Battle of Dunkirk film

Since Churchill speech is in direct reference to the battle at Dunkirk i decided to research films surrounding that incident which helped to fully contextualise.

 A voice over has been used to describe the events portrays the troops in grandiose heroic manner which is mirrored through the grinning faces of military force who are the main element of the film. The troops themselves embody "the glory of war" rather than the actuality which is congruent with Churchill's raising the spirits speech. there is a great sense of fluidity within the film which is mirrored through the various methods of transport displayed, even the music is incredibly patriotic which presents the united front. The shot of the flag at the end could be incorporated within my own film since i plan on making the union jack a running theme throughout my trailer. Since i don't want to literally interpret my speech (and cant anyway due to its era) i plan on making a trailer thats slightly more uplifting and fun i want it to revolve around playful britishness so whatever clips i integrate from the 1940s have to match that playfulness.
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HdAaZFpxdLM

Trailer from the modern era

After looking at all the 40s clips i wanted to compare these to some modern trailers, since i plan to film some of my own elements these snippets will obviously be set in the modern era and i wanted to see how well i could combine these two era' together and the various techniques that modern trailers manipulate and how these techniques relate to the period of the programme.

Since Churchill's speech was supposed to reassure Britain's spirits and generate a united front during the war i opted to look first at advertisements and trailers for drama's set during a war. i also opted to focus solely on British trailers.

This is a trailer for a programme called Birdsong which is set predominately in 1914-1918 (the first world war) although there parts are pre war. i was surprised to find that fadeins ( although the picture would fade to black before fading into another) had been used although they were less regular than the ones in previous 1940s clips already researched and actually helped instigate the drama of the trailer.  This drama was further stipulated through the use of Panning in and out which also helped to focus on character perspective as well as the surroundings. There is also an element of slow motion which cements this drama and i love the instrumental music in the background which really mirrors the sadness within the trailer (the horror of war or possibly even the characters own melancholy).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNXw2ZjvEdU

This trailer manipulated a lot of flashes, slow closeups of faces that  almost could have been still photographs  if it weren't for the slight background movement, these closeups faded to black and onto moving clips something so simple i think that i could manage to integrate this within my own project. Although not set within a war i thought that its simplicity was what made it most dramatic, the flashes of film were fast paced and broken up by slow motion portraits. i also loved the contrast between the period of the drama and the modern music, which really mirrors the pace of the clips themselves and subsequently ensures the drama.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnhV5K9F39g

The first two trailers researched above were BBC trailers and i was curious to compare those with other channels so i specifically searched for trailers for ITV and Channel 4. The trailer above began as moving film but was broken up by jaunty bold stills which portrayed the 'darker' side, these stills were accompanied by an almost static like music which really set them apart from the rest of the trailer and allowed them to become key focal points. There was also a slight darkness within the corners which keeps the eye trained to the centre of frame. when the words were incorporated they were placed within frames of their own which again made them the main focal point but it also suggested something more sinister. particularly the middle print screen which looks as though someone is looking out to those words, since these frames generate overall atmosphere when placing my own kinetic text within the film i should also consider their frames and positions.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ySsVm5rvaA

Initial Research Trailers and clips from the 1940s

I began by researching some general clips from the 1940s to get an idea of the film style and the era, i didn't limit myself strictly to British films because i wanted to get a feel for the time period rather than the place.

Mostly i loved the movement in this clip ( a drive through los Angeles) and how it panned round the streets without real focus which effectively kept the subject broad, portraying the setting rather than specific people. The long bouts of continuous uninterrupted filming means that transitions do not have to be used ensuring the films smoothness and fluidity which once again relates to the overall concept a drive through Los Angeles.

I particularly liked how the camera swung round to follow these women across the street which was actually a fairly fluid  camera transition which allowed for a perspective change.
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-I2kLNwBak


After this clip i began focusing more on Britain and the home front which relates directly to the Winston Churchill speech.

Although this mini film is made up of lots of clips which means that certain fadeins have to be used to jump from one clip to another ( it really effects the fluidity of the clip something i shall definitely consider when creating my own trailer). This film really displayed the atmosphere in Britain during the war effort and i love the section that contains the Union Jack ( an aspect i plan to focus on during my own trailer to fully convey the innate Britishness).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=coVIn3QlQ4c

I found this american anti Japanese propaganda film which really displayed the mindset during the war and government manipulations and its strange to watch this american Propaganda film in comparison to Churchill's speech ( which is effectively propaganda in speech form). Churchill mostly focused on how the British Isle must stand strong and united with its allies, that we would never surrender whereas this clip focuses more on vilifying  the  Japanese, what they  were planning and how different they were  "as different from ourselves as any people on the planet". To the average citizen they were an undoubtable enemy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNI4LBnMuzk

I then found this reel that was meant to display the power of Britain's air force and (it refers to the battle of Britain- the German air force tried to gain power by defeating Britain's but they were unsuccessful)

again i prefer the focus on Britain which obviously relates more to the speech that i have chosen. although as a form of propaganda it does vilify and focus more on the "enemy"  and how dangerous they are. it also displays Britain's own power and its defeats ( a shock tactic used to ensure British support) which makes the events arguably more real. Ive also noticed that a lot of these 40s films place text atop still or moving images which i should consider since i have to place kinetic text within my trailer. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ev6FIlexpsE&list=PL3C8D45326406ABA2

Brief Contextual Research

 

Churchill was born on the 30th of november 1874 and died 24th of january 1965.
Prime minister twice (1940-1945, 1951-1955)
we shall fight on the beaches speech issued to the house of commons on the 4th of June 1940 to boost moral, reassure the public, ensure a united front between France and Britain as well as rallying the troops.

churchill quotes:“Sir, if you were my husband, I would give you poison.”
Churchill: “If I were your husband I would take it.”

"A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on."


"History will be kind to me for I intend to write it."

"Hitler knows that he will have to break us in this Island or lose the war. If we can stand up to him, all of Europe may be free and life of the world may move forward into broad sunlit uplands. But if we fall then the whole world will sink into the abyss of a new dark age made more sinister."

The last quote seems particularly relevant and really displays what people were afraid of, Churchill makes Britain sound so noble which is continued in the fight on the beaches speech and the references to "the knights of the round table and the crusaders".

The most famous section of the speech and part of the section i plan on using in my video.

"We shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end. We shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and the oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be. We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender."

Again this contextual research has reinforced my previous ideas regarding patriotism, there is a sense of righteousness, loyalty and is so distinctly British that it has to be explored. although i want my video to be abstract i definitely want to incorporate this britishness as a running theme.

The Speech

I wasn't really familiar with any of the speeches given for the project, i knew fragments from a few but otherwise was completely ignorant of their contents. Because the project isn't a long one and because i didn't want to get too caught up in the process of choosing a speech i listened to each briefly before promptly deciding that Winston Churchill's we shall fight on the beaches speech was the one whose meaning i understood best so it is his speech that i plan on using this one within my trailer.
After listening to the speech again i began picking out the key phrases that i found the most powerful and what i thought were aspects that could be roughly translated into video.
"Enemy attacked from all sides on the Dunkurk Beaches"
"Fire with cannons on the beaches"
"The sand dunes were the only shelter"
"Dangerous waters and the struggle was fierce"
"crash of thunder miracle of deliverance achieved by valour"
"air force tried hard but they were beaten back and they have payed tenfold"
"defended by the skill of devotion"
"In all the history of war knights of the round table, crusaders part of the past"
"Every Morn brought forth a noble knight"
"Thankfulness escape of our army does not blind us"
"another blow to be struck"
"prove ourselves able to defend ride out the storm of war"- 1min 40 left in the speech at this point (possibly the segment used in my trailer)
"defend to the death native soil"
"growing strength"
"fight in the fields"
"never surrender"
There is a great sense of the patriotic which is congruent with the context of the speech itself- boosting the moral of the british public to ensure a united home front and although it does refer to France and how Britain and France should remain united, there is a great sense of innate britishness. A possible theme to integrate into my trailer.

Video/Speech brief

The new brief is to create a 1-2 minute trailer that runs along with an iconic speech from history, the video can be a mixture of our film as well as stock footage, it can relate to the speech itself or be more abstract, Motion and final cut pro are the softwares that are suggested for editing.

Book cover Evaluation

im really pleased with how my book cover turned out, and i preferred this project to the propaganda poster, the book cover had a lot of depth and interesting angles to explore and it was fun to read the story and then figure out how to tranlate the fictional reality into an origional intriging design. The big sleep was a lot of fun, the characters however cliche revolved around a lot of style  and dry humour, something that i think ive managed to portray. i was very much inspired by Matisse and Saul Bass whose cut out style generated my covers overall theme. James bond and the general silhouette openings at the beginning of the films also helped to inspire although i didnt really actively research any of the title sequences themselves. Mostly i like the fact that my book cover has a lot of meaning and relation to the book, each chess piece is a representation of a character, the crack on the queen symbolises Carmen Sternwoods fractured mentality as well as the overall theme of corruption evident within the novel (the police, the gangsters even LA as a whole). i couldnt resist incorporating the blood stain to frame the bottom of the cover to introduce a sense of intrigue and mystery. despite this the design is actually pretty light hearted (established mainly via the angular style) which was important since i wanted to fully convey the dry cynacism of the writing as homage to the 1930/40s era.

i'd have liked to explore the Wind in the Willows (which i immediatly dismissed because i despised the book as a child ) just because i think the setting has a lot of possibilities and it would have been intresting to illustrate for a younger target audience. however i think it would have been harder to find something origional than it was for the big sleep and i doubt i would have enjoyed the project as much since i already have preconceptions of great dislike. I'd never heard of the big sleep before so it was easier to begin the project with no preformed ideas that would have influenced the overall design.

i think my illustrator skills have improved the more comfortable i get with the software the more i explore- although on my cover the creation of the design revolved around drawing and brushes (much like the poster) i feel a lot more confident about using it. i made my own hand drawn type to match the rest of the cover which looked really effective and gave me insight into drawing letter (certainly not as easy as it looks) thankfully due to the angularity of the style i didnt have to worry that much about the perfect type. after using illustrator using photoshop for my poster was disconcerting and it did take me a while to remember that the controls were different, despite this im generally pleased with my poster - i would have liked to have incorporated a queen chess piece in the design as well but i didnt have enough time to create one and there probably wouldnt have been enough room even if i had.

overall really happy, lots of enjoyment and a nice cover at the end.