Moving Image Entry 7 - Kevin Ross:

Date:10/03/2014
Module: Moving Image El342
Kent University

Team 07:

vp216 - Viknesh Prabhakar
kr278 - Kevin Ross
cb595 - Connor Brown
Tws6 - Thomas Stowell

Activities I've done to benefit our Film:

Voice recording contest for video game:

Over the weekend I had heard about a new upcoming game asking for people to send in voice recordings of a set script for the opportunity to star within the game. This game is Dragon age inquisition. The setting of this game is mythical and prior to modern day, almost medieval times.

Since I am the sound producer in our group I thought it would be a nice way of testing my own voice as well as being able to distinguish different moods and sound qualities of recordings.

Below you can find the rules and scripts from which I could choose, I chose script 1. My script consisted of acting as a villager and changing my voice according to the mood to say each sentence.

I found that having done this I have learnt how to effectively create a script (which will be required for our film).For this I will include each characters name , their dialogue and then the mood of each speech next to the dialogue so that the actors can act that part. Furthermore I had examined YouTube videos of people acting the same script prior to my own voice recording to be able to work on my own acting skills. This may come in handy for if I wish to act in our film or give directions to our actors on how to improve their voices for our film.

I have found it is best to act as if you were the character, make yourself feel like you are the character for the best recordings. I did take multiple takes for me to find the suitable take so I will wish to do the same for our film for the best quality recording.

In further analysis, I used the program audacity to modify my sound clips to make them clearer and off better quality. Having done so I have found that it makes the quality much better and therefore will modify our sound clips with said program in our film.

Unfortunately I cannot seem to upload sound files to my blog however here is an example of somebody doing a take on the script:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhobgaJsI_4

Rules:http://static.cdn.ea.com/blog.bioware.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Take_Your_Place_Inquisition_Contest_Rules_.pdf

Script choice 1:http://static.cdn.ea.com/blog.bioware.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Contest_Script_1.pdf

Script choice 2: http://static.cdn.ea.com/blog.bioware.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Contest_Script_2_.pdf

Script writing:

I had started writing a possible script based on the storyboard made By Tom Stowell. I was focusing on writing what each character says in each scene , the sound effects and music used In each scene as well as the mood the actor will need to act.

For this I have reviewed different songs and still think that Hurt will be a good choice for our film edit. The sound effects used will be those to emphasise sounds in our animation such as the phone.

However today after having a group discussion with Tom I found he had also done a script.
Never the less, after having done the Game script and researched on scripts, I am going still going to be editing his work. I shall include the sound effects and moods for the script since sound is my main focus.

Furthermore I have been thinking off additional voiceovers in our film and if we do convey a message at the end of film warning about drug consumption or something similar, I shall include the script and possibly wish to do it myself after having done the voice acting contest just for practice purposes.

Idea to Make a questionnaire/ Survey:

I have been analysing something other film creators do before making a film or game makers before designing a game and that is public opinion.

Since the film is for the viewers and for the viewers to enjoy or watch it is only natural to find their perspective of what would be good features to include.

For this I have thought it may be wise to make a survey for our film to find out what features chosen from a list could be used in our film to be more attractive to the public. Reason why there is a set list is because it will be easy for us to see things that stand out more for others than just for us since they are the critiques.

Therefore I have started devising a questionnaire to hand to random people at our university at some point, however I shall discuss what other questions to include with the rest of my team.

Research into some Futuristic / time travel examples:

I had looked into how other films , books or TV shows portray the future or time travel to be represented. It has helped us think forward to how we want things to occur in our film and more importantly look. This goes for the characters appearance and for the environment. Knowing the set is important for knowing how to act within it.

Steins Gate:

The concepts examined from the Japanese anime "Steins gate" which can contribute in ideas for our film are Time travel and its effects. I Have personally watched this anime, it is about a "mad" scientist who discovers time travel is possible to a level. The concept was of cause and effect, the protagonist travels back in time numerous times to perform different actions in an attempt to alter what has happened in the future, doing so however will make also make a new unexpected outcome to appear. For the time travel to occur he uses a microwave device that can transfer messages to the past/future to alert anyone's future or past self about an occurrence.

This anime mainly focuses on time travels effects and how it can be dangerous and impossible to saves ones life without altering somebody else's. This idea could be beneficial to our film, we could make it so that if our main character becomes healthy another loving character then becomes ill.
The ideas of paradoxes and alternative universes also come into mind for which nobody has to die.
furthermore some points of time travel make the scene prevail as the same which is unusual if you are time travelling, therefore we could have an aspect like this appear in our film but just where instead of time travelling he is appearing in an alternative dimension.

Doctor who:

Doctor Who is a British Sci-Fi programme. Its about a main character who is a time lord which He explores the universe in a time travelling device. This of which is seen as a police booth. Along with others his ain goal is to work on saving civilisations. throughout this TV series there is an introduction of many futuristic beings (aliens).

From researching on Doctor who, I find that it does really well for attracting the public. This may be due to its action, time travel ideas or multitude of unique events. The fact that doctor who is so unique at portraying different events and creatures makes it exciting t watch. In our animation we could go really Sci-Fi with the future side of our film introducing all kinds of weird aspects such as aliens or futuristic gadgets. This will be appealing to the viewer.
Furthermore there is an iconic sound when he is time traveling that Is well recognised thus, maybe we should include some reoccurring sound effects in our film so the viewer/listener knows what will happen next.

Looper:

Lastly Looper is an American science action film. In the film, time travel is invented by the year 2074 . It is something that was outlawed and is considered illegal. The loopers are those that send back people in time for them to be assassinated in the present day so that they don't exist in the future. The main character starts as one of these assassins but soon changes as they send the version of him from the future back to the present to be killed.

The idea of making time travel illegal is something that could relate to our film if we have a force who stops people from travelling. However the idea to observe from this film was how the future was much more harsh to live in than modern day. So even in the attempt to time travel, our protagonist may find himself in a worse situation than the current one if we include ideas such as those in this film.


Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Looper_(film)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctor_who
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steins;Gate:_Fuka_Ry%C5%8Diki_no_D%C3%A9j%C3%A0_vu