Final Synopsis.

Short film Synopsis
Title: "Possibility Pakistan"
Media brief : Short Film
Genre: Docudrama 

Genre: Docudrama

Target audience: age 13 onwards

Media institutions: internet, television

Duration: 7 minutes maximum

We are naming our short film ‘Possibility Pakistan’ as it revolves around Pakistan and the room for new possibilities, new hopes and a revolutionary change in its people. It will tackle Pakistan as how it is under the dark cloud of extreme poverty, illiteracy, energy crisis, corruption, and terrorism, international interference disrupting diplomatic relations with other nations, unemployment, inflation, overpopulation and major health issues. It will be based on how, under this dark cloud, Pakistan and its people are still emerging with new talent coming forth every day. It will revolve mainly around how people are still surviving, working and earning, and how they are enjoying just the same. Each new day, in their lives, commences with a fresh start, a new ray of hope, hence, one step ahead towards a better future, every day.

We intend to capture a minimum of seven very effective scenarios in our film. For example, one of our shots will revolve around a huge family of 10 members in a two-room house in the village. Amidst this entire disturbance, a 16 year old is struggling to study and when he finally manages to do so when the house quiets down in the way hours of the night, the electricity goes out. Irritated yet determined to study he leaves the house with a dimly lit lantern and finally manages to study for his better future, for his family’s future and for his nation’s betterment.

However, our short film will commence with a vista shot of Pakistani streets and a series of quick images of the culture being followed amidst the lower class of Pakistan, which will be followed by the rest of the shots.

The second idea was to shoot a vendor in a street selling plastic products and how, after a day’s work, he is tired and eager to go home but a fruit stall catches his eye. He moves to the stall, buys fruits from the vendor with whatever money he earned for his children and wife at home. At home, giving the shopping bag to his wife, we will show how they are happy and how their eyes enlighten when their father gets home. More so when they see the tasty luxuries their father has bought and the look of gratefulness on the father’s face for whatever, less it maybe, he has been blessed with.

Our third shot could revolve around how, in the absence of electricity, a child with his limited intellect comes up with a handmade circuit to create enough light for him to finish his drawing for the T20 World Cup to support Team Pakistan. The determination and the eagerness in that child of not more than 5 years old to support his team and play an important part in its success will be an integral part of this shot. How he jumps at each six and four and how his expression changes at each wicket would have to be shown with proper care in order to create the desired impact on our audience.

Our fourth shot will be based on how NGO’s in Pakistan and the various welfare institutions are providing for the poor people in our society, how the young children who previously played a major role in earning for a large family of 10 are taken in by these organizations and how they are educated to pave their way towards a better future. It will focus on how children are used against their rights and how, even now, during high inflation and low employment opportunities, people are still willing and able to do something for the needy. Edhi, SEPLAA Foundation, Arfa Karim Foundation, Next Generation Pakistan are only some of the organizations who are already at work, helping young children, providing free education, accommodating the homeless and the orphans, etc.

The fifth shot will revolve around how relatively rich teenagers are driven by the need for change and coming up with various groups and new ideas to introduce these changes in Pakistan for the benefit of the nation as a whole. Voluntary groups are set up and the response to these campaigns is quite unexpected. This shot highlights how the only lacking factor in the Pakistani culture is that of taking an initiative. It takes only one to make the others stand up for their rights. Various mobile networks came up with effective campaigns recently, persuading Pakistanis to take a stand against the wrong.

The sixth shot will revolve around how during an epidemic or a weather hazard, Pakistanis unite and help the victims through the shock of their lives, consoling them through the shock of losing their families, their homes and everything else that got pulled in. The floods last year and the earthquake of 2004 are perfect examples of how people go about when half the nation is in need.

The seventh shot in this short film is likely to be the closing scene whereby people are gathered in a mosque with candles in the front signifying hope for a better tomorrow, for change. The people gather to pray for the nation and its betterment as now we need these prayers more. Pakistan is not safe anymore and needs these prayers to help them through. Karachi and Quetta are perfect examples of why we need to pray. This shot of ours ends with the camera deep focusing on the candles whilst zooming in.

Working under lights.

Light is really important for capturing good images for your movie. The difference between a good picture and a bad picture is not the camera you use or the lens you have, it's the lighting. It's critical for a photographer or a movie maker  to be aware of what kind of light exists in a setting and how to best use it to her advantage; we should have all the knowledge about our settings and lighting and what ambiance we are trying to create to portray our director's vision.

 

: Here is a second light as a fill light source.

Today in our media class we studied lights, saw different tutorials and examined how they really affect our setting, actually the whole environment we are trying to show. From creating gloomy, dull pictures to creating bright and happy pictures which are a sign of positivity, we learned and experimented it all. We were taught about the 3-point set-up whereby we need three lights to create a good balance between the lights on the subject. This includes key light which is the main source of lighting the subject, a back light and a fill light.

Key lights: The key light is the first and usually most important light that a photographer, cinematographer, lighting cameraman, or other scene composer will use in a lighting setup. The purpose of the key light is to highlight the form and dimension of the subject.

High key lighting: 

When looking at a High Key picture, you will probably notice two things right away Other than the happy-happy-joy-joy mood of the picture, The first thing is that the picture is bright.To create a high key image you need to set your exposure levels to high values. You will want to watch out, though not to over expose
Some of the pictures i took keeping in mind high key lighting are:

Low key lighting:Low Key images are also notable for a great deal of contrast that they display. Most notable is the rim light. A light surrounding the subject illuminating only the contour of the shape. So the contrast is between dark shape and bright contour.
I tried my best to take a good picture of a low key lighting. Here it is:

Back light:

Back lighting, also known as Rim Light, refers to the process of illuminating the subject from the back. 

Fill light :
Fill light is any source of illumination that lightens (fills in) areas of shadow created by other lights.  Most often,  fill light is used to lighten the shadows created by the main (key) light.
Some images, especially those requiring a dramatic mood, are best with little or no fill lighting.  However, most images will require some form of fill lighting to keep the image shadows and highlights within the dynamic range of the output medium. 

                                            : Here is a reflector as a fill light source.


In the activity we did in school we used diffusors and gold and silver  reflectors to overcome the shadows formed by the artificial lights present in our school premises or the natural day light. 
Diffusors helped us in scattering the light evenly to create a softer look whereas reflectors helped in capturing warmer or brighter pictures.

Here are some of the videos from my experiments.

Media Trip To Paragon Academy Of Performing Arts.

Last week we arranged a trip to Syed Noor, a legendary Pakistani Film director's set and his performing Arts academy. He has directed several movies such as Majajan and Jhoomer.

 The whole class took active participation and we were very keen to ask questions from him related to our subject and the mediums used.

My Media Studies class, Teacher and Syed Noor.

We were then shown the sets of his upcoming movie "Sharika" which were constructed from wood which could be broken easily but they seemed concrete proper houses.
Then after some refreshments he gave us an introductory lesson on camera works, lighting, setting, working in different backdrops and different places indoor or outdoors.

These were some of the professional lights we used while working outdoors. This Canon camera can also be used to shoot a movie now as he told as that handy cams are now obsolete. He told us about different lenses used while shooting, for example Micro lens, Macro lens and portrait lens.

He was very helpful and told us to contact him for any kind of help in future and also offered us to take internships at his sets to learn more about camera work and lights.
We were given the freedom to discover more of this set where my class fellows and I saw the dubbing room, recording room and editing room. 

My experiments with camera shots and camera angles.

Stepping out of the theory, I applied all the camera shots and angles which I learned from the previous class.
Here is some of my work along with its description. From long shot to vista shot. From birds' eye view to worms' eye view I experienced it all.

I set up different settings and grabbed my camera to come up with interesting yet focused pictures on the rules that I was following. Some of the work I'll post is from the photo shoot conducted by me which was done for a friend for her design and textile foundation portfolio.

Long shot : In film, a view of a scene that is shot from a considerable distance, so that people appear as indistinct shapes.Here is a picture taken by me.

Mid shot: In film, a medium shot is a camera angle shot from a medium distance. The dividing line between "long shot" and "medium shot" is fuzzy, as is the line between "medium shot" and "close-up".

Close- Up :a photograph or movie shot taken at close range.

High angle: camera is right on the top of the subject so that a proportion of the subject's body is exaggerated. That is, their head is seen to be very large and the feet and legs very small and long.

Low angle: is the opposite of the high view with the feet of the object exaggerated and the head is very small.

Birds eye view:

Cinematography

Today in class we were taught about different aspects of shooting a video, with different lights and camera angles. I learned the process of capturing moving images with our DSLR camera. In order for us to shoot our 5-6 minutes short film, to know about these concepts is really important.
Here's my understanding of these concepts.

Camera movements are the creation of motion picture images. They can involve the use of film or digital imagery, usually with a movie camera.

Camera movements are of two types; Stationary and Travelling.
Stationary moves are when the camera is fixed on a tripod. These also include Pan, Tilt, Zoom and Boom e.t.c. Travelling include movements like for e.g. on a horizontal pathway like dolly, craning, tracking e.t.c.

The standard types of camera movement in film and video are as follows :

Dolly: The camera is mounted on a cart which travels along tracks for a very smooth movement. Also known as a tracking shot or trucking shot.
Dolly Zoom: A technique in which the camera moves closer or further from the subject while simultaneously adjusting the zoom angle to keep the subject the same size in the frame.
Follow: The camera physically follows the subject at a more or less constant distance.
Pan: Horizontal movement, left and right.
Pedestal (Ped): Moving the camera position vertically with respect to the subject.
Tilt: Vertical movement of the camera angle, i.e. pointing the camera up and down (as opposed to moving the whole camera up and down).
Track: Roughly synonymous with the dolly shot, but often defined more specifically as movement which stays a constant distance from the action, especially side-to-side movement.
Truck: Another term for tracking or dollying.
Zoom: Technically this isn't a camera move, but a change in the lens' focal length which gives the illusion of moving the camera closer or further away.

Here's a link which greatly helped me with understanding different types of camera angles http://vimeo.com/13362257

Media product analysis

Media Blog Analysis

In my third media class, we were asked to research an inspirational blog and to study it critically in terms of what it lacks and how it is benefitting us. Me and my partner, Abira, looked around for short film blogs and finally found one which looked good in terms of organisation and a well-researched media product. We selected this media blog because it looked very neat and organised plus the whole research, planning, construction and evaluation have been done in a chronological order which signifies that the student, Richard, knew what he was doing.             http://rjdgwpahsa2media.blogspot.com/

Richard, the student, has gone about the blog in a very orderly manner. His blog is in a chronological order with research and planning leading to construction leading to evaluation. In this blog, I was very impressed by the blogger's research. He started off with introducing his tasks and his team members and what they each were good at.

He has then researched the concept behind short films and how they work. He has been deconstructing short films in order to get to the bottom line of it. Then the whole team has contributed in the ideas for the short film to be based on. These ideas have been analyzed in detail to the extent of the drawbacks or the limitations of each idea.

Once an idea by a team member was finalized, he has worked on the topic in itself, basing his research on the genre of their topic to come up with an idea of his own.

Basing his idea on the topic, he has come up with an idea and briefly described the story line, again going in a very systematic way about the blog.

Having done so, he has used conventions to elaborate the story line further. 

With this done, he has researched the target audience for his media product and has also suggested how the short film has been rated according to its content.

    

  

Every short film requires titles for the credits. Now, what I liked about Richard's blog was that he has even worked on his titles with his own idea in mind. Thus, again stressing on the importance of researching extensively for your media product.

With a rough draft in his mind, he has asked for feedback from his fellow students and tutor ensuring qualitative work. I like the fact that he has asked for feedback here in the very beginning of his research and planning and also, in the future during production.

He has gone about iconography for his idea, i.e. the location, setting, mood and the lighting he'll require for the production of his short film. Richard has then gone about his equipment list and the software he'll be needing for post-production and acquired them through his tutor day-by-day as something else was needed.

Then he went by his team members and divided the production process between each of them according to their own expertise, so that they could go by their scripts and shot divisions and camera movements accordingly. 

Now, he produced rough scripts and prop lists so that everyone has a brief overview of their job. 

Richard has made an animatic to make his storyboard look more understandable. For this animatic, too, he has researched various types of animatics and which one is the best one for his genre.

His costumes, locations and the tasks of each member are fully researched and well-planned for pre-production. I love the fact that he knows everything that he is doing and is acting out as he is thinking in a well-planned form. By his research and planning, I can ensure myself that his construction and evaluation would go just as well as the effort put  in the pre-production.
Richard’s construction, i.e. the post production is in a very orderly fashion. He has described each one of his editing, feedbacks and changes made in detail. The fact that he has made a log of all his days of shooting has inspired me into following his example as it indicates how thoroughly he was working on each of the littlest details of his media product.

When doing his ancillary tasks, he went by the procedure very systematically by, first, explaining the tasks to his readers and then going about researching the conventions of posters, identities and review pages. Having done so, he went about researching various works to come to terms with something close to what he wanted to make. Again, he has gone through extensive research just to come up with an inspirational poster, identity and a review page. The secret to his organisation is his systematic thought process due to which he has been able to work so efficiently and this is what I like most about this blog. Also, his time management is pretty much obvious by the neatness of his blog.

Even this product, when completed, was asked for feedback on to check for any improvisations which needed to be made. As you can see, Richard has been able to gain feedback throughout his media production to check for improvisations.Now, I have pointed out what I found very interesting about this blog. The organization, the research and the planning, how the construction developed into the final product and how feedback has been recorded for improvements in the product. One of the major problems I had with Richard's blog is that it lacked the date and timing of his posts. So, I still don't know how he went about his blog in a timeline manner or was his media product made in a random order. Now, Richard's evaluation is in the form of videos, hence, there were statements I couldn't get proper hold of due to the language barrier. 

Selected ideas

The next step was to format our ideas and come up with a detailed synopsis of the ideas which were selected by our teacher. My group partner Abira and I discussed our ideas and this is what we came up with:

Possibility Pakistan
Media Brief: Short film
Target Audience: Age 13 onwards
Media Institution: Internet, Television
Promotion: Through social sites, magazines, newspapers

This idea is based on a short film on Pakistan and its various possibilities. It is about how Pakistan is under the dark cloud of poverty, illiteracy, energy crisis, corruption, terrorism, international interference, unemployment, inflation, overpopulation and health issues. Possibility Pakistan is based on how these issues are combated and how through all these affairs, people are surviving, working and enjoying the same. Possibility Pakistan focuses on how people are managing lifestyles in this situation. For example we can shoot students studying in parks at 5am under the low lantern light to overcome the load shedding issue which might affect their studies. Similar aspects of our society will be shown, signifying positivity and the excitement of not letting anything get in the way.  In this idea, we can show the positive side of Pakistan and we’ll have vast ideas to shoot in the whole 5 minutes. Different scenes will be shot, patriotic music could be used as the background score and through those 5 minutes we can show how people are struggling against the hard times they face in their life. We can show how vendors are carrying on life with happiness and a smile on their faces. How at dusk people start up early and stay busy throughout the day with the load shedding and the energy crisis choking them, and return home eagerly waiting to meet his kids again. We can show how poor students study and work to pay for their education and finally succeed with distinctions and positions to their name.
Our idea will be tackling various aspects of our own country of origin and will be very versatile as Pakistan is facing many problems and is tackling them with never-ending positivity. Unity during matches and hard times for example the floods and earthquake, positivity during career making, working hard without electricity and machinery to earn money are only some ideas on what we can work on.

Branding Thyself
Media Brief: Documentary
Target Audience: Students of any course
Media Institutions: Internet, Social sites, Newspapers, Local and International Magazines
Promotion: Magazines, Newspapers, Internet


In life, branding is more effective, powerful, and sustainable than marketing and sales and an effective way to eliminate your competitors. It’s about influencing others, by creating a brand identity that associates certain perceptions and feelings with that identity.  There is a new trend called Personal Branding. Successful Personal Branding entails managing the perceptions effectively and controlling and influencing how others perceive you and think of you. Having a strong Personal Brand seems to be a very important asset in today’s online, virtual, and individual age. It is the positioning strategy behind the world's most successful people, like Oprah Winfrey, Tiger Woods, Michael Jordan, Donald Trump, Richard Branson and Bill Gates. This idea is based on this very topic and deals with how one’s Personal Branding can contradict with another one’s perceptions. For example:
A reserved girl who is just shy might be perceived by the others as having an attitude problem. One’s persona is her outlook and a piece of their personality which they want to show to others, hence, it is imperative that this outlook be maintained effectively. For example a brand conscious girl checking in on Facebook at every expensive place she visits just to ensure her status remains upright would not look good in the eyes of other people who find this activity not only intimidating but rude.

Our documentary would be focused on the study of these people who have their own Personal Brand and how this identity affects the people around them. A person’s identity can be judged by their presentation, their eating habits, their talking style, their participation in various activities, etc. For example a regular participant in school events might strike out to others as being unambitious while the girl is only trying to put something productive in her application letters. Branding Thyself is a very people oriented documentary focusing on their lifestyles, their personalities and their auras.


Cambridge Results

Media Brief:


Media Brief: Documentary
Target Audience: All ages above 13
Media Institutions: Television, Internet, Magazines.
Promotion: Social Networking Sites, Television.

This idea is based on the recent A-level results which have gone down since last year and are recorded to be the lowest in history. I have researched this idea in much detail from surveys to graphs. The documentary would basically revolve around people, their experiences, their university admissions and their efforts. It would be based on how students got their university admissions cancelled and how their efforts of six years all went to waste as Cambridge upraised its policy.
In this documentary, we will be focusing on students; capturing their emotions, their reactions, their following actions and reactions. Parents and teachers, too, will be an integral part of this documentary as their views will also be accounted for and how they intend to help their children in fighting the catastrophe, for example students accepted into LUMS get their admissions cancelled due to their inability to produce the required result.  Now this is likely to hurt a student to no end, almost leading her to demotivation which would reflect in her future performance. Parents and professors are likely to feel concerned if this happens.
Similarly, our documentary will be focusing on such real-life catastrophes and showing them through the various perspectives of students, teachers, professors and any other ideal inspiration of the students in question.
This is the picture of the synopsis we got after the comments of our Media adviser :