The Wasp.

Over the years leading to the turn of the new millennium, Iron Man's popularity started to fade, selling less and less copies by the year. His inclusion in animated movies and more obscure TV shows downgraded him to a "B-List Hero". However, director Jon Favreau changed ALL of that in 2008.

NEWFOUND SUCCESS
In 2008, Marvel Studios released Iron Man, the first in a long line of Marvel Cinematic Universe (or MCU) movies. The film blew up with popularity, both thanks to a strong story and a compelling cast, namely headline actor Robert Downey Jr. But the question is, why DID people like Downey's Iron Man?

ANALYSING IRON MAN
There were many reasons people liked Iron Man in the MCU. Many saw RDJ as a heartthrob, but that was a small minority. One of the reasons people liked him was because of the way his progression was captured.

Tony Stark, after a weapons demonstration in Afghanistan, was kidnapped by a terrorist group who forced him to make weapons. After seeing who the main buyers of his weapons were, Tony did NOT make the weapons he was forced to; he created a suit from a box of scraps in a cave. Using it to escape the terrorists by flying away, he managed to get back to the USA. Soon after, he pledged that his company would never create weapons again. After Tony Stark swore off of weapon creations to focus on protecting humanity with his suits, many saw that character arc as the perfect example of a character being redeemed; Tony went from saying, and I quote:

"Yeah, peace. I love peace. I'd be out of a job for peace." - Iron Man, 2008

And after his epiphany, he has since changed.

"I see a suit of armour around the world... Peace in our time." - Avengers: Age of Ultron, 2015

So, tally one up for character redemption and development.

Another reason people love Iron Man is, simply because, they'd want to BE him. Let's be honest, who wouldn't?
The well co-ordinated fight scenes, the success of being a genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist, and of course, the BEAUTIFULLY designed suits, from Mark 1 (Iron Man, 2008) to 46 (Captain America: Civil War, 2016). As an example of one of the scenes that makes people feel like being Iron Man would be amazing, watch this clip from the final fight between Iron Man & War Machine vs the Extremis soldiers.

He's fought many other battles, both with friends and foes, such as against Ultron and Loki in the fight for good, or against Captain America and The Winter Soldier in a Civil War.

But, it's not just about what the audience think about him; it's about what his universe thinks of him. Disney, the current owners and heads of the MCU, have recognised the success of Iron Man, and has decided that the universe that Iron Man is a part of should have some very believable yet interesting opinions of the Armoured Avenger.

For example, Spider-Man has been shown to see Tony as a very authoritive figure, yet in a comfortable way.

However, many of the characters in the MCU see him in a different light. Captain America, Black Widow, Ant-Man, among others, believe that Tony is selfish, unreliable, unloyal, and generally an unpleasant person to be around and associated with. This opinion has been so imprinted into the characters, that, arguably, one of the best moments in the MCU stems from it.

This is seen in the clip below, from Captain America: Civil War (Starting at 3:25).

One final element of why Iron Man is such a good character is because of just how iconic he is.

The fact that Iron Man is no longer limited to just Iron Man movies proves he's popular and iconic enough to be in other movies; first in The Incredible Hulk (though this was not in response to popularity, but as a way to establish the universes would be connected) with Tony asking General Ross to enrol The Hulk as an Avenger.

4 years later, they had Iron Man appear in The Avengers, and in it's sequel Avengers: Age of Ultron 3 years later. His most recent appearance in Captain America: Civil War just shows that he's so popular, he can become the second main character of another character's movie.

Stark isn't done yet though; he's currently slated to appear in the Tom Holland driven Spider-Man: Homecoming as a mentor to Holland's Spider-Man (aka Peter Parker), and he will also be appearing as a main character, if not THE main character in Avengers: Infinity War, a 2 part Avengers storyline tying together the whole MCU together against Thanos, a constantly teased villain.

The fact one character can be a frontrunner in 4 film series just shows that Iron Man has become one of the most iconic film characters of all time, alongside greats like Darth Vader and James Bond.

ENDING
And so, that was my analysis of Iron Man, I hope you enjoyed reading it!

See you next time,

~ Noah C :D

POST #2 - PRELIMINARY TASK [PRELIMINARY]

On Friday last week, we completed our Preliminary Task for Media.

Essentially, we had to make a short video involving a character opening a door, crossing the room and then sitting down in a chair across from another character. They'd then exchange a few lines. The video HAD to include match-on-action shots, shot/reverse/shot, and the 180 degree rule in some way, shape or form.

The video had to be edited fully in Adobe Premiere Pro, and we had to cast, set up and film the shots in the space of 2-3 hours.

Technically, what is the 180 Degree rule?
The 180 Degree rule is the rule that involves the camera never going more than a semicircle around the action. For example, if a character is standing directly in front of another character, you can only film from one side of them, or over one shoulder.
Below is a diagram demonstrating the rule.

What is Match-On-Action?
Match-on-Action is when you film a character doing an action from two or more perspectives; they could start opening a door from a shot of their back, and then continue them opening the door from the front. Just so long as the action is continued and flows from one shot to the next, it is considered Match-on-Action.

What is Shot/Reverse/Shot?
Shot/Reverse/Shot is when you film a conversation from two perspectives, with each one focusing on each person's face while they speak. In editing, they would splice the conversation so that when each person is speaking, it shows their face.

How did it go?
It went pretty well! I was working with Jordan, Emily and Wendy, and we all pretty much naturally took on roles; me and Jordan wrote, I storyboarded and was cameraman, Emily assisted all around and Wendy directed. The actors were directed well, and we managed to get all the shots done in about an hour and 20 minutes. The plot, conceived by Wendy, was adapted by all four of us, and we made it fairly unique. The location was convenient, but it was WAY too small. That'd be something to improve upon next time. The equipment was used well, and we had no issues. The editing, however, was VERY irritating. None of us had any experience with Adobe Premiere Pro, so it was a real learning curve, to say the least. We had to retrace steps, reset computers, and generally import entire scenes again because we had issues. However, we finally got it done.
Ultimately, setting up this blog was fairly easy. I already have a Google/YouTube account, so I'm using that. All around, it went well!

If you had the chance to do this task again, what would you change or do better?
If I was to do this task again with the group, I'd recommend finding a larger office setting to make filming and general moving around a whole lot easier. I'd also suggest getting a microphone so that the voice audio would come out better.

And so, here is... THE FINISHED VIDEO! <fanfare>
https://youtu.be/lCQ7uARVnwc

Overall, I'd give the task a 9/10, and our final outcome around 8/10, since the audio is a bit grainy and the editing is a tad jumpy.

Until we meet again,

~ Noah Carolan :D

POST #1 - INTRODUCTION [PRACTICE]

'Sup dude.

This is my Media Studies blog, where AAAALLLL of my work will be documented.
This includes scripts, notes, studies and final videos.

This blog will be running until July 2017, where I will then create a new A2 Level blog for 2017-2018.

Pretty soon, I'll be putting up some posts on stuff I've already made in Media, so that'll be most excellent.

See you soon,

~ Noah Carolan :D