Creative arts evening (Seven Nation Army- The White stripes)

http://scaifesounds.blogspot.co.uk/2016/07/blog-post.html

Frankenstein & adaptations

Frankenstein (1931)

Director: James Whale          

Writers: John L. Balder ton (based upon the composition by), Mary Shelley (from the novel by) (as Mrs. Percy B. Shelley)   

Stars: Colin Clive, Mae Clarke, Boris Karloff | 

Bio: Henry Frankenstein is a doctor who is trying to discover a way to make the dead walk. He succeeds and creates a monster that has to deal with living again.

Budget: $291,000 (estimated)

Gross: $12,000,000 (USA)

Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus is a novel written by English author Mary Shelley that tells the story of Victor Frankenstein, a young scientist who creates a grotesque but sapient creature in an unorthodox scientific experiment. Shelley started writing the story when she was 18, and the first edition of the novel was published anonymously in London in 1818, when she was 20. Her name first appeared on the second edition, published in France in 1823. From Shelly's story James Whale directed the film version Frankenstein, (1931) which closely follows the same story as I described above.

The reason I'm doing a blog on Frankenstein (1931) and it's adaptations is because I wish to create a similar look to the footage within the film. However, I'm mostly doing it for the purpose of the story. As my narrative is essentially just like that of Frankenstein with a slight twist at the end. So overall I feel this blog is up in order for me to understand the story of Frankenstein and how it was so effectively told.

The main thing I have taken from Frankenstein 1931 is the storyline is the way in which it's told. Seen by the video I have made below.

There were also several remakes of the film which is similar to what I'm doing however of course mine shall be heavily simplified as the narrative has to fit with a 3 minute song. Below you can see some films that have included the Frankenstein plot or the monster himself.

• Bride of Frankenstein (1935)- James Whale creates a companion to the Creature
• Mary Shelley's 'Frankenstein' (1994)- Kenneth Branagh's "modern" take on the novel, with a stronger Elizabeth; good rendition of the Creature by de Nero, including a proper conversation on the sea of ice.
• Frankenstein and Me (1996)- Robert Tinnell's fan film that re-interprets not only Shelley's novel and its film adaptations, but also other 'horror' classics such as The Wolf Man and Night of the Living Dead.

• Frankenstein: The True Story (1972 TV

• miniseries Jessie James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter (1966)

• The Colossus of New York (1958)

• The Revenge of Frankenstein (1957)

There are 66 Frankenstein films listed on IMDB this is because of the way in which the story is so set yet so easy to change as it's such a classic that no matter what twist you put on it, people will always see Frankenstein's monster and create a general understanding of the film or video. And that is part of the reason I decided to create a music video adaptation, so I was able to bring common cinema to the music video section of the film industry.

Copyright Enquiry

I have emailed the person who is incharge of the rights to JAWS's music in order to gather permission to create a music video with the song Bad Company, so I'm able to place it on YouTube. Below you are able to see the email I sent.

They replied shortly after with this email allowing me to use the song and publish it on YouTube. But first they have me to email the video to them before I publish it to YouTube.

To which I replied

Shooting Schedule

I have decided to film across 3 days in December from the 20th-23th. Where I film 1/3 each day this will ensure that if I miss anything on any of the days I will have the ability to reshoot on another. I created a calendar with some of these dates including locations, time and which shots from the shot list to which there is 30 which are explained in my blogpost with the shot list in.

What Inspiration Have I Taken From Murnau

Murnau's work is something I have taken great interest in, especially the way in which he is able to manipulate light to bring shadows into the visuals in order to give a sense of a certain mood. I wish to recreate some of the techniques he has used. Below we see some screenshot of the type of thing I'm talking about.

Intertitle

Intertitles

The thing I feel I will take most inspiration from will be his use of light to create the mood effectively. So I plan to inspect some shots within some of his film mainly Nosferatu. Here are some examples of some shots that I admire in terms of lighting.

Use of light to hit the peak of suspense

Beginning of suspense

Emphasis for suspense

I will recreate scenes like these in order to add to the narrative as I really value the use of lighting as we see with Nosferatu, which really does outline the story of Dracula in a detailed and effective way. You can see a separate blog on how I have learnt to do this and where from.

Communication

I used Facebook messenger to communicate with my actor. Of course I'm only using one actor as that's all I need in my production, so this made organisation surprisingly easy. Below we see some screen shots of our conversations to meet.

F. W. Murnau (Influences)

 F. W. Murnau is a German director who was born in 1888 and died in 1931. He was famous for his innovative use of light and dark shadowing to create certain moods. Other things of notes is the fact he specialised in visual storytelling with intertitles. Intertitles are a piece of filmed, printed text edited into the midst of the photographed action at various points. Intertitles are used to convey character dialogues and narratives.
He was famous for directing such movies as Nosferatu 1992 and Faust 1926. Which practiced within the fantasy and horror genre. To give an idea for his work Nosferatu was a film based on the story of Vampire Count Orlok who expresses interest in a new residence and real estate agent Hutter's wife.

Example of a intertitle

He arguably revolutionized the art of cinematic expression by using the camera subjectively to interpret the emotional state of a character. Murnau studied philosophy, art history, and literature at the Universities of Heidelberg and Berlin.

His work is something I'm very interested and I wish to use his film making to my advantage by taking inspiration from his techniques like using light effectively to so a certain mood and possibly even use intertitles in my production.

Here is some of his work

Call Sheet

SHOT NUMBER	CAST MEMBERS’S NEEDED	DATE & TIME	SET NUMBER
1	N/A	DATE- 26/11/2016	N/A
2	William Lovell- Protagonist	DATE- /12/2016	SET NO.1
3	William Lovell- Protagonist	DATE- /12/2016	SET NO.1
4	William Lovell- Protagonist	DATE- /12/2016	SET NO.1
5	William Lovell- Protagonist	DATE- /12/2016	SET NO.1
6	N/A	DATE- 26/11/2016	SET NO.1
7	N/A	DATE- 26/11/2016	SET NO.1
8	N/A	DATE- 26/11/2016	SET NO.1
9	William Lovell- Protagonist	DATE- /12/2016	SET NO.1
10	William Lovell- Protagonist	DATE- /12/2016	SET NO.1
11	William Lovell- Protagonist	DATE- /12/2016	SET NO.1
12	William Lovell- Protagonist	DATE- /12/2016	SET NO.1
13	William Lovell- Protagonist	DATE- /12/2016	SET NO.1
14	William Lovell- Protagonist	DATE- /12/2016	SET NO.1
15	William Lovell- Protagonist	DATE- /12/2016	SET NO.1
16	William Lovell- Protagonist	DATE- /12/2016	SET NO.1
17	William Lovell- Protagonist	DATE- /12/2016	SET NO.1
18	William Lovell- Protagonist	DATE- /12/2016	SET NO.1
19	N/A	DATE- 26/11/2016	SET NO.1
20	William Lovell- Protagonist	DATE- /12/2016	SET NO.1
21	William Lovell- Protagonist	DATE- /12/2016	SET NO.1
22	William Lovell- Protagonist	DATE- /12/2016	SET NO.1
23	William Lovell- Protagonist	DATE- /12/2016	SET NO.1
24	William Lovell- Protagonist	DATE- /12/2016	SET NO.2
25	William Lovell- Protagonist	DATE- /12/2016	SET NO.2
26	William Lovell- Protagonist	DATE- /12/2016	SET NO.2
27	William Lovell- Protagonist	DATE- /12/2016	SET NO.2
28	William Lovell- Protagonist	DATE- /12/2016	SET NO.2
29	William Lovell- Protagonist	DATE- /12/2016	SET NO.2
30	William Lovell- Protagonist	DATE- /12/2016	SET NO.2
31	N/A	DATE- 26/11/2016	N/A
32	William Lovell- Protagonist	DATE- /12/2016	SET NO.2
33	William Lovell- Protagonist	DATE- /12/2016	SET NO.2

Lyric Sheet

There is little link between the visuals and the lyrics as I tried to capture the essence of the song rather than just directly telling the narrative that already existed within the lyrics. However of course there are some links to the lyrics, but mostly more the fact I plan to link the visuals with the instrumental end of the song during post production. For example the song builds up and as it reaches its peak his eyes shoot open. So there is no need for me to provide a lyric sheet as of my creative choice to separate my story from the lyrics completely.

Source of Props and Set Locations

Set

My set shall be all within my garage, as of the style as the floor is of an industrial size with a big wooden doors behind it to give it a DIY laboratory look that I desire. I plan to use a old wooden work bench to spread the "blueprints". A work light will be used to light the room as of it's power. Half way through the shoot I have to change the set to get rid of the desk and have a calderon of sorts. Some test shots of the set will be up soon.

Source of props

List of props:

• Fake body parts
• Caldron
• Blueprints
• Various household objects E.G Alarm Clock and Communist Manifesto
• pencils and paper and other stationary

Fake Body

I plan to get these from Ebay, as they won't be on the screen long they don't have to be on the screen long so they don't need to be high quality. Some Examples of I may buy are below.

Caldron

This will also be sourced from the internet, however there may also be a chance I buy this from a shop or even make it out of paper Mache.

Blueprints

The Blueprints I plan to make myself using Adobe Photoshop by getting regular pencil drawing offline and overlaying them on a blue print sketch, I'm yet to prepare these so sadly I don't have an example picture.

Various Household Objects

Well this part is self explanatory, as these will be objects that may be just found around your house for example:

• Alarm clock
• Shoe
• Light bulb
• Party poppers
• Olive oil
• Colouring pencils
• Pack of Haribos
• Vinyl record, ideally JAWS one
• The Bible
• Communist Manifesto
• Key

All of these I already own so it is no problem to source.

Pencils and Stationary's

This again is something I already have so this is not a problem, will just be basic stuff like a ruler and pencils and paper.

Character profile and Props

Protagonist 

My protagonist is my only character, he is in summary a young man who is suffering from a mental breakdown. He's on the search for "company" so he creates his own, as of his experience as a scientist. The characters appearance is unhealthy thin with a pale complexion, messy hair and a gaunt face. He shall wear mixture of clashing colours and patterns to indicate his mental instability.


Props

• Fake body parts
• Caldron
• Miscellaneous household objects
• Fake blue prints

Fake Body Parts

These will be used in the sequence where the protagonist is putting the monster together. They will play a brief role in the production, to ensure that they look for realistic so people find it harder to distigish there fake.










Caldron

The caldron will be in the production for a reasonable length of time. It will be there to create a look of the tradtional mad scientist or which aesthetic. The whole caldron will never be fully in shot which will be a good thing as it will save me money having to buy a real prop.

Miscellaneous Household Objects

These object could be anything that may be found around the house that could possible go together to create the look of the monster. These will be used in the same way the body parts are however they will be used in a tongue in cheek way.

Fake Blue Prints

The blue prints will come up in the planning process of the production, and maybe in the background of shots in the making of the "monster". They will look like the traditional blue prints you see in other productions for example the pictures around this text, I'm creating my own though so I don't have a picture of the actual props.

Quesionnaire, Analysis and Necessary Actions

Here is my questionnaire, it asks questions to give me answers to questions such as preferred genres, what they like to see in music videos, gender and age.

Questionnaire for Music Video Research

Circle the appropriate answer

What gender are you?

• ·      Male
• ·      Female
• ·      Other
• ·      Prefer not to say

Analysis

The results from this question shows that there is a pretty much even balance of genders with there being 10 females and 9 males. Which is in general and pretty accurate depiction of society as a whole. In addition to this there is also we see one person who choose to answer other which again helps with the accuracy of the questionnaire as of not everybody being male or female.

What is your favourite genre of music video?

• ·      Rock
• ·      Indie
• ·      Pop
• ·      Electronic
• ·      Alternative
• ·      Rap
• ·      R&B
• ·      Other

Analysis

The results from these questions show us that most people value the indie genre as their favourite, this may because of the age of the people who took the questionnaire being reasonably low. The least popular genre was spread between R&B, Alternative, Electronic and other. This is what I would have expect however the R&B result was unexpectedly low. This may have been the result of the ethnicity of people who took the questionnaire. Pop, Rap and Rock were in the middle ground which is to vbe expected. However as of the name pop (popular), you would have expected for it to have the most followers but of course it didn't.

How often do you watch music videos? 

• ·      Everyday
• ·      Once every two days
• ·      One a week
• ·      Once a fortnight
• ·      Once a month
• ·      Once a year
• ·      Never

Analysis

From the results we see people don't tend to watch music video that often with the most popular option being once a fortnight with 4/20 people choosing this option. Which shows us that music videos on a whole are not that popular. However you could say that the joint second most popular option was everyday with 3/20 people choosing this option. Showing that some people obviously get their music by watching music videos. But yet again this can be countered by the fact 3 people also only watch them once a month

How old are you?

• ·      17 or under
• ·      18-20
• ·      21-25
• ·      26-35
• ·      36 or over

Analysis
These results show that the majority of people are aged 17 or under with 6 of the twenty choosing this option. Furthermore there were only 6, 21 year olds and above out of the twenty who took the test. So this means when I make my video that I ensure I represent people twenty or under.

Have you ever heard of JAWS?

• ·      Yes
• ·      No

Analysis

There are only 1/4 of people who took the questionnaire who new who JAWS the band I'm using are. This is possible the people who's favourite genre was indie as the lie in that genre or even some from the people who liked the rock genre. This was expected as JAWS are only a small band so 15 of the twenty not knowing them is no surprise.

What are your hobbies and interests?

Please state:

Analysis
The results for this question show us that the majority of peoples have the favourite hobby was listening to music with 6 of the 20 people answering this way which may be why so few people watched music videos often as they likely had no interest in the videos themselves. Secondly we see film making with 3 of the twenty people which is most likely the source of the people who would regularly watch the music video that was quired in an earlier question.


What type of shots do you prefer?

• ·      Extreme close up
• ·      Close up
• ·      Medium shot
• ·      Long shot
• ·      Extreme Long shot
• ·      Establishing shot  

Analysis
From this we see that most people prefer to see close-ups and medium shots, so I will take this into account when doing my shot list to ensure there is majority of these types while avoiding establishing and extreme long shots.

       Could videos follow a narrative?

• ·      Yes
• ·      No
• ·      Partially

    

Analysis
Overwhelming people like videos to follow a narrative which I'm thankful for as my video also follows a narrative.

Should lyrics have a relationship with visuals?

• ·      Yes
• ·      No
• ·      Partially

Analysis

there is an overall equal split between people who want to see a link between a narrative and visuals and not. Through I will ensure I have some link and also have non at all at times.

Who are your favourite artists?

Please state

Analysis
Drake, The Red Hot Chill Peppers and Kanye West were peoples favourite artist which seemed strange as Drake is R&B was very unpopular in the genre question. But I expected The 1975 as of the high percentage of people who enjoy the indie genre. There were two people who answered JAWS which is good for me as if that represent society I will please a large majority of people.



What will I do with these results?

Because of what I've found I'm going to take certain actions these being-

• I will ensure I appeal to the ages from 20 down as they are the people who tend to watch the most music videos.
• Also the video will be of this age as this age group tend to favour the indie genre. I know this because of earlier research into the genre.
• I will also look at artist such as The 1975 and Drake and try incorporate the styles of their music videos into mine as people find these their favourite artists.
• Finally I will ensure I have some relationship with the visuals and lyrics