stephaniemareen (1 day ago)
very good story idea and great choice of actors. I really like the editing style
hurtwoodhousemedia (1 day ago)
Lou goes Hollywood!!!!
hurtwoodhousemedia (5 hours ago)
i liked the concept and story, I felt that I wanted to continue watching to find out why she's drawing those symbols. I thought the panning shots over the pieces of paper worked really well and I liked how in the mirror who captured both reflections and faces. Well done!
mutemiss (5 hours ago)
I like the crazy-ness of Lou. And the behind teh windown-view.... The roomtone works well as it is very simple and atmospheric :)x
All of the comments were very positive. From this experience, and the comments left I can see that the importance of hiring good actors is key. I really think, that Lou's and Russell's work really helped the success of our film.
I also think the time taken with editing has been worth it. The commenters seem content with the film and want to see the whole sequence. I'm happy with the comments and enjoyed reading the feedback.
Wednesday, 31 March 2010
Evaluation of our post production
Once we had filmed our main task, we followed with long term editing sessions. In comparison to our preliminary task, the final task was far harder. For the preliminary task, we only used a range of three shots. Editing was not necessary, so post production was limiting.
I learnt more with the final production. I needed more skills and techniques to create and produce our film. I learnt how to create a story board. This helped my group to place our ideas in a chronological order. This encouraged us to develop the idea further and potentially improve the quality. I also learnt how to use the boom mike and the more technically adequate camera. All of us in the group needed these technical skills to be able to reflect our ideas into motion.
For the final product, editing was a large part of our post production. We learnt how to use Final Cut Pro. This programme allowed us to pick each shot individually and select them together. Eventually, after some work the shots we chose were placed together in order. From here, we edited the scenes together. Cutting sections of scenes, adding them in or deleting them completely were decisions that we had to make. Sessions in the editing suite were booked. Generally speaking, editing our film was a along process. Agreeing on shot types that we used and where to end a particular shot were always were the discussions took place; having said that, second opinions were very useful. I believe that as a group, we worked well together and I think we had the same sort of picture for our final product. Once the sequence was completed, we added sound and credits. To emphasize scenes, we added sound effects. The sounds were clips that are similar to those used in Hollywood’s industry. They added far more tension, and added an element of suspense. Diegetic sound was also used. We added air conditioning, so the film is never completely silent. I think if we did not add any ambient sound, the film would seem very stiff and dull. These sounds lifted the mood in terms of tension and thriller.
Our credits were added last. We had to stick the theme of fast pace and a tense atmosphere. The credits must always be quick and swift to continue the fast pace of the film. For ours, we incorporated the credits through out the whole sequence. We used plain, white font. I think this fitted best. Stereotyping, using a blood red detailed font would have produced a cliché sequence. Using a white font allowed the audience to see clearly the information given, on a dark background.
I learnt more with the final production. I needed more skills and techniques to create and produce our film. I learnt how to create a story board. This helped my group to place our ideas in a chronological order. This encouraged us to develop the idea further and potentially improve the quality. I also learnt how to use the boom mike and the more technically adequate camera. All of us in the group needed these technical skills to be able to reflect our ideas into motion.
For the final product, editing was a large part of our post production. We learnt how to use Final Cut Pro. This programme allowed us to pick each shot individually and select them together. Eventually, after some work the shots we chose were placed together in order. From here, we edited the scenes together. Cutting sections of scenes, adding them in or deleting them completely were decisions that we had to make. Sessions in the editing suite were booked. Generally speaking, editing our film was a along process. Agreeing on shot types that we used and where to end a particular shot were always were the discussions took place; having said that, second opinions were very useful. I believe that as a group, we worked well together and I think we had the same sort of picture for our final product. Once the sequence was completed, we added sound and credits. To emphasize scenes, we added sound effects. The sounds were clips that are similar to those used in Hollywood’s industry. They added far more tension, and added an element of suspense. Diegetic sound was also used. We added air conditioning, so the film is never completely silent. I think if we did not add any ambient sound, the film would seem very stiff and dull. These sounds lifted the mood in terms of tension and thriller.
Our credits were added last. We had to stick the theme of fast pace and a tense atmosphere. The credits must always be quick and swift to continue the fast pace of the film. For ours, we incorporated the credits through out the whole sequence. We used plain, white font. I think this fitted best. Stereotyping, using a blood red detailed font would have produced a cliché sequence. Using a white font allowed the audience to see clearly the information given, on a dark background.
Tuesday, 30 March 2010
Task 7- Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
Planning and Preparation
The preliminary task took far less time to plan than the full product. The preliminary task was simply a practice and test run for what we were to account for later on in the term with our film. We took about two weeks planning our Preliminary. The script was handed to us, so we did not have to spend time on writing a script for our actors. We had a simple job of asking two drama students to take a small part of their time to act for our assignment. The scene was only about two minutes long, so it was not a problem asking them to leave classes and miss a day of work for the filming, unlike the filming of the full product. In advance we had to find actors and actresses that would fit the part of our character who were also prepared to miss a day of school work for the film. As well as this, for our film we needed to hire an external actor. This obviously had to be planned before hand. Availability for external actors was slim and as a group we had to decide whether splitting the charge was worth it for the film. For the main task, many more serious decision had to be made that would all contribute to the success of the end product. We set up in a small drama room because we only needed a door and no other props. For the full product, we needed the studio for the whole day that we had to book in advance. We also needed a small outline of an interrogation room and props. This took much longer than expected. We had to ask two professionals who built small structured sets for films to come in and measure out our set and build it for us. With this, there was quite a large risk of producing the wrong set days before the filming.
Development of film-making
For the preliminary task, not a lot of technical skills were needed to produce a good shoot. We used the Sony DD170 camera and the boom mike. The filming was simple- using POV shots and different high and low angles. From the preliminary to the main assignment, my personal techniques and skills with the equipment have developed. We’ve had to stick to the 180 degree rule, in which the basic guideline is film making states those two characters in the same scene should always have the same left and right relationship to each other. At this point we were in our groups of four. In the preliminary, we almost felt that we had too many people for the jobs that we were asked to do. For the full product, it was almost the opposite. There were many tiny jobs that had to be done. Most of all, the smaller jobs were far more important. For example, getting a glass of coffee for the table, running to collect more paper and new pens or reapplying Lou’s make-up etc. For the final product we worked on a storyboard basis. Our structure of the day came from here. It helped us stick to the plot and the running of the actors. As apposed to the dialogue that we used for the preliminary. We had a very limited structure that did not help us control our time or keep us on target. Here, it was easy to drift from the main goal to produce a decent first time clip.
Development of Sound & Editing
With the preliminary task, we did not edit the clip at all. Nor did we add or emphasize any sounds. For that task, it really was a basic demonstration of what the film industry can do as well as giving us our first chance to use cameras and scripts.
For the final task, we took much more time in post editing and using after effects. The use of Final Cut was a dominant element for our film. Without this, our film would simply we sections and clips of the film. To edit, we had to process each clip and decide which ones we wanted to use for our final product. From here, we started to collect them into a chronological order. We took a lot of time cutting the scenes and adding clips back into the film. Collecting them all into the correct order was hard and frustrating, but once we had evaluated each clip we were able to smooth each out and gradually it began to look like a clip from a film. Through out the weeks, we carried on editing. Credits were added and finally, sounds were added in after effects. For our film, we added an echo to Russell’s voice to emphasize the interrogation room. We also added air conditioning in the room to emphasize that the young girl was captured and vulnerable.
The preliminary task took far less time to plan than the full product. The preliminary task was simply a practice and test run for what we were to account for later on in the term with our film. We took about two weeks planning our Preliminary. The script was handed to us, so we did not have to spend time on writing a script for our actors. We had a simple job of asking two drama students to take a small part of their time to act for our assignment. The scene was only about two minutes long, so it was not a problem asking them to leave classes and miss a day of work for the filming, unlike the filming of the full product. In advance we had to find actors and actresses that would fit the part of our character who were also prepared to miss a day of school work for the film. As well as this, for our film we needed to hire an external actor. This obviously had to be planned before hand. Availability for external actors was slim and as a group we had to decide whether splitting the charge was worth it for the film. For the main task, many more serious decision had to be made that would all contribute to the success of the end product. We set up in a small drama room because we only needed a door and no other props. For the full product, we needed the studio for the whole day that we had to book in advance. We also needed a small outline of an interrogation room and props. This took much longer than expected. We had to ask two professionals who built small structured sets for films to come in and measure out our set and build it for us. With this, there was quite a large risk of producing the wrong set days before the filming.
Development of film-making
For the preliminary task, not a lot of technical skills were needed to produce a good shoot. We used the Sony DD170 camera and the boom mike. The filming was simple- using POV shots and different high and low angles. From the preliminary to the main assignment, my personal techniques and skills with the equipment have developed. We’ve had to stick to the 180 degree rule, in which the basic guideline is film making states those two characters in the same scene should always have the same left and right relationship to each other. At this point we were in our groups of four. In the preliminary, we almost felt that we had too many people for the jobs that we were asked to do. For the full product, it was almost the opposite. There were many tiny jobs that had to be done. Most of all, the smaller jobs were far more important. For example, getting a glass of coffee for the table, running to collect more paper and new pens or reapplying Lou’s make-up etc. For the final product we worked on a storyboard basis. Our structure of the day came from here. It helped us stick to the plot and the running of the actors. As apposed to the dialogue that we used for the preliminary. We had a very limited structure that did not help us control our time or keep us on target. Here, it was easy to drift from the main goal to produce a decent first time clip.
Development of Sound & Editing
With the preliminary task, we did not edit the clip at all. Nor did we add or emphasize any sounds. For that task, it really was a basic demonstration of what the film industry can do as well as giving us our first chance to use cameras and scripts.
For the final task, we took much more time in post editing and using after effects. The use of Final Cut was a dominant element for our film. Without this, our film would simply we sections and clips of the film. To edit, we had to process each clip and decide which ones we wanted to use for our final product. From here, we started to collect them into a chronological order. We took a lot of time cutting the scenes and adding clips back into the film. Collecting them all into the correct order was hard and frustrating, but once we had evaluated each clip we were able to smooth each out and gradually it began to look like a clip from a film. Through out the weeks, we carried on editing. Credits were added and finally, sounds were added in after effects. For our film, we added an echo to Russell’s voice to emphasize the interrogation room. We also added air conditioning in the room to emphasize that the young girl was captured and vulnerable.
Task 1- In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
Like must films we started with an establishing shot along with the credits. Our film conforms to the Hollywood conventions because we used an establishing shot. We introduced the director, actors and institutions etc that helped us or added to the creation of the film.
The type of font that we used was a simple, quite small sized font. This is not font that is stereotypically used, such a pulsing red writing. We felt the white colour in contrast to the dark backgrounds showed up well. This subverts from Hollywood’s conventions, because we only used simple, white font not dramatic blood dripping font.
In our opening shot we introduced our main character. Young girls are often used as the main character in horror films and are stereotypically used as vulnerable characters. Like our film, we used a young girl. This conforms to Hollywood’s conventions of vulnerable, scared characters. Our film was aimed at a teenage audience and we introduce our main protagonist in our main shot. Using this simple font has emphasized the simple tension that the film has produced. The white font contrasts well from the dark backgrounds.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)