Manchester City and Manchester United were joint top of the league, with one more match each to play. Manchester United had won, which meant that Man City would need to win their match too to win the league. They were loosing 2-1 in the closing minutes of the game. Man City managed to make it 2-2, but still needed one more goal in the few seconds remaining. Aguero then managed to score that unlikely yet vital goal. The commentator, Martin Tyler, made the moment even more special by shouting “Agueroooooo” as he struck the ball.
This iconic moment in football history is what I want to animate as a premiere league trailer/break bumper. It portrays exactly what the league is about – extremely dramatic moments even in the dying moments of the game and the season itself. I believe that watching this brief scene before a match starts will build up the anticipation of the audience/football fans, getting them even more excited.
I’ve included two small clips from the series ‘Black Mirror’ and the first episode of its third season, Nosedive. The entire episode is well worth the watch, but as it’s a 50 minute long sequence I didn’t want to post the full thing. The story follows Lacie in a society where people are given merit by ratings given through encounters and experiences. These ratings, visible to everyone through contact lenses and on a 5-star scale, allow the more elite members rights and access to certain services, while a lower rating leads to restriction and scorn. Lacie, rated on a 4.2 average, is looking to reach a 4.5 in order to move into a new, luxurious apartment, and takes any measure to gain respect to boost her up. Both clips take place at the start of the episode, setting the scene for the premise. The first clip, though short, has a huge influence and connection to my film – it depicts Lacie looking in the mirror, working on her laugh to sound more appealing. She picks apart how she must act for the day, stressing how much someone’s appearance and demeanor really matters.
The second clip is a step further, revealing others’ ratings at a local cafe, showing the effort put in to have a perfect-looking lifestyle. Lacie painstakingly takes a bite out of a biscuit to make it look pristine for a picture. The light, breezy pastels and soothing music lead us to believe everything is fine, and at this point in the episode, that’s very true. It almost feels like everyday life for us.
Most of the story is relevant to my film. I want to focus on how a simple daily routine affects people – as simple as looking in the mirror and getting ready to go out. As simple as feeling self-conscious in public, fretting over what others think of you. My own film opens with a shot similar to the first clip – a look in the mirror and the concern of how you’re perceived.
While Nosedive is rooted in the dark side of technology, it’s all a paralleled message. What is more, from the start, I wanted to have a colorful and bright film, just as Nosedive has. The pastels draw us in, the score relaxes us. The entire cinematography shapes a film. That to me is important, and what leaves a viewer with a lasting impression. Nosedive itself sticks out from the other episodes of ‘Black Mirror’ because it is brighter while the others are based in a dark color scheme. I don’t want to distract from the message of my film, I’d just like to visually enhance it to make it more desirable to watch.
Ryoji Ikeda is a musician and visual artist working with installation. His process centres around numbers- the link between music and mathematics. Transfinite is composed of two projections, binary code and infinite numbers pulled from the human genome and astronomical coordinates, as well as a sound piece composed by Ikeda, to which the projections respond.
For me, Ikeda is an artist who is extremely adept at turning very abstract concepts and visuals into experiences that don’t patronise or confuse the audience, but stand stubbornly on their own, devoid of explanation. Infact, Ikeda is notorious for his refusal to talk about the concepts in his work (as he makes abundantly clear in his ‘interview’ for the observer: http://observer.com/2011/05/infinite-quest-ryoji-ikeda-wants-to-disappear/ ) insisting that his approach is more pragmatic. He would rather not focus on his ideas or concepts, so as not to influence or over complicate the experience the work generates, and this approach seems to make his highly technical, abstract compositions surprisingly accessible.
Though for most viewers, the strobing of binary code appears as merely a maze of flashing lines, the atmosphere they conjure in conjunction with Ikeda’s composition is undeniable. His ability to utilise projection to construct an environment in which this can be experienced is impressive. This approach to abstraction may seem obtuse to some, but personally I can’t help but be inspired by Ikeda’s determination to wilfully disregard his authorship, and allow the work to be what the work IS. Like Tarkovsky insisting, in responce to allegations from the Soviet State Committee for Cinematography that Stalker was too dull and slow, “The film needs to be slower and duller.”
I hope that in my film, despite absence of narrative i can focus on atmosphere through attention to composition and colour choices, the relationship between form & meaning (digital processes to critique problems inherently digital in nature), in order to be as direct yet fluid in concept as Ikeda.
The story of this commerial video develops unexpected. Beers to men and clothes to women. Funny develpment impressed me a lot and has given me some inspiration.
I love this amazing video it makes love seem so never ending there is always a way to make a day even more beautiful. Very creative use of a variety of voices.
This commercial fashion film for Chanel Couture has also inspired me for my film project as it has all the elements I would like to incorporate into my video of fashion, fun, celebrity lifestyle and two friends spending a weekend away in a luxury hotel. The digital special effects are particularly stunning and I would like to learn how to incorporate these into my film to give impact and draw my audience’s attention to the detail of the clothes whilst being entertained. My commercial film was being shot at The Hilton Hotel but unfortunately they would not allow me access to any of the hotel bedrooms, otherwise I would have definitely wanted to have incorporated this theme into my storyboard. Maybe next time!
This is a promotional video for New Look’s AW15 rage and I have used this for some inspiration for my commercial film project. Some of the digital effects in this video are very bold and engaging, which I would like to learn to try and incorporate into my video now I have shot my footage. Some of the poses of the models in this video have also inspired me and I have used them to enhance my composition. The New Look video has been shot in a studio and I feel that I would like to have been able to shoot some of the scenes in a studio for my commercial film. However, due to availability of models and time constraints, this was not possible but, on reflection, the location of the Hilton Hotel in Bournemouth did fit the mood and ambience I wanted to create but with challenging conditions in a public environment.
