What we did today- Planning

Today we all got on with out individual tasks. Nathan was researching different reviews to help with journalism. I made a start on the review and then completed the photography call sheet which will be uploaded in the next post. Billie made a start on the different fonts in Illustrator. 

We will all be continuing with these. 

Print Products- Roles

We have decided that for the print products (film review and poster) we will all contribute to each of the stages.

While Billie will be focusing on Photoshop making sure that the layout and conventions are correct, Nathan will be doing the same on Illustrator/InDesign. I will also be contributing to that.

I will be focusing on the Journalism for both of the print products but Nathan and Billie will be also be contributing to that.

We will all work collaboratively to ensure that the deadline is reached.

We have also booked the camera for stills for Friday 9th January.

Pitch feedback

The feedback received from the pitch that we presented to the class was that they liked the idea of a double page spread for the film review. They also liked one of the stills we mentioned that we would use which was the still where Nathan is sitting on the bench near the willow tree. He is in deep thought which shows that he is thinking about what has happened to him regarding his brother and his mother.

The class agreed that we should use darker and dull colours and there is a possibility that we will use one lighter colour to highlight some of the important features. This is for both he film review and the film poster.

The class suggested that we should use a full body shot of Nathan and we should only have Nathan on the cover of the poster. With regards to the Shank film poster, where some actors are faded into the background. It was said that we should try to fade Aaron (Nathans Brother) into the background.

We will incorporate these suggestions into our work.

Pitch for Film Poster and Film Review - Video

Pitch for print products

Link to Presentation : http://app.emaze.com/@AQWIWRC/research--planning

Film Review 3 - Case Study

Having looked at this poster, I like the layout as it is simple and straight to the point. I have read the journalism and it does not bore me. I think that it creates questions in the readers mind from the start and then lets you in to the way that it was creating, using quotes from the makers of the film. I think that in order for a film review to be successful, we should add this into our review. I think that by using quotes directly from us, the people who came up with the story, will make the journalism stronger. I will incorporate this into my own work. The journalism is snappy and straight to the point. In order for our film review to flow it needs to follow similar codes and conventions. 

A feature that I will take from this review to add into my own work is the page numbering where beside that is the magazines website. This also keeps the review professional and is a promotional method. Whilst reading the review when turning the page the reader will automatically see the website and may want to go on it for further information. 

Film Review 2 - Case Study

Case Study 2 - Sightseers  |Create infographics

What I have gathered from this case study is that the journalism can become quite confusing. There are many references in this case study to different films which is a good feature to have and I will be adding this into my own review, but at times this film review becomes quite confusing. It is full of  remarks made by the viewer which is what is expected but personally I think that too many remarks can make the review harder to understand and also harder to understand what is going on in the film and what it is about. 

The elements that I could use in my own work is the splashes that are used on the review where a key feature is highlighted. For example, on this review you can see that the splash used to highlight 'we could have it in the gift shop' is in a black circle. Also on the review there is another shape on the left hand sand top corner that says 'review'. In order to stay within the professional feel and the realer look, by having this in my film review will make the reviews overall appearance look better. 

Film Review 1 - Case Study

Having looked at this case study, I have been inspired by a few of the features used and I would like to use them in my own work. 

I like that the heading of the review is bold and it is overlaid upon the picture. I think that this makes both the picture and the heading stand out. As our short film is a drama, this fits in well with the overall theme. 

I also like the colours that have been used. Once again, as it is a drama the colours cannot be too overpowering. It would be better for us to stick to darker colours and maybe one colour that is a little stronger. In the poster above you can see that the colours used are white, blue and black. The background is also white.For our film review, I believe that in order for it to stay professional, the background should remain white. We should also keep the writing black and add colour elsewhere such as the star rating and the image should also be in colour. 

I also think that the first information box giving further details about the film is useful and makes it look like a real film review. I will definitely incorporate this into my film review. 

3 Film Poster Case Studies

What we did in lesson

This is what we done in the lesson:

Moving On from the film

We now have to produce a film poster and film review. For  this we will be looking and 3 different film posters related to our genre and three different reviews. Within the next couple of posts I will be uploading  my case studies and ideas that we have produced.

Final Version of Film - Complete

Rough Cut to Final Video

Rough cut to final video 

Feedback Evaluation

The feedback that we received was that we should make small minor changes to each of these scenes. Th main points that were picked up on was to make sure that the dialogue can be heard when the mum is talking. Also to make sure that we cut in a little bit where Nathan is walking into the camera. We were also told that Nathans mum is seen to be a little blurry at the start. This is something that we cannot change. We can now work on the music, make scenes lighter, and fade in and out.

Focus Group and Film

Below is our version of the film which we showed to the class to get there feedback.





Below is the feedback that we received in our focus group:






We will take these points into consideration and edit our film according to what we have been told and ideas suggested.

Editing Complete

Today we spent all of our break in the editing suite. We have now successfully edited our film which took is 4 and a half hours to do. We were adding finishing touches such as the title and ending slide.

Permission to use music -Copyright

Today my team member Billie emailed the person who composed the music to ask him if we could use the music in our short film. Below is the email that was sent and the reply that we received:

Music Change

We have chosen new music that we think is suitable for our film. Below is what it is:

Backing Track Planning

Editing- 2

Today we have managed to put everything into order, we are just cutting off different parts to make sure that the film flows in order and doesn't look out of place. We will need to be thinking of a backing track as we have changed our mind from the last time. We feel that the previous music that we chose can become quite repetitive and doesn't fit the theme very well.

Editing

Today we are editing and putting everything into order. This is a bit tricky as we have so many scenes and most of which we will not be using so we have to use the razor tool to cut many things out.

Editing

We have started editing the footage that we have so far. We have tried to add some effects to outline then flashback and to show the difference between the present and past. We will continue to edit.

Filming Day 3- Complete

We filmed today and completed the new scenes that we were meant to film. Filming went very well and we managed to get everything done. There were minor issues that we had to address which was lighting. As it is winter now and the day is shorter it gets darker quick. As we had to wait for Nathans brother to come to meet us at the Olympic Park it got very dark by the time we started filming. We had use the torch in our phones in order to film. You can see the shots but sometimes they can become very hard to see because of the darkness in colour. Lighting was a major problem for us when filming but apart from theme all went well. We managed the props well in terms of making  fake drug sachets. We then went to Nathans house to film the remainder flashback scenes. All went according to plan.

Planning Filming

House Recce

Script

Below is a script for our short film which we all put together. We all had a part of the film that we covered. I covered the first half while Billie took hold of the second half and Nathan covered the last half. It was then put together by Nathan. 

Senseless Script

(Music fades in) 

Scene with Nathan and his mum 

Mum: How can you carry on as normal? Don’t you care? Your brother is dead. For god sake. 

Nathan: Mum! Mum please! Mum, mum! Mum, I’m begging you please.

 (Mum grabs Nathan and throws him out then slams door in his face.) 

(Mum opens door and throws Nathans coat at him then closes door again) 

(Music still playing)

In Nathans Room
Nathan: Pass my bag
Nathan puts drugs into the bag as Aaron watches.
Aaron puts his face in his hands
Music starts
*Music gets lower while they talk*
Nathan pats Aaron
Nathan: Are you looking?!
Aaron: Yess!
Nathan: Watch carefully
He puts the drugs into the bags
*music gets louder*
Next Scene: House scene where Aarons nose starts bleeding, rushes into bathroom.

Nathan: Lemme give you something

Aaron: Can I ask you something..

Nathan: What is it?

Aaron: Can you die from this?

Nathan: You can’t.... Why would you ask that?

Aaron: I was just wondering

Nathan: Sell it for about 10,  just make sure you do it

Aaron: Hm…

(Nathan approaches bridge)

Nathan: I’m sorryy!

New Storyboard

We have no come up with a new storyboard which we will be adding to our existing story. In our story we will now just have Nathan and his brother as the main characters and we will exclude the scenes where there was supposed to be a fight. We have also changed the reason for the death of this brother which will be drugs. We think that this is very effective as it is something from real life which happens on a daily basis all over London. In the next blog post I will be adding images of the new storyboard.

Change of plan -Filming Day 3

We have been unlucky with filming this time round as we have had many issues involving our actors and we cannot find a time that suits everyone. Due to this, we have decided to change our storyboard in order to get everything done. Below are a few screen shots from our group chat on WhatsApp where we have discussed this issues. Nothing is settled as we are yet to make a final decision.

Filming Day 1 - problems

Yesterday was the first day of filming which we managed to successfully complete. Due to the rain affecting some of our shots, we still managed to get it all done within the time stated. as the sun kept coming in and out it made filming quite hard and due to this we had to keep changing the exposure on the camera. Below you can see the difference in shots as we have it up on Final Cut Pro to show the difference

    

Above you can see that the sky is very bright an you can barely see it.

Here is the edited version of the sky which you can see much better. This was done by correcting the exposure. 

Team Meeting

Today we had a team meeting and discussed the issues we were facing regarding actors and timings. We then came up with a date to film which will be on Wednesday 19th November. We will all be present and we intend to get the new scenes filmed. In the next blog post I will be uploading our new storyboard where we have included the new scenes that we will film. 

Team meeting

Due to unforeseen circumstances we were unable to film of the day that we said we would film on. This was Wednesday 5th November. We had another team meeting where we discussed the next available date to film. This will be next Wednesday which is the 12th November. We will be leaving college at 1.30pm to get to Stratford for a suitable time to set up all equipment. We will then meet Nathans brother and his friends who all have a part in the film. We hope to get the final fight scene done. We will then continue to edit.

Team Meeting

We have had a team meeting and have decided that we will film the remaining scene on the first week back from half term. That scene will only take us one day and after that we will be able to edit our film.

Filming Day 2 complete

We successfully filmed the scene of Nathans house on Monday 20th October. We managed to get filming done under two hours. We managed to film quickly and get everything done in the time that we needed as we followed the storyboard in order compared to the Olympic Park scene where we didn't follow the order of the storyboard. We will soon discuss when we will film the remaining scene of the alley way.

Research & Planning

Filming Day 2 (final plan)

We have all decided to film on Monday 20th October. This is the day that Nathans mum is off from work she she will be available all day to film. Due to all of our timetables being different, we all start and finish at different times. Therefore, we will all have to be present at the filming at different times. We will all be there but some more than others. Nathan will be there for the whole filming session and myself and Billie will be there for a little while. We hope to finish this scene on Monday as it is quite short and only involves a little bit of dialogue. 

We will then plan to film our last session which is the alleyway scene. This will not be too difficult to organise as we will only need Nathans brother and his 3 friends who are our actors. 

Team Meeting

Filming Day 2- Change of plan

We were meant to film yesterday but due to Nathans mum being at work, his brother at school, and no response from his friends which are our other 3 characters who will be shown in the alleyway scene, we have decided to cancel filming as it cannot possibly be done without all characters present.

We will now have to decide on another day where we are all free and can film. We also have to work around Nathans mum and brother. Ensuring that they are available to film.

Filming Day 2- Plan

We have booked the  dslr's for Wednesday 15th October. We will meet up after college at 2.30pm and make our way to Nathan's house where the alley way is a 1 minute walk away. We hope to film both of these scenes.

Filming Day 1 - Pictures

We successfully filmed the Olympic Park scenes on Saturday within 4 hours. There were no problems relating to security when we were there.  We filmed according to plan however we didn't film in order. We was meant to start filming from the road first but then we decided that it would be better to do that last as their would be more traffic which is what we were filming. 

We started off filming the walking scene where we all got a chance to film including Nathan as you can see below. He was filming the view from his eyes. ( The Canal down below) 

Here is Nathan filming. 

The is the part where we filmed Nathan walking on the bridge from below. There were minor problems when filming this as the lighting kept changing as it went cloudy and sunny within minutes. We also had to zoom in to film Nathan as we couldn't see him that well in the film shot. 

Myself and Billie both had a chance to film this scene. As it started to rain we had to protect the camera as the lens would get wet and rain drop marks would appear on the scene. This happened to us in the first shoot so we had to re film this part. 

Here is Billie filming the shot above. As you can see it is sunny but it is raining. 

This was the next scene where we show Nathan walking towards the camera. 

We decided to change one of our scenes. We were filming Nathan sitting on the bench but wanted to make the shot a little different as most of our shots were long shots or mid shots. On this particular scene we decided to film in the trees and then move the leaves when we were ready to show him.

As we were in the trees we want to create a focus pull effect. However this became difficult as we had problems with the camera. We soon sorted it out after much changing. 

Behind this was the bench that we were filming where Nathan was going to sit. We also decided to create a sense of resemblance to something else. Nathan was wearing a ring, so we decided to include something about the ring which would relate to his brothers killing.

The last scene that we filmed was where we had to film the traffic and amongst the traffic on the other side of the pavement was Nathan walking. We had to take extra care when filming this scene.As you can see from the picture me and Billie are both in the middle of the road in the part where there are plants and pebbles. We had to take extra care when filming the road as their was traffic every second.  

Filming Day 1- Plans Changed

On Saturday 11th October myself and my group met up up as we were going to film the alley way scenes and the scene at Nathans house. Due to problems with the actors we were unable to film those scenes. We decided to film the Olympic Park scenes and leave the other scenes for Wednesday 15th October.

Equipment Booking Form 2

Here is our second booking form for the camera and tripod. We are planning to film the Olympic Park scenes on Wednesday 15th October :

Change of plan

Originally we were going to film on Saturday 11th October to film our scenes from the alley way and Nathans house. However, due to the change in weather it will be difficult for us to film the alleyway scenes on saturday as it will be raining all day, as you can see below:

We have decided to just film the indoor scenes as we will not be affected by the weather and the re-schedule the alleyway scenes for a later date. 

Filming Day 1 -Plan

We are planning to film the first part of our short film on Saturday 11th October. We have planned to meet up at Stratford Station from where we will make our way to the alley way and Nathans house, which is where the filming will take place.

Meetup Time: 11.00am

Wrap Time: 4.00pm

Depending on circumstances, filming will more or less last 4 and a half hours.

Within this time, we plan to film the group mugging in the alley way near Nathans house. We also plan to film the scenes of Nathan and his mother having an argument and then kicking him out.

The next scene will be him making his way towards the bridge.

The next time we will film will be Wednesday 15th October.

Equipment Booking Form

Here is the form we have filled in to take out the camera and tripod on Friday to film on Saturday:

Call Sheets

Here our our two call sheets which have bee completed: 

Talent Release Form

Here is our talent release form, this was my one of our actors parent to sign as he is under the age of 16. 

Storyboard

Here is the storyboard that we created. Altogether there are ten pages and we have done a step by step of the different shots that we will take. This will make it easier for us to film as we can look at this and film the shots. 

 Above is the shots where Nathan will be walking on the pavement alongside traffic. We will also show the different body movements that he will do.

The next 6 shots above show Nathan sweating as he thinks about what happened. We will then go to a flashback of him and his brother . 

The next 6 shots show Nathan walking and the encounter with the group of boys. 

The 6 shots above show Nathan and his brother getting into a fight with the group where he is pushed to the group and is unable to help his brother. 

Here you can see that Nathans brother has been badly attacked. 

The next shots show Nathans brother dead with blood coming out of his head. This will be done by fake blood that we will  buy. It will then go to the present and show Nathan frustrated and then go back to a flashback showing him helpless. 

The next shots show you that we are out of the flashback and it is him entering the olympic park with long shots, cutting on action, close ups, and mid shots. 

Here you will see him near the bridge and then a flashback of him talking to his mum. 

Above is a continuation of the flashback where his mum kicks him out. We are then going to film a scene with Nathan feeling lonely and sitting along in the park on a bench. 

Above you can see how helpless he is and you will see him walking towards the bridge.

In the scene above which is the last scene you will see him climb up onto the bridge, we will then end the film there.