Trevor Mizzi’s Media Brain

G’day, my name’s Bruce Scarlett, and today we’re going to be exploring one of Australia’s deadliest animals…The Big Tooth Shark!

(cue the intro)

Australia is infamous for its Great White Sharks. Bt before we get too excited about them, let me fill ya in on in a few details. These little fishies grow to a length of 6.4 meters, have teeth about the size of my ring finger, and are capable of a power output of 5 horsepower…and that’s nothing.

This is the megalodon, a ancestor to the Great White Shark or the Mako…we dunno yet. It reaches sizes of anything between 12-20m long, had teeth about as big as my hand, would have had a jaw capable of swallowing five or more fully grown people, and according to Hollywood, would roar like a lion or a cow.

Scientists believe this creature went extinct somewhere between 10,000 to 500,000 years ago, but some people believe this little beauty is still swimming around somewhere, and we had a leak suggesting that a Australian Nature Reserve may be actually protecting it from the knowledge of the public.

(cuts to Werribee Open Range Zoo. From here on it would be dubbed/adlibbed)

Came up with three ideas today for my solo project.

Road Trip Interview
A friend of mine from Queensland is doing a road trip, and coming near Melbourne. In a spur-of-the-moment like style, I’ll stop their car, and “demand” an interview with her and her friends, inquiring about her road trip so far. It’ll end with her becoming frustrated and tiresome of my questions, and then attempting to run me over.

Werribee Open Range Zoo Interview
I’ve Emailed the WORZ guys to ask if I can interview them. Waiting for a reply back. Aiming to chat with the workers/founders there, gain some insight as to what its like working there, and maybe get a chance to eat fresh zebra.

Search for the Megalodon…at the WORZ
I’ve Emailed the WORZ guys to ask if I can do a comical documentary there. Waiting for a reply back. Basically the show will be told from my sterotypical Aussie “alter ego” personality “Bruce Scarlett” (a name I call myself to some American friends where I send videos of me doign Aussie things), determined to find a Megalodon Shark (which has been dead for 50,000 years) at a Open Range Zoo. Although I do see other animals (and get their names wrong), none of it fascinates me.

E.T. phone home. E.T. trusts Telstra. E.T. only tries once and gets good reception!

Yesterday Sherwin and I did some testing of pads flying, to see how they look, how easy they are to control, and realistically speaking how many we’ll need.

The first test was a basic attack fishing wire (one strand) to the back of the pad, and dangle it over a ledge. What we learnt from this process was that the pad would typicall become lopsided due to the way the fishing wire was pulling from.
The second test, we used two wires. Almost instantly they would become intangled, and controlling the pad would be quite difficult, especially when it was spinning.

The third test we used a coathanger so that the wire would be distant from each other. Downside to this was that we’d have to make sure the wires were identicle in length, otherwiise you get the lopsided effect.

Fourth test was having the two wires joined in the middle at the top…this jsut got it tangled even more

Fifth test involved the use of a weight. Tying a DV tape casette container with a tape inside and having it dangle below the pad, there was more control, but the weight was obvious in the camera

Sixth test had the container and tape taped to the top of the bad with a string emerging from the back. It did work, but, like the previous one-wire test, it was loppy.

Seventh test had two wires attached to the tape casette at opposite sides. This proved the most controllable. True, it got tangled, but if you lowered it slowly, it worked. From a distance of about 4 or 5 meters, the wire was invisible…but the casette wasn’t. For future pads, we’ll use something less noticable.

Eighth test involved a pad attack. Sherwin volunteered to be a ‘pad victim’ while I controlled a pad. Kyle volunteered to capture the even. Shadows were a bit of a problem, but we overlooked them in the test.

Ninth test had a blood-stained pad and Sherwin, also covered in blood, being attacked, by a pad simply “flying” around his head and attacking.

Conclusion: we did find a plausble way for the pads to fly. The fake blood has a good effect for “realism” in the movie. Onlookers were both confused and disgusted by what we were doing, and Kyle himself said, quoted “Bad Sherwin! Bad Trevor!” - this type of reaction is what we want, especially for the extras in this film.

Just recieved a shoulder spport today for the camera. Took some figuring out, the bloody thing didn’t show up with instructions. Tomorrow night attending a birthday party, so will get some practise with it.

OK, today we did some filming in group. Our goal was to use manual focusing and keep with perspective. The group I was part of consisted of
Sherwin - Director
Nick M - Concept Artist
Troy - Actor
Nick G - Actor
Anna - Camera Operator
Sarah - Sound Recording
Nathan - Clapper and, for lack of better word, tech advisor?
Trevor (me) - Prop Guy

Our film was basically two people realising they were brothers.

Today Sherwin and I recieved the green light for the film. We’ve agreed to begin test filming tomorrow. Since Sherwin bought the fake blood and the police props, I volunteered to buy the pads. Since I work at Coles, I went with the You’ll Love Coles Super Winged Pads - great product placement, and also to prove they’re cheap and nasty. We’re aiming tomorrow to test how well they can be controlled from guiding over a balcony.

Sherwin lent me a UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship) DVD, which I decided to watch at 2x the speed. Might be due to my lack of knowledge, but every fight looked about the same with a few exceptions.

However, did pick up something that never occured to me before.

There was a interviewer interviewing a light weight championship, and whenever the interviewer would ask a question, he would always nod while the guest replies. He would nod even before the other starts talking! I watched a few other interviews online, and I saw a similar trend: people that interview will always nod during the guest speaking…but why? Is it to agree with everything they’re saying or to give the impression that “Yes, I’m awake.” This could be a source of a new joke that I may exploit in future filming.

Alrrrrrrrrighty then - whats happening in my little media world

*Sherwin and I are in heavy talks about our upcoming project we’re calling ‘Pads’ for now. However, if this launches into a full on series about the two protagonists, Oldsman and Forrester, we’re gonna need to figure out a title that’ll sum it up. So far we’ve concluded that it would be about two police officers that find themselves protecting the public from the most bizarre situations. A few running gags have been thought up that would prove entertaining and a bit of a twist on the standard genre of old horror/sci fi flicks.
*Damian informed us for script we’re to, along with our group project, present a 10min solo project.
*Recieved Red vs Blue Season 4 today for my research into machinimas, and it was definatly worth my money’s worth. I should be collecitng the fifth and final season in August if all goes to plan.

IDEAS FOR SOLO PROJECT
Kangaroo Lookout - Documentary on Wildlife
A while ago, I was aksed by an American friend of mine to film a kangaroo. As a joke, I turned it into a documentary of me walking through Lysterfield park on a ‘Search for the Ever-Dangerous Kangaroo’. Back then it was filmed quite quickly and roughly. This time I would make it more professional and add perhaps humour and a twist

The Cheese Platter - Documentary on B-Grade Films
By now you would have realsied I’ve been buying bad films and doing little reviews. I got into this habit when my brother and I would make a platter of cheeses and alcaholic drinks, and we would bag the movies while eating cheese. Filming what we do would be interesting and humourous/humorous/humouros/however its spelled

Adventures of a Dog - Short Film
Basically my dog would be the star, and by filming/editing what my dog does, could turn it into a show of how a maltese pomeranian dog (that looks and sleeps like a cat, eats like an otter and hangs onto you like a koala) ends up doing something spectacular…somehow

Training Grounds - Machinima
Using Counterstrike: Source, with the assitance of a friend I know, could do a show of a counter-terrorist training to fight against terrorists, and during the training real terrorists infiltrate the set. Would need to look into it, but I feel would be possible.

“Weapon of Choice” - Music Video
In the first episode of Star Trek: Enterprise, theres a line when the captain goes (after their first space fight) “Let’s hope thats the last time someone takes a shot at us” followed by the engineer going “Lets hope”. Following that line would be a montage of every time the ship came under fire throughout the series to the tune of Fatboy Slim’s “Weapon of Choice”.

“Have You Ever Seen The Rain” - Music Video
Basically a advertisement that would display Stargate SG1 as a drama show. In the series finale, the song “Have You Ever Seen The Rain” by Creedence Clearwater Revival was played during a montage of the main members spending 50 years together. Doing some narraration and using the same song while taking snippets from the series to give the look of it being a drama would be a differnet perspective of the series.

“You Aint Seen Nothing Yet” - Music Video
A music video about me, basically a attempt to sell me off in the media industry showing a bunch of weird stuff I can do.

Project: NovaRelic - Documentary
A documentary based on the upcoming MMO called Project: NovaRelic (if the people are interested in doing one).

Guide to Alter Serving - Instructional Video
I’ve been a alter server co-ordinator for my parish for a while and been meaning to do a instructional DVD for current and new alter servers. Could do it as this project.

*******SPOILERS***********

****SPOILERS x2****************

The Dark Knight is worth the hype. Great shooting, great suspense, and great acting. However, personally I gotta say that I enjoyed Aaron Eckhart’s performance as Two-Face better than Heath Ledger’s Joker.

Ledger did a great job portraying a psychotic comical clown (seriously - you have to be nuts to dress as a nurse and blow up a hospital), and his stories of how he had his mouth slit while saying “Why so serious?” were delivered almost believable. But, one complaint: the pitched sound that played during those performances got a tad annoying. Personally, I thought his intro when robbing the bank and then the pencil magic trick was a good way of introducing him.

Bale as the Batman…dunno if it was the way that Nolan wanted it but when he was ‘Bruce Wayne’, he seemed like he couldn’t be bothered acting, and then when he becomes Batman seems he’s then acting his money’s worth. True, as Wayne he didn’t really have much to do except sleep in an office and watch a few speeches, and as Batman he had a excuse to attack people, ride fancy cars, bikes and planes, and be attacked by dogs.

Eckhart, according to what I’ve read, was supposed to be a assistant/opposite to Batman. OK, there was greatset up from start to half-way through the film of his career and personality, and then once his face got burnt…personally I thought his character had a major interest increase. The flip of a coin - double-headed coin with one side normal and the other side melted - to decide who lives and dies as a 50/50 chance was well done in the film. My biggest problem was that as Two Face, he didn’t have as much screen time as he should have had. Hopefully he didn’t just die at the end of the film but only in a coma.

Bought the camera (Canon XM2) off Damian on Wednesday. USed it on Wednesday night to assist with Justine’s project of filming her music group, Tea with Milk, for her documentary. Night was a success I believe, and the aftermath was about 40min of sleep.

Today been experimenting with it a bit. Alreayd discovered it has quite sensitive audio controls. I plugged in my headphone/microphone headset into it, and I was able to hear my mum whispering from the other side of the house (7 or 8 meters).

Bought head cleaners and lens cleaners, as the viewfinder and LCD screen needed a bit of cleaning, and ordered a shoulder support to go with it.

Cloverfield: a movie that sums up original concept, great realstic scenery, believable cahracters, and the best camera work ever. For those of you who have not seen this movie…SEE IT! Seriously, J.J.Abrams has done a wonderful job on this film, choosing to tell the story from a camera’s perspective.

***SPOILERS***

***I AM NOT KIDDING, WHAT I SAY WILL SPOIL THIS MOVIE***

***PREPARE TO BE SPOILED***

The first 17mins of the film was sufficient to bring out the characters, get some back story (back tape, actually) and set the tension. One thing I really enjoyed about this movie was the way we learn more of Beth’s and Rob’s past by the use of the tape being recorded over during the attack. Whenever the tape was stopped and rewound, we saw a few seconds of what happened between the two a month away, including a “mysterious object in the water” at the end of the film.

The creature (the big one) had an impressive design. Very original, very smooth and convincing enough to be real, but sadly didn’t see enough of it. OK, this movie is supposed to be realistic, so I can understand Hud wanting to run away instead of filming the creature, but I reckon a few good steady shots wouldn’t have hurt…well, it hurt Hud, because the one time he did stay still the thing ate him (cool scene!).
The other creatures (small ones) provided a thrat to the people, being the size of dogs that bite you…then you explode. A basic idea, but very effective, especially in the subway scene in my opinion. We get a glimpse of how creepy these creatures can get.

Damian keeps saying the dialouge in movies has to be believable. I don’t know if he’s seen Cloverfield, but I think it’s excellent for dialogue. The people were cutting each other off in conversation, trying to get their word in first….but that could have been the result of them being scared of a 31 storey-high monster. The reactions of the people to the events - personal or environmental - were believable, but I don’t believe they would’ve tried to use an elevator in a building that might collapse or in a situation where power could cut out any time.

This movie is something I wouldn’t recommend eating or drinking too, except for the first 15 or 16 minutes. After that…you might spill your food and drink due to getting a bit jumpy (if you’re that type of person), or if you look down just as something happens.

OK, back to school…finally

a. Sherwin and I presented all the work we have so far on ‘Pads’
b. In script we were given another assignment (which I accidentally handed up as well)
c. Damien informed me the camera is still up for grabs. Was supposed to check it today but I forgot after class finished
d. In drawing we did some perspective using two random objects. Mine was a pair of sunglasses and a dinosaur. My drawing ended up being a penguin wearing glasses in the foreground and hte dinosaur in the background
e. My brother bought ‘Cloverfield’ and ‘Big Trouble in Little China’ - both excellent movies to which I look forward to analysing later on
f. Came up with a bunch of quick movie ideas in Script today (some of them I have mentioned before, but what the hell, it’ll refresh your memories)

Aliens attacks Pirates
Summary: Basically a combination I don’t think has been done before, but what would happen if a pirate ship out at sea, was to suddenly visited by a alien ship that abducts the ship’s parrot, then recieves a cannon ball in retaliation…

Attempting Achievement
Summary: Inspired by the song “You Aint Seen Nothing Yet”, could be based on a team of film makers that make a oath to someone that they’ll produce the best short film, and they go to extremes and do something incredible that results in them being given jobs in Hollywood

Giant Jellyfish
Summary: People have been making monster movies for ages…and I call dibs on being the genius/moron that creates a monster jellyfish that ROARS! It’ll basically attack a fishing village, then a beach, then somehow work its way into a dam, and basically sting and eat people. Come on, who can honestly say this won’t be the perfect mosnter to satire other monster movies?

Macintosh Computer Rapes Girl
Summary: Not a big fan of macintoshes, and this would be a metaphor on why they’re evil. Actually got this idea from a girl I know from New York involving her comptuer mouse…and won’t go into details. Just a idea different from my usual ones

Trees
Summary: Just one of those random horror moments; what would it be like if every tree around the world started bending and thumping people/property?

Floating Fortress
Summary: My dream war movie. Very few people know about Malta and it’s role in World War II. For two years, it was bombarded by the Germans and the Italians, and only had marginal support from the British forces. The idea of this being viewed from the perspective of a Maltese family forced to take shelter and witness the horrors around them would be, in my opnion, a mind opener compared to those U.S. WWII movies. My nanna, a survivor of the bombings, has told me what she has seen, and it really is quite awful what happened, especially when the bombs dropped…

The Mistake
Summary: Picutre an everyday guy, popular with everyone, has a great life, works hard, has a car, girlfriend, and a promosing future. When out with his friends, two people from the future transport them to their time, and reveals this everyday guy is actually the leader of a cybernetic army on a quest for world domination and is winning, and the only person capable of perhaps stopping him is himself.

Three Ship Quadriology
Summary: Something I want to do way later on, which would stretch three movies. Earth is attacked from a alien organisation that is similar in advancements as we are. Before they can attack again, we construct three ships to search and destroy the alien homeworld. The first three movies will take on the perspective of each ship as they attempt to find the homeworld, each building the characters and gaining back stories on everyone, also revealing troubles and flaws with the ship. The final movie would be when they find the world at the same time, and the war begins…

Grey Goo
Summary: Another one of my apocalytpic ideas (dunno why I thought of so many that class). Pretty much the world is being covered in grey goo - nanites that are heavily clustered together. Scientists have to devise a way to stop their spreading before they are consumed.

Again, another low-budget film analysis…probably should make a website of these. Can go into comical detail about them, but thats not the reason I have this blog.

***SPOILERS***

***MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS***

***WILL HAVE MORE SPOILERS THEN A GRAND PRIX***

The idea of a giant squid in a lake, I gotta admit, is very different from the standard giant squid at sea type movies. What makes this interestingly different is the use of fog to increase the suspense, and the fact that you know this squid is in there, and isn’t going to leave. If this movie had a higher budget and perhaps more common actors, it would have done very well at the cinemas I believe.

The squid itself had a Jaws-like style of appearances. Instead of a shark fin rising here and there before attacking, you get the tentacles or the faint outline of hte body in the water from a distance. It was great for the creators to remember that giant squid tentacles contain little teeth in the suckers, which was greatly demonstrated on the sign board, and on a fisherman’s face. You see the msot of the squid in the final minutes of the film when it rises and stares into it’s victim’s eyes. Now I know that the giant squid and colossal squid have the largest eyes in the animal kingdom (aroound the size of a dinner plate)…but from the movie they looked a lot bigger then a human torso. It didn’t make any roaring sounds or anything spookish (woohoo!). But, ahd to laugh at the start of the film when two two teenage lovers (typical!) are in the lake and the girl goes “What was that? Didn’t you hear it?”

The fishermen living off the lake - great tension between the Americans and the Native Americans that, of course, gets resolved by the end of the film when they reach a common goal in killing the squid. The scientist sent to investigate the squid, the protagonist, did a good portrayal of someone fresh out of university whos a bit of a brainiac.

I’d definatly recommend this movie. Sure, acting is a bit week and you can probably guess whats going to happen, but all in all…a great movie I recommend for late night viewing with a glass of Merlot and a selection of cheeses, particulary Stilton.

Just watched ‘Shark Hunter’, and gotta admit, was a lot better then I thought for a low-budget movie. The movie is about a megalodon shark that attacks an underwater submarine/lab.

***SPOILERS********

***MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS*****

***YOU MAY REGREAT READING THESE SPOILERS IF YOU’VE NEVER SEEN THIS FILM***

***IF YOU EVER DO DECIDE TO SEE THIS FILM, THAT IS***

So far, most people tend to relate to the megalodon shark as basically an enlarged great white shark. Thankfully, these people break from tradition and use their own creation via CGI. The shark’s looks can be somewhat believable if it wasn’t for the badly-done animation. And I would have given full marks for this being a shark movie where the sharks do not roar/produce a vocal noise…but then right at the end it starts impersonating the lion from the MGM logo!

Yes, people do tend to get a bit scared when theres a 70ft shark swimming around them…but instead of breathing loudly and screaming, if you see a huge shark ehading to a window to the ocean, shouldn’t you get away in case it breaks?

Theres a scientist on the sub, who is the only person against killing the megalodon currently attacking them. “We can learn from it!” “It’s the greatest find in history!” “We have the right to protect it!” SADLY, AGAIN, these films tend to have the megalodon as a sole creature, not a whole species. Didn’t it occur to this person that theres plenty other megalodon out there, and you happened to run into one thats a tad aggressive?

Acting was average, nothing special (they gotta practise looking scared). The overall progress of the movie was good…except for the end. It was as if they instantly ran out of money and had just enough to do the credits.

I highly recommend this movie for a late night viewing with a glass of sunstone white wine and a plate of assorted cheeses.

Just watched the Snakes on a Plane bonus features, and learnt that the movie gained a lot of popularity via the use of blogs/people spreading the world. Such a tool would be useful for promoting a movie if unsure it would reach a wide market. By targeting those on the net, having them advertise/spread your movie idea around, and getting feedback, could lead into getting a project suitable for a wide audience

Today worked on the MMO game. Coding has begun, and we’re aiming to have a test menu done by the end of next week. We’ve outlined a few design layouts for character and vehicle creation, as well as a few surprises for the players which we won’t reveal till later on.
A JVC Everio Hard Disk Camcorder caught my eye today, standard price is $1700, but it was reduced to $1000 (end of line, replaced by a newer model). Might be satisfacotry as a replacement, gotta check with Damien about it.
Preordered the movies ‘Shark Hunter’ and ‘Eye of the Beast’ for monster movie ‘research’.

Sherwin and I have made drafts of the pad script. I believe we’re ready to submit our ideas to the class, and confident we’ll be given the greenlight for this project.

These last two days been concentrating on homework. Aiming to get it all done this week giving me all of next week to kick back a bit.
Yesterday I worked on a character profile for a video assignment some members of the class are working on. The idea is that we all develop a character on paper, bring it to class next lesson, and we pick the better characters for the short film (4min 30 seconds I think it was). I can’t remember who said it, but someone said I should try a gangster approach. Somthing different, so I created one yesterday.

Dirk ‘Spike’ Shaurmal - a gangster that uses barb wire and a taser to torture and kill his targets, betrayed by his own gang and now trying to develop a new life for himself.

I’m in the process of developing another character (why not?), who will be basically a outback Aussie.

Went to a 3D class yesterday for 20mins to finish a texture map of the main character. Thats all I had time for before I had to make a quick dash for another apointment.

Today I completed a first draft of the script for the ‘Pads’ film Sherwin and I are working on. Sherwin is currently doing the storyboards for it. I’ve so far casted one of my friends to be the lead scientist, Ginger Beaver, and recruited one puppeteer to assist if he’s available.

I printed off a glossy finish of the animation project of designing a character on a magazine. I noticed that I need to improve the body text a bit, but asides that, looks pretty good. I’d pay $14.99 for it if it was an actual magaine with more content then a front page.

16 days till I get Red vs Blue Season 4 to continue with my “research” of machinimas.