Practice Filming

Me and some other members of the class decided to come together and have a go at filming and editing our own little film. We were given a basic plot to act out and we tried out a range of different shots and edited them together. I feel we have gained valuable time and experience in editing that we wouldn't have had prior to this exercise.

Short film reconstruction

I've decided to reconstruct this film I found on youtube called depression. The video doesn't refect myself in any way as i'm a very happy person, but I just think the video is very hard hitting and is very good at describing what depression is like without even saying a word. I decided to have a go replicating this. The purpose of this exercise is to introduce me to video editing in a way that just allows me to figure out what i'm doing in my own time. It took me a couple of hours just to figure out what all the buttons and controlls did! However I think i've learnt some things I can bring to my main film.

Video feedback

I've done some video feedback because I think it gives a more personal experience than I would be able to get from just handing out some pieces of paper. I also feel I can analyze this better because Courtney replies with full sent aces rather than the single word answers my written feedback has given me.

The question here was : "How often do you watch films or short films"? This short and simple answer tells me what I already thought tone true. Just about everyone watches films at least once every few months, however most short films are limited to audiences who are quite into films and see films as a hobby. This is something I would like to change, as I believe a film that appeals to a wide audience could kickstart interest in short films.

The next question was: What is your favorite genre of film and what about it appeals to you? Here i've found that you can't group a gender to liking one type of film. As a girl, you may expect Courtney to be into 'RomComs' musicals, however she says here that she enjoys the fast pace of action films. This means that my film will hopefully attract a mix of both genders.

The final question was: Would you watch a short film based on daily experiences on the tyne and wear metro? This answer was very encouraging, because she said 'if you can make the daily experiaces more interesting'. This is exactly what I'm aiming to do, pick out the things that happen and turn them up a notch. It's given me a boost to hear that people would be willing to give it a watch.

Costume/Clothes

I've been talking to my actress Bryony about what clothes she is going to wear on the days of filming. We've come to the conclusion that an outfit which could be warn on any day of the week is probably the best thing to do, as it will connote that she is a normal person. Basically it will be the same outfit she is wearing on the day of this post! I think it's important to keep in contact with your actors and actress especially on the fashion side of things, because if I was them and I was forced to wear a duck costume I probably wouldn't perform to the rest of my ability so I wouldn't expect them to wear things they don't like.

Here is an example of some skinny black jeans.

Here is an example of some Doc Martim boots.

Mark Scheme

 

In class, we've had the privilege of being able to have a good look at the mark scheme and being able to judge for ourselves how we are doing. I've had another look through my blog and i've given myself a 12 out of 20 for my blog because I feel that i've done all that has been asked of me and all that is on the checklist that applies to my product. However I have done these things to a good, but not great standard. I still think this is a huge jump from last year's work and it will help motivate me to keep going.

Here is a copy of the checklist i've been using to help me make sure that I'm on track and that i'm using my time effectively. As you can see most of it is completely finished and there are only a couple of things left to do. The checklist has been really helpful in helping me gage how much time I have to do something and when I do them.

The technical side of things.....

So, since I will be filming my product in autumn, I'm limited in some aspects of the production which I am unable to do anything about. One such instance of this is the autumnal weather. It is likely to either be raining (that fine rain that soaks you through) or that strangely settleing 'cold but sunny' weather on the days of filming. This means that we will most likely be limited to shooting on cold but sunny days, however this is not a problem as I quite like the idea of the autumn colours, the reds, browns and dark yellows that come from fallen leaves, dusky skies and cups of tea. The mise en scene may seem quite sombre and bleak, however I think this will add to the normal, everyday tone that i'm going for. I'm looking for mostly natural lighting throughout, however towards the end I might film at night in order to create a sense of continuation and a sense that the film has gone somewhere and has some kind of order to it. In that case, i'll be using the lighting of the metro and the station, which comes on automatically at a certain time. I'm yet to decide on if it'l be high key or low key lighting. I've also got a couple of new ideas for the kind of shots i'd like to use in my film. I've come up with the idea that the opening shot can be a pan that shows the character walking up the ramp to the station. I would then like to replicate it going the other way, but in the evening or at night. This will signify a journey that has been undertaken and the things that have been seen, however this will also imply that it's just another normal day on the Metro system.                                                    

Consent Slip

I've created a consent slip for when we are filming in order to avoid upsetting anyone or ending up with any legal problems. This will be given to any people who are accidentally or purposefully in shot and will ask them to sign the form if they have no problem with being in the film. If they do, they are able to contact me or anybody involved and they will be removed from the film with no problems.

My actress!

I've got an actress! Her name is Bryony and I'm very happy she's agreed to be my main character for my film. I know her well, as she was in our media class last year and we live in the same area around the metro station. This is convenient for both of us and means we can film things with relative ease and we can meet up within minutes is we need some extra shots or are going to film a new idea I come up with.
Say hello!

Here is the conversation that led to Bryony being my actress. I've taken a screenshot from Facebook to show it.

Time keeping

At the moment, I feel like I am on time with my blog and product work so far. I'm doing different parts of my blog just when I feel like doing it. This means that I don't get bored half way through a postcard loose interest. This is an aspect of last year's blog that I am improving.

Storyboard

To help me work out and envision what I want to create, i've made a storyboard that is going to help me actually see the shots I would like to record. The storyboard is also going to help me with the order of my film. Because my film is based around pretty random events that happen on the metro, meaning that I could change the order of these shots without disrupting the flow of the film. This leaves me with the decision of where to put each shot. Thankfully, i've used sticky notes on my storyboard so I can change them around quickly without fuss.

Reconstruction : Film Poster

I've attempted to reconstruct a film poster from a film that was quite popular from a few years back, Life of Pi. I chose this poster because it really caught my eye when I was looking through google images, and I thought if I can recreate the bright colour that caught my eye in my version, when I come to make my own poster I can use the bright colours of the Metro logo and carriages to good effect.
So, below is the original...

And below that is my reconstruction.....

Now I know this isn't the best poster you've ever seen in your life, however recreating someone else's work is much more difficult than you'd think. Because you are limited to pictures and colours that are close to but not exactly like the original, you don't have much freedom to do what you want and you have to use whatever you can find on the internet. However I tried my best and this is what I got. To make it, I first had to find a picture of the sea with an orangey coloured sunset. I thought this would be the best way to match the orange colour of the sky and sea in the poster. I then found a tiger and removed it's head (metaphorically speaking) before fading it out just a tad in an attempt to mimic the original, however my editing skills are not up to the way that they've faded the tiger. Finally I added the text over the top to make it match the original as closely as possible. I've done this to show that I understand how to make a film poster and also to show how I can use bright colours in my poster when I make it.