A2, Post 15, PROGRESS!!!

It has been a while since my last post to say the least but never fear, I have returned. And not only that, I have returned with news of progress... and substantial amounts of it.

Over the last few weeks I have been occupying myself with a last ditch attempt at filming wildlife which I pulled off and I have now (After facing innumerable technical difficulties) have produced a rough edit of my final piece.

In addition, I have been experimenting with photography and set up a Flickr account (Cook4472 if you are interested).

School network allowing I aim to post this rough edit within the next few days, in the mean time I will focus on preparing a torrent of posts to compensate for the gap in activity containing film/documentary reviews and a few editions of the pipeline.

Film 2: Stardust (WARNING: Contains spoilers)

I thought it had been a while since my last film review so here is a review of 'The fairytale that won't behave'; Stardust.

Stardust is a fantsay adventure thatis both the perfect fairytale and one of the most originol plots I've seen in a very long time. Featuring treasures, kings, witches, pirates and magic; this film is one of 2007's greatest box office sucess stories.

Stardust was directed by Matthew Vaughn and features a star-studded cast (No pun intended) including Robert De Niro, Claire Daines, David Walliams, Rupert Everet, Ricky Gervais, Mark Strong, Michelle Pfeiffer and many more.

---------SPOILER STARTS HERE---------SPOILER STARTS HERE---------

The film opens in the small English village of Wall, unknown to the residents, their quaint little village shares a border with the fantastical hidden kingdom of Stormhold. A guard is posted at a gap in the wall to prevent anyone passing through, at the start of the story, Dunstan Thorne evades the guard and meets a young slave girl in the local market. 9 months later a baby arrives at the foot of the wall guard.

19 years later and Tristan Thorne (the baby) has grown up and dreams of courting the girl from down the road. In order to win her favour and gain an advantage over a competing suiter, Humphry, he vows to cross the wall and collect a fallen star.

The star in question was knocked from the sky by the pendant of Stormhold's dying King who has sent his 7 fratricidal sons to capture it. The stone has lost it's colour, claiming that only a son of Stormhold can restore the ruby and the King's last words, each of the 7 princes then methodically (And amusingly) assassinate each other until only Septimus and Primus are remaining.

To assist his son, Dunstan reveals the identity of Tristan's mother and supplies him with a Babylon candle, a magical devise that can take the bearer to the place they wish to be most. The candle is lit but Tristan breifly thinks of the star and is taken to the crater where it fell only to discover that the star is in fact a beautiful woman called Yvaine (And she is wearing the pendant).

Tristan takes the star with the intention of returning her to his bride to be. As they travel it becomes clear that he was not the only person who wanted the star. A group of fanatical witches are seeking Yvaines heart in order to gain eternal youth, led by the queen of witches Lamia, they pose a major threat to Tristan's efforts.

After a run on with the witches that they barely escape, things go from bad to worse when Tristan discovers that Prince Septimus (Now the only remaining son) is seeking him out for the pendant, after a number of dramatic conflicts (One of which involves a highly amusing Captain Shakespeare (De Niro) prancing around in dresses and fighting to the can can) each character is in a race against time to reach the wall. Tristan realizes that people from the magical world cannot cross into the real world and attempts to stop Yvaine before she crosses, just as he does this, Lamia arrives and captures them along with a slave girl she caught before hand (Tristan's unknowing mother) and takes them to her lair.

Septimus and Tristan arrive at the castle and barge in on the 3 withes and a scene of magical chaos ensues, after a worthwhile last stand, Septimus is killed. Thinking that he has won the day, Tristan moves towards Yvaine, but Lamia has one more trick up her sleeve, using a voodoo doll, she brings Septimus back to life for one last fight. Once Tristan has dealt with the witches using the raw power of the star herself he takes the ruby from the floor to return to her, in his had it turns red. Una (the slave girl) reveals her identity as the missing daughter of the dead king, making Tristan the surviving male heir to the throne.

Tristan and Yvaine are wed and become the rulers of Stormhold in a stunning coronation scene featuring a guest list of all major cast members.

------SPOILER ENDS HERE------SPOILER ENDS HERE------

One of the main reasons as to why I enjoyed this film so much was it's level of unpredictability, with most fairytale plots the viewer can easily guess what is going too happen next, this is simply not the case with Stardust. Which each new scene the audience is transported to another area of fantasy that is both totally original and inspiring, be it a flying ship that catches lightning or a cosmic star that is actually a human.

Special effects and CGI also play a major role (As is the case with most films) but is not over used and has been well placed in the film by adding to the sense of fantasy without making everything seem overly artificial, the conflict between Tristan and the witches is particularly well executed.

I would highly recommend this film to anyone of any age. Featuring a good mix of love, drama, action, magic and thrills it makes for a wild and enthralling production. 

A2, Possible soundtracks

Just as a warning...this is going to be a BIG post...

Proof that some degree of progress is being made:
I am now scouting the Internet and other areas for ideal soundtracks to accompany my final piece, what I am looking for is something that either builds suspense or drama, or just a straight forward epic...the following are a few clips of possible tracks from popular films.

Whether I actually use these or a totally different piece is yet to be determined, currently I am carrying out a preliminary search...

This is the main score from the well known Pirates of the Caribbean and is one of the most recognisable scores out there:

Now, this sort of thing would be perfect for my piece, it is fast paced, dramatic and well arranged, but the reason I will NOT be using this or indeed any others from this film is simply because they are so iconic and I am creating an unique piece. My trailer would simply not be taken seriously with such a familiar score.

Equally dramatic but not quite as well known, the next track is from the film Stardust. The track is called 'Corronation' and creates a perfect mood of awe and majesty. This will undoubtedly be in my final short list or at least in a few mock ups:

The above clip compliments the slow and majestic and would fit well along side long dramatic shots of landscapes...this next one (Septimus) is from the same film and would better suit a faster set of clips but may not fulfill the 'epicness' of the piece:

Another ideal piece would be the many soundtracks from the film The Rock, almost all of which include fast paced rhythms with epic crescendos.
The chosen track from this film is considerably longer than my time frame and will have to be chopped but it still has a lot of potential (Rock house jail):

Pay attention to both the start and the half way point (Around 4:00 onwards).
Finally, a very fast paced and action packed score:
This ios the main theme for The Dark Knight, an almost perfectly fills the criteria of what I am looking for:

A2, Resarch into similar products

Having finally figured out a way to upload multi-media files onto the blog, here is an example of the kind or product I am hoping to produce.

Trailer for 'Life', produced by BBC and Discovery:

In addtion to this, once 'Scribd' starts behaving, I will upload another Powerpoint presentaion outlining current progress and plans.

Doc 1: Nature's great events; The great tide.

Another new installment, seeing as I am creating a documentary trailer for my A2 project, I thought it would make sense to review some documentaries in order to appreciate how they are put together.

The first documentary I will review is an episode from the recent series; Nature's great events (BBC 2). Specifically, the final episode; The great tide.

Nature's great events is a wildlife documentary centered upon some of nature's greatest spectacles such as the Salmon run in North America or the great migrations of Africa.

To me, the most inspiring and influential episode was 'The Great Tide'. This hour long production features the migration of over 1 billion sardines along the coast of Africa and their struggles as they face the largest gathering of predators on Earth.

Narrated by the great Sir David Attenborough, this is a timeless piece that I have watched over and over again with a never diminishing enthusiasm.

The program centers around the plight of a shoal of sardines as it travels along the East coast of Africa, gradually, they join up with other shoals and become a vast school of over 1 billion fish. All this food is bound to attract attention... so much attention that it becomes arguably the largest gathering of predators in any one place.

The fish face an army of innumerable Sharks, Dolphins, Gannets and Seals. These predators all come together for a beautiful yet macabre under water massacre, Sharks and Dolphins attack from below, Gannets from the air and Seals from the shore prevent any chance of escape. The final few scenes almost resemble a sci-fi movie with the Gannets plunging into the sea at break neck speeds and Sharks writhing in and out of Dolphin squadrons. Filmed from planes, boats and divers, the action can be exquisitely viewed from all angles.

This program features some of the greatest filming and editing of any production on television.



It is this program that is the main reason for me choosing my A2 project, the dramatic sound tracks combined with the amazing camera work make a visually stunning masterpiece that is a true testament to the abilities of the BBC.

I highly recommend this program and the entire series to all and will continue to review documentaries of this genre in the future.

A2, Summary of project and progress

OK, well...over half of the allotted time has elapsed and now we are on the 'home straight' as far as the project is concerned. To mark this and to give a re-cap as to what is going on I am preparing a Powerpoint presentation detailing exactly how the project is going and evaluating current progress.

It is still in the making but should be uploaded to this blog by Thursday, closely followed by this months edition of 'The Pipeline'.

The presentaion will include:

• A summary of my chosen brief;
• Current filming progress;
• Current locations;
• Research into similar products;
• What I am aiming to achieve;
• Half way point evaluation;

I am hoping I wil be able to include the trailers from which I have taken my inspiration but that all depends upon the school computers at the time.

Thats all for now...up next (Within 30 mins), another film review.

A2, Post 12, Filming update

Hello and welcome back, hope you had a good Chrimbo etc... anyway...back to the good stuff:

In my last post I explained that my camera was not holding it's power after extensive charging, this problem has now been fixed and filming has resumed!

Since fixing the camera (A simple change of battery was all that was required), I have managed to film in a variety of locations including Blenhiem Palace, Foxfield Country Park and Oxford Aquatics Pet Outlet.

In addition, I have discovered that the camera on my new phone is capable of HD footage, once I have figured out a way to re-format the files for mac I will be able to raise the standard of all previous filming.