Evaluation

In the very first coursework session, we were given to options: a magazine or a short film. The magazine needed to contain a front cover and a contents page, targeting school/college students. Furthermore, the front cover would have to include an original image of a student in a medium close-up shot and have appropriate text and master-head. The short film had to include a character opening a door, crossing a room, sitting down and exchange dialogue with another character sitting opposite. The film also had to be edited and all video and audio material had to be original with the exception of copyright-free audio/music.

Originally, I was leaning towards producing a magazine cover until and brief discussion with a few people, in which we decided a video would be a more convenient decision. First of all, as a group, we sat round a table with a pen and paper and shared possible ideas for our piece. After many ideas were given we decided we wanted a gangster style exchange scene. We each studied a relevant scene from different films. I was researching “Snatch” to see how similar style characters acted, spoke and were shown. After watching many clips, we noticed that this type of scene was very common upon gangster movies. Therefore we wanted ours to be different from the rest. We opted for a comical twist where the package would be a fast food bag and the main gangster not being happy that the fries were missing. Consequently, we decided that the gangster would shoot dead the delivery boy. Soon after this stage Matt left our class as his timetable changed and therefore left the group but was still willing to act for us. We presented our idea to the class and received many funny looks which we saw as a good thing because that means it’s not common and is therefore original. We then devised S.M.A.R.T (specific, measurable, achievable, reasonable, timed) targets that helped us stick to the deadline and see if we were on course or falling behind at anytime.

We then needed to decided on what we wanted the scene layout to look like. After viewing many film clips we noticed that an office type scenery was common and therefore went down that path. Next we had to find an appropriate venue to film. After considering places inside the college itself, we thought of a great room in our previous secondary school that had the potential to be ideal. After receiving permission to film at King Harold School and also to film one scene at a friend’s house we sorted out roles, devised a scrip, list of props, storyboard and summary sheet. Once completed, we managed to get all of the pre-documentation filled in and signed by everyone concerned. We knew that for the props we would need a realistic looking gun and knew a friend who gave us permission to use his bb gun on the day of shooting.

The day we received the camera equipment, we didn’t have the required location or actors available. Therefore the three of us thought it would be useful to familiarise ourselves with the equipment and editing software by devising a short clip of me and Harry walking down a corridor, shot from different angles with transition added in using the ‘Final Cut Pro’ software. This also allowed us to see what type of copyright-free sound effects were available.

The weekend that we were going to film, although at first seemed ideal, didn’t turn out quite the way we thought. Darrell had work commitments for most of that Saturday, Harry would have to leave early and return late due to a job interview and the we couldn’t use the school on the Sunday as no member of staff would be present and the grounds would be locked. Because of this, me and Harry began to film the beginning of our piece at about nine o’clock before he left and Matt arrived. At that point me and Matt filmed the clips that contained just me and him and also rearranged the room to look more like an office (not a classroom). After we filmed everything we could, and after a long wait, Harry and Darrell finally arrived and we managed to complete the filming, noticeably against the clock as the member of staff had to leave and lock up.

Back at the class we put all of the clips onto the Mac and decided which clips were usable and tried to put them in order of occurance which included cutting many clips down to size. We hadn’t received much training on using ‘Final Cut Pro’ so were using trial and error an awful lot. This may have slowed us down but also we may have found certain effects we wouldn’t have before without not knowing what it was. We added a sepia and desaturate tint over the entire film to give a slightly more older theme to it apart from the last seen in which there is a strong red tint when he awakes after being shot to give a sign of blood that could also represent danger as the next thing he sees is Matt about to kick him in the face. We then noticed a number of continuity errors that our film contained including desks moving Harry’s hood removed, scissors disappearing, gun changing hands and blinds changing. Therefore we needed to fix these as it was a continuity task. First of all we devised on a sheet of paper a quick sketch of each scene with the errors, how they could be fixed and a checklist once completed. We took out the scene where there was different blinds as we though it wasn’t necessarily needed. Then we cropped a few scenes to deal with the scissors disappearing and desks moving. Finally we had to shoot two short scenes: Harry removing his hood when entering the building and Matt changing the gun into his other hand whilst loading it. After this we could not spot any further errors.

Next we needed to find an appropriate soundtrack and sound effects. After viewing many websites that offer copyright-free material we managed to get a gunshot, door knocking, heartbeat, buzzer and soundtrack to put into our piece. I didn’t really agree with the soundtrack that was chosen but after searching for an alternative, I failed to find one that was more suitable with the limited choice available. The last thing that needed to be completed were credits and a cartoon style freeze-frame of each character for the introduction. I managed to complete this at home using software called ‘Adobe Aftereffects’ which I had used previously and feel it offers a lot more than available on ‘Final Cut Pro’. This took a lot of time and many things when wrong that shouldn’t normally. After it was completed i feel it was worth the effort put in. Once this was included the film was ready to be exported and uploaded onto Youtube.

The finished product has no errors that we have managed to notice, includes two scenes previously not included and has all sound effects needed. I feel that this will make more sense to our audience and make it more believable. I don’t believe that our film necessarily represents a social group as it is very exaggerated and I don’t haven’t seen anyone quite like our characters. I think that our film is similar to that of ‘Scary Movie’ and ‘Epic Movie’ so if media institution were to distribute our product, it would probably be a company similar to ‘Dimension Films’. The intended audience for our piece was late teens onwards. This is because of the violence with the gunshot but also because I feel the younger audience would appreciate the humour more,  although many adults have laughed at it. Once completed, we invited many students from our class to complete a questionnaire about it. From this, the average score was 7/10 and the least favourite character was me whilst the most liked was Matt.

From the construction of this, I have learnt many new skills on ‘Final Cut Pro’ such as transitions and how to cut clips appropriately. Furthermore, I have learnt how to use the camera equipment and will feel better prepared for the next coursework task.

Our piece challenges similar types of films by adding that comedy element that isn’t really found commonly to my knowledge. Overall I am pleased with the final product especially the editing side of it. We unfortunately didn’t have much time to film and at first it showed, but with many hours spent editing, we were able to make it look a lot more professional. I think that we have learnt many lessons for our main task and should leave a lot more time for film and film each scene a few times to get the majority of errors out of the film before editing has even begun. In addition to this, perhaps we should choose a type of film that is not as challenging as I feel it was very difficult to give a realistic feel to our piece.

The Final Film:

Production Log 7. 27/11/09

Today we further edited our piece of footage to try and make it look more professional. After looking back at our previous week’s progression, we noticed a number of previously unnoticed continuity errors including whisky cases dissapearing. We managed to fix this though as we cropped the video and stretched it so you can’t see these mistakes. These fixes also worked for previous errors including the disappearing scissors, tables in the background, school signs in shot and one of our actors not putting his blazer on in time.

Furthermore, we decided to add a scene in which Harry pulls his hood down in a building to not get anyone confused with what could be seen as a continuity error. We cut this small scene, placed the same effect as the rest of the film and inserted in the suitable place.

We still need to film two scenes by our next lesson which we are planning to do over the coming weekend and will be able to do on Friday.

Production Log 6. 20/11/09

After filming all of our piece over the weekend, today we cut together the different scenes. I feel that the filming was rushed as Darrell and Harry did not attend until late due to work commitments. This definately shows in our film as many continuity errors such as scissors disappearing, weather changing, different blinds and the gun changing hands. We have found it difficult to change this because our main actor has had a noticable hair-cut since shooting, however, we are going to do our best by reshooting scenes closer and adding objects by using programs such as Adobe Aftereffects.

After putting the clips together and noticing these mistakes we decided to add a permanent tint of a blueish sepia and also desaturate. This is so the film would looks colder and blends in with the theme of the film well. At the end we have added a blinking motion for the 1st person point of view and changed the tint to red as it shows he is in danger and perhaps of blood after he’s been shot.

Production Log 5. 13/11/09

Today we received the camera equipment for the first time. As we weren’t in costume and not in the correct location we could not start filming our production. Therefore, we decided to put our time to good use and film me and Harry walking down a corridor from different angles. This was solely for the editing purpose to get used to the equipment and programs we are going to use. After filming, we imported it onto Final Cut Pro where we put together the sequence and cut relevant parts of the film out. Then we decided to add the transitions between clips and made it black and white. We then added a dance soundtrack and relevant titles/credits for the beginning.

I feel that this session has helped us majorly because we now have experience the use of the camera and the editing capabilities we have at our disposal. We have also witnessed people’s reaction to a similar type of comedy that we have employed in our proper short film as we have random music and funny actions etc. Generally people laughed at it which is a good sign and I’m confident our proper short film will be just as effective if not more.

Production Log 4. 6/11/09

In our last session before we receive the camera equipment, we started to fill in all of the pre-documentation. These forms included talent release, risk assessment, location release, personal risk and call sheets. They could not be totally completed as we needed the signatures of some people who were not present, i.e. for the location release forms.

In addition to this, we completed our storyboard and edited our script. We edited the script by adding another scene to make the complicated story make more sense.

Furthermore, we decided we were ready to film next week but also decided that it would be best to film at the weekend of 14/10 as all people required would be able to go and also we could use King Harold School freely. After ringing King Harold School for permission we were ready to go.

Production Log 3. 23/10/09

Todays lessons were run by Renier who gave us a photoshop tutorial lesson. The concept was: Renier gave us a CD that he had produced, we watched it and then tried to do it for ourselves. The CD contained step by step instructions on how to make a professional magazine cover, narrated over the top by Renier himself. Although the magazine part didn’t effect us in any way, we could still use the tips and techniques used to produce a DVD cover for our film.

First of all, I found the dimensions of a standard DVD cover on Renier’s blog so therefore incorporated that in the settings of Photoshop. The front would need to be 129×184mm and the side where the title is would need to be 14×184. Renier also advised me to leave a gap of 3mm on each side.

I searched google for a painting style picture of a man in hat. This eventually lead to the picture I used. My idea was to have a thought bubble coming off him with a picture of a gun and a McDonalds bag. The title for my piece was McDon in the stall of writing that McDonalds currently use. Later I saved the picture as a .jpeg and uploaded it to my blog.

Production Log 2. 9/10/09

In this week’s coursework lesson our group devised the first drafts of many pre-documents for our short film that include the script, location ideas, list of props, storyboard and a summary sheet. This would allow us to try and put more detailed ideas on paper and would help us prepare when we do start to film.

For our script, we had not decided on character names as of yet, so decided to name the actors “Actor (1,2 or 3)” . Furthermore, we have included shot types such as “close-up” for the different camera positions. For the location ideas, we decided we needed an office and chose our previous secondary school (depending on permission) that is ideal and local for all the team. We figured which props we would need such as a fake gun, desk, computer and other items that made the scene look like an office. We also sorted out what clothing needed to be worn and decided two of the character are to wear smart clothing whilst the other is to wear casual clothing. Ideally we would want it to rain on the day of production but have a contingency plan if it was to not.

Production Log 1. 2/10/09

In our first coursework lesson we were given two options: a magazine cover with a contents page or a short video in which a character walks into a room and exchanges dialogue with another. After careful thought, me and a group of class mates decided that a short film would best as it is more challenging and enjoyable so therefore chose that option.

After the group suggested many ideas, we decided that our best option was to do a handover scene involving mafia/gangsters. After we researched many similar scenes from films such as Snatch and Lock Stock, we realised that this type of scene is very common and therefore wanted to be different from the rest. As a result of this, we came to a joint decision to add a comical twist to our original idea.

After presenting our idea to the class, we received many funny looks as if to say “it’s very extreme and random” but we see this as a good thing and is what we wanted. I do feel thought that this perhaps puts more pressure on the filming to get our point across. In addition to this, i feel that with our idea being so random people might feel we tried too hard.

DVD Cover Idea

This is my DVD cover idea for our film that I produced on Photoshop.