Since i can't figure out how to attach a word document or turn it into a pdf without downloading some programme, I'm just going to copy and paste it here:
After being put into groups, we sorted out our roles for the production. It was quickly decided that Storm would be the producer, Owen would be the camera man and create the poster, and I would be director and editor. Once roles were sorted out, Owen and Storm came up with a great idea for our short project; having a woman getting a phone call about her husband and going to see him in a morgue, only to have him wake up and complain to her. In the end the audience would find out it was only a dream she was having whilst in the waiting room.
Once the idea had been sorted out, they informed me on the genre so I could start some research. I got information about comedy shows and movies, and also researched morgues and hospitals a bit. In the mean time, the others worked on completing the storyboard. we got together in a free to discuss the script and what changes there should be to it. We also thought about who our actors could be. It has already been decided that Philipa would be the female role. Storm got a male actor to be the doctor, and I managed to convince Conan to be our main male actor.
Storm asked me to find a morgue to film in, though looking around for places in Peterborough, found the only place that I could get any information on was an abandoned hospital/morgue. It would have been great, but it was far too dangerous to record in, so i text her about filming in a hospital instead. I got a few possible hospitals and contact details, and contacted the Fitzwilliam hospital in the end. They said they would reply within 48 hours for our enquiry - but didn't get back to us. Luckily, Storm knew of a good room to use in the Leisure centre since she works there. I went with her that lesson so she could ask permission, and she later filled out the risk assessment paperwork for it.
We had planned to film on a Monday, (as did quite a few groups) and told all our actors to be prepared, but had to call it off last minute, since our teacher wasn't there and there seemed to be a problem with the HD cameras and SD cards not being sorted out. We filmed the next day instead, and managed to get our actors there on time. Filming went well, Storm had set up some of the 6th form chairs in the Leisure centre to make it look more like a waiting room - we took them back the morning after - and we set up a bed for Conan to lay on.
Owen filmed the different shots that were on the storyboard, and the actors did a great job at performing their roles, especially Philipa. After discovering our teacher had an emergency operation so suddenly and not told any of us he was out the whole week we found we had an extra week for our production, so formatted the footage and got it onto a computer on Thursday.
Editing was a little tricky, as Storm and Owen didn't know how to use the software, and I only knew the basics. (Luckily a month prior to editing I had watched some tutorials since the workshop sir said he'd do wasn't on as he wasn't it.) We went through the clips together, deciding which ones we could use and white were useless due to wrong lines or laughter. we got that done quite quickly, and then went for lunch.
The next day, the others were ill, so I edited on my own, cutting the clips together as well as I could. I tried to save the clips and the project film on my memory stick to edit at home, but every time I tried to download adobe premiere trial, something went wrong and it refused t download onto my computer. Instead, I tried starting from scratch and editing on Sony Vegas to see if it's look any better. (I was more focused on trying to mask out a small error with continuity editing, but it didn't seem to be going very well.)
On Tuesday, we were planning on meeting up in our 4th lesson (a free) and checking over the project. To make sure it had saved OK on my memory stick I went in near the start of lunch to find all of our original footage had gone offline, and whenever I tried importing the original mpeg files an error occurred. I spent that lunch re-doing editing and putting back the clips we had used. By the end of lunch it was back to where it was, ready for Storm and Owen to see. We decided on the start audio, but then got annoying at the background noise of the dialogue. We added the beeping of hospital equipment in the background, but adobe was frustrating to use and wouldn't let us soften it enough, so it took your attention away from the actual dialogue.
We also tried taking out the audio when someone wasn't talking, to try and get rid of the bad continuity with background noise. (There were people taking a swimming class in the other room and you could hear them through recording.) Though when we removed audio and made parts silent, it didn't sound right at all, so we decided to deal with the background noise since we're not professionals, don't know how to get rid of it, and can't re-film the whole thing. In hopes of distracting the audience though, we tried adding a background track of Taylor Swift, last kiss.
After editing was done, Storm set to work on creating a PowerPoint presentation for us to show to the class on Friday, while we tried to sort out updating our blogs - but it seems the blogs were pretty useless as in the end no one n the class could get onto theirs.
I'll upload a copy of our video tomorrow, the Internets being too slow to upload the video atm.
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Conversation about plot
Gemma and I were discussing more about the plot on msn. After some research Gemma suggested a cluedo style plot, and we had a little conversation about that. (both instantly knowing Scarlet would be our femme fetal character.)
The images of the convoersating are on my media photobucket account with the guest password being sawtry : http://s1214.photobucket.com/albums/cc482/Media_5067/Pre%20Production/?action=view¤t=Convo2pt1.jpg
The images of the convoersating are on my media photobucket account with the guest password being sawtry : http://s1214.photobucket.com/albums/cc482/Media_5067/Pre%20Production/?action=view¤t=Convo2pt1.jpg
Research of openings and titles
Here is a list of some openings I have watched over the past two days, and my thoughts and notes on the conventions, titles and set up used for each.
1: The Third Man (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4JpDUMXBqo)
This opens with a close up of some vibrating zither strings. White titles use a cross fade, with most of the font closely resembling a font called 'BatangChe' that's on my computer. The music used is quite cheery, and reminds me of spongebob a bit.
In my opinion the title sequence used is rather boring and uses very plain font. The image doesn't change at all, and doesn't establish anything about the movie that you're about to watch. The font is one that also reminds me of a default setting, plain and simple.
The voice over has an American accent, a typical convention for film noir films, and the narrative tells you a bit about the setting of Vienna. The scene opens with a simple title int eh centre saying "Vienna" layered over a shot of the city. This if followed by closeups of different landmarks and sights, soon focusing on the black market.
All in all, i think this opening is quite dull and rather boring - the titles and editing don't catch my attention, and the narrative hasn't established any sort of mysterious plot line as of yet.
2: Touch Of Evil (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yg8MqjoFvy4)
In the first few minutes, no titles are used. They let you see the first scene to establish the types on things that will happen. The very shirt shot is a close up of a man setting a homemade bomb and planting it in the back of someones car. I think this is great in terms of narrative, since it lets you straight into some action and keeps you on the edge of your seat, waiting and wondering when the time bomb will go off.
Also, they use a greatly lit shot of the mans silhouette running against the wall. It adds to the mystery and makes him look quick and stealthy, almost like an assassin.
The camera is then tracker ahead of the bombed car, following it's route and letting you see the city a bit. Whilst doing this, you see many hints to the time era not only in the music playing in the car, which is quite jazzy, but also in the costumes and actions. Men are walking around in hats and suits, finalised with long trench coats. There is also a man with a heard of goats in the middle of the road - which you wouldn't see in modern times. Also, there are no traffic lights, there are officers directing traffic, like they did 50 odd years ago. Past the crowd near the end, we finally hear some characters talking, and have an obvious American accent - letting us know the time era and the approximate location that the movie is set in.
Compared to the first opening, i think this one is much more interesting, even though you don't see any titles it works, since it gives you no hints as to what may happen - it just drops you straight into probably the first act of evil that is taken place in the movie.
3: Sunset Boulevard (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9TIDthcIHU)
The camera tilts down and reveals the title in a really creative way. It's stenciled onto a sidewalk, just like you would expect in the streets of America. The camera then moves and travels down the street with the white text clear against it. The text is tilted, so it looks like it could be written on the road. The font used is similar to the 'Stencil std' font. This gives it a painted on effect like the street sign, but also reminds me of gangsters and mobs.
The music accompanying it is very mysterious, and gradually builds up to when it is revealed that a murder has taken place. It sounds quite orchestral with the use of drums, trumpets and string instruments such as violins.
We are shown a variety of police, homicide squadron and media vehicles travelling down the road to the crime scene, and a voice over of, most likely, a detective explaining the situation. He's calm and level headed, and quite precise, reminding me of one of the lone hero character stereotypes. He talks to the audience, really involving you in the crime and mystery.
Whilst the scene is being set with his narrative, we see clips fading into one another, showing us some tall palm trees that you would expect to see in ares such as L.A or Hollywood.
I like the editing and shots used in this opening, it's interesting and lets you know exactly what the movie your about to watch is going to be about.
1: The Third Man (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4JpDUMXBqo)
This opens with a close up of some vibrating zither strings. White titles use a cross fade, with most of the font closely resembling a font called 'BatangChe' that's on my computer. The music used is quite cheery, and reminds me of spongebob a bit.
In my opinion the title sequence used is rather boring and uses very plain font. The image doesn't change at all, and doesn't establish anything about the movie that you're about to watch. The font is one that also reminds me of a default setting, plain and simple.
The voice over has an American accent, a typical convention for film noir films, and the narrative tells you a bit about the setting of Vienna. The scene opens with a simple title int eh centre saying "Vienna" layered over a shot of the city. This if followed by closeups of different landmarks and sights, soon focusing on the black market.
All in all, i think this opening is quite dull and rather boring - the titles and editing don't catch my attention, and the narrative hasn't established any sort of mysterious plot line as of yet.
2: Touch Of Evil (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yg8MqjoFvy4)
In the first few minutes, no titles are used. They let you see the first scene to establish the types on things that will happen. The very shirt shot is a close up of a man setting a homemade bomb and planting it in the back of someones car. I think this is great in terms of narrative, since it lets you straight into some action and keeps you on the edge of your seat, waiting and wondering when the time bomb will go off.
Also, they use a greatly lit shot of the mans silhouette running against the wall. It adds to the mystery and makes him look quick and stealthy, almost like an assassin.
The camera is then tracker ahead of the bombed car, following it's route and letting you see the city a bit. Whilst doing this, you see many hints to the time era not only in the music playing in the car, which is quite jazzy, but also in the costumes and actions. Men are walking around in hats and suits, finalised with long trench coats. There is also a man with a heard of goats in the middle of the road - which you wouldn't see in modern times. Also, there are no traffic lights, there are officers directing traffic, like they did 50 odd years ago. Past the crowd near the end, we finally hear some characters talking, and have an obvious American accent - letting us know the time era and the approximate location that the movie is set in.
Compared to the first opening, i think this one is much more interesting, even though you don't see any titles it works, since it gives you no hints as to what may happen - it just drops you straight into probably the first act of evil that is taken place in the movie.
3: Sunset Boulevard (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9TIDthcIHU)
The camera tilts down and reveals the title in a really creative way. It's stenciled onto a sidewalk, just like you would expect in the streets of America. The camera then moves and travels down the street with the white text clear against it. The text is tilted, so it looks like it could be written on the road. The font used is similar to the 'Stencil std' font. This gives it a painted on effect like the street sign, but also reminds me of gangsters and mobs.
The music accompanying it is very mysterious, and gradually builds up to when it is revealed that a murder has taken place. It sounds quite orchestral with the use of drums, trumpets and string instruments such as violins.
We are shown a variety of police, homicide squadron and media vehicles travelling down the road to the crime scene, and a voice over of, most likely, a detective explaining the situation. He's calm and level headed, and quite precise, reminding me of one of the lone hero character stereotypes. He talks to the audience, really involving you in the crime and mystery.
Whilst the scene is being set with his narrative, we see clips fading into one another, showing us some tall palm trees that you would expect to see in ares such as L.A or Hollywood.
I like the editing and shots used in this opening, it's interesting and lets you know exactly what the movie your about to watch is going to be about.
Saturday, December 11, 2010
Research
I started with searching on YouTube for some film noir clips. In the search another schools AS media student's work came up.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13WXDQ54AQ4&feature=related
Though I'm not sure what rules their class was set, i analysed it comparing it to the conventions we were given and found by watching a film noir opening in class.
Film noir is set in the early 40's / late 50's. In their production you can see modern day cars on the road, and see a flat screen computer- which they definitely wouldn't of had 50 years ago.
Though there have been one or two film noir movies done in colour, they are generally produced in black and white - which this group didn't do.
On the topic of colour, the lighting used was terrible. It obviously wasn't thought about since no interesting shadows or lighting on the characters face was used at all.
The costumes used were more appropriate, like the use or the suit and hat worn by the main male lead. But, in terms of characters, the only reason I could tell who the femme fetal was because of the bright red lipstick. The mise en scene used to differentiate characters was greatly lacking, and the narrative was also confusing and quite thin.
With the technical aspects, there were too many different camera shots used. Film noir is meant to stick with simplistic, but beautifully lit shots and also use no hand held camera. It is obvious that throughout their production handheld was used.
As a last point, the titles used were red on black. In film noir the titles are usually white with a captivating font, on a layer above some footage establishing the scene.
On the other hand, a second project i found on youtube was shot quite professionally.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hm3zycmbt_w&feature=related
The titles at the start may not have been appropriate for a film noir movie, but it was about the only thing i could find wrong with it.
The costumes used were excellent, really setting out the investigators character. The whiskey and the cigarette were a great touch which helped set the mise en scene as well.
I really loved the lighting and shadows created, it gave it a real film noir vibe and could probably pass as an actual opening. The camera shots used were lovely and appropriate, i especially loved the close up of the whiskey bottle sliding onto the table. It was beautifully set up and just worked so well in the final production.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13WXDQ54AQ4&feature=related
Though I'm not sure what rules their class was set, i analysed it comparing it to the conventions we were given and found by watching a film noir opening in class.
Film noir is set in the early 40's / late 50's. In their production you can see modern day cars on the road, and see a flat screen computer- which they definitely wouldn't of had 50 years ago.
Though there have been one or two film noir movies done in colour, they are generally produced in black and white - which this group didn't do.
On the topic of colour, the lighting used was terrible. It obviously wasn't thought about since no interesting shadows or lighting on the characters face was used at all.
The costumes used were more appropriate, like the use or the suit and hat worn by the main male lead. But, in terms of characters, the only reason I could tell who the femme fetal was because of the bright red lipstick. The mise en scene used to differentiate characters was greatly lacking, and the narrative was also confusing and quite thin.
With the technical aspects, there were too many different camera shots used. Film noir is meant to stick with simplistic, but beautifully lit shots and also use no hand held camera. It is obvious that throughout their production handheld was used.
As a last point, the titles used were red on black. In film noir the titles are usually white with a captivating font, on a layer above some footage establishing the scene.
On the other hand, a second project i found on youtube was shot quite professionally.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hm3zycmbt_w&feature=related
The titles at the start may not have been appropriate for a film noir movie, but it was about the only thing i could find wrong with it.
The costumes used were excellent, really setting out the investigators character. The whiskey and the cigarette were a great touch which helped set the mise en scene as well.
I really loved the lighting and shadows created, it gave it a real film noir vibe and could probably pass as an actual opening. The camera shots used were lovely and appropriate, i especially loved the close up of the whiskey bottle sliding onto the table. It was beautifully set up and just worked so well in the final production.
Friday, December 10, 2010
Planning for December
Sat 11th december - Research film noir; conventions, mise-en-scene, characters.
Mon 13th december - Research film noir; focus on opening titles. what font is used? how is it layed out?
Tue 14th december - Research film noir; focus on openings, how they are set up, mise-en-scene.
Throughout the Christmas holidays - Research costume designs, including hats, outfits for male and female characters, hairstyles used in teh 1940's
Throughout January - Research poster designs and plan possible conventional ideas for our film noir poster
Mon 13th december - Research film noir; focus on opening titles. what font is used? how is it layed out?
Tue 14th december - Research film noir; focus on openings, how they are set up, mise-en-scene.
Throughout the Christmas holidays - Research costume designs, including hats, outfits for male and female characters, hairstyles used in teh 1940's
Throughout January - Research poster designs and plan possible conventional ideas for our film noir poster
Final Task
Today sir told us the details on our final task, filming and creating the titles and opening for film noir that lasts exactly 2 minutes. We are to burn this to a printed DVD with special features including a documentary from each of us as part of our evaluation.
We planned ahead a bit and are already in a group. I'm working with Gemma Clear adn Fern Clark.
Since getting home, on msn me and Gemma already dcided what features to include in our DVD, and plan on having the research and all pre-production thigns out of the way by the time we get back after the christmas holidays.
2 images of the conversation have been uploaded to my specialised media photobucket acount since the photos were too small to read on here.
http://s1214.photobucket.com/albums/cc482/Media_5067/Pre%20Production/?action=view¤t=Convopt1.jpg
To view full size, simply click on the photo.
For obviously security reasons, I have made, adn will make, every album private on the account. the guest password to view the album is: sawtry
(In the msn convo, 'Harry' is Gemma, and 'SH' is myself.)
We planned ahead a bit and are already in a group. I'm working with Gemma Clear adn Fern Clark.
Since getting home, on msn me and Gemma already dcided what features to include in our DVD, and plan on having the research and all pre-production thigns out of the way by the time we get back after the christmas holidays.
2 images of the conversation have been uploaded to my specialised media photobucket acount since the photos were too small to read on here.
http://s1214.photobucket.com/albums/cc482/Media_5067/Pre%20Production/?action=view¤t=Convopt1.jpg
To view full size, simply click on the photo.
For obviously security reasons, I have made, adn will make, every album private on the account. the guest password to view the album is: sawtry
(In the msn convo, 'Harry' is Gemma, and 'SH' is myself.)
Preliminary Task
Haven't been able to update anything from the preliminary task, problems with the password etc, so I'll do a quick recap here of what happened and attach my evaluation and our final video.
After our roles were decided we got to work. Owen and Storm went off and did their jobs, (script, storyboards, character bios etc) and i set to work on gathering research. (At the start the film was going to be a comedy, but the mise-en-scene changed dramatically, so we changed genres.)
We got together in some frees and in class to look over the storyboard and script, then decided on who would be best to play what roles.
I attempted to contacts multiple hospitals in the peterborough area, but they were very unhelpful with informing us whether we could film in a spare room the following Monday, so Storm pointed out that we could use the disabled suit in the leisure centre.
Along the line, me and Storm swapped roles, with her becoming the producer and me the director, since Storm was set on managing some paperwork which fit the producers job role.
Filming went on well, with minimal mess ups from the cast and crew. Editing went along the same lines, though since the other two weren't sure how to use the software, and I only knew the basics, we had to add some music in the background to disguise the odd and shifting background noise on the clips. (The sudden cuts of kids screaming and messing about in the swimming pool next door.)
After our roles were decided we got to work. Owen and Storm went off and did their jobs, (script, storyboards, character bios etc) and i set to work on gathering research. (At the start the film was going to be a comedy, but the mise-en-scene changed dramatically, so we changed genres.)
We got together in some frees and in class to look over the storyboard and script, then decided on who would be best to play what roles.
I attempted to contacts multiple hospitals in the peterborough area, but they were very unhelpful with informing us whether we could film in a spare room the following Monday, so Storm pointed out that we could use the disabled suit in the leisure centre.
Along the line, me and Storm swapped roles, with her becoming the producer and me the director, since Storm was set on managing some paperwork which fit the producers job role.
Filming went on well, with minimal mess ups from the cast and crew. Editing went along the same lines, though since the other two weren't sure how to use the software, and I only knew the basics, we had to add some music in the background to disguise the odd and shifting background noise on the clips. (The sudden cuts of kids screaming and messing about in the swimming pool next door.)
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