The fig rig is an alternate grip that isn't normally used, we want to use it to capture mobile, moving shots and look very stable as if a steadycam was used & due to the ergonomics of the wheel it is very stable and should enable us to achieve similar results. The model we are using is the Manfrotto 595B.
A tripod is an absolute essential, it keeps the camera absolutely dead steady for shots like a shot reverse-shots. Its a piece of kit that we wouldn't go out to film without. We are going to be using a tripod similar to a manfrotto 350MVB.
Due to our good work from last year we were rewarded with the Canon EOS 7D which is DSLR that has a very capable video recording function allowing us to film in full hd, making our final piece look more professional and crisp.
We want to use Adobe Soundbooth to edit the audio that we do choose to use in our film, most editing suites don't normalize the volume of the audio used in the clips used when editing so the sound can sound choppy and take away from the continuity of the piece, we are using Soundbooth CS5 to eradicate that. We will also use it to take out any uneccasry background sounds that we find during editing that were picked up by the cameras microphone all contributing to a more presentable final piece.
Adobe Premiere CS5 is another powerful piece of post production software that we plan on using, rather than use it for special effects we will use it to piece together our post edited clips resulting in the final 5 minute piece. It's an upgrade from the more simple iMovie and gives us a lot more flexibility and choices in terms of frames & transitions amongst others.
We would say that editing is the most important part in the creation of visual media, a beautifully filmed pieced can turn really bad fast if the quality of the editing is poor. As we know this we plan on using the best software possible to ensure the final piece can be edited as well as it was initially shot. We will be using Adobe After Effects CS5 to apply special effects to our film such as colour coding and a really suave title and credit sequence. After Effects is knowing for it's intense graphical capability and we hope to use and draw as much out of it as possible.
Danny Boyle is always an amazing director to extract ideas from to create a good film. In particular in our montage I have made a suggestion, to use Lou Reed's perfect day, which is used in the scene where the main character Mark renton, played by Ewan Mcgregor.
I believe this would be a perfect song because, she spends a perfect day with her imaginary friend, which is a direct reference to the song, also songs by Lou Reed have in my opinion a disturbing undertone.
This song also links with the previous music we wanted to use, which also features a piano.
Also as another suggestion, keeping withint he same artist. Take a walk on the wild side is also an idea which came into my head, this is also because of a refrance to the song words, she meets her imaginary friend, and he takes her away from being good and turns her quite evil, she 'takes a walk on the wild side'.
Date: | 15/11/2011 | 16/11/2011 | 17/11/2011 | 18/11/2011 | 19/11/2011 |
What are we doing: | Filming + Blogging | Filming + Blogging | Filming + Blogging | Filming + Blogging | Editing + Blogging |
Details: | We will film a mix up of shots that will be used within the montage & the argument section of the first scene. We’ll then blog about our day | We will shoot the dolly zoom (contra zoom) shot used for the realisation of the imaginary friend. We’ll then blog about what we have & haven’t achieved today. | Shoot the whole 3rd scene. | Shoot the final & first scene + look over the shots as a group and analyse them. | Editing begins... |
Date: | 21/11/2011 | 22/11/2011 | 23/11/2011 | 24/11/2011 | 25/11/2011 |
What are we doing: | Editing + Blogging | Editing + Blogging | Editing + Blogging | Ancilary piece photo shoot + Editing + Blogging | Editing + Blogging |
Details: | By today we should have the title sequence & the 1st scene edited. | We would like to have 50% of the film edited by today | We plan to have 80% of the film edited by now hopefully leaving just the final scene and closing credits to be edited | We want to hold a photoshoot including all characters from the film that will be used in the creation of our ancillary pieces. | Look over what we have so far and round up the editing section of our project. |
mise en scene- The location of this shot, is perfect for the murder scene, the floors are red, so is the door to the set. From the colour red we connote, danger and blood. This set is perfect, from all the build-up we are going to create in each shot, to a dramatic setting, to a dramatic end.
body language- Firstly Efa walks with confidence towards Rhys, then folds her arms, which signifies her emotions of being upset or fed-up with something, she doesn't seem to be impressed by what he has done to her. The audience can clearly see that Efa is in control, she uses her sexuality to gain control of Rhys. His body language is completely different to hers. He has a slouched and helplessness to his stance, which comes across strong to the audience.
Personally I’m not convinced the close up of the lips work. I don’t agree that it flows well enough, and the lip gesture is a little bit to sexual for what we are trying to achieve here. Perhaps this would work if we could get the cut tight, and change the gesture to one of a less sexual nature. Also the music doesn’t fit as perfect as i would like it to, although we are on the right lines of finding a track, this is not 100 per cent suited.
Also, the casting could be better, this actor and actress don't work well on screen together, so we will find another actor to replace this one because he also expressed that he didn’t feel comfortable in front of the camera, as he is part of the group he is most comfortable behind it, and in front of a computer editing. Which was a good learning curb, because we have been working together for a while now, and know each other’s strength which will benefit us majorly when producing our final piece.
camera angles and movement
Like all the characters, Efa is wearing clothing typical to a teenager; however the choice of red on her t-shirt is deliberate. The colour red is associated with danger, it’s a warning colour. It’s also associated with, anger, love and blood, which are all themes of the film. Firstly it’s to signify to the audience that something terrible will happen at some point in the film, the there’s a possibility that blood will spill, and that feelings of anger mixed with love and passion are all definite themes of our film.
[insert photo]
(pushing camera man)
(placed the camera on the skateboard)
This was our first attempt at shooting an establishing shot, to set the scene of our short film. In the first stationary shot featured in this clip, the school in which everything takes place is viewed from a low angle creating a slight edgy vibe, this is intentional, alongside a piece of music, which hasn’t been chosen yet. We will be able to get the story rolling quite effectively.
In the second shot featured in this film, we have taken the stationary shot, and experimented with a tilt up. This may or may not be used, as our second establishing shot we intended to film, of the same location but from a different angle, will also include a tilt up.
We may or may not use both establishing shots for the film; however it is useful to have both in mind when editing.
Initially, I was going to look for music about time passing, however I think it would be more appropriate to find music that is associated with having a friend. The music which introduces Toy Story popped in to my head. However, once listening to it, it didn’t seem appropriate.
Secondly 'you’ve got a friend, which i heard a while back on the AA advert, came to mind, however the original by James Taylor and Carol King didn’t sound quite right. So now I’m going to look for covers, and any other songs which might be appropriate for our montage.
Now that we have a clear idea of what we want to do with our film we sketched out a storyboard to help us have a visual idea of what our shots may look like. This part is definitely vital.
We are going to apply this dark, Gothic feel to our charater. Using costume avalible to us, the charater is going to wear a pair of black Dr martens. As a group we are studying 'Donnie Darko' as a huge inspiration for our film, this also includes the costume. From his atire we denote, that his character has quite a dark, Gothic side to him, he is sporting a grey hoodie which signifies his age as being a teenager, because it juxtaposes his party costume it suggests that he may have a more pore and innocent side to him. This use of colour in his clothing is also used in another scene, featuring a white tee-shirt and a black hoodie.
Name: Efa (Main Character)
Gender: Female
Age: 18
Relationships: She is the main character, she has a boyfriend (Rhys) & best friend. She also has the imaginary friend.
Background: She’s Caucasian, born & raised in central London. She’s a foster child who hasn’t seen her parents since she was 3 years old.
Personality: She's very kind, sincere, but she's really quiet, not so shy, she's boring to those who love to chat. You wouldn’t call her emo but she swings close to that circle.
Name: Simon/Jason (Imaginary Friend)
Gender: Male
Age: 19
Relationships: He’s Cecily’s imaginary friend
Background: N/A
Personality: Kind, sincere, caring, deep, dark, solemn, thoughtful, quick thinking, slimy
Name: Rhys (Boyfriend)
Gender: Male
Age: 18
Relationships: In a relationship with Cecily
Background: standard, regular family, middle class, been in a bit of trouble here and there but still seen as a good person...no one’s perfect aye
Personality: Controlling, a little foolish, kind, loving, crazy,
Quentin Tarantino has appeared in his movies, much like him i would like to feature at some point in our new one. This gives me a chance to, write the film, direct it, feature in it and also edit. This gives me all angles of experience i could possibly gain from a level media. Until the day i die, I will always own footage of me, in my prime years doing something i fully enjoy. This could also be the reason for Tarantinos appearance in Pulp Fiction, this also gives a face to the name of the director, which the audience will enjoy to watch.
Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet, is perfect to study, when gaining ideas on how to film a modern love story. In particular this clip is perfect, the way in which the moment, their lips touch for the first time, is captured takes my breath away, This is the kind of emotion we want to capture as film directors, in our short movie. The attraction is so strong, and the romance and excitement bursts through the screen.
Another reason to why this clip is vital to study, is because until he end of the scene, nobody actually sees romeo, they only see Juliet. Romeo at this point doesn't exist to the rest of the world, he is only visual and only exits in Juliet's eyes at this point. This is similar to what we want to portray in our film.
One other key point, about romeo and Juliet which links to our story line is, Juliet is in love, however they can't be together for a reason, which means eventually they have to let go, although they don't let go and are with each other for the rest of eternity, the idea is still very much there.
This famous clip comes from (director) 's Annie Hall, preformed by Woody Allen. This is extremely successful because it sets the whole film up, it introduces a few characters, it sets the tone of the film. From this monologue we now know who the main character is, his personality, what he thinks about, current affairs in his life and so on. It works perfectly also because, what he is saying could easily get boring, however Allen's performance keeps the audiences attention through out, the energy level is persistant which is what we aim to achieve. The way in which this scene is shot also signifies many things to the audience, the predominant colour is brown, which suggests he is an average normal day guy, with a normal job, a normal life, however his shirt is brown and red, which may indicate that his life has an heir of danger, or lust and something out of the ordinary, much like the brown against the reds, is about to occur.
Watching Donny Darko and drawing inspiration from Richard Kelly (the director), to get ideas about how to shoot a successful piece, which has the same concept, and evil imaginary friend. I drew quite a lot of inspiration from this film and found the following quite useful.
- Firstly, although we have an idea of how to introduce the imaginary friend using the contra zoom, this is proving quite difficult and may not be possible, so a second choice is always useful to have whilst filming. When the film director introduces the bunny, (the imaginary friend. he uses a close up of the main character, and uses a reverse mid shot to introduce 'frank' (the imaginary friend). he also uses a fade in between the reverse shot, and the bunny appears briefly on Donny's face, which signifies extremely well to the audience that this character is all in Donny's mind. (discussion: first scene)
- Secondly he montage was quite helpful, i would like to use ideas from this, during our montage during the editing process. Firstly the choice in music, caught my attention, the lyrics spoke about time, if we could find a piece of music, which spoke about time, and tempo worked well with our montage it would be perfect, so I am going to do some research into this. Secondly in this particular scene, they use.............which is effective because it give the film a sense an edge, also quite dreamlike, so the reality seems to be quite messes up as Donny’s head, which is a clever way of helping the audience understand and experience the character’s mind. Both factors i would like to use in the montage, i will discuss this with my group and hopefully come to a decision, using these ideas and any which they may have had
Now as a group we had to choose between making a genre film or a conceptual film, this is a very important decision even if it may appear simple to many, this decision will effect everything from shots to costumes because by making a genre film you are knowingly or unknowingly agreeing to meet certain norms & concepts. Due to this, we as a group have decided to make a conceptual film which allows us to do pretty much what we like without being placed in a certain box...allowing creativity to flow without thinking within boundaries like we would need to if we were going to create a rom-com for example. Our film will be pretty much be a post modern piece.
Ate de Jong's, Drop Dead Fred is a child's film, about a grown up woman, who still see's her childhood imaginary friend. Fred tries to ruin her life in some ways, and wants her to return to her fun inner child, however has to let go eventually to have a successful adulthood. This film could be helpful, although its a comedy, which is completely opposite to our style, we could learn a bit about how to portray an imaginary friend, through film.
By watching this as a group, we will be able to take notes on successful camera movements, editing, and so on. This film is perfect for initial research.
To write the narrative of the short film we are going to produce, a very Strong theme comes to mind to create an eerie ambiance, by writing and narrating a poem or story similar to the works of Edgar Allen Poe.
A 'The Simpsons' has been a personal favourite of mine, which we would modernise further. By costume and lauguage, but this is the kind of clever, subtle cleaver ambiance is one which we would like to achieve.
The language will not be used as such, but the tone of voice and the pace, at which he tells the story, will be taken in to great consideration when writing, and preforming the script.
The coalition is our group name featuring group members Femi, Nina & Nicholas. This blog will document our film making process right from the beginning until the end. This should be fun...
