We have finally finished our film opening and this is the result.
Friday, 7 May 2010
Director's Commentary
We were able to look back at our final piece and commentated on top of the video. We spoke about the film opening we wanted to achieve and the sort of atmosphere we wanted to show.
Here is our director's commentary.
Here is our director's commentary.
Tuesday, 4 May 2010
Audience Feedback
We got some feedback from our target audience and we were able to take this feedback to change what we needed in our film. It helped us realise how well we did with our final task and make sure that if we needed to make any changes to make the film better.
We managed to film a couple of the audience and asked them a few questions about what they thought of the film and if they thought anything could be improved as well as their general thoughts on the film opening and how well they thought we did.
We managed to film a couple of the audience and asked them a few questions about what they thought of the film and if they thought anything could be improved as well as their general thoughts on the film opening and how well they thought we did.
We also got feedback from our target audience constantly throughout the time we were editing our film. For example, we originally had Ife's shots in black and white and Fiona's shots in colour, this was to show that Ife's shots were more sinister and maybe give the illusion that it was a flash back.
It would then come together at the end in the final shot when both the characters meet and it becomes clear that it isn't a flash back and that they were both happening at the same time. However, we got feedback stating that the film would look much better if we were to have both the scenes in black and white to give it a better effect. We therefore changed this to improve the film. Other feedback we got was that on a whole was that the film was good and that it looked really professional.
Someone else said that they liked the twist on characters and the things that they portray, they thought that the rating of the film was right and that they thought we did well on keeping it all within the 2 minutes. Overall, as a group we thoguth we did really well, considering we thought that we were going to encounter a few problems, such as not being able to fit it in within the 2 minutes or being that the opening didnt turn out boring because it was only of a person walking, however, the soundtrack brought it together and we really liked our final outcome.
Tuesday, 20 April 2010
Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
From our preliminary task we were able to transfer some of the skills we learnt to our main final piece. This has enabled us to learn from our mistakes as well as to adapt and apply our current skills to our main task to make it the best it can be.
We learnt the basic skills needed to film footage such as using a camera and tripod. Using the tripod was a skill that was essential to getting footage that was steady, because hand held filming is usually the type of filming used in documentaries. Although, we did use this technique when Fiona was walking through the tunnel and when she finally sees Ife lying dead on the floor. This was to show that as Fiona gets closer the event was more personal between the two characters.
We also made sure that we recorded each shot a number of times so that if a certain take did not go the way we planned there was extra footage for us to fall back on. If we did not do extra takes this would be a problem because we would have to make numerous trips back to the location to re-shoot footage. This would have wasted a lot of time that we need to edit and to write the evaluation.
We also learned that it is important to record a few extra seconds of footage before and after the action in the scene, this is so that when it comes to editing we have the ability to cut down the unneeded footage. This is useful because this way we do not have to go edit in the footage from the beginning of the clip, which allows us to add effects that would need extra footage like the fade in fade out. It also allows us to keep with the continuity as extra footage makes it easier to make it follow on.
The editing skills needed for the final task we much more demanding than that of the preliminary task, this is because we used certain effects and titles that were more advanced than the skills use in the preliminary task. The preliminary task aided us with basic knowledge of Final Cut Pro that we expanded on to edit the final task.
Some of the problems to encountered were very minimal and so we over came these pretty easily. Some of the problems are listed below.
The first problem we had noticed with our preliminary task was that the camera wasn't always straight. We therefore made sure that every shot we did was always straight and checked this with the spirit level on the tripod and with doing this all our shots in our main task are straight and not on a slant. We also had problems with capturing the sound on the preliminary task so therefore had to make do with no sound at all. However, on our main task we were able to add a sound track and sound effects on it as well as using the natural sound, this therefore made it more professional and film like.
Another problem we encountered during the preliminary task was the continuity in editing. We found that when it came to editing the door scene it was difficult to make the clips follow on, this was partially because Fiona’s footing changed each time we filmed the door sequence. We avoided this happening in the main task by making sure there was extra footage before and after each clip so that during the editing stage, we could cut it down as to keep the continuity.
It was difficult to get the over the shoulder shot of Caroline and Fiona because there was very little space between them and the table behind them. Although, the location we chose to film the main task was quite spacious so we did not have this problem with the filming.
We learnt the basic skills needed to film footage such as using a camera and tripod. Using the tripod was a skill that was essential to getting footage that was steady, because hand held filming is usually the type of filming used in documentaries. Although, we did use this technique when Fiona was walking through the tunnel and when she finally sees Ife lying dead on the floor. This was to show that as Fiona gets closer the event was more personal between the two characters.
We also made sure that we recorded each shot a number of times so that if a certain take did not go the way we planned there was extra footage for us to fall back on. If we did not do extra takes this would be a problem because we would have to make numerous trips back to the location to re-shoot footage. This would have wasted a lot of time that we need to edit and to write the evaluation.
We also learned that it is important to record a few extra seconds of footage before and after the action in the scene, this is so that when it comes to editing we have the ability to cut down the unneeded footage. This is useful because this way we do not have to go edit in the footage from the beginning of the clip, which allows us to add effects that would need extra footage like the fade in fade out. It also allows us to keep with the continuity as extra footage makes it easier to make it follow on.
The editing skills needed for the final task we much more demanding than that of the preliminary task, this is because we used certain effects and titles that were more advanced than the skills use in the preliminary task. The preliminary task aided us with basic knowledge of Final Cut Pro that we expanded on to edit the final task.
Some of the problems to encountered were very minimal and so we over came these pretty easily. Some of the problems are listed below.
The first problem we had noticed with our preliminary task was that the camera wasn't always straight. We therefore made sure that every shot we did was always straight and checked this with the spirit level on the tripod and with doing this all our shots in our main task are straight and not on a slant. We also had problems with capturing the sound on the preliminary task so therefore had to make do with no sound at all. However, on our main task we were able to add a sound track and sound effects on it as well as using the natural sound, this therefore made it more professional and film like.
Another problem we encountered during the preliminary task was the continuity in editing. We found that when it came to editing the door scene it was difficult to make the clips follow on, this was partially because Fiona’s footing changed each time we filmed the door sequence. We avoided this happening in the main task by making sure there was extra footage before and after each clip so that during the editing stage, we could cut it down as to keep the continuity.
It was difficult to get the over the shoulder shot of Caroline and Fiona because there was very little space between them and the table behind them. Although, the location we chose to film the main task was quite spacious so we did not have this problem with the filming.
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
The sort of technologies we have learnt to used are Final Cut Pro, Garage Band, the camera and tripod. Learning to use the camera was pretty simple, filming the footage and capturing it onto Final Cut Pro. Using the tripod was also very easy, we just had to make sure that the spirit level was balanced, and the body of the tripod was fully erect for us to film a successful shot and finally, Final Cut Pro was used for us to edit the different scenes so that the continuity was running throughout the whole of the film. We also used Garage Band for us to come up with a soundtrack for the whole of the film opening.
We learnt how to use Garage band by creating small sounds to help with the sound effect of our film opening. We also found a pre made sound track on here and this fit perfectly with the sound that we were looking for as it had both elements of a calm surrounding as well as anticipation.
One of the main technologies we have used is Final Cut Pro. This of which has helped us to edit the whole film opening and allow us to input transitions between each of the two different shots between Ife and Fiona. This has also allowed us to keep the continuity running through the whole of the opening. First we used the ‘Log and Capture’ option to import what we recorded onto Final Cut pro, so that we could edit it. We used different tools on Final Cut Pro such as the blade tool, which allowed us to cut a clip at a precise point, the pen tool, which we used to gradually fade the music out. We used titles from the video transitions effects to state the names related to each part of the work that was done. We created a black and white effect using the 'desaturate' effect on the image control menu of the effects. Using the selection tool allowed us to move around a number of clips at the same time without having to rearrange the order.
Some other technologies that we used, but knew how to use already are ones such as, Google, to help us find images and extra information for our blog and help illustrate what we are trying to explain.
We learnt how to use Garage band by creating small sounds to help with the sound effect of our film opening. We also found a pre made sound track on here and this fit perfectly with the sound that we were looking for as it had both elements of a calm surrounding as well as anticipation.It also allowed us to create small clips of sound to help vary up the sound on our film. This helps by giving our soundtrack the fear element, everytime we see parts of Ife's dead body. It leaves more of a mystery and creates more of an atmosphere against our soundtrack. We have therefore been able to achieve the right music we want as we have added the affect we needed to make it fit perfectly with our film.
As a result to using Garage Band, we were able to achieve a good soundtrack that creates the best mood for our film and without this it wouldn't have brought the film together. The only problems that we came across from using Garage Band was that at first we could'nt find the ideal soundtrack for our film, however, evebtually we found the 'Timeless' track and we thought with a bit of tweaking and addition to sound this soundtrack could be very successful.
We were able to put the track we found alongside the natural sound the camera picked up when we were filming and we added separate sound effects we found on Garage Band to make the overall sound for our film. There were a lot of pre-recorded tracks on Garage Band and although it took us a long time to find the one suitable for our individual piece, it was worth it when we found it because it fitted really well with what we had put together for our film. It was similar with the sound effects but by searching through a list of fairly basic effects and applying them to our film where they fitted both visually and alongside the 'Timeless' track, we put together a soundtrack we were happy with.
One of the main technologies we have used is Final Cut Pro. This of which has helped us to edit the whole film opening and allow us to input transitions between each of the two different shots between Ife and Fiona. This has also allowed us to keep the continuity running through the whole of the opening. First we used the ‘Log and Capture’ option to import what we recorded onto Final Cut pro, so that we could edit it. We used different tools on Final Cut Pro such as the blade tool, which allowed us to cut a clip at a precise point, the pen tool, which we used to gradually fade the music out. We used titles from the video transitions effects to state the names related to each part of the work that was done. We created a black and white effect using the 'desaturate' effect on the image control menu of the effects. Using the selection tool allowed us to move around a number of clips at the same time without having to rearrange the order.Some other technologies that we used, but knew how to use already are ones such as, Google, to help us find images and extra information for our blog and help illustrate what we are trying to explain.
Another technology that we have learnt is how to use blogger.com as we were able to upload video's and pictures which helps give the visual effect of our vision and how we want it to look. It also allowed us to annotate what we wanted to tell within the film opening and the ideas we used.
We also used Youtube to help upload video's of film openings that we are looking at and are comparing our film opening to. It allowed us to do research on other possible film genres and get an idea of what other film openings were like.
To find information about films we wanted to use as examples of films similar to our wn, we used IMDb.com which was useful for finding out almost anything about the film including information about the publishers and directors. We also found stills from the movie and helpful things we could include in out questions.
Using the camera and tripod was crucial to making the film for obvious reasons. One of our first coursework lessons we found our way around the camera, learning how to put the tape in and take it out properly. We learnt how to record footage and attatch the camera to the tripod. Witht he tripod, we ad to make sure it was set up properly everytime we filmed in a different location or even moved the tripod a little or the hot could be crooked as we found out in our preliminary task when the whole film hadn't been straight because we hadn't adjusted the tripod at all. Using the spirit measure we sucessfully filmed our main task correctly so that all shots were striaght.
How did you attract/address your audience?
We were able to address our audience by the genre of the film. We thought that by making a teen drama film, it would attract teenagers to come and watch this. We therefore used a lot of varied shots to imitate the way people think, in a disconnected and disorderly way.
The target audience, aged between 16-24, can relate to the main character Fiona, because she is around the same age. The close up of Fiona’s face would also make it easier for the target audience to relate to the film because this shows them that she is just a normal teenage girl, like girls they would come across in day to day life, rather than a teenage celebrity, who they would more likely idolise and aspire to be like. They can also relate to her mood in the film opening to similar times in their lives as they would have encountered stressful situations that they wanted to escape from. The audience would also be inclined to watch more of this film to find out what happened to
We also thought about the mise en scene and the fact that it’s by the side of the canal makes it alone and isolated, therefore we get the feeling that the only reason why a teenager would be here would be because they are sad or upset, or even to look for a quiet place to think about things. The target audience would understand our point in this, where as an adult may wonder why a teenager girl is wandering around by the side of the canal by themselves, this would make them think that the girl would get attacked or something bad will happen to her and this is not the point we want to make. However, to make sure that we didn't put this point across we thought about the weather and ensured that we only filmed when it was nice and sunny to show that Fiona is just walking down the side of the canal minding her own business. We therefore didn’t want to use pathetic fallacy to mirror the way she is feeling otherwise this would make Fiona’s scenes look like it’s all doom and gloom, when in fact, we wanted to add that little glimpse of happiness and normality that not everything can and will be edited to look like the typical build up of tension to find the dead body like most Hollywood films are.
We used a black and white effect which could also attract our audience because it makes the film stand out, and would invoke questions from the audience and create a sense of mystery. The audience would wonder why the entire film opening was in black and white, and whether the whole film was either a past memory or was deliberately put in black and white to help portray some points of the film. It also creates the sense that the film opening is retrospective, and the main character is in fact, looking back on previous events.
Also looking at the cross cutting between the two clips, we found that it would create a sense of separation to the audience as they would not know, until the end, that the two events were happening at the same time. This also helps tie in the mysterious atmosphere that is created with the black and white effect.
The soundtrack we used in our film opening portrays the type of reflective mood the audience could relate to, but at the same time creates the sense of an impending climax, which the audience finds out at the end of the opening is Fiona’s discovery of Ife’s body.
Who would be the audience for your main product?
The main target audience we're looking for are people aged between 16-24. We would be particularly aiming this at teens as the genre of the film is a teen drama/murder mystery. It would mainly contain teenagers and would follow a teenager’s life. It would show how a teenager would see and go about things in life as it shows the attitudes and teenagers point of view as well as how they would deal with the mysteries and problems that may occur. Teenagers would be the ideal audience for our film because it deals with emotional health, which BBC research has shown, is one of the main concerns of teenagers. This in turn catches the audience’s attention and creates interest in the rest of our film. The audience could therefore relate to the film and could empathise with the characters the film follows. The teenagers that would be interested in this film would enjoy teen dramas as a whole and would have seen films such as 'Brick'. They would also watch teen TV dramas like 'Skins' in their spare time and would have the same interest in film choice.
This would therefore mean that a wide selection of people, both male and female, would like to come and see this film. It is a new and fresh take on a teenage drama/murder mystery genre film and allows the audience to be open minded as to what they think is happening. Eventually, as the film goes on, it would make more sense to the target audience as they will be able to relate and understand the happenings throughout the whole of the film.
As the BBFC websites states that a film that is classed as a 15 or over film would be only shown to those of whom are within this age range. They aso state that any film which contains moderate violence and strong language would class the film as a certificate 15 rating. We have therefore chosen to rate our film a 15 as there features a dead body which would be classed as moderate violence. This would deffinatly mean that anyone under the age of 15 should not watch this film as it is too violent for them to see. Moreover, the rest of the film could contain strong language and self harming.
What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
As we have mainly looked at the film 'Brick' to compare our scenes with and is the most similar to this film, we thought that we should look into the production company that produced this film. We came to find that 'Bergman Lustig Productions' had produced this film and have researched how many films they have produced altogether. We found that they are only a small production company and have produced a small group of films, of which date back from 1994 to 2005. Between these years they have produced a total of 17 films and because they are a small company many of the films they have produced are not advertised much, or from what we can see, we do not recognize any of these films. However, seeing as we are only a very young generation of students we have taken into consideration that this production company has basically been around from the start of our lives. The films produced by ‘Bergman Lustig Productions’ may therefore not appeal to a younger audience like us.
Moreover, the types of films Bergman Lustig Productions produce are mainly murder based films. This in turn links in with our film as we have a character that has been murdered. One film that has been produced that is similar to this from Bergman Lustig Productions would be ' Stranger than fiction'. It shows a murder scene that is trying to be covered up by 4 characters within the film. This adds the essence of mystery which mirrors our film.
As you can see, the tagline states 'One murder leads to another' this shows that the main plot to this film would be murder, which is similar to our film.
We therefore realised that the production company wouldn't distribute any films as they are too small of a production company to do so, so have looked into the distribution of 'Brick' and found that 'Optimum Releasing' are one of the main distributors of this film.
We have consequently looked at the types of films they have distributed and have found that they are a very well known distributor of which who have distributed a total of 185 films. Most of these films are very recent films that have and will be distributed this year (2010). They also have plans to distribute films next year (2011) too, this shows that they are very successful distributors. Some films they have distributed are mainly murder type films and drama, as well as investigation films, such as 'The Losers' which includes a murder mystery as they believe that a group of the characters are dead, however, they are not and have to go undercover to hide the fact that they are still alive. This links in a lot with our film that we have made and the fact that they are a
Another possible distributor could be ‘Motion Picture Distribution’ as they are a small distribution company; which in turn would be a good distributor for our film, as it would be a first time movie that we would have produced. ‘Motion Picture Distribution’, who have distributed a total of 27 films, would be a lot more suitable as they are not as well known or as big as ‘Optimum Releasing’ and would therefore allow our small budget film to be distributed.
We found that 'Focus Features', another well known distributor, could distribute our film, but they are more well known for their comedy genre type films. We therefore thought that they might not be suitable for the type of film we are making as the audience may think that the type of film we have produced would be a comedy genre film because it is distributed by ‘Focus Features’ who are more well known for distributing comedy genre films.
How does your media product represent particular social groups?
We have looked at the typical stereotypes of men and women and we have taken the point that men usually have power, as we live in a patriarchal society and women are seen as victims of weakness. We have therefore taken this and have turned it on its head as Fiona, being alive, has the power and that Ife is weak. This is because Ife is dead and that compared to Fiona, shows that she has the power. This is a very strong point as it reflects the mystery of Ife's death and questions as to why the female has the power compared the male as well as the point of the cause of Ife's death.
Moreover, we have taken the element of power and have modernised it by turning it on its head and making the woman, Fiona, have all the power, opposed to the man, Ife, who is dead and weak. We therefore thought that reflecting the modernised women of our society today would be a good idea, as we have took the thought of women who now have power, whether it being down to having higher jobs in the employee hierarchy or within the home and having power over the men. Also, within the modern society, there are more house husbands around and now more than ever, the women are working to help support the families rather than the men. This in turn helps reflect and portray the society we live in now and gives a more modern effect to our film rather than the typical stereotypes that most films follow. We have therefore offered a new refreshing film for our target audience to watch, as opposed to a film that they could guess the beginning middle and end to.
We have also looked at the typical stereotype of ethnic backgrounds and the fact that black people are usually victims of crime or are somewhat involved with problems of crime. The audience would therefore think that Ife, because he is a black man, has been killed by a gang member because he has either disobeyed or turned his back on the gang leader. This is because a black man is stereotypically in a gang and follows a gang. Also, the types of clothes he is wearing would also add on to the point that he could be killed by a gang member of such because he is wearing a hoodie jacket and this usually signifies a young deviant looking to cause crimes. However, this is not the case within the film as Ife wasn't in a gang or didn't follow a gang. This leaves a mystery for the audience to wonder why Ife is dead and why he is dead in the area he is lay.
Also, both the white girl and black man are involved with each other and are friends or know of each other. This puts a spin on the typical stereotypes as both the characters are from different ethnic backgrounds and they don't usually intermix with each other. This therefore shows that we as a group have taken these typical stereotypes and have changed them from what people usually judge the characters from and by changing them and turning them on their heads allows the viewers to see that not all social groups follow the typical stereotypes. This in turn makes the film fresh and enjoyable to watch.
Moreover, we have taken the element of power and have modernised it by turning it on its head and making the woman, Fiona, have all the power, opposed to the man, Ife, who is dead and weak. We therefore thought that reflecting the modernised women of our society today would be a good idea, as we have took the thought of women who now have power, whether it being down to having higher jobs in the employee hierarchy or within the home and having power over the men. Also, within the modern society, there are more house husbands around and now more than ever, the women are working to help support the families rather than the men. This in turn helps reflect and portray the society we live in now and gives a more modern effect to our film rather than the typical stereotypes that most films follow. We have therefore offered a new refreshing film for our target audience to watch, as opposed to a film that they could guess the beginning middle and end to.
We have also looked at the typical stereotype of ethnic backgrounds and the fact that black people are usually victims of crime or are somewhat involved with problems of crime. The audience would therefore think that Ife, because he is a black man, has been killed by a gang member because he has either disobeyed or turned his back on the gang leader. This is because a black man is stereotypically in a gang and follows a gang. Also, the types of clothes he is wearing would also add on to the point that he could be killed by a gang member of such because he is wearing a hoodie jacket and this usually signifies a young deviant looking to cause crimes. However, this is not the case within the film as Ife wasn't in a gang or didn't follow a gang. This leaves a mystery for the audience to wonder why Ife is dead and why he is dead in the area he is lay.
Also, both the white girl and black man are involved with each other and are friends or know of each other. This puts a spin on the typical stereotypes as both the characters are from different ethnic backgrounds and they don't usually intermix with each other. This therefore shows that we as a group have taken these typical stereotypes and have changed them from what people usually judge the characters from and by changing them and turning them on their heads allows the viewers to see that not all social groups follow the typical stereotypes. This in turn makes the film fresh and enjoyable to watch.
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
The film opening we've made is a teen drama combined with a murder mystery. While it involves teenagers, the viewer is introduced to a dead body almost immediately. The mystery is made apparent by the fact the body is there with no explanation and the girl seen walking at the beginning walks with no purpose and seems to be minding her own business with no knowledge of what she'll encounter just a minute or two down the path.
Film Titles
We looked at all types of film titles featured in other films and have taken these ideas to use in our own film. We saw various films using the idea of having the film title on its own in white text with a black background. We thought this was very effective as it gives the effect of ellipsis, this of which benefits our film opening as it has the essence of mystery.
Here, as you can see, is the film titles of our film and 'Brick' look very similar. We liked the simplicity of the way the film title is shown as well as its effectiveness. A simple black background and white font has many different meanings to the film rather than just being the introduction to the film title. The text used also portrays the film title, as the 'Brick' text is block text, and our 'Timeless' text is very loose. We also noticed that a lot of different films used this technique as it is very effective.
Film Titles
We looked at all types of film titles featured in other films and have taken these ideas to use in our own film. We saw various films using the idea of having the film title on its own in white text with a black background. We thought this was very effective as it gives the effect of ellipsis, this of which benefits our film opening as it has the essence of mystery.
Here, as you can see, is the film titles of our film and 'Brick' look very similar. We liked the simplicity of the way the film title is shown as well as its effectiveness. A simple black background and white font has many different meanings to the film rather than just being the introduction to the film title. The text used also portrays the film title, as the 'Brick' text is block text, and our 'Timeless' text is very loose. We also noticed that a lot of different films used this technique as it is very effective.
We also looked at the different titles that are included within the film. These are usually shown on the same scene as film, to help show that it is the beginning of the film. It states the directors, producers and any media institution that is included with the film as well as costume designers etc that had something to do with the film. It shows their names and mentions that they had an input within the film.
As you can see below, the titles of our film look similar to 'Sliding Doors' and show the titles on the same screen as the audience are watching. We also thought that this would be more effective as having the titles on a different screen wouldn't work as well as it doesn’t make it look part of the film compared to how well it looks with it being on the same screen.
Camera Shots
One film that we have looked at from the same genre of our film is 'Juno', we think this film portrays a very good teen drama and the types of shots it uses. We have looked at the opening and have used similar shots to 'Juno' in our own film.
One film that we have looked at from the same genre of our film is 'Juno', we think this film portrays a very good teen drama and the types of shots it uses. We have looked at the opening and have used similar shots to 'Juno' in our own film.
As you can see we have similar shots to 'Juno' apart from the fact that the characters are walking in opposite directions. We thought that this was very successful in 'Juno' and thought it would be good to include these types of shots in our own film. Another change we put in our film, so that it wasn't exactly the same as 'Juno', was that we changed the colour to black and white. We thought that this would give it a better effect as it helps portray a number of things in our film as black and white are 2 completely different colours that are opposite from each other. It helps portray things in our film such as the fact that there are only 2 different scenes that we cross cut from. It also portrays the 2 different scenario's within the scene as one scene seems calm and another seems tense and confusing because of Ife's death. This in effect gives the 'black and white' concept of the 2 contrasting things. It also has the same similar camera shot as it is a long shot of the character as they walk by and the background and scenery looks very similar.
Here is another similar shot from brick, as there is a close up of the dead characters hand. It helps give a sense of mystery and makes the audience wonder what’s going on with the characters. Also, the fact that we only see parts of Ife's body before we see his face adds to the mystery and makes the audience wonder who the character is, as the face is the main visual concept of someone, for example, you can see 3 different peoples hands and think that they were all the same, where as 3 different peoples faces, we would clearly be able to see that they were 3 different people as their face features of each person are very different from each other.
Location
We looked at different locations and how the scene is set from the beginnings of each film openings. We focused on how each film opens and where it opens to set the sort of feeling the film wants to portray. Therefore, the day we went out and spent time looking at locations and taking pictures allowed us to get a feel of what location we wanted and what we wanted it to achieve and portray so that it linked in with our film. We therefore opted for a place near the canal as our inspiration came from one picture we took, where Fiona is sat by the side of the canal and she looked very calm and collective.
We also thought that someone going to by the canal would only do this if they were upset or needed to think about things, and because we wanted our character to portray these feelings we thought the canal would be a good option to film by. It also adds a sense of mystery as the audience wouldn't know why the character would be by the canal.
A similar film that uses this is 'Brick' as they also have the film opening in a canal of some sort. We have therefore used this sort of location to help with he mystery of the dead body. It also helps with the sense of mystery as there is very limited lighting near the canal. Therefore meaning that filming by the canal is naturally a mysterious and scary place to be as typically darkness equals scary and unknown places.
Costume
For the costumes we have looked at the typical dress sense of teens. we found that there wasn't any specific dress sense of either characters as we wanted it to be really simple and not too elaborate. We therefore thought that Fiona would be in black; tights, skirt, vest top, shoes, all apart from her coat which would be red to help signify that something bad could be coming her way. Also the fact that she is dressed in all black makes her look morbid and that she is attending a funeral, however, she obviously isn't as she is clueless to Ife's death.
We also looked into Ife's costume and also found that there wasn't any specific dress sense that he needed to be in to establish anything about his character as he is left in mystery and we don't really need to know much about his character as we will find out more as the story unfolds throughout the rest of the film. The only piece of clothing that we thought that could signify anything would be his hooded jacket as typically, people who wear hoodies look like yobs. However, we thought it would be clever to have him dressed like this even though he isn't in a gang or a yob.
Thursday, 25 March 2010
Editing
We used the editing software ‘Final Cut Pro’ to edit our film opening, in order for us to keep the continuity of each shot. We have also added effects, such as fading in and out, gradient wipes and desaturate. We have managed to use and add sound, from garage band, to help finish the piece off. These sounds consisted of the main soundtrack called ‘Timeless’, but also sound effect that accentuate shots of Ife dead. We also used text effects for credits on Final Cut Pro, to help make the piece look more professional.
We therefore in every other lesson have captured the latest bits of film and edited it into the opening of our film. We have managed to keep the continuity right and have managed to get a lot of editing and filming done in the same time that we were given. We have also found that we have filmed too much and it doesn't fit within the time limit so we are going to have to cut some bits down and try and compromise the time of each shot so that it fits within the time limit. We also have to make sure the sound fits in with the right shots and that the two marry together and tell the story we want it to. Therefore the editing has to be just right to make sure that it doesn't just look like a home movie made by a group of students.
Some problems that we have come across during editing were very minor ones and therefore overcame these problems. For example, the problems with it being too long; we overcame this by shortening down the length of the clips by cross-cutting between Fiona and Ife, and therefore made it fit within the time limit. Other problems that we came across are ones such as some shots being out of focus, we therefore had to re-shoot this and add it back to the opening shot, making sure it fit in the time limit and wasn't too long or too short.
Another problem we have overcome is making sure that the continuity is consistent throughout the whole of the film opening. This was a problem because we were cross cutting between 2 scenes and it was hard to show how much time had passed between the 2 scenes when one scene cut to another.
Moreover, when we were putting on a soundtrack, we had to make sure the sound was right for both the scenes, which contrast each other; therefore the music had to be just right. After looking through a number of soundtracks on 'Garage Band' we found the perfect soundtrack called 'timeless' and decided to name our film this as it fitted perfectly with what we wanted to portray; being that time is an important factor in our film. For example, Fiona's character doesn't care about time, hence 'timeless' and is minding her own business, whereas Ife has lost time and again is literally 'timeless'. It is also very important from the right timing of shots and making sure they fit in with each other to help with continuity.
We also found that having the whole film opening in black and white was more effective than our initial idea which was to have Ife’s shots in black and white, in contrast to Fiona’s shots in colour.
We therefore in every other lesson have captured the latest bits of film and edited it into the opening of our film. We have managed to keep the continuity right and have managed to get a lot of editing and filming done in the same time that we were given. We have also found that we have filmed too much and it doesn't fit within the time limit so we are going to have to cut some bits down and try and compromise the time of each shot so that it fits within the time limit. We also have to make sure the sound fits in with the right shots and that the two marry together and tell the story we want it to. Therefore the editing has to be just right to make sure that it doesn't just look like a home movie made by a group of students.
Some problems that we have come across during editing were very minor ones and therefore overcame these problems. For example, the problems with it being too long; we overcame this by shortening down the length of the clips by cross-cutting between Fiona and Ife, and therefore made it fit within the time limit. Other problems that we came across are ones such as some shots being out of focus, we therefore had to re-shoot this and add it back to the opening shot, making sure it fit in the time limit and wasn't too long or too short.
Another problem we have overcome is making sure that the continuity is consistent throughout the whole of the film opening. This was a problem because we were cross cutting between 2 scenes and it was hard to show how much time had passed between the 2 scenes when one scene cut to another.
Moreover, when we were putting on a soundtrack, we had to make sure the sound was right for both the scenes, which contrast each other; therefore the music had to be just right. After looking through a number of soundtracks on 'Garage Band' we found the perfect soundtrack called 'timeless' and decided to name our film this as it fitted perfectly with what we wanted to portray; being that time is an important factor in our film. For example, Fiona's character doesn't care about time, hence 'timeless' and is minding her own business, whereas Ife has lost time and again is literally 'timeless'. It is also very important from the right timing of shots and making sure they fit in with each other to help with continuity.
We also found that having the whole film opening in black and white was more effective than our initial idea which was to have Ife’s shots in black and white, in contrast to Fiona’s shots in colour.
Other than small problems like this the editing went really well and was quick and easy to grasp onto the mechanisms of Final Cut Pro.
Tuesday, 23 March 2010
Out filming
We have filmed our first few shots of fiona, we want to make sure we have all the appropriate shots needed for Fiona first and then film the ones of Ife after. On our first day out we were able to get a few shots of Fiona to
Achieving Ife's make-up while on set
Before we could start any filming of Ife, we had to make sure that we got his make-up done first. We therefore had to make sure that we had calculated this into the time given, every time we went out to film. We also had to make sure that the make up we applied onto Ife was smooth and didn't look like make up so that the 'dead' affect could be well achieved.
Filming Ife's Parts
For Ife's parts we filmed him lying on the floor, we had to make sure that we got the right shots and achieved these from the camera on the tripod as it would allow us to have a steady shot. In doing this we had to make sure that we could get the right angles of Ife and not make it look like there all from one shot. we also had to make sure that, every time we came out filming, Ife was lying in the same position and same place he had been in previously, as well as making sure that his hands and feet were in the same position and that the way his clothes draped, e.g if his jacket was closed or zipped up or left open. We therefore took photos on our phones as references from different angles so that we could look back on them every time we came back to the location to film.
start off with. However, we didn't get as much as we planned filmed, because the location we decided we were going to film on wasn't as we thought it was. We therefore spent time walking up by the cannal looking for an appropriate place to film.
Moreover, we had planned to film from the other side of the cannal so that we were able to get clear shots of Fiona walking by the cannal, but because the path that we chose for Fiona to walk by didn't really have another side to get to we had to make do with filming on the same side and changing the shots of which we were filming because we had wasted alot of time looking for the location already. Also it would take too much time to search for a new location and we don't have enough time to do that. We therefore decided to compromise with what we already have and work around the fact of filming on the same side and making sure there was enough room to put the camera and tripod as well as having Fiona walk past.
The 2nd time we went out filming we carried on filming Fiona by the canal, moving up the areas of which she was walking up. Some places took us one take where as other places took more, this was mainly because we were panning in the shots and didn't get the timming right, meaning that Fiona wasn't consistantly in the middle of the shot and the panning wasn't smooth.
The 2nd time we went out filming we carried on filming Fiona by the canal, moving up the areas of which she was walking up. Some places took us one take where as other places took more, this was mainly because we were panning in the shots and didn't get the timming right, meaning that Fiona wasn't consistantly in the middle of the shot and the panning wasn't smooth.
Before we could start any filming of Ife, we had to make sure that we got his make-up done first. We therefore had to make sure that we had calculated this into the time given, every time we went out to film. We also had to make sure that the make up we applied onto Ife was smooth and didn't look like make up so that the 'dead' affect could be well achieved.Filming Ife's Parts
For Ife's parts we filmed him lying on the floor, we had to make sure that we got the right shots and achieved these from the camera on the tripod as it would allow us to have a steady shot. In doing this we had to make sure that we could get the right angles of Ife and not make it look like there all from one shot. we also had to make sure that, every time we came out filming, Ife was lying in the same position and same place he had been in previously, as well as making sure that his hands and feet were in the same position and that the way his clothes draped, e.g if his jacket was closed or zipped up or left open. We therefore took photos on our phones as references from different angles so that we could look back on them every time we came back to the location to film.
This was when we started filming Ifes part on the floor. We needed to get close up of Ife's face on the tripod as handheld wasn't steady enough. We therefore had to make it directly above his face and make sure the tripod wasn't in the shot. This was a little tricky as there wasn't much space of which we could place the tripod without in getting in the shot or in the way of Ife's body. It was also hard to film as we had to make it high enough so that the camera was filming directly above his face, but we wasn't as tall as the tripod to see through the camera so had to tip toe slightly.
During the filming with the tripod we had to consistantly make sure that the tripod was flat on the ground and make sure the camera was straight. we therefore had to remember to line up the spirit level everytime we moved the camera as most of the ground that we were filming on wasn't flat or level.
Thursday, 4 March 2010
Make up testing pays off!
From testing the make-up we used on Ife before hand in lesson, we were able to achieve the 'dead' look that we wanted. This meant that we weren't wasting time on set trying to figure out how to do the make-up and how we would go about it. The main base of the make-up is a very pale matte and powder foundation. This was easy to get as Fiona has fair skin and uses this make up herself, therefore this make up will definitely look pale against Ife's dark skin.
We made sure that we got the whole of his face and his lips. We therefore made sure that we got the right colour for his lips so that they looked like they had lost colour and wasn't as red as they usually are. For this we made up a dark brown lip balm for him to put on.
As you can see the make-up is very pale against his dark skin and this is the look we needed for him to look 'dead'. However, because we are not make-up artists it isn't perfect and looks slightly streaky but this doesn't really matter as we haven't done any extreme close ups of his face, therefore not being able to see the streakiness of the make-up. We had to make sure we got all the make up on every part of his face, even right up to his hair line so that it didn’t look like it was meant to be a comical feature.
We also had to make sure that we got his ears and neck as well so that it didn't look odd and didn't look like make-up but his natural 'dead' complexion. We also put make up on his hands too so that his hands didn't look alive while his face didn't. This would've probably made him just look ill rather than dead. The make-up and how it was applied therefore made a lot of difference as we wanted Ife to be portrayed as dead and nothing else.
Tuesday, 2 March 2010
2nd March 2010 - Make Up Testing
For Ife's make up we have researched on how to achieve a "dead" look with make up.
We found a list of make up that we would need, on the internet, that would help us achieve the dead look. We also found out that for dark skinned people making them look dead would mean to make their skin grey, we therefore agreed that making Ife's skin look pale.
Before we applied any make up upon Ife's face we had to make sure that he wasnt allergic to anything and wouldn't have a reaction to any of the make up we would be putting on his face.
We practiced applying to make up to Ife's face so that we knew how to apply it for when we are out filming. We put on a light application of pale foundation on to his face to start off with and then applied pale powder to help even it out and make it look faded. We did the same to his ears, neck and hands so that it was all over to make him look dead. We then applied the dark lines under his eyes with black a black eye liner pencil and smudged this into his skin making it fade off the further away from his eyes it got. For his lips we made a mixure of products, which contained lip balm, which acted as the base for it and was therefore appropriate for us to put on his lips, brown foundation, to make it similar to his lip colour but slightly lighter so it looks as though the colour of his lips has slightly faded. This was only applied very lightly as we didn't want it to look like listpick which would look very unnatural.
Here, as you can see, we tried to work out a nice lighter tone to Ife's lips to tone them down a little making them paler than usual, giving it the effect that the blood circulation has gone and therefore there is no colour to his lips. 
We found a list of make up that we would need, on the internet, that would help us achieve the dead look. We also found out that for dark skinned people making them look dead would mean to make their skin grey, we therefore agreed that making Ife's skin look pale.
Before we applied any make up upon Ife's face we had to make sure that he wasnt allergic to anything and wouldn't have a reaction to any of the make up we would be putting on his face.
We practiced applying to make up to Ife's face so that we knew how to apply it for when we are out filming. We put on a light application of pale foundation on to his face to start off with and then applied pale powder to help even it out and make it look faded. We did the same to his ears, neck and hands so that it was all over to make him look dead. We then applied the dark lines under his eyes with black a black eye liner pencil and smudged this into his skin making it fade off the further away from his eyes it got. For his lips we made a mixure of products, which contained lip balm, which acted as the base for it and was therefore appropriate for us to put on his lips, brown foundation, to make it similar to his lip colour but slightly lighter so it looks as though the colour of his lips has slightly faded. This was only applied very lightly as we didn't want it to look like listpick which would look very unnatural.
Here, as you can see, we tried to work out a nice lighter tone to Ife's lips to tone them down a little making them paler than usual, giving it the effect that the blood circulation has gone and therefore there is no colour to his lips. 
We also tried to work out whether or not the dead look was achieved buy pale or dark rings under his eyes, we therefore tested this to see which would work better and found that the dark eyeliner against the pale skin made him look much more 'dead'.
Saturday, 27 February 2010
Animatic
Fiona drew a storyboard which we used to create the animatic. She used the camera to mimic the movements in the real film opening to make a mock version of the film. Fiona and Caroline then recorded a voiceover, to place over the clip, which describes the camera shots, titles and story. To link the animatic in with the film opening, we put the same soundtrack over it.
Thursday, 25 February 2010
Achieving Our Initial Genre Theme
For our genre/theme choice of the film opening sequence, we as a group decided that a teen drama/murder mystery would be a good option to work with. We therefore opted to go shoot by the side of a canal which creates a mysterious yet calm scene. Also we decided to create an atmosphere of increased tension by including a lone character walking through a lonely path by the canal. We therefore found a perfect location by the canal and will be filming around here as it adds the mysterious effect.
25th February 2010 - Research On Genre
For our genre we have mixed together a sort of teen drama with muder mystery. We have been inspired by past film openings and have combined the two together to create our own film.
The murder mystery part came from the film "Brick".
This video however, is a remake done by some students but this shows the same scene and shots as the actual film "Brick". From this you can see the sort of ideas we want to use for our own film opening. We couldn't find the actual opening on Youtube so we had to make do with this.
In this opening we see close ups of the dead character and it cross cuts between 2 things happening at the same time. We decided we want to take this idea and include it into our own film. We like this idea because it leaves mystery to the character and helps to show the other character as it cross cuts between the two. This works nicely for the sort of genre we decided to do.
We have also been inpired by the film opening of "Juno" as we are also have the idea of someone walking in and out of each other the shots.
This shows similar ideas of the walking we plan to include in our opening scene as it follows the character as it enters different locations.
We thought using some ideas similar to this in the walking would go well with our plan as it helps pass time and fits nicely with the cross cutting of the dead character.
Also, it works well with music playing at the same time as it gives insight to how the character is feeling and sets the scene.
We also looked at the 'Sliding Doors' film opening and this shows a character walking towards somewhere and the camera shots show her walking from one side of the scene to the other to show that she is still walking the same way. It also shows the cross cutting between the 2 scenes that are happening at the same time. This is the sort of film opening we wnat to put together.
The murder mystery part came from the film "Brick".
This video however, is a remake done by some students but this shows the same scene and shots as the actual film "Brick". From this you can see the sort of ideas we want to use for our own film opening. We couldn't find the actual opening on Youtube so we had to make do with this.
In this opening we see close ups of the dead character and it cross cuts between 2 things happening at the same time. We decided we want to take this idea and include it into our own film. We like this idea because it leaves mystery to the character and helps to show the other character as it cross cuts between the two. This works nicely for the sort of genre we decided to do.
We have also been inpired by the film opening of "Juno" as we are also have the idea of someone walking in and out of each other the shots.
This shows similar ideas of the walking we plan to include in our opening scene as it follows the character as it enters different locations.
We thought using some ideas similar to this in the walking would go well with our plan as it helps pass time and fits nicely with the cross cutting of the dead character.
Also, it works well with music playing at the same time as it gives insight to how the character is feeling and sets the scene.
We also looked at the 'Sliding Doors' film opening and this shows a character walking towards somewhere and the camera shots show her walking from one side of the scene to the other to show that she is still walking the same way. It also shows the cross cutting between the 2 scenes that are happening at the same time. This is the sort of film opening we wnat to put together.
Film Opening Inspiration and Ideas
At first, as a group, we looked all the different film genres that we could do and we came to a point where we had decided that we wanted to do either a romantic film, teen drama film or a comedy film. These were the 3 genres that we would base our film opening on and from this we explored the ideas in which we could go about these.
The first genre we looked at was romance the ideas we got for a romantic film were:-
- 2 Main characters; male and female
-Typical romantic film - falling in love with one another
- Possibly obsticles as to why they can't be together
- Characters that might not have wanted the main 2 characters to be together
- Possibly a hint of jealously as a twist
However, once exploring these ideas we realised that we weren't comfortable as a group to act out these characters and have them falling for one another. We also found that this would show a typical romanctic type film and we wanted to do something different and fresh with our own ideas rather than using those that have already been made into a film. Moreover, it might be a bit too hard to try and portray the romantic feel to the film in just the first 2 minutes of the film opening, as usually the story unfolds and makes the audience realise later on in the film that it is a romantic film and how they go about telling the story.
The second genre we looked at was a teen drama. This genre is very broad and allows us to take the film into any direction we wanted to. Meaning that it could be about anything to do with teens and their lives.
Some ideas we came up with were:-
- Teenager having problems from their peers
- Teenager suffering from family problems
- Teenagers encountering something they didnt expect
- Following typical teenage life
After looking at all these ideas we all agreed on producing a teen drama film. We thought that the ideas from this genre were the strongest and were more able to achieve with the time limit that we were given to work with.
One of the main things that gave us inspiration for how we would execute and go about our film was one image that we took, when we visited the garment district.
This image was basically the starting point and gave us a vision of how we wanted our film to look and what it would constist of. We liked the thought of someone being by the canal and maybe being a dishearten character. Going back to our ideas list we thought that it might be good to shoot the character being upset over either their peers or a family member. This would therefore make it very personal and would allow us to understand the reasons why as the film went on.
The first genre we looked at was romance the ideas we got for a romantic film were:-
- 2 Main characters; male and female
-Typical romantic film - falling in love with one another
- Possibly obsticles as to why they can't be together
- Characters that might not have wanted the main 2 characters to be together
- Possibly a hint of jealously as a twist
- Could encounter social class problems
- Could be a love hate relationship
However, once exploring these ideas we realised that we weren't comfortable as a group to act out these characters and have them falling for one another. We also found that this would show a typical romanctic type film and we wanted to do something different and fresh with our own ideas rather than using those that have already been made into a film. Moreover, it might be a bit too hard to try and portray the romantic feel to the film in just the first 2 minutes of the film opening, as usually the story unfolds and makes the audience realise later on in the film that it is a romantic film and how they go about telling the story.
The second genre we looked at was a teen drama. This genre is very broad and allows us to take the film into any direction we wanted to. Meaning that it could be about anything to do with teens and their lives.
Some ideas we came up with were:-
- Teenager having problems from their peers
- Teenager suffering from family problems
- Teenagers encountering something they didnt expect
- Following typical teenage life
- Shows the positives and negatives to teenagers lives
- Social class hierarchy's
- School/college based problems
- Friendship disasters
- Teenage aspirations
- Teenagers portraying family relationships
- Teenage love and the understanding of it
- Social groups
- Teenage phases
The list could pretty much go on and on and therefore found that we really liked these ideas as we are teenagers ourselves, and could therefore relate and make the film opening better as it will be from a teenagers point of view as well as being able to take these ideas and develop them in any way we wanted to.
Finally we looked at comedy. Again this is a very broad genre to look at and we could take our film any way we wanted to. However, we did realise that it could be very hard to achieve as some comedy isn't always to everyones taste. For example, something that i find funny might not humour someone else. This would therefore cause a problem before we have even started any of our filming or even thinking about where we want to take our film and what sort of humour we want to show. Moreover, it would be hard to show in just 2 minutes rather than a full film, this could make the film opening seem boring. There could also be the ambiguity of the film being funny because its meant to be, or funny because of the poor acting (as we are not professional actors and actresses) in which case we would be laughed at for our work, which is not what we want to happen.
Regardless of these points we still explored the different ideas that we could use for a comedy genre film. some of these were:-
- Following someones life and all the bad things that happen to them
- Having humourous characters feature within the film, therefore allowing small parts of the film being funny and not all of it
-Characters being deadly serious about something, yet the audience will find really funny, e.g a character loving another characters hair, but it actually looks really hideous.
Finally we looked at comedy. Again this is a very broad genre to look at and we could take our film any way we wanted to. However, we did realise that it could be very hard to achieve as some comedy isn't always to everyones taste. For example, something that i find funny might not humour someone else. This would therefore cause a problem before we have even started any of our filming or even thinking about where we want to take our film and what sort of humour we want to show. Moreover, it would be hard to show in just 2 minutes rather than a full film, this could make the film opening seem boring. There could also be the ambiguity of the film being funny because its meant to be, or funny because of the poor acting (as we are not professional actors and actresses) in which case we would be laughed at for our work, which is not what we want to happen.
Regardless of these points we still explored the different ideas that we could use for a comedy genre film. some of these were:-
- Following someones life and all the bad things that happen to them
- Having humourous characters feature within the film, therefore allowing small parts of the film being funny and not all of it
-Characters being deadly serious about something, yet the audience will find really funny, e.g a character loving another characters hair, but it actually looks really hideous.
- Silly characters e.g 'Dumber and Dumber'
- Characters lying about something, but others believing, when its a really bad lie
- People getting hurt e.g tripping up/ falling over
As you can see, we couldn't really think of many ideas and realised that this wouldn't be one of the best choices to chose from. We therefore knew that we really didn't want to do a comedy genre film as it would be too hard to go about.
After looking at all these ideas we all agreed on producing a teen drama film. We thought that the ideas from this genre were the strongest and were more able to achieve with the time limit that we were given to work with.
One of the main things that gave us inspiration for how we would execute and go about our film was one image that we took, when we visited the garment district.
This image was basically the starting point and gave us a vision of how we wanted our film to look and what it would constist of. We liked the thought of someone being by the canal and maybe being a dishearten character. Going back to our ideas list we thought that it might be good to shoot the character being upset over either their peers or a family member. This would therefore make it very personal and would allow us to understand the reasons why as the film went on.
25th February 2010 - Filming Scedule And Locations
As a group we will start our filming on Tuesday 2nd March.
We will be filming near the Garment District in Manchester, where we will be mostly filming near the cannal to help create an eerie feel.
Hopefully, the weather will be as we want it and the filming won't have to get postponed to the Thursday instead.
In the first 2 hours we intend to get all the shots of Fiona walking along the cannal. These shots will be varied of different shots, such as close ups, long shots and mid-long shots and so on.
We hope to get all these shots done in 4 hours of filming. This would mean that we would have shot half the sequence already.
After this, all that is left to do is the shots of Ife, lying near the cannal, this of which would also consists of a variety of shots. However, because it's very tricky where we want to film Ife near the cannal, it might take a longer time to do. We are therefore aiming to film him on Thursday 11th March. Being tricky to film this may take up to 4 -6 hours. This would depend on how well we apply the dead body make up and how well we can film within the restriced location.
We will be filming near the Garment District in Manchester, where we will be mostly filming near the cannal to help create an eerie feel.
Hopefully, the weather will be as we want it and the filming won't have to get postponed to the Thursday instead.
In the first 2 hours we intend to get all the shots of Fiona walking along the cannal. These shots will be varied of different shots, such as close ups, long shots and mid-long shots and so on.
We hope to get all these shots done in 4 hours of filming. This would mean that we would have shot half the sequence already.
After this, all that is left to do is the shots of Ife, lying near the cannal, this of which would also consists of a variety of shots. However, because it's very tricky where we want to film Ife near the cannal, it might take a longer time to do. We are therefore aiming to film him on Thursday 11th March. Being tricky to film this may take up to 4 -6 hours. This would depend on how well we apply the dead body make up and how well we can film within the restriced location.
Here is where the scene starts. It's dirty and desolate and has a dangerous feel to it which is exactly what we wanted. This is where Fiona will start walking down the side of the cannal making her way towards Ife at the other end.
This is where the film opening ends, as Fiona comes round the corner and finds Ife lay dead on the floor. We liked this area as it put Ife out of view and allowed Fiona to come into the shot with him to discover Ife's dead body.
The overall plan will be:
2nd and 4th March - Filming Fiona and her walking by the cannal
9th March - Testing make up for dead body affect on Ife and making sure we know how to do it again for the real thing
11th and 16th March - Filming the rest of Fiona's shots near the cannal amd making sure we have all we need.
18th and 25th March - Filming Ife dead near the cannal and all the close ups and different angles of Ife.
13th and 15th April - Filming any last shots that we need to do or may need to re-film and making sure we have everything we need.
However, everything may take longer than sceduled and may need another few lessons after to make sure we've got everything filmed thats needed.
25th February 2010 - Costume and Props List
For our main task there are only a few things we would need for each shot as we are keeping the scene simple.
Therefore basic costumes are used and only the colours have been thought about to help signify each character.
Also, we won't really be using any props as the scene only needs the location to help set the scene.
For Ife's costume he will be dresses in a blue hoodie, jeans and pumps.
His clothes are simple as there isn't much significance to the character he is playing. This adds suspense as we don't know anything about him and is dresses like a normal teenager.
He also has make up on his face to make him look "dead". This was achieved by putting on pale foundation on his hands and face so that it gives off the dead look. We also put faded brown colour lip balm onto his lips to make them look like they have faded colour and have also put dark lines of black eye liner under his eyes so that he looks like he's been dead for a while.
Therefore basic costumes are used and only the colours have been thought about to help signify each character.
Also, we won't really be using any props as the scene only needs the location to help set the scene.
For Fiona's costume she will be wearing a red coat, vest top, skirt, tights and dolly shoes.
This is a simple outfit that helps signify the the death of Ife as her red coat will show the danger that she will occur; Ife's death.
This is a simple outfit that helps signify the the death of Ife as her red coat will show the danger that she will occur; Ife's death.
For Ife's costume he will be dresses in a blue hoodie, jeans and pumps.
His clothes are simple as there isn't much significance to the character he is playing. This adds suspense as we don't know anything about him and is dresses like a normal teenager.
He also has make up on his face to make him look "dead". This was achieved by putting on pale foundation on his hands and face so that it gives off the dead look. We also put faded brown colour lip balm onto his lips to make them look like they have faded colour and have also put dark lines of black eye liner under his eyes so that he looks like he's been dead for a while.
Prop List
The only props we will be using is an ipod, which Fiona's character will be using as she is walking along the canal to show how she's inconspicuous doesn't know what she's going to come across.
However, this wont be seen very much as Fiona will have the earphones in her ears and the ipod will be in her pocket.
Tuesday, 9 February 2010
Treatment for main task.
For our main task we have to plan and film the opening of a film. Our opening has to last two minutes. We decided to film the opening to a teen drama/murder mystery as it makes and interesting opening with the viewer asking lots of questions. We plan to film by the canal in Manchester's inner city area near to the Garment District because we want to create a feeling of danger and lonliness surrounding our character.
The main character, a teenage girl played by Fiona, will be filmed walking along the canal alone as if she's on her way to meet someone. The other character, Ife acting as a dead body, will be lay by the canal and almost discovered by the girl. The first shot will be of the body. The camera will pan from his feet to his head, the shot will switch to the girl walking by the canal while there will be music playing throughout that gives the film an element of suspense. We will also build suspense by changing shots more quickly as the scene goes. Throughout the two minutes, we will build the suspense up with the music as the girl gets closer to finding the body. We will switch between the girl walking and the body, using different shots and camera angles for both using cross-cutting.
At the end of the film opening we will show the girl turning a corner towards the body so at last the body and the girl are on the same shot. Here it will end, before the girl has seen the body. The screen will go blank and we will show the title of the movie here.
The main character, a teenage girl played by Fiona, will be filmed walking along the canal alone as if she's on her way to meet someone. The other character, Ife acting as a dead body, will be lay by the canal and almost discovered by the girl. The first shot will be of the body. The camera will pan from his feet to his head, the shot will switch to the girl walking by the canal while there will be music playing throughout that gives the film an element of suspense. We will also build suspense by changing shots more quickly as the scene goes. Throughout the two minutes, we will build the suspense up with the music as the girl gets closer to finding the body. We will switch between the girl walking and the body, using different shots and camera angles for both using cross-cutting.
At the end of the film opening we will show the girl turning a corner towards the body so at last the body and the girl are on the same shot. Here it will end, before the girl has seen the body. The screen will go blank and we will show the title of the movie here.
9th Febuary 2010 - Shot Treatment And List
Our shot list will consist of a number of different shots. We are aiming to do about 30 different shots in the space of 2 minutes. They will consist of shots such as close ups, long shots, mid long shots, panning shots, handheld shots etc.
Because we chose to do a murder mystery and teen drama genre film opening, there will be alot of close ups.
For the first shot it will be a close up of Ife's foot, this would help open the film by bringing mystery right from the word go. It will capture the audiences attention and will make them want to know what is going on, or even, what or who they are looking at. It also helps with keeping the audience interested and not having them drift off right at the start of the film, it makes the audience want to get to know the character and find out a bit more about who this person is and what they are doing on the floor. It opens with a number of reasons running through the audiences mind and makes them confused as the 2nd shot is of Fiona which is completely different and contrasts with the extreame close up of Ife's foot.
As we will be cross cutting between Ife and Fiona the second shot will be a long shot of Fiona walking by the side of the cannal, towards the camera, this helps with the narative strands in the film as it links in the 2 shots as both Ife and Fiona are by the cannal. Therefore, the audience get the gist that both characters are either involved with each other, know each other, or something between them will happen. Moreover, the fact that Fiona is walking towards the camera will help with getting to know the character from just the first shot as she is revealed the closer she becomes to the camera.
The next shot will be another close up of Ife, this would be a close up of his legs, as we will be working up his body to cover the mystery of his identity. We will also be seeing different shots of his body so that it poses confusion on the audience, still not knowing what is going on. As each close up is shown it helps create an imagine of Ife in the audiences mind so that they can piece together of whom they think is lying there on the floor.
The next shot would go back to Fiona again walking in and out of the shot, still walking by the side of the cannal. This would also be a long shot, helping to show the continuity of her walking in and out of each shot, as if she is still walking and carrying on from where we left the last shot of her, but slightly moved along to show that time has pasted and that both shots of each characters are happening at the same time.
It will then go to a close up of Ife's hand, again keeping the mystery of the Ife and whether or not he is dead, however, this still helps uncover the character even if it is only showing a small section of the character. Also, even though it is uncovering his identity slowly it helps keep the audience on the edge of their seats and starts getting the audience anxious and wanting to uncover the character.
Because we chose to do a murder mystery and teen drama genre film opening, there will be alot of close ups.
For the first shot it will be a close up of Ife's foot, this would help open the film by bringing mystery right from the word go. It will capture the audiences attention and will make them want to know what is going on, or even, what or who they are looking at. It also helps with keeping the audience interested and not having them drift off right at the start of the film, it makes the audience want to get to know the character and find out a bit more about who this person is and what they are doing on the floor. It opens with a number of reasons running through the audiences mind and makes them confused as the 2nd shot is of Fiona which is completely different and contrasts with the extreame close up of Ife's foot.
As we will be cross cutting between Ife and Fiona the second shot will be a long shot of Fiona walking by the side of the cannal, towards the camera, this helps with the narative strands in the film as it links in the 2 shots as both Ife and Fiona are by the cannal. Therefore, the audience get the gist that both characters are either involved with each other, know each other, or something between them will happen. Moreover, the fact that Fiona is walking towards the camera will help with getting to know the character from just the first shot as she is revealed the closer she becomes to the camera.
The next shot will be another close up of Ife, this would be a close up of his legs, as we will be working up his body to cover the mystery of his identity. We will also be seeing different shots of his body so that it poses confusion on the audience, still not knowing what is going on. As each close up is shown it helps create an imagine of Ife in the audiences mind so that they can piece together of whom they think is lying there on the floor.
The next shot would go back to Fiona again walking in and out of the shot, still walking by the side of the cannal. This would also be a long shot, helping to show the continuity of her walking in and out of each shot, as if she is still walking and carrying on from where we left the last shot of her, but slightly moved along to show that time has pasted and that both shots of each characters are happening at the same time.
It will then go to a close up of Ife's hand, again keeping the mystery of the Ife and whether or not he is dead, however, this still helps uncover the character even if it is only showing a small section of the character. Also, even though it is uncovering his identity slowly it helps keep the audience on the edge of their seats and starts getting the audience anxious and wanting to uncover the character.
keeping with the cross cutting of both characters, the next shot will be of Fiona again, walking futher along beside the cannal. This will be a long shot and then ends as she walks past the camera and out the shot. This would again help show that Fiona has been walking for a while up the side of the cannal.
Following this shot will be another close up of Ife. futher up his body adding suspense to almost revealing his identy but just as the audience think that they will find out who it is the shot cuts off and we see Fiona again.
The next shot of Fiona helps add more time onto finding out Ife's identity and sort of acts as a shot that helps pass time. however at the same time it questions as to why Fiona is walking up the side of the cannal while Ife is lay on the floor, possibly dead.
The next shot will be a pan of Ife from his feet up to his torso, leaving out his head and still not uncovering his identy, as the face helps the audience picture Ife's character. However, the close ups also help tell the audience what sort of character Ife is playing from the sorts of clothes he is wearing and what position his hands, feet and body are in.
In each shot of Ife it will help show mystery of his character and wont reveal his face until the very end when Fiona sees him. This would mean that both, Fiona and the audience, will find out at the same time and as though the audience is in Fiona's shoes, relating to what is happening within the film.
Shot List
Extreme close up of Ife's foot
Long shot of Fiona walking towards the camera
Close up of Ife's legs
Mid-long shot of Fiona walking on from the back and around the slight corner
Long shot of the follow on from the same path through a tunnel
Close up of Ife's thighs while lay on the floor
Long shot of Fiona walking out the tunnel towards and past the camera
Mid-shot of Ife's legs and feet
Mid-long shot of Fiona Walking down the path by the canal walking into the shot from the left
Panning shot of Ife's legs
Close up of Fiona's feet coming into the shot from the left and out the right
Back to Mid-long shot of Fiona but this time walking out of the shot
Extreme close up of Ife's hand (One on his chest)
Extreme close up of Fiona's face
Close up of Ife's torso
Mid-long shot of Fiona still walking by the canal (walking in and out the shot)
Close up of Ife's other hand
Long shot of Fiona walking
Mid-long shot shot of Ife from his feet to his neck
Long shot of fiona again walking in and out the shot from left to right
Extreme close up of Ife's eye
Long shot, panning, of Fiona walking past a bridge
Handheld close up, point of view, of Fiona's feet, as if the character is looking down at her feet
Panning shot of Ife from his feet to his neck
Point of view Fiona going under the bridge
Close up of Ife's face
Long shot of Ife's whole body
Point of view shot from Fiona as she comes round the corner and see's Ife
This is a rough outline of what we think will get done and the number of shot we will intend to include. There will most likely be some changes and rearrangements to the order of the shots but this is more or less the idea we are going for.
9th Febuary 2010 - Evaluation Of Preliminary Task
During the filming of the preliminary task, we learnt that the filming wasn't as easy as we thought it would be. We had to make sure that we got the right shots and that they were good enough for the end product. We therefore took a series of shots for the same shot just to make sure that it was right for the final piece as well as making sure that when we came to the editing it would follow continuity. We also learnt that the cuts from each shot had to be on point for it to work well.
We also had to make sure that we stuck within the 180 degree rule. We acheived this by only shooting from one side of the location; this of which was inside the canteen.
As the sound didn't upload on the editing programme, we couldn't cut the conversation properly so we guessed where the next shot started and ended.
Something else that didn't go to plan was that the tripod was slightly bent and not straight. We would therefore have to make sure that the tripod is straight and that the shot is straight too.
We also would have to make sure that when we cut to the next shot, we would cut for a reason and not just randomly. This would also be applied to to main task
We also had to make sure that we stuck within the 180 degree rule. We acheived this by only shooting from one side of the location; this of which was inside the canteen.
As the sound didn't upload on the editing programme, we couldn't cut the conversation properly so we guessed where the next shot started and ended.
Something else that didn't go to plan was that the tripod was slightly bent and not straight. We would therefore have to make sure that the tripod is straight and that the shot is straight too.
We also would have to make sure that when we cut to the next shot, we would cut for a reason and not just randomly. This would also be applied to to main task
Tuesday, 2 February 2010
Thursday, 28 January 2010
28th January 2010
Today we carried out the filming for our preliminary task which was to:
Film a sequence involving a character opening a door, entering a room and sitting down opposite another character with whom he/she exchanges a few lines of dialogue.
We had to show that could use the 180 degree rule, match on action and shot/reverse shot combination.
Once we'd decided what to do, we chose where in college to film it and set out to make a start. Almost two hours - and an exhausing number of identical shots - later, we arrived back to the media classroom to watch it back.Time to have a go at editing it on Tuesday so we'll see then how well it actually went!
Film a sequence involving a character opening a door, entering a room and sitting down opposite another character with whom he/she exchanges a few lines of dialogue.
We had to show that could use the 180 degree rule, match on action and shot/reverse shot combination.
Once we'd decided what to do, we chose where in college to film it and set out to make a start. Almost two hours - and an exhausing number of identical shots - later, we arrived back to the media classroom to watch it back.Time to have a go at editing it on Tuesday so we'll see then how well it actually went!
26th January 2010 - Analysis of possible locations.
Still unsure of what we want to do for our main task and how to film it, we visted Manchester's Garment District with a stills camera. We took a collection of photos to help establish possible locations and to demonstrate the importance of framing and planning the composition of shots.
We decided that we wanted a location that was isolated or desolate to give a sense of danger so that we could possibly film for a murder mystery of some kind. We also liked the areas where it was older because it seems abandoned and often mysterious which is good for an opening as the mystery leaves viewers asking questions.
The tall buildings on this street make it look closed in and intimidating which adds to the sense of danger felt already because there is no other signs of people around and it's isolated. The fact that the stairs to the fire escape are way out of reach suggesting being trapped without any escape.
Again the tall buildings impose on the shot making any characters or this red van for example look small in comparison. The red is very bright and stands out against the bleak surroundings. It is very symbolic of danger or anger.
We decided that we wanted a location that was isolated or desolate to give a sense of danger so that we could possibly film for a murder mystery of some kind. We also liked the areas where it was older because it seems abandoned and often mysterious which is good for an opening as the mystery leaves viewers asking questions.
The tall buildings on this street make it look closed in and intimidating which adds to the sense of danger felt already because there is no other signs of people around and it's isolated. The fact that the stairs to the fire escape are way out of reach suggesting being trapped without any escape.
Again the tall buildings impose on the shot making any characters or this red van for example look small in comparison. The red is very bright and stands out against the bleak surroundings. It is very symbolic of danger or anger.
This photo shows a very desolate and isolated looking street. It's not somewhere you'd expect to find many other people which is good because it increases any sense of danger created as there seems no means of help or escape. The streets are narrow also and closed in which give the impression of somewhere mazelike where it's easy to become disorientated and lost by yourself.
We liked the idea of filming by the canal as it's often by canals that crimes and murders, etc. are committed in films and on television. This area in particular we liked because it's very bleak, only greys and blacks as well as the reflection in the water. The day was dull and cloudy and very still which makes it look eerie. Again, here looks very deserted of people and you wouldn't expect to find someone here alone.
We liked this picture mostly for the irony of the No Parking scratched onto the wall when there were at least a dozen cars parked here. The colours were really effective, grey, blacks and reds. It is like a reminder of some sort of organised crime to find so many expensive cars on a deserted city backstreet and would be good for creating unanswered questions.
Thursday, 21 January 2010
21st January 2010
Hey we're Ife, Fiona, Caroline and Nina. This blog is basically to document our progress as we complete our coursework tasks.
Today we made a start on planning. We've looked at film openings of different genres to help us choose an acheivable genre for our own main production. We watched the opening sequences of Love Actually, Hancock and Four Weddings and a Funeral and observed the introductions of characters, titles of companies, plot and location to give us an idea of what should be included in our own film opening for the main task.
Today we made a start on planning. We've looked at film openings of different genres to help us choose an acheivable genre for our own main production. We watched the opening sequences of Love Actually, Hancock and Four Weddings and a Funeral and observed the introductions of characters, titles of companies, plot and location to give us an idea of what should be included in our own film opening for the main task.
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