Wednesday, 16 January 2013
Comparison to our Preliminary task
Looking back at our preliminary task, our skills have developed a lot. Both through the creativity of the content, and our editing and filming skills too. In our preliminary task the lighting wasn't great, and we filmed in school; which limited what we could do. It also isn't very realistic when Maddie falls down the stairs, we had a similar problem portraying Charlotte getting hit by the train but we overcame the problem and was successful in making it realistic and clear what has happened. I think over all we have improved a huge amount, but we expected this as our preliminary task was our first clip we had ever made and had no experience of filming and editing before. In our preliminary task we did not add many edits, because we did not know how to, where as our film opening is a lot more edited and looks more professional, due to having more time to research how to use the final cut express programme. Our preliminary task did helped us a lot as if we had not done it then our finished film opening would not of turned out half as good as it did.
Film opening evaluation
What we did
We were given the coursework task of creating a 2 minute film opening. So we had to get into small groups, in mine were Emily Hamer, Sacha Wyatt and myself. To begin we started researching background information and watching film openings to come to a conclusion of a genre we would like to make our film opening in, we come to the conclusion of creating a Melodrama film. We chose to do this as most other peoples coursework was horror, and we wanted to be slightly different. We knew portraying a Melodrama would be difficult but we were all prepared to work hard. We then brainstormed our ideas to create a plan of what we wanted our storyline to be, after agreeing on our storyline we developed this and created an Animatic storyboard. The animatics helped us as a guideline when filming. Before filming we conducted a survey to find out who our target audience would be, which we then put our results into graphs which helped us to see exactly who would be most interesting in viewing our film. We created a film schedule to plan all our filming and the dates. We filmed all of our footage on Monday 19th November 2012. We got all of the footage we wanted plus some additional footage just incase we were short, we were happy with what we had achieved. Then we began editing which took the most time, this was due to having to learn the software and develop our skills, we changed a lot of our film opening numerous times by improving it. During editing we created our character profiles, decided on a film title and got regular feedback for improvements. We then finalised our film opening and published it, and got final feedback by posting our finished media product on Facebook and Media.
Why we did what we did
We chose to do all of our coursework in this order as this was what worked best for us. We did all the research to begin, to figure out what we wanted our film to be like and then created plans before filming. Watching film openings really inspired us and gave us a lot of ideas for our own film opening. Our animatics helped us to plan what we were going to film and gave us guidance when we were actually filming.
Evaluation on different area's
Research
During the research stage there was not many difficulties, the only one being when researching Melodrama we firstly could not find a great deal on it due to it being not overly popular. However, when looking at film openings we found it very interesting and easy to analyse, we were inspired by Seven Pounds, and Dear John. The research stage helped us to get additional ideas and look at the similarities between film openings which we may need to include.
Preparation
During our preparation we had many different idea's that we did not all agree about. It took us a while to plan all our ideas and pick a genre. However when we finally decided we were able to brainstorm all our ideas and finally create an animatic story board. The animatic storyboard was quite tricky, as the pictures took a long time to draw and it was hard to get them to look realistic, especially the one of the platform which needed to be in proportion. We didn't have any props to include when filming, therefore we didn't have to prepare for that. Over all the preparation stage went well as at the end of it we knew exactly what to film and what we needed to do.
Creativity and imagination
When planning our film opening we had no problem with being creative and imaginative. We didn't actually find any other Melodrama films that were similar to ours, so we needed to design our own and create completely our own idea's. We were very creative during editing too, as we used all our own imagination, we knew we wanted to reverse everything at the end which we hadn't seen in other film openings before. Also we had no problem choosing our film title, as we very rapidly came up with different idea's.
filming skills
I developed many filming skills whilst filming. As we filmed everything on one day I had a lot of different idea's pop up into my head which I tried and altered to make a good shot. As i'd never filmed anything for anything like this before, I think i did it well. The camera was fairly steady and the shots were clear and interesting. My filming skills improved a lot towards the ends of the day where I had got more practice.
Editing skills
As we had to experience of editing footage before, we developed our editing skills a lot. At the end of the process we could use nearly everything on the software. It took a lot of time learning how to use the different tools and we got a bit impatient at times, especially if we couldn't find any tutorials on youtube. But in the end we figured everything out and it improved our skills a lot.
Team work
I think my group worked excellent as a team. We all helped each other and worked together to make our film opening the best it could be. We encouraged each other to work hard and all learnt how to use the software for editing. All of our ideas were put together to create our plans and footage, which I think was very successful. We each suggested improvements throughout all stages of our media product and we took them into consideration, we didn't have many disagreements at all. If I was to do this project on my own I would of struggled a lot.
Social groups
Our film opening included two teenagers; Beth and Charlotte. They represent female teenagers as they are able to go out without parental guidance. And they purchased train tickets which shows they are independent which suggests they are older teenagers which is what normal girls of their age has. Both girls are fashionabily dressed representing the current teenage generation. They also come from normal families. I think we portrayed the two teenagers well, as they are just ordinary teenage girls, which people can relate to.
Media institutions
Looking at the outcome on our finished product I think the institution that would distribute my media product best is Universal Studio's, which is the institution we chose. This is due to the fact that Universal's films that they have distributed before some have included controversial content, they have been the insitution of many films such as E.T, which really was incredible for the era and time it was made in. I think as our film opening contains things that many teenagers and other ages can relate to, universal studio's would be able to distribute this successfully.
Improvements I would make if I were to do it again
If I were to do my film opening again I would of picked a different genre as I found Melodrama a really difficult genre to portay. We had to change our music three times in order to make our film opening more obvious that it was a Melodrama. I would still not have chosen Horror though as a lot of the previous film openings done by students for their AS coursework were that genre and we wanted to be different. Also I would not of done our filming at a train station, as it was very time consuming to get permission to film there and we could of spent that time filming getting the best shots possible. The phone call made in order to get permission also charged which we wasn't at all happy about. Also it was not the safest place to film, due to having to film Charlotte past the yellow line and close to the edge which was a major hazard; and at times I felt very unsafe filming so close to the edge. I would also add conversation into our footage, as this was one our feedback improvements. As our film opening had music throughout, we had the problem of it looking like a music video therefore we had to add lots of sound effects to ensure the audience knows it a film opening, plus addition conversation would of definitely made it look less like a music video.
Match on action
In our media film opening we have included match on action which was very successful, it flows well and I think we made it almost perfect.
My favourite shot in our film opening
This is my favourite shot used in our film opening as I think it looks really professional and effective. We edited the producer's name (David Andrews) to fade in as they step out of the puddle, which I think also looks really effective. We had planned to get this shot as soon as we started brainstorming our ideas, as we planned to film on a rainy day which worked perfectly for the setting and scenario.
We were given the coursework task of creating a 2 minute film opening. So we had to get into small groups, in mine were Emily Hamer, Sacha Wyatt and myself. To begin we started researching background information and watching film openings to come to a conclusion of a genre we would like to make our film opening in, we come to the conclusion of creating a Melodrama film. We chose to do this as most other peoples coursework was horror, and we wanted to be slightly different. We knew portraying a Melodrama would be difficult but we were all prepared to work hard. We then brainstormed our ideas to create a plan of what we wanted our storyline to be, after agreeing on our storyline we developed this and created an Animatic storyboard. The animatics helped us as a guideline when filming. Before filming we conducted a survey to find out who our target audience would be, which we then put our results into graphs which helped us to see exactly who would be most interesting in viewing our film. We created a film schedule to plan all our filming and the dates. We filmed all of our footage on Monday 19th November 2012. We got all of the footage we wanted plus some additional footage just incase we were short, we were happy with what we had achieved. Then we began editing which took the most time, this was due to having to learn the software and develop our skills, we changed a lot of our film opening numerous times by improving it. During editing we created our character profiles, decided on a film title and got regular feedback for improvements. We then finalised our film opening and published it, and got final feedback by posting our finished media product on Facebook and Media.
Why we did what we did
We chose to do all of our coursework in this order as this was what worked best for us. We did all the research to begin, to figure out what we wanted our film to be like and then created plans before filming. Watching film openings really inspired us and gave us a lot of ideas for our own film opening. Our animatics helped us to plan what we were going to film and gave us guidance when we were actually filming.
Evaluation on different area's
Research
During the research stage there was not many difficulties, the only one being when researching Melodrama we firstly could not find a great deal on it due to it being not overly popular. However, when looking at film openings we found it very interesting and easy to analyse, we were inspired by Seven Pounds, and Dear John. The research stage helped us to get additional ideas and look at the similarities between film openings which we may need to include.
Preparation
During our preparation we had many different idea's that we did not all agree about. It took us a while to plan all our ideas and pick a genre. However when we finally decided we were able to brainstorm all our ideas and finally create an animatic story board. The animatic storyboard was quite tricky, as the pictures took a long time to draw and it was hard to get them to look realistic, especially the one of the platform which needed to be in proportion. We didn't have any props to include when filming, therefore we didn't have to prepare for that. Over all the preparation stage went well as at the end of it we knew exactly what to film and what we needed to do.
Creativity and imagination
When planning our film opening we had no problem with being creative and imaginative. We didn't actually find any other Melodrama films that were similar to ours, so we needed to design our own and create completely our own idea's. We were very creative during editing too, as we used all our own imagination, we knew we wanted to reverse everything at the end which we hadn't seen in other film openings before. Also we had no problem choosing our film title, as we very rapidly came up with different idea's.
filming skills
I developed many filming skills whilst filming. As we filmed everything on one day I had a lot of different idea's pop up into my head which I tried and altered to make a good shot. As i'd never filmed anything for anything like this before, I think i did it well. The camera was fairly steady and the shots were clear and interesting. My filming skills improved a lot towards the ends of the day where I had got more practice.
Editing skills
As we had to experience of editing footage before, we developed our editing skills a lot. At the end of the process we could use nearly everything on the software. It took a lot of time learning how to use the different tools and we got a bit impatient at times, especially if we couldn't find any tutorials on youtube. But in the end we figured everything out and it improved our skills a lot.
Team work
I think my group worked excellent as a team. We all helped each other and worked together to make our film opening the best it could be. We encouraged each other to work hard and all learnt how to use the software for editing. All of our ideas were put together to create our plans and footage, which I think was very successful. We each suggested improvements throughout all stages of our media product and we took them into consideration, we didn't have many disagreements at all. If I was to do this project on my own I would of struggled a lot.
Social groups
Our film opening included two teenagers; Beth and Charlotte. They represent female teenagers as they are able to go out without parental guidance. And they purchased train tickets which shows they are independent which suggests they are older teenagers which is what normal girls of their age has. Both girls are fashionabily dressed representing the current teenage generation. They also come from normal families. I think we portrayed the two teenagers well, as they are just ordinary teenage girls, which people can relate to.
Media institutions
Looking at the outcome on our finished product I think the institution that would distribute my media product best is Universal Studio's, which is the institution we chose. This is due to the fact that Universal's films that they have distributed before some have included controversial content, they have been the insitution of many films such as E.T, which really was incredible for the era and time it was made in. I think as our film opening contains things that many teenagers and other ages can relate to, universal studio's would be able to distribute this successfully.
Improvements I would make if I were to do it again
If I were to do my film opening again I would of picked a different genre as I found Melodrama a really difficult genre to portay. We had to change our music three times in order to make our film opening more obvious that it was a Melodrama. I would still not have chosen Horror though as a lot of the previous film openings done by students for their AS coursework were that genre and we wanted to be different. Also I would not of done our filming at a train station, as it was very time consuming to get permission to film there and we could of spent that time filming getting the best shots possible. The phone call made in order to get permission also charged which we wasn't at all happy about. Also it was not the safest place to film, due to having to film Charlotte past the yellow line and close to the edge which was a major hazard; and at times I felt very unsafe filming so close to the edge. I would also add conversation into our footage, as this was one our feedback improvements. As our film opening had music throughout, we had the problem of it looking like a music video therefore we had to add lots of sound effects to ensure the audience knows it a film opening, plus addition conversation would of definitely made it look less like a music video.
Match on action
In our media film opening we have included match on action which was very successful, it flows well and I think we made it almost perfect.
My favourite shot in our film opening
This is my favourite shot used in our film opening as I think it looks really professional and effective. We edited the producer's name (David Andrews) to fade in as they step out of the puddle, which I think also looks really effective. We had planned to get this shot as soon as we started brainstorming our ideas, as we planned to film on a rainy day which worked perfectly for the setting and scenario.
Friday, 11 January 2013
Feedback and changes
We posted our piece on a social networking site in order to get some feedback on our piece. This is what a few of our friends said about our film opening. The feedback contains positive and improvements.
As you can see the things that people liked were the shots and the fact you can tell it's a dream sequence. They liked how the credits blendid in so well, which is exactly how we wanted it to be so they don't distract the viewer from the shots and actual film opening. Some of the improvements were to have conversation, which I agree with and would include if I were to do the filming again.
[Our film is not called Morals anymore, but the film is still the same. It is now called Elapsed in Time as this relates more to the storyline. We chose to change the name from peer feedback in the class.]
This is what the film title originally was, however we decided to change it as we got feedback saying that it doesn't relate to the film enough. Also the font of the title appears to look quite vintage and medieval, which doesn't reflect the film opening. Therefore we chose to change it to a more modern font as well as a different title.
This is the font and title we used, as you can see the font is a lot more contemporary and modernised which suits the style of the film as it is set in the 21st century. We then got some feedback from the class to see if they thought this font was better, and they all said they did think it was a big improvement.
Wednesday, 9 January 2013
Monday, 7 January 2013
Editing evaluation on Final Cut Express
Throughout editing our film we faced many difficulties which took time and patience to fix.
For example our first issue was importing our footage from the camera onto final cut express. For some reason it wouldn't allow us to select the footage from the camera or from the desktop. So we researched if anyone else had experienced this problem and many others had. We then found out that we had to put all the clips onto iMovie and make a video out of them.
We then had to export the movie which was on share, located at the top of the programme.
After we had done this we could finally get it up and running in Final Cut Express. It took us quite a long time to get used to the programme and one of the hardest things was finding where things were and the functions to do what we wanted to do. We faced many issues such as trying to put edits on our footage in order to make them appear like a dream or on one of the shots we needed a cctv appearance. We used youtube tutorials to figure out how to put edits onto the footage and had a play around in order to see which edits we liked. One of the hardest parts of the editing stage was doing the credits, because we initially wanted 3D text which we couldn't seem to do, we watched various youtube tutorials to help us however the software kept crashing and we lost our work numerous times which was inconvenient as we were coming closer to our deadline and were having to re-do work.
However, there were lots of things that went well such as being able to do our music quickly and we picked up on how to cut and put together the footage very quickly. We also were able to put everything together and in order from our animatics which helped a lot due to having a clear image in our head of the order already.
Edits we used
At the end of our film opening we used a technique which made everything reverse backwards, as we wanted it to appear like a nightmare reminiscing what happened to the main character Beth. We put all of the shots in the opposite order and made them black and white which was quite easy to do once we knew what we were doing. We then sped up the speed of each clip and put the reverse tool on it. This made all the clips go backwards from end to appear like a memory/flashback.
When the two characters walked out onto the platform, we wanted it to appear like cctv footage to give a variety of effects used. This shot was filmed from the bridge initially to look as if it was a cctv camera, and then when we added the image it made it look affective and realistic which helped to make our film opening look more professional.
We also found out that not only were we able to make clips faster but also slow them down. This emphasised the clip and made it look important and dramatic. We used this tool for when Beth tries to grab Charlotte to save her from falling. This was an important shot in our film opening that we added towards the end as an improvement, as it helped portray exactly what has happened. Without this shot the audience may of been left confused. To make this shot look more dramatic we added a slight blur to it, this helped to make the shot look like it happened so quickly that it was a blur to the main character Beth.
When the train was coming towards the platform, we needed the train to go a lot faster than usual as originally the train was slowing down and didn't look as dangerous. We sped the train up a lot, this helped to show the audience the train had no way of stopping and hit Charlotte at an intense speed. This made the audience feel more tense,
Sound effects we used
Through out or film opening we added sound effects to make our footage more dramatic. We added train noises that we actually filmed ourself for the start of the film just as the music begins. We thought this would give the audience a good feel to the atmosphere of the train station.
The second time we used a loud train noise was when the train was rushing towards the platform when the tragedy takes place. We needed to add this sound effect to show how dangerous the train was and emphasise that the train was coming towards the characters.
When Beth tries to grab Charlotte to prevent her from falling we added a scream of Beth shouting her name. This made it very clear exactly what is happening with our film and without this added the film opening appeared less dramatic and confusing.
When the footage starts to reverse we cropped and edited the music to make it appear like a broken record, this created a circular feel to the experience Beth faced. Which suggested the event that happened will never leave her memory.
Also during the footage reversing we added a heartbeat towards the end, this tells the audience that the flashback is scaring Beth, and that it really had a big effect on her life.
When Beth opens her eyes we added a cinematic bang which I think looks really effective. It was just something that added more drama to our piece when she wakes up. The heartbeat is carried on for a few moments throughout the title and when everything goes back as well.
Friday, 14 December 2012
Changes whilst editing
We showed some of our family and friends our almost finished film opening to get an idea of what improvements need to be made and also to find out what the audience like about our film.
Whilst editing our film opening, we come to the conclusion that our original song choice of an upbeat house song didn't reflect our film genre as a Melodrama. This was due to in our feedback a lot of people mentioned this, they thought everything happened very sudden and wasn't aware or had any ideas that it was a Melodrama. As the music was so happy and joyful it did not really give out any ideas or suggest that something bad is going to happen. We thought that as a consequence of this we would lose marks as it would be hard to guess the genre and everything would not be clear what has happened at the end of the opening, it may leave the audience feeling confused. So due to this we decided to change our music to a slower more melodrama sounding song, but due to copyright laws we had to search for a song or piece of music that was not copyright. We found it very difficult to find any music that wasn't copyright and fitted what we needed. So therefore we made our music ourself by getting a friend to sing a cover of Coldplay - Fix you. We thought this song had the right tempo and dynamics to fit our Melodrama genre.
Whilst editing our film opening, we come to the conclusion that our original song choice of an upbeat house song didn't reflect our film genre as a Melodrama. This was due to in our feedback a lot of people mentioned this, they thought everything happened very sudden and wasn't aware or had any ideas that it was a Melodrama. As the music was so happy and joyful it did not really give out any ideas or suggest that something bad is going to happen. We thought that as a consequence of this we would lose marks as it would be hard to guess the genre and everything would not be clear what has happened at the end of the opening, it may leave the audience feeling confused. So due to this we decided to change our music to a slower more melodrama sounding song, but due to copyright laws we had to search for a song or piece of music that was not copyright. We found it very difficult to find any music that wasn't copyright and fitted what we needed. So therefore we made our music ourself by getting a friend to sing a cover of Coldplay - Fix you. We thought this song had the right tempo and dynamics to fit our Melodrama genre.
Also another concept of our feedback was that when Charlotte got hit by the train it wasn't clear enough, and it left the audience confused on what had just happened. One suggestion was that we added a scream and more significant shots to show exactly what has happened. This will also work with our new choice of music to ensure it looks more like a Melodrama and is emotional. So we then decided to add in a scream from Beth shouting Charlotte's name, and also added some footage of Beth trying to grab her. We hoped that this would make the occurrence look more believable and clearer. We also added a scream with this footage in order to emphasise it to the audience.
I personally think that these changes due to audience feedback have improved our filming opening a lot, and helps the audience understand and enjoy the opening more.
Film Titles
We had a long think to what our film should be called. It was important that we picked an effective title so it reflected our Melodrama genre. We did not want a title which completely gave the story line of the film away, as then it wouldn't be worth watching. We needed a title which would make people interested in the film and want to watch it.
Torn
The film title torn was one of our possibilities, as the main character Beth is torn what to do next.
The scenario is a form of guilt so we thought torn is an effective title as it doesn't give a great deal away. However, when I think of the word torn I instantly think of a sad film, as its as if someones heart or feelings have been torn (damaged)
The self reserve
We got this idea as it again relates to the rest our film; Beth with draws herself from future happenings.
Torn
The film title torn was one of our possibilities, as the main character Beth is torn what to do next.
The scenario is a form of guilt so we thought torn is an effective title as it doesn't give a great deal away. However, when I think of the word torn I instantly think of a sad film, as its as if someones heart or feelings have been torn (damaged)
The self reserve
We got this idea as it again relates to the rest our film; Beth with draws herself from future happenings.
She is very self reserved in her manner and doesn't participate in other things, this is because of the death of her best-friend. She finds it hard to let in anyone to help her, meaning she pushes any future love relationships away. Again the title isn't obvious and doesn't give away anything that happens in our opening but still refers to it from a visible view for the target audience.
Morals
We come up with the name different morals because it doesn't give a great deal of information away about the story line.
There are two different ways in which Morals can be defined:
1 - A lesson, esp. one concerning what is right or prudent, that can be derived from a story, a piece of information, or an experience.
2 - A person's standards of behaviour or beliefs concerning what is and is not acceptable for them to do.
The first definition relates to our story line, so we could use it for our film title.
Elapsed in Time
We liked the name elapsed in time as it means the measured duration of an event. It gives off the idea that the main character is stuck in time, like she can't get the event out of her head.
Originally we chose the title Morals, but we soon changed this after getting feedback that it doesn't link very well to the film. A couple of people said they thought it was irrelevant and should be more specific to the story line, so we then chose to use Elapsed in time as we think this related to the story line the most, but doesn't give lots of information away. It relates to the film as the main character Beth, is left stuck with the tragedy in her head and she cant remove it as if she is stuck in time.
Elapsed in Time
We liked the name elapsed in time as it means the measured duration of an event. It gives off the idea that the main character is stuck in time, like she can't get the event out of her head.
Originally we chose the title Morals, but we soon changed this after getting feedback that it doesn't link very well to the film. A couple of people said they thought it was irrelevant and should be more specific to the story line, so we then chose to use Elapsed in time as we think this related to the story line the most, but doesn't give lots of information away. It relates to the film as the main character Beth, is left stuck with the tragedy in her head and she cant remove it as if she is stuck in time.
Monday, 10 December 2012
Filming Evaluation
We filmed all of our footage on Monday 19th November 2012 as planned. It was a dull day which was what we wanted and luckily it had been raining which meant that we had puddles to use to our advantage. It didn't rain any of the time throughout filming which was good.
We filmed all the shots we planned to film plus a few extras to ensure we had enough clips to fill in any gaps or additional time to make up to the 2 minute boundary.
Here are a selection of different shots we achieved:
As you can see by a snippet of our shots we have achieved a variety of different shots including close ups, long shots, tracker shot and match on action.
What went well
We were happy with our shots as we had the perfect lighting and day, and accumulated some good techniques which were going to look good once edited. My favourite shot is when the two characters walk through the puddle which makes a splash and leaves the ticket floating in the water, this is my favourite because I think it looks professional and very effective. Also the shot of the water on the bench arm looks detailed and is a good example of a close up. The fact that we got so many shots was excellent as it was such a small area and one place of setting however we managed to get near to everything we needed. We used the bridge at the train station to our advantage, and filmed a lot of the shots off the edge and had the side wall to rest the camera on to have a stable non-shakey shot. We tried to follow our animatics whilst filming, which helped a lot as we knew exactly what shots to film, and then added any additional ones we thought would look good. Overall I thought our filming session was successful and we got everything done in one day.
What problems we had
When we first arrived at the train station and informed the ticket lady we were filming for our media coursework she said we needed to contact a certain number in order to have permission. So we contacted the number and had a long wait until we finally got permission which was time consuming. Once we started filming we had one main problem, and this was actually filming effective shots that would show that Charlotte gets hit by the train. This was very hard to portray whilst filming our shots due to safety; as obviously she cannot jump in front of the train. So we had to think carefully how we was going to film it and just filmed little snippets to indicate a hazard; like her shoe laces being undone and being too far over the yellow line. We knew that we could make it more obvious when editing and could hopefully make the audience know what happens.
Due to us choosing such a difficult opening story line I think we done our best to portray what we wanted to happen with our filming.
We filmed all the shots we planned to film plus a few extras to ensure we had enough clips to fill in any gaps or additional time to make up to the 2 minute boundary.
Here are a selection of different shots we achieved:
As you can see by a snippet of our shots we have achieved a variety of different shots including close ups, long shots, tracker shot and match on action.
What went well
We were happy with our shots as we had the perfect lighting and day, and accumulated some good techniques which were going to look good once edited. My favourite shot is when the two characters walk through the puddle which makes a splash and leaves the ticket floating in the water, this is my favourite because I think it looks professional and very effective. Also the shot of the water on the bench arm looks detailed and is a good example of a close up. The fact that we got so many shots was excellent as it was such a small area and one place of setting however we managed to get near to everything we needed. We used the bridge at the train station to our advantage, and filmed a lot of the shots off the edge and had the side wall to rest the camera on to have a stable non-shakey shot. We tried to follow our animatics whilst filming, which helped a lot as we knew exactly what shots to film, and then added any additional ones we thought would look good. Overall I thought our filming session was successful and we got everything done in one day.
What problems we had
When we first arrived at the train station and informed the ticket lady we were filming for our media coursework she said we needed to contact a certain number in order to have permission. So we contacted the number and had a long wait until we finally got permission which was time consuming. Once we started filming we had one main problem, and this was actually filming effective shots that would show that Charlotte gets hit by the train. This was very hard to portray whilst filming our shots due to safety; as obviously she cannot jump in front of the train. So we had to think carefully how we was going to film it and just filmed little snippets to indicate a hazard; like her shoe laces being undone and being too far over the yellow line. We knew that we could make it more obvious when editing and could hopefully make the audience know what happens.
Due to us choosing such a difficult opening story line I think we done our best to portray what we wanted to happen with our filming.
Character profile: Charlotte
History of women in the film industry
Women have been central to the film industry since its inception in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. From Nickelodeons to full-length feature films and from silent films to talkies, as writers, directors, actors, and audience members, women have influenced the trajectory of the film industry. Female stardom was an essential component of the rise of the industry, though many of these women were celebrated more for their appearances than for their acting ability.
While the popularity of certain female stars offered them legendary status, the kinds of roles they were asked to play often reinforced traditional gender roles. That story is the familiar one. This exhibit intends to reveal a lesser known part of the story. Women actually played a powerful role in shaping the early film industry. As both consumers of film and professionals in the field, both in front of and behind the camera, women dramatically affected the development of American film.
In our film there are two characters that are important to the films storyline. They appear in our film opening. Below are their character profiles.
Name: Charlotte Wyatt
Age: 17
Date of birth: 23/06/95
Clothes size: 8
Height: 5ft4
Weight: 8st 2lb
Hair colour: Brunette
Eye colour: Hazel
Siblings: Three brothers and one sister
Favourite colour: White
Favourite music band: One Direction
Favourite music artist: Rihanna
Favourite film: Wild Child
(Outfit in film opening)
Green parker coat - £50 H&M
Black leggings - £15 forever 21
Grey cardigan - £25 topshop
Red Vans - £50 office
Black bag - £15 New look
In total this outfit was worth £155, however we already had the coat and the vans. So we only purchased the leggings and grey cardigan for the footage. We chose to dress Charlotte in these clothes as it is quite a cold day, so it was important for her to rap up warm. The leggings are comfy for travelling which is what the two friends are doing in the opening as well as the red vans.
Charlotte is a very outgoing, kind and generous person. How ever she can be shy when meeting new people. She is funny and can always put a smile on her best friend Beth's face. Charlotte doesn't have a part time job but is currently studying legal secretary at college which she plans to get a career in.
Likes: Charlotte likes to socialise and loves to sing. She likes horses and spends a lot of time down the stables. She has an interest in music, she spends a lot of her spare time with her earphones in listening to her favourite artist Rihanna.
Dislikes: Charlotte has a phobia of spiders.
Background: Charlotte comes from a stable middle class background, she is supported by her parents but has additional financial help from her grandmother.
Women have been central to the film industry since its inception in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. From Nickelodeons to full-length feature films and from silent films to talkies, as writers, directors, actors, and audience members, women have influenced the trajectory of the film industry. Female stardom was an essential component of the rise of the industry, though many of these women were celebrated more for their appearances than for their acting ability.
While the popularity of certain female stars offered them legendary status, the kinds of roles they were asked to play often reinforced traditional gender roles. That story is the familiar one. This exhibit intends to reveal a lesser known part of the story. Women actually played a powerful role in shaping the early film industry. As both consumers of film and professionals in the field, both in front of and behind the camera, women dramatically affected the development of American film.
In our film there are two characters that are important to the films storyline. They appear in our film opening. Below are their character profiles.
Name: Charlotte Wyatt
Age: 17
Date of birth: 23/06/95
Clothes size: 8
Height: 5ft4
Weight: 8st 2lb
Hair colour: Brunette
Eye colour: Hazel
Siblings: Three brothers and one sister
Favourite colour: White
Favourite music band: One Direction
Favourite music artist: Rihanna
Favourite film: Wild Child
(Outfit in film opening)
Green parker coat - £50 H&M
Black leggings - £15 forever 21
Grey cardigan - £25 topshop
Red Vans - £50 office
Black bag - £15 New look
In total this outfit was worth £155, however we already had the coat and the vans. So we only purchased the leggings and grey cardigan for the footage. We chose to dress Charlotte in these clothes as it is quite a cold day, so it was important for her to rap up warm. The leggings are comfy for travelling which is what the two friends are doing in the opening as well as the red vans.
Charlotte is a very outgoing, kind and generous person. How ever she can be shy when meeting new people. She is funny and can always put a smile on her best friend Beth's face. Charlotte doesn't have a part time job but is currently studying legal secretary at college which she plans to get a career in.
Likes: Charlotte likes to socialise and loves to sing. She likes horses and spends a lot of time down the stables. She has an interest in music, she spends a lot of her spare time with her earphones in listening to her favourite artist Rihanna.
Dislikes: Charlotte has a phobia of spiders.
Background: Charlotte comes from a stable middle class background, she is supported by her parents but has additional financial help from her grandmother.
Character profile: Beth
Name: Beth Morgan
Age: 17
Date of birth: 27/09/1995
Clothes size: 8
Height: 5ft6
Weight: 7st 8lb
Hair colour: Brunette/Blonde
Eye colour: Blue
Siblings: One brother called Ben
Favourite colour: Silver
Favourite music band: Bombay bicycle club
Favourite music artist: Alicia Keys
Favourite film: Mean Girls
(Outfit in film opening)
Blue parker jacket - £65 River island
Light pink jumper - £20 Select
Black Jeans - £35 New look
Brown shoe boots - £25 Internationale
Black bag - £15 select
In total this outfit is worth £160 however we already had the outfit, the only purchase we made was the jumper. We dressed beth in a simliar way to Charlotte, with the parker jacket to keep warm on the cold day, with a casual pair of jeans and a jumper. The little boots made the outfit differ from Beth's and included a bag
Beth finds it easy to make new friends, how ever she can be quite cold hearted and isn't the relationship type. She is a bubbly person and loves her family unconditionally. She works hard at her job in New look, and is currently studying at Sixth form. She is currently studying business, psychology, ICT and Maths; and plans to go on to university to get a degree in Accountancy.
Likes: Beth is an average teenage girl, she likes socialising with friends and shopping as she is fashionable and has a fairly natural appearance. She is a very creative individual and likes drawing and can be very imitative in her fashion sense.
Dislikes: She dislikes jelly as she doesn't like the texture. She also has a fear of wasps.
Background: Beth comes from a financially stable family. Her father is a successful business man and her mother is a secretary. Her brother is younger than her, and she gets on well with him.
Age: 17
Date of birth: 27/09/1995
Clothes size: 8
Height: 5ft6
Weight: 7st 8lb
Hair colour: Brunette/Blonde
Eye colour: Blue
Siblings: One brother called Ben
Favourite colour: Silver
Favourite music band: Bombay bicycle club
Favourite music artist: Alicia Keys
Favourite film: Mean Girls
(Outfit in film opening)
Blue parker jacket - £65 River island
Light pink jumper - £20 Select
Black Jeans - £35 New look
Brown shoe boots - £25 Internationale
Black bag - £15 select
In total this outfit is worth £160 however we already had the outfit, the only purchase we made was the jumper. We dressed beth in a simliar way to Charlotte, with the parker jacket to keep warm on the cold day, with a casual pair of jeans and a jumper. The little boots made the outfit differ from Beth's and included a bag
Beth finds it easy to make new friends, how ever she can be quite cold hearted and isn't the relationship type. She is a bubbly person and loves her family unconditionally. She works hard at her job in New look, and is currently studying at Sixth form. She is currently studying business, psychology, ICT and Maths; and plans to go on to university to get a degree in Accountancy.
Likes: Beth is an average teenage girl, she likes socialising with friends and shopping as she is fashionable and has a fairly natural appearance. She is a very creative individual and likes drawing and can be very imitative in her fashion sense.
Dislikes: She dislikes jelly as she doesn't like the texture. She also has a fear of wasps.
Background: Beth comes from a financially stable family. Her father is a successful business man and her mother is a secretary. Her brother is younger than her, and she gets on well with him.
Friday, 7 December 2012
Our chosen film institution
For our film we have chosen Universal Studios:
We have chosen this as it is our favourite and most memorable opening institution.
Recent films Universal have produced:
- The unborn (January 9, 2009)
- Kick-ass (March 26, 2010)
- Paul (March 18, 2010)
- Bridesmaids (May 13, 2010)
- Snow white and the huntsman (June 1, 2012)
- Ted (June 9, 2012)
All the films produced by universal are very different genre's, for example The Unborn is a Horror, where as Snow White and the Huntsman is an Action.
We chose this as our film institution because in our opinion it is the most memorable and dramatic one. However we are aware that there is a 100th Anniversary version so we are going to try and use that, to make it a little bit different.
Friday, 16 November 2012
Filming Schedule
Our filming needs to be done all in one day ideally as the weather and lighting needs to be exactly the same throughout the shots. The day we have chosen to film Monday 19th November 2012. We have chosen a sunday because the train station will be less busy on this day which would be the best day for filming. We will go to the train station around 4pm to make sure the lighting is quite dull. As it is a melodrama we need quite a gloomy rainy day to show danger, rather than a bright sunny day which would suggest happiness.
What we are filming:
1. Ticket machine
2. Ticket falling out of ticket machine
3. Money falling out of ticket machine
4. Ticket going into barrier
5. Walking through barrier
6. Taking ticket from barrier
7. Walking onto platform
8. A puddle
9. Stepping into puddle
10. Looking at the station's platform
11. The train tracks
12. The barriers on the road going down
13. Girls laughing (not paying attention)
14. Train dashing past at an extreme speed
15. Camera dropping
16. Character in bed with eyes closed
17. Eyes open
18. Sits up breathing heavily
Risk Assessment
We have to be very careful whilst filming at our chosen setting, as being a train station it can be a major hazard and dangerous place. Even when we are filming one of the characters being too far over the yellow line this is a major risk, as it only takes a loss of balance for devastation. Also whilst hanging off the bridge filming the characters from a distance could be difficult, as it would be easy for the camera to slip out of my hands, so I need to ensure I wear the safety strap.
What we are filming:
1. Ticket machine
2. Ticket falling out of ticket machine
3. Money falling out of ticket machine
4. Ticket going into barrier
5. Walking through barrier
6. Taking ticket from barrier
7. Walking onto platform
8. A puddle
9. Stepping into puddle
10. Looking at the station's platform
11. The train tracks
12. The barriers on the road going down
13. Girls laughing (not paying attention)
14. Train dashing past at an extreme speed
15. Camera dropping
16. Character in bed with eyes closed
17. Eyes open
18. Sits up breathing heavily
Risk Assessment
We have to be very careful whilst filming at our chosen setting, as being a train station it can be a major hazard and dangerous place. Even when we are filming one of the characters being too far over the yellow line this is a major risk, as it only takes a loss of balance for devastation. Also whilst hanging off the bridge filming the characters from a distance could be difficult, as it would be easy for the camera to slip out of my hands, so I need to ensure I wear the safety strap.
Wednesday, 7 November 2012
Planning
Plot
Cast
Emily Hamer is playing the role of Beth
Sacha Wyatt is playing the role of Charlotte
We chose Emily to play the role of Beth because she suited the type of person we wanted Beth to be like; fashionable, sociable and 17. Sacha plays the role of Beth as she is the same age as Charlotte (Emily) and looks like an average teenage girl.
Font of the Titles and positioning
We have chosen our font tiles to be Cambria, as it is quite a simple font that will not distract the viewer from the actual film. The titles will be either in the corner or in fairly discrete places that will be noticeable but not too in the viewers face. We will edit the titles on final cut express;
The opening of our film will be at a train station, where a teenage girl called Beth faces a tragic accident where she loses her friend. It will begin with the two girls walking into the station; buying tickets and walking through the barrier and onto the platform. They will be talking and not paying a lot of attention to their surroundings. It will not be completely clear what is happening as we want our opening to be tense and leave the audience wanting to know more. However, it will be clear enough to know that Charlotte gets hit by the train. The over all film will consist of Beth dealing with her traumatic past and meeting a boy named James who helps her through all of it despite her pushing him away.
Opening setting
The setting will be a train station, where the accident was. We will film on a dull winter evening, so the station looks more intimidating and gloomy. The best day to film will be a sunday, where there will be little people around as we want a near to empty station. We will also film the character waking up in bed so a bedroom is another setting needed. Due to only having one setting; we may be limited to what we can film, but we will try our best to get the best shots possible.
Cast
Emily Hamer is playing the role of Beth
Sacha Wyatt is playing the role of Charlotte
We chose Emily to play the role of Beth because she suited the type of person we wanted Beth to be like; fashionable, sociable and 17. Sacha plays the role of Beth as she is the same age as Charlotte (Emily) and looks like an average teenage girl.
Characters
The main female character is a 17 year old called Beth, she was an average teenage girl who loved socialising, until she lost her best friend which left her emotionally insecure, depressed and paranoid.
The main male character is a 20 year old called James. James is a good looking boy and is described by many as a 'ladies man'. However, as soon as he meets Beth he soon makes her his main priority and doesn't leave her side. Beth's friend Charlotte who dies, is the same age as Beth (17). She is from a working background and loves shopping and socialising with her best friend Beth.
Font of the Titles and positioning
We have chosen our font tiles to be Cambria, as it is quite a simple font that will not distract the viewer from the actual film. The titles will be either in the corner or in fairly discrete places that will be noticeable but not too in the viewers face. We will edit the titles on final cut express;
Music
The music we are using for our opening is an upbeat house track called what i might do by Ben Pearce. We are editing the song ourselves to slow it down, trim it and add extra beats. We wanted an upbeat song for the start of the opening as it's just two girls at the train station on a normal day, however there is a drop in the song which we will slow down towards the ending of the opening to show something has happened.
Film certificate
A film certificate acts as a guideline for ages in which the film is suitable for. For example a PG film would not contain any bad language, discrimination, sexual explicits or drug taking. However a 12 may contain some mild cases. On the other hand an 18 could contain all of these which is why only a person over the age of 18 should be watching the film. Our film will be a 12
Bad language, discrimination, sexual explicits or drug taking
Our film will contain only mild bad language. There will be no discrimination or taking of recreational drugs. There will be a few intimate scenes between Beth and James towards the end of the film which will not display any nudity or sexual intercourse.
Film certificate
A film certificate acts as a guideline for ages in which the film is suitable for. For example a PG film would not contain any bad language, discrimination, sexual explicits or drug taking. However a 12 may contain some mild cases. On the other hand an 18 could contain all of these which is why only a person over the age of 18 should be watching the film. Our film will be a 12
Bad language, discrimination, sexual explicits or drug taking
Our film will contain only mild bad language. There will be no discrimination or taking of recreational drugs. There will be a few intimate scenes between Beth and James towards the end of the film which will not display any nudity or sexual intercourse.
Monday, 22 October 2012
Animatic Storyboard
These are the animatics for our film opening, The animatic storyboard is an important part of the planning process as it tells us exactly when the settings change, different cuts are used, when text comes up and the types of shots we want to include. We did this by sketching the main shots we are going to include in our opening, these shots consisted of close ups and long shots and a variety of other shots. We know that our actual film opening will not be exact to this as these are our initial ideas and we have tried to portray them in these animatics. Our inital ideas are that the setting is at a train station and an accident occurs, we have drawn our animatics to show the main things that will occur, for example buying the tickets, the platform, the tracks and the train coming which is the hazard. The music we added to our animatics is something we like, but are still unsure of therefore we will not decide anything until we have our footage. We simply added it to get a better feel of the planning and shots we are going to have.
I think creating an animatic storyboard was useful as it acts as a plan for our filming, and if our music will suit the opening. We had a few problems such as the settings and shots were difficult to draw especially the platform which was hard to make into proportion and we wanted it to be as realistic as possible. However over all our animatics was successful and I think it will help us a lot when it comes to filming.
Friday, 19 October 2012
Target Audience
We decided to come up with a questionnaire so we could find out our target audience. We did this as we thought this is the best way to pin point exactly who would be the most interested in our film. The first two questions are 'what is your age group?' and 'what is your gender?' These two questions will find out more about the person and how they answer the other questions will find out which age group and gender prefer Melodrama films which is the genre of our film. If a person's favourite film genre is not Melodrama but they say they would still go to the cinema to see a Melodrama film then they could still be classed as our target audience. One of the questions asked is what the person thinks is a good film opening, which will give us additional for our film opening to ensure it will capture the viewers attention and be the best it can be.
This is our Questionnaire:
Sample of results and analysis to our questionnaire
We asked a total of 60 people, 10 of each age category. 5 Male and 5 Female of each.
What is your favourite film genre?
The results of this question show that Romantic Comedy was the most popular film genre. However Melodrama is still quite popular. It is clear that the most popular gender who favour Melodrama is Female. And the most popular age group is 41-50, and the least popular gender is Under 16's.
Would you go to the cinema to see a Melodrama?
The results of this question show that the majority of females would go to see a Melodrama film, not as many males would but still a very large proportion of the men asked. This suggests that Melodrama is favoured more by females as it is more emotional. The most popular age groups that said they would go to the cinema to see a Melodrama film was between the ages of 21-50, although all the age categories had a high amount of people saying yes. The lowest category was Under 16's which could be due to them preferring cartoons and fantasy films.
Describe what you think is a good film opening?
Sample of results:
- "The best film openings are the ones that build up tension, the ones that will you leave you wondering what is going to happen next." Male aged 28
- "When watching a film I like to see flashbacks, I enjoy watching a film opening which is a little confusing, then will become clearer throughout the film." Male aged 45
- "A good film opening is one that will capture my attention, it has to be interesting and make me want to watch more. It has to have good music as well." Female aged 31
- "I like happy film openings that set a good positive vibe. I'm not much of an action-film lover but I love a good romantic comedy." Female aged 52
- "I like film openings that are funny and will make me want to watch more." Female aged 15
These results show that people have a very different taste of film openings. A popular choice was one that will make the viewer want to watch more and may be a little confusing but will build up tension at the same time. This suggests that my film opening needs to be really interesting and capture the viewers attention as soon as it begins.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)