1. Personal Achievement

For our A2 prelim task, we are remaking the music video 'Girls' by The 1975.

What do you personally want to get out of the whole A2 prelim experience?

From this prelim I would personally like to gain more confidence in performing, especially in front of a camera. I would also love to gain the experience of working with a large cast and crew. This music video remake is the largest project I have worked on to date, and it will be exciting to work alongside people who are currently working in different sections of the industry.

Is it a challenge for you or within your comfort zone?

Performing in a task like this is out of my normal comfort zone and so it will prove a challenge; however, after the performance session we all had, I was more comfortable with it and got used to it a bit more.

Have you achieved/learnt anything so far?

So far I have learnt the basic differences between shooting a music video and shooting a film opening, and the way in which the shoot is organised and prepared for. I have also learnt the basics to lip synching by doing our audition videos and our 4 hour performance session with out performance coach.

2. My Role

Describe your role, how you feel about it

My main role in the video is as one of the three photography girls, whilst she is not playing in the band. I am happy with this role as it is quite a fun part ,without having the pressure of being one of the band girls and doing the lipsynching. 

I also have some small miscellaneous parts, like holding the cigarettes in my mouth and the pink milk pouring from my mouth.

What does the performance actually consist of?

I have to pose and dance around a little bit with a guitar, and generally look like I'm having fun on the set, without having to do any lip synching or serious playing.

Is this a challenge for you, or something within your comfort zone?

It's not a particularly challenging role, however it might be a bit daunting performing in front of the cast and crew as I'm doing my part on my own, and not with a whole band of girls. But I think the performance session improved my confidence levels and hopefully will help on the day of the shoot.

3. My Costume

Describe or list the specific costume/look you are aiming for:

My costume brief for this shoot is basically to dress all in black, with either a black dress, or a black top and skirt perhaps. I will also need a black leather jacket to wear on top, and black high heels as well.

Do you have the items you need or are you planning to beg/borrow? is there anything that may need to be bought?

I have lots of black clothes but I'm not sure if I have any that will suit the style of the shoot, and I don't currently have a black leather jacket but I should hopefully be able to borrow one for the shoot. I have a pair of heels that should be okay as well so I won't need to buy those.

In one of the miscellaneous shots, one of the models holds different coloured sobrani cigarettes in her mouth, which was added to the prop list and will be bought in time for the shoot.

1) Evaluation: Did you enjoy the workshop day? What were your best bits and why?

I really enjoyed the workshop day, even though it was such a long and tiring day, the attitudes of all the cast and crew helped to create a vibrant and positive atmosphere to work in. It was a really interesting experience to work alongside ex-students from Latymer who are now professionals in the industry, such as Dom our director, in a professional environment that we created in our studio. It was exciting to see how different departments and roles come together on set; like the make-up department, the runners, the camera work and the lighting.

Dom - our director, in discussion with our camera op on set.

One of my favorite parts of being on set was getting to watch the cast perform on the big screen which was set up to allow everyone to see what was being seen through the camera lens. Watching everyone perform on the screen was also useful because it meant that the smaller details in the scene could be seen more clearly, allowing changes to be made to make everything as precise as possible. It was good for the rest of the cast to be able to watch each other perform and cheer eachother on while they were performing.

It was cool to see how the make-up and hair department works, and it was really fun to have my make-up done by a professional. I didn't realise how much attention to detail is paid by the make-up artists to replicate the make-up of the girls in the real video, onto the cast in our remake.

Alice getting her hair and make-up done before her role on set as a photography scene girl.

2) Evaluation: What have you learnt from participating in each of the prelim tasks?

Task 1 - The Audition Video

The first part of our task was to record our own audition video, edit it and upload it onto youtube. At first I was really aprehensive but this was a really helpful process as it helped me to relax in front of the camera and gain a little bit of confidence which came useful on the real shoot day.

This task also taught me how to lipsync which was a good skill to learn, which may be useful for our music videos next year. However, my part in this music video didn't require a lipsyncing part. It also taught us how to edit a video so it was in sync with the music.

The gif above shows a clip of the male lead character, who had lots of scenes that involved lip-syncing in the music-video and how we synced it up during editing to match the original video.


Task 2 - Learn and practice your performance

All of the cast and some of the crew members took part in a performance session, led by a performance coach, which helped us to relax with each other, and get into our roles well. It gave me a boost of confidence which I definitely needed for the shoot.

Task 3 - Help to plan and organise your costume

A lot of the costumes that the girls wear in the video were viewed as inappropriate for us to wear, so we made adjustments but kept the colour scheme and the themes the same, especially for the girls in the band and in the photography scene, like my own character.

                                             


Everyone chipped in, and we begged, borrowed and stole from each other to put together outfits that were close matches to those in the real video.

Task 4 - The shoot

The shoot day was an entirely new experience for me, and was unlike any filming I had done beforehand.There was a much larger cast and crew than I had filmed with on projects before this so it was interesting to see how everyone came together to create the final product.

                         

The shoot day was a really useful way for practising our time keeping skills. I learnt which ways worked best for organising a shoot and keeping to a relatively strict schedule. This is something I find difficult generally, so this task was especially useful as it gave me some experience for when it comes to organising our own music video next year.

3) Evaluation: Are you pleased with the footage and your edit? Is it how you expected it to look?

I think that the footage looks really great, and I am really proud of what we managed to achieve when we all worked together on the shoot day. The shots that we got are reflective of the amount of work we all put into the shoot. Everyone looked really great with hair, make-up and costume and completey comfortable infront of the camera. Although I don't like how I look in the footage I am glad I had the chance to perform in front of a camera, which is something I would never usually do.

Yssy in full hair, make-up and costume ready to film.

The pool girls, ready in their costumes before their scene.

The video is better than I expected it to look, the sets looked a lot closer to the original than I thought they would as some of the shots were quite complex. It was vital that everyone worked together and gave their full effort, so the video looked as best as it could.

The poolside scene all set up and ready to be filmed on.

I'm really happy with the response some of the edits have received already, even just a week after they were posted onto YouTube, one of them has reached almost 2,000 views. We have also found that someone we don't know has posted the video on Tumblr, and it has been liked/reblogged over 500 times so far! This shows the possibilities that the internet holds for a video like ours to go viral. People from as far away as Australia and Alaska have been watching our video and have left great feedback, encouraging their friends to watch it too!

The 3 pictures above show some of the feedback and comments we have received so far.

4) Evaluation - How do you think your prelim experiences will impact on your approach to next term's music video coursework?

The skills I learnt through lipsynching will help me a lot in our music video next year if I have a part which requires singing. This will save time in the rehearsal process leading up to the shoot as I will already have experience in learning how to lipsynch and will help to make the video look authentic.

The role of boot girl required some lipsynching, as well as the role of Matty.

One of the most useful things I have observed and learnt throughout this process is the importance of organisation and time keeping, not only during a shoot, but in the weeks leading up to it. This will have a huge impact on the way I work and go about tasks in my coursework next year as this is an issue I usually struggle with.

The sheets on the wall in the background, had lists of cast/crew/call times/ and shot by shot shoot boards to help organise the day.

The audition and casting process was completely new to me, and is not something I had encountered before so I especially had a lot to learn from this aspect of the experience. This will be useful when it comes to creating my own music video next year when I will have my own say in who is cast for each role, instead of our director and producer. Creating our audition videos was quite a daunting task for me at the beginning of the process, but once it was over I felt more confident with myself. This will have a positive impact on the music video shoot I do next year, and I will be more willing to be in the video than I would have prior to this task.


This was the first time I had ever worked with such a large cast and crew on set, and was a very different working environment to what I am normally used to, where previously I have worked in groups of 4 max.

Hair department in action.

This will be extremely useful to me when I have to work in another large group in our music video next year, where different departments come together; such as the lighting department, the cast, the makeup and hair department, the camera ops etc etc.- where it's important to create a fun and hard working atmosphere for everyone involved, as the shoot days are usually long and tiring.

Members of the crew working up on the lighting desk.

Set design was a crucial aspect into the making of the video.

 This process has also taught me how important communication is between the different departments, especially the director.

Our director, Dom, taking a quick break on set.

Kill Your Darlings - Case Study - Using the Internet to Promote a MovieRelease in the UK

BFI page

I found some information on the BFI website about the film and it also gave links to where you could buy tickets to watch the film in the cinema. It targets film fanatics and educated people who are familiar with the British Film Institute. It is of interest to people who are interested in film and Daniel Radcliffe fans in particular as his name is also included in the title of the page. If BFI have recognised the film enough to promote it then many film watchers and cinema goers (especially those who love indie films) will be attracted to this film and it will create a discussion amongst people online. The page showed stills and a trailer of the film. 

Daily Mail Article

This article in the Daily Mail Online reaches a very wide audience - the general public who use the internet. The title of this article especially draws in any Daniel Radcliffe and Harry Potter fans as both are mentioned in the title. This article spreads word about the film to millions of people - not just a niche market. It gets people talking and creates excitement and awareness of the film. The people reading this article are more likely more interested in Daniel Radcliffe and his celebrity status than they are in the film itself which is why Radcliffe's role in Kill Your Darlings is so vital to the success of the film.

Daniel Radcliffe Fan Page

This is a below the line promotion of the film as it is a website set up by Daniel Radcliffe fans for his other fans to read all about what he has been getting up to lately. This page creates a lot of excitement among hardcore fans as they get to see behind the scenes images and stills from the film. On this page they  can also see all of Daniel's upcoming TV/Radio appearances e.g The Graham Norton Show / slots on BBC Radio 1.

 

 

 

 

This is a picture of the last title image of the film which I went to see at the cinema on Wednesday 10th of December, a few days after its release. I saw it at the Cineworld in Enfield, a large 15 screen cinema with an IMAX. There were a few hundred seats in our screening but it was far from full up, there were probably about 20 people inside the screening, all (apart from us) being adults, and some going alone.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug - Case Study - Using The InternettoPromote a Movie Release in the UK.

The Hobbit's UK Facebook Page

The UK Facebook page for The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug is the same UK facebook page that was used for the first Hobbit film which shows it targets existing fans of The Hobbit as well as maintaining a global audience - focusing on the UK via this page. It is an example of both above and below the line marketing as the institution are paying someone within their company to update the page but facebook is free to use and is free for people to access, like, share and interact with. This is a valuable marketing tool as it reaches mass amounts of people, it is easily shared and is easy to update. It has the possibility of going viral online and is full of short form content.


News of The Hobbit: Fan Event

This was a page I found that was an online article about a Fan Event coming up. It included lots of information about the event, it included a film poster and a YouTube clip about the event. It targets fans of films/games/tv shows - (media geeks some might say).

This is the YouTube video about the event:

The fan event is targeted at hardcore Hobbit fans - it is above the line marketing as it is hosted by MGM and New Line studios. It links to cinemas on a live feed in cinemas in 4 host cities - London, NYC, LA and Wellington - creating a UK audience as well as a strong global audience.

The even creates a hype and hysteria in the build up to the films release and gets people talking about it. It is something special for proper fans of the film who would gain much enjoyment from an event like this!


Hobbit Competition with Feel Good Drinks

This is a competition linked with The Hobbit and Feel Good Drinks in order to promote both the drinks company and the film. It is targeted at over 16s in the UK and may especially interest adults who have young children. It creates a friendly, family vibe around the film and spreads awareness on a large scale.

Front of House Cinema Advertisement:



On-Screen Advertisements (inside the cinema)


Although this picture is not so clear to see, it is a photo I took of the screens in the cinema foyer which show up coming films, a short trailer for The Hobbit was playing whilst I was in the queue to buy tickets for Kill Your Darlings.

Another Outdoors Advertisement



This advertisement was hard to see on the phone screen as it was so bright yet so dark outside so me and Maisie joined in on the media outing fun and took an obligatory selfie! (despite some odd looks from passers by.)

Indoors - large scale advertisement



Although it is not so clear in this picture, the entire upstairs side of the building where the windows normally are, was covered in a huge vinyl sticker/poster of The Hobbit including the famous faces of some of the cast members. It had the release date printed in large numbers also, attracting cinema customers to return to the cinema in a couple of weeks time to see The Hobbit.

Apps Associated with The Hobbit
 

On the App Store on my iphone I was looking at apps associated with the title 'The Hobbit' and this was the first app to come up. It's an app created by Kabam where you can take part in a virtual battle for Middle earth along side thousands of other players worldwide. It reaches a global audience and allows fans to play and interact with each other from all over the world.

The Second App:

This was was the second app that appeared in my search on the Apple App Store, made by Warner Bros. It's an app just for a bit of silly fun, created as a camera editing application to make yourself / your friends look like an elf from the movie. Using Orlando Bloom as the front cover photo for the app will attract many people to download the app as he is a very recognisable person.

I felt that it was not right that I tried out te app myself and this was the result...

Both of the apps I looked at were free to download for iPhone users, but as people will use these apps with friends, it spreads word of mouth about the film. Also, with the second app - once you have turned yourself into an elf you are then asked wether you would like to upload it onto Facebook/ Twitter/ Tumblr - instantly creating a wider audience.

Kill Your Darlings: 10 Quick Questions

Kill Your Darlings - Case Study 4

1. UK release date?
Thursday 19th December 2013

2. Institutions behind the film's production and distribution?
 Sony Pictures Classic

3. What's the film's production budget?
Shoe-string budget

4. Nationality of the film?

United States


5. What kind of production is it?
 Biographical Drama Film

6. Any connection with other films?
No

7. Who's the director?
John Krokidas

8. Any star names in the cast?
Daniel Radcliffe

9. What's the film about?
The relationships of the Beat Poets surrounding the mysterious death of David Kammerer, in paticular Allen Ginsberg and Lucien Carr

10. Who will this film appeal to?
Those with an interest in literature and history. Fans of the drama genre.

The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug 10 Quick Questions

The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug - Case Study 3

1. UK release date?
    December 13th 2013

2. Institutions behind the film's production and distribution?
   
 Production:

• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)
• New Line Cinema
• WingNut Films

Distribution:

• Cocinsa (2013) Nicaragua 
• Forum Hungary (2013) Hungary
• Warner Bros. Entertainment (2013) Canada
• Warner Bros. (2013) Germany
• Warner Bros. (2014) Japan 
• Warner Bros. (2013) Netherlands
• Warner Bros. (2013) Singapore 
• Warner Bros. (2013) USA)

3. What's the film's production budget?
    $250,000,000, funded by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and New Line Cinema


4.  Nationality of the film?
     American

5. What kind of production is it?
    A big budget Hollywood blockbuster

6. Any connection with other films?
    The prequel to the film - The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey as well as the Lord Of The Rings trilogy.


7. Who's the director?
    Peter Jackson

8. Star names in the cast?

• Benedict Cumberbatch 
• Martin Freeman 
• Orlando Bloom 
• Cate Blanchett
• Ian McKellen 
• Stephen Fry 
• Andy Serkis 

9. What's the film about?

The film continues the adventures of the title character Bilbo Baggins as he journeys with the Wizard           Gandalf and thirteen Dwarves, led by Thorin Oakenshield on an epic quest to reclaim the lost Dwarf            Kingdom of Erebor.

10. Who will this film appeal to?
This film will appeal to fans of the first Hobbit film, Lord Of The Rings fans as well as fans of the books. It will attract families and young people alike, drawing in a wide range of people to watch it at the cinema.

Papa & Sons Case Study - Part 2

Question and Answer Session with Marcus Markou.

As a class we were fortunate enough to have the director of Papa & Sons - Marcus Markou - come into our lesson to hold a Q+A session with us which helped us learn a lot about the independent film industry and self-distribution in particular.

Here are some of the main things that I learnt from this session:

1. Before this lesson I wasn't aware of what a line producer was or what their role on set is and how they differ from a producer. Marcus explained how the line producer - Sarah Butler had a major role in pre-production, figuring out all of the expenses for the film , going through the script line by line and coming up with the final budget. 
2. I also learnt about how a set works and how vital the co-operation of the cast and crew is to making the production run smoothly. By eliminating a hierarchy on set and setting himself as a prime example Marcus created a family-based and friendly working atmosphere which worked in his favor. It meant that cast and crew were much more willing to put more effort and time in to helping make the film whereas before they might not have.
3. I learned from this that it is possible to create a good advertising and marketing scheme on a low budget. Although using posters on the sides of buses and on billboards is a really effective way of reaching a mass market however there is still no better way of advertising than by word of mouth. By deciding his target audience of Greeks in London - he spoke to Greek churches and gave out flyers to spread the word throughout the Greek community and made appearances on Greek radio stations. Although having not spent very much on distribution, the film was very successful in it's first week in cinema. 
4. To get the actors he wanted for the film he had to use methods of persuasion and use his connections in the business to get his script out to the actors he most wanted to play the characters he created. Lots of agents would try to stop an independent film director from giving their script to an actor as it would not likely create a great income and therefore the agent will not earn much money from it either. Marcus Markou wanted to cast Stephen Dillane as the main role in the film - Harry Papadopoulos. At first he liked the script and wanted to play the role of Harry but due to filming clashes with Game Of Thrones he was unable to take the time to be in Papa And Sons. On hearing that Stephen's son was also an actor, Marcus asked his son to audition for the role of James Papadopoulous who was eventually given the part. After Stephen Dillane heard that his son was going to be in the film he called up the producers of Game Of Thrones and persuaded them to change the dates of filming so that he was able to be in Papa And Sons with his own son Frank. Their father and son roles in the film came across so well on screen because of their real relationship in life off-screen.
5. To create such a natural look for the film he got the actors to be more free with the way they went about acting out the scene. It was a much more fresh and creative approach to filming as the actors performed the scene in the way which they would usually act. Working alongside the Director of Photography he would then decide afterwards if there were any extra set-ups that they would like to add to the scene. 

Papadopoulos and Sons Case Study.

Papadopoulos and Sons is a British comedy-drama feature film written and directed by independent filmmaker Marcus Markou and self-distributed in the UK. The film was on a small budget of around £125k yet was a great success and is an even better example of how independent films on a small budget can still prove effective.

The film is about a British-Greek family living in London and is centred around Harry Papadopoulos, - played by Stephen Dillane - a multi-millionaire who at first seems more involved with business than with his own family. Following his downfall in the latest banking crisis, Harry reluctantly reunites with his brother, Spiros - who is played by Georges Coraface - to re-open the fish and chip shop they worked at together in their younger years. Towards the end of the film Harry comes to realise the importance of family and all ends well.

The film gained critical acclaim when it won the Audience Award at the Thessaloniki Film Festival in 2012. The film has also been showcased at other film festivals such as the Dinard British Film Festival (France), the Palm Springs International Film Festival (USA) and the Seattle Film Festival.
The film has an average rating of 6.9/10 on IMDB and received 82% positive feedback on Rotten Tomatoes and received a rating of 3/5 stars from media outlets such as The Gaurdian and and The Telegraph.

Most criticisms of the film were based around the predictable story-line, something that has been seen before. However, the charm and warmth along with the quality of actors made up for this entirely and the feel-good film seemed somewhat irresistible - joining the likes of other famous low-budget British films such as Bend It Like Beckham and East Is East.

Some interesting links related to the film and the director.

• Papa and Sons IMDB page
• Papa & Sons website

Sweded Project: The Dark Knight Rises

For this sweded project I was in a group of three with Mahalia and Alice and after some debate we decided to swede the popular Christopher Nolan film The Dark Knight Rises. As part of our marketing campaign we decided that making a trailer would be an effective way of spreading the word about our upcoming film.
We filmed our trailer at the same time as our film but we released the trailer onto our social networking pages the week before the release of the film.




Dark Swede Rises Twitter

We have also created a twitter page for our film to spread more news about the film and updates on filming, managing to gain over 300 followers over several days.

Another marketing technique we used was to create an effective and dramatic poster to make people around our school aware of the film and that it was something to look out for. I think that our poster looked really good and was a good representation of the film we created as well as staying close to the original.

Another extra clip that we filmed was an exclusive interview with our main three cast members all playing another character as the actor. For example, Gavin who played Batman played the role of a method actor in our interview and refused to believe that he was anyone but Batman himself.




Finally, the most important video of all - our finished swede:

THE DARK NIGHT RISES SWEDED FILM

To summarise this project I would like to add that I really enjoyed each aspect of creating a sweded film, especially the production of the main film itself. We came into school on a day which we had no lessons so that the school would be relatively empty which was useful as we had more space and time to film. I am really pleased with our final product and I thoroughly enjoyed this project and working with the members of my group.

Dexter Evaluation

 

Summarise the conventions of title sequences that were most important to this task.

Title sequences are important as they give credit to the people who worked hard to create the programme/film that you are about to watch. The rules behind title sequences are very strict and so it is important to give credit to all of the right people who were involved. It is also important to make the titles themselves look good, they cannot look as if they have just been placed on top of the image, they have to look like they are part of the scene, like they are supposed to be there. To achieve this, a clear and effective font has to be chosen which also represents the genre of the show.

How did your group plan to edit the title sequence? (consider timings, industry requirements etc.)

We tried to include as many titles as we could because usually they include up to 20 different titles; however, we had very limited time to complete this task and so we managed to do 5 titles. We chose a red font for our titles as we felt it matched the genre very well.

 Explain the creative decisions made by your group.

The main "Dexter" title is red so we chose to continue with this colour theme and we made all of our titles red as well. The colour red also made it clear to the audience that it was a thriller due to it's typical connotations with blood and death. We chose a simplistic and clear font so that the words were legible on top of the moving images. For some of our titles we had them so that they moved with the image, like when the tissue soaked up all of the blood, we made our titles fade away as the blood spread towards them. I thought this title was particularly effective.

 

How does your re-edit compare to the original?

I think that the original was much better than our re-edit as it included many more titles than our one did but we only had a very short amount of time and it was my first time doing a task like this and using the software we had to use. I think that if we had more time to complete our re-edit and do as many titles as the original had then it would have looked much better. The original titles were very professional-looking and stylish, they portrayed the genre instantly which is why the Dexter title scene is such a good one.

Sweded films.

A Sweded film is a low-budget remake of a well-known film where each scene is only shot once with minimal editing involved. Sweded films evolved from the film Be Kind Rewind, featuring Jack Black where the owners of a video rental store erased all of the video tapes and had to remake all of the films to give to their customers. As an excuse for higher rental fees and longer waiting times they had to say that the films were being shipped over from Sweden which is where the term "sweded" came from.

One of my favourite Sweded films is this remake of Inception because I think it was really well done yet still had comedic value. Their take on the special effects of the film were really creative and entertaining and I enjoyed watching it very much.

There are lots of good films that would be great to remake but our group decided almost immediately that we wanted to do a Swede of The Dark Knight. However, we found out that on YouTube there are already a few Sweded copies of this film so we are considering doing a Swede of The Dark Knight Rises, as this is a more recent film it is very recognisable and is widely popular, especially among people our age - who are our target audience.

Prelim task.

Our brief was to create a continuity sequence which involved filming and editing a character opening a door, crossing a room and sitting down in a chair opposite another character with whom she then exchanges a couple of lies of dialogue. We were supposed to demonstrate match on action, shot/reverse shot and the 180-degree rule.


Who did you work with and how did you manage the task between you?

For this prelim task I worked in a group of four with Gavin, Mahalia and Enya. Two of us were completely new to media and the other two were more experienced so we worked well in helping each other and bringing new and different ideas to the task. Gavin and Mahalia were our two actors in this sequence whilst Enya and I worked behind the camera. We all had a chance to use the camera and direct the scene, inputting different ideas for angles and movement within the shots. This was the first time I had used a camera to record a film so it was very new to me. We evenly shared out the responsibilities within the group and I feel that our group dynamics worked really well and the task ran smoothly.

How did you plan your sequence? What processes did you use? What theories did you try and take into account?

We planned our sequence by first deciding on a genre for our film and discussing a narrative which would best suit our brief that would also match our chosen genre (mock-thriller). After deciding how best to create a continuity sequence that fit our narrative we drew out a story board to help us visualise what each shot would look like, and who would feature in each shot. After we had established the order of our shots and the style and type of shooting each shot would need we had a group discussion about how well our sequence obeyed certain rules, such as the 180 degree rule, and how well our film would work as a continuity sequence once it was all filmed and put together. At this point in planning we would usually produce a shot list and a script however, we did not feel it was necessary to make either of these considering the fact that we only had two lines of dialogue and that our storyboard clearly showed what we were going to do. Before filming we went through our sequence, blocking what would happen in each scene. This helped us to visualise how we best wanted the shot to be set up.

The main theory we tried to take into account whilst filming this sequence was the method of continuity. I think that the continuity in our film was successful after the editing process. The group split into pairs to edit two versions of the film, I was paired with Gavin and I think that our edit flowed really well and there were no major jumps or glitches in the sequence.

What technology did you use to complete the task, and how did you use it?

The camera we used in this task was a Canon HV30 camera which for the most part of the sequence we mounted on to a tripod which enabled us to get steadier shots. We also used a shotgun microphone to pick up dialogue and Sennheiser headphones to help us check on the audio and see if the microphone was working properly. At some points in the task it was easier to use the camera hand held rather than on the tripod, especially in low angle shots where I had to lay on the floor to achieve the correct angled shot that we wanted.  The film was taped onto a mini DV tape and then uploaded onto a computer so we could import the footage into Cut Pro - a non linear editing programme. This is where we edited the clips so they were all the right length and there were no major jumps in the sequence and we had to arrange the clips so they were in the correct order on the timeline.
I hadn't used this software before and the film editing process was completely new to me, but after a brief tutorial it didn't take me too long to pick up the basics, with the help of my group.


4) What factors did you have to take into account when planning, shooting and editing?

There were different factors that we had to consider when planning, shooting and editing as there was a lot to think about during each process.

The factors that we had to take into account when planning were:

• The continuity of our sequence
• The setting of our shoot
• Timing, and organising a time to use the space in which we wanted to shoot so we did not clash with another group's filming
• Who was going to appear in each shot
• Our time limit, and getting all of our shots filmed and the whole sequence edited within the short amount of time we were given
• How well our narrative fit the brief

The factors that we had to take into account when we were shooting were:

• The shot types, the angles and the movement of the camera, not breaking the 180 degree rule
• Background movement - we had to ensure that there was no one in the back of our shots that we did not want there as this could ruin the scene and/or the atmosphere of the shot
• The sound - we had to ensure that the dialogue was picked up and that there was no interference with the sound. At first we had some issues with the microphone and headphones as we couldn't hear anything, only a loud buzzing noise but this problem was quickly resolved
• The narrative - we had to constantly refer to our storyboard to make sure that we didn't miss out on any shots and that the whole narrative flowed really well through each shot

The factors we took into account when we were editing our footage were:

• Continuity was the main factor we had to consider when we edited our sequence. We had to choose the best shots and ensure that they were cut to a good length so that they didn't jump or suddenly cut. We wanted the continuity sequence to flow as best as possible so that it didn't confuse our audience and kept to our brief.

5) How successful was your sequence? Please identify what worked well, and with hindsight, what would you improve.do differently?

I feel that our sequence was relatively successful and it flowed really well after we edited it. However, I think that our sequence didn't follow the brief particularly well as we did not include much dialogue; more of a statement and a reaction which probably doesn't qualify as a conversation. Nor did we have our actor opening a door, as it was already open when she came into shot. Also, our two characters did not sit down opposite each other. Although these are quite minor things, they were still a part of the brief and so we should have followed it more closely. I think that perhaps we got too carried away with other aspects of the sequence.

If we had more time then we could have added the sound effects that we had in mind when filming the sequence. This would make some of the scenes much more dramatic and aid us in projecting our genre which I don't think was shown amazingly well.

Having said all of this, I am overly very happy with our final product. It was the first film I have ever shot and I have lots of fun in doing so! The continuity of the film was successful and I am proud of the sequence that we created.


6) What have you learnt from completing this task? Looking ahead, how will this learning be significant when completing the rest of your foundation coursework, do you think?

 

I have learnt very much from doing this task as it was my first ever media film task. I have learnt the basics of how to use a camera, how to plan a shoot and how to edit a film. I think that this learning will be very significant for completing the rest of my foundation coursework as without it I would not know what to do. In the next task I will most probably look at the brief more closely and put more time and thought into the planning of our sequence.

Summarise your film idea. Provide a brief synopsis and outline what happens in your film opening.

Our film idea was focused on one particular school boy who suffers from a mental condition called paranoia - hence the film title. The opening scene of the film follows the boy's daily school routine, beginning with his entrance into school, moving on to him at his locker, walking through the corridors and sitting in the assembly hall, among other shots. At the start of the scene our main character comes across as an ordinary school boy, the shot is quite bright and the scene has a positive feel to it. As the scene progresses, the shots get darker and darker as the boy's mental state starts to deteriorate and this is shown with the cracking effect on the screen. The cracks and rough marks on the screen get gradually worse as the scene moves on and by the end of the scene the shot is covered in these rough marks. This shows that the paranoia has completely taken over the character and he is in a different mental state to the one he was in at the start of the scene. The final shot shows the title of the film, very fitting to the scene so far and this brings the opening scene to a nice finish and very clearly shows what the genre of the film is - a psychological thriller.

What kind of information has been included in your film opening?

In our film opening we included the opening credits which showed the names of the actors, the director and the producer, among other important roles in the making of a film. The film opening did not give too much away and left a sense of mystery and suspense to the character and his situation, however we do find out that he is psychologically troubled and is a very lonely boy in a school environment. As well as establishing our main character and the setting of the film, we also discover the genre of the film which was quite clearly shown to be a psychological thriller.

How do the titles link to the main film idea?

The font we chose for the titles was very rough-edged, grungy and cracked which linked in well to the rough crack effect we used on the screen. This emphasised the uneasy and unstable state of mind that our main character is in during the film. The titles were positioned into the scene rather than just stuck in the middle over the top of our shots. The bold font makes our titles much more integrated into the shot in a way that they can be clearly seen but yet do not detract from the action on screen.

Identify three things that you included in your grid that are important in the construction of an opening sequence and explain their role in understanding the film.

1. In our grid we included a wide range of shot types which made the opening scene much more interesting. We used mid shots, long shots, over the shoulder shots, and shots from directly above the character's head. These were all effective for different purposes and reasons; for example the long shots that we used, showed how alone and isolated he was with no one else around him.
2. The titles we used in our opening scene were very bold and they fitted in very well into our shots and they definitely helped to establish the genre of the film which helps the audience understand what type of film they are about to watch.
3. In our grid it was important to introduce the audience to our main character, it was important to do this as he was the only character included in our opening sequence which helps the audience to understand that the film will mainly revolve around him.

How effective is your project as a film opening?

I feel that our grid project was successful as a film opening considering the amount of time we had to come up with an idea, take the shots, edit and finish. The opening establishes the genre, the setting, the general mood to the film, a slight grasp of what sort of character we are dealing with and what sort of story is about to unfold.

Accident Sequence.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=S9AgwCGg35Q

What techniques did you specifically use to create continuity (narrative flow) in your accident sequence?

In this sequence we used a variety of shots including a Master Shot; it was a wide shot pan of the scene from our first character across to the other character. We used this shot to establish setting on the field and it helps the audience have a better understanding of where the characters are stood in relation to one another.

We also used Reverse Shots; for this we used extreme close ups of both of the characters' faces to show the emotion of each character and show the differences of character between the bold striker and the useless goal keeper.

To create a better narrative flow throughout the sequence we kept to the basic 180 degree rule which stopped us from crossing the line between the two characters in the scene.

Finally, we also used Match on Action in this sequence from when the ball was kicked by the striker in one shot out of the frame, to the next shot where it came back into the frame on the correct side so that it looked as if the ball really was flying in one smooth action.

In hindsight, what could you do to improve the continuity (narrative flow) of the sequence?

I think that for the most part this sequence had a good narrative flow considering it was a very short class task. However, looking back on the scene I would have perhaps taken out the first shot of the feet and maybe put it in further on in the scene as I feel this is the only shot that didn't seem to flow particularly well, and maybe sharpen up the ending but I think that the idea behind it worked very well.

Film opening scene- continuity sequence.

 

 

Trainspotting.

 

I have chosen to analyse the opening scene of Trainspotting as it is a very good example of a well constructed continuity sequence. Trainspotting is a British black comedy/drama film which was made in 1996, directed by Danny Boyle.

 

The main focus of the opening scene is our main character running through the town, away from some policemen. It is effectively, a chase scene. It is a scene from later on in the film but it was used in the opening scene to foreshadow what happens later on in the film. We are introduced to the characters with close ups of their faces and their feet, these shots show us that they are running away from someone/something and have probably committed a crime as they have objects flying from their pockets. There is a tracking shot in this scene which makes it clear to us as an audience which character is the main focus and who is talking in the voiceover. As we are introduced to the characters the shot freezes on their profile and their name appears on the frame so we can tell which character is which. This helps a lot with clarifying the main group of characters from the very beginning and assists with the narrative flow.

The setting changes to a football pitch where most of the characters are playing a game which is a good way of introducing a group of characters at the same time. The camera moves to follow the players as they try to play football. The cuts in this scene have been continually fast paced which is then suddenly changes to a panning shot of the main character laying on the floor in the empty apartment. In this scene, the main character (Ewan MacGregor) is very chilled out which creates a very relaxed atmosphere which grows to be a very uneasy and negative atmosphere towards to the end of the scene when it becomes clear to us that his drug habit has lead to him having a wasteful and seemingly pointless existence.