Evaluation Questions

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? (i.e. of film openings)

Using the same placement of titles as many films, putting them so they fit in with the shot. Many other films have used this so that they can easily be read by the audience.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

It shows a definate representation of class of people, showing the boy in the boot, and the 'gangster' above him shows a definate clash of class and personality.

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

Someone looking to distribute a comic book style film about a cop that is not on the right side of the law.

Who would be the audience for your media product?

Males aged 15 - 25

How did you attract/address your audience?

With the voice over describing what is going on in the shot. And the obvious prescence of violence.

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

Cameras have a tendancy to be left on record for longer than intended and record things that aren't needed, but sometimes useful.

Looking back at your preliminary task (the continuity editing task), what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to full product?

I think that I have learnt a great deal about film making in general, not to be too ambitious, and not to try and do things that are not plausable on a zero/low budget. Also to make sure that I have planned, booked and sorted everything out before it comes to the day of filming.

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Note for Pete, I am not really sure about half of these questions, they are very vague. Will email you about it now though...

If I had one more day....

If I had one more day on this project, I probably wouldn't change anything because what I do want to change would take so long that I would end up running out of time again.

If Time was not an issue, I would probably shoot the whole thing again, just to see how it would turn out. Using my time wisely to make sure that I got everything shot on time, and was not taking the cameras out at the last minute to film one last bit. Also making sure that I hadn't set myself un-reachable targets.

And if I were to do the same thing again, I would make it allot simpler, but allot more effective. Using clever camera angles and editing sequences to emphasis a major point, while still keeping it in the realms of simplicity.

But as it is, I do not have any extra time, and with what I have done, I am happy with the way it turned out. Perhaps I would change the soundtrack, and volume differences, but other than that I like it.

Final Product.

Here is my final cut, Finally, painstakingly completed. Enjoy...



p.s. Its only the Low resolution version.

Feedback from Rough Cut

Camera

Feedback Summary: On the whole most people said that I had used a variety of interesting and clever camera shots. And that I should just leave them as they were.

What I changed: Because people liked my camera work, and I couldn't really change it atall, I left it as it was, and when shooting the last bit that I shot, I made sure to use the same style of camera work as I had for the whole thing already.

Mise En Scene

Feedback Summary: Overall people loved the cars that I used, and the locations that were used. But some did mention on the fact that some of the costumes didn't seem quite in place.

What I changed: Because I couldn't go back and re-shoot any of the footage I just made sure that in the last shooting session everyone was wearing something suitable.

Editing

Feedback Summary: Mostly people liked how it was edited together. Commenting on the quick cuts and smooth flow that it had. But some didn't like the fact that there was very few cross fades in.

What I changed: I added a few cross fades and made sure to keep everything flowing the way it needed to to keep the audience interested.

Sound

Feedback Summary: Because the speakers in the classroom weren't working terribly well, not many people could hear the sound. But those who did thought that the voice over explaining everything worked well, especially when the editing cuts to black after certain things were said. They also said that it needed some sort of soundtrack, music to go along the bacground of the voice over.

What I changed: I spend a good hour working on the soundtrack. Making sure that it wasn't too complex for me to cut it and change the volume in final cut to fit it around the voice over.

Titles

Feedback Summary: There weren't any, but people thought that it should keep the titles in a place on the shot where they fit in with the scenery. Making sure that they do not obstruct anything or distract the audience too much.

What I changed: I put all the titles in, making sure that they were in places that worked well, and were not obstructing anything. Rotating them so they fitted in well with the scenery.

Rough Cut Version 2

Because my last rough cut was so damned terrible, I decided that it would be a good idea to try and do this again. I went out with a camera, and shot the two scenes that are different from the last one (first and last clips)

After that I then spent about an hour battling with Final Cut trying to get it to do what I wanted it to. Annoying as it can be, I got there in the end.

Here is the new video:




I know that there is still allot of work to be done, from this one I can tell that I will need to re-record the whole of the voice over, perhaps changing it, so it sounds better on the video. Also I am going to need to do the soundtrack to it. Creating some audio/music to fit over the top is going to be a long job, but I will probably crack on with that for most of the afternoon tomorrow.

I also may need to re-shoot the final clip, perhaps waiting until sunset, so I can get a nice background behind the character. But we'll see closer to the time. Am looking forward to the final outcome now, its allot more plausable than the original plan. And so far, I have managed to pull it off.

Rough Cut

Here is my rough cut of my film opening, its is extremely far from completion, and I have allot of work to do in order to get it done to a decent standard.

So far what I need to do is re-shoot the first and last clips. Edit the voice over so I can sync it up for the footage, and also create and import the soundtrack to my finished product.

Here is the video:



Having watched it through, I can see that what is going on makes no sense at all. So when I add the voice over, I am going to need to work very hard to get it to make enough sense that it is watchable and can be understood.

I know that there is allot of work to get done, but I plan on spending allot of time on it. In order to actually get this done I am going to spend as much of the available time to work on this.

Top Tips For me Next time

1: Make sure that all locations are found and sorted out before I go out to film.

2: Keep all shots plausable at least. Try not to go too over board and attempt something too extravegant.

3: Remember that the storyboard is only a guidline, and any other ideas that come into my head are fine, aslong as I can pull them off.

My 'Picture'

Here as I am sure you can clearly see, perhaps not, is me holding the camera by the side of the car as it drives along. This was not a shot that I had planned prior to actually doing it, but it was a possibility at the time, and in the end turned out very well.

Today's Filming

Today I went out with the actor to play my second villan character, Greg.

We had allot of fun with the camera, and trying out different shots and angles. Overall I think that the day went well. I had a few speed bumps to get over (often quite litterally) but managed to improvise and substitue everything that I needed to.

One of the biggest problems that I faced during the days filming was trying to create the one clip in my storyboard, where I am filming the curb, and the car goes past and splashes a puddle over the curb. Because it was such a dry day, I knew that I would need to create the puddle myself. I took out 4 2 ltr bottles of water to the location, and tried several different things to try and get it to work. None of them succesful. I tried putting a bottle with a loose lid by the curb and having driven over... No success. I tried pouring one out onto the floor where I had dammed it in with sand... No success. After a few more attempts, I gave up and concluded that I wasn't going to be able to pull that one off with the time and resources that I had.

Another few mistakes were made during filming, during the first couple of takes, I had completely missed the fact that I was actually casting a shadow into the shot. After I then moved it was all fine, And I managed to get some really nice shots.

All in all I think that the day went well, and I really enjoyed having the freedom to do what I want and direct my actors how I want to. I think that I will be able to use the footage that I have got well, and use it to move my story along smoothly.

Shooting Day One

Today, I started by filming the scene with the BMW and actor.

I think that all in all I managed very well with the filming. Jumping a few hurdles with bad shots and poor camera work. Working around them helped me learn what to do and what not to do in the future... For instance, don't try riding a skateboard over stone covered concrete.

I had fun, and with a flexible actor, I managed to get every shot that I wanted to get, How I wanted to get it. Am looking forward to doing some more filming in the future, hopefully next time I will have more time to film things, and can get more refined shots, and more interesting effects.

Sound test

Here I went out with James with one of the HD cameras and recorded the two of us speaking about our film openings, just simply to test out the sound recording capabilities of the microphones on the cameras.

It turned out pretty well, you can hear the audio pretty clearly and the extra noise that was recorded isn't too off putting and can be taken out fairly easily. Overall, this was a succesful test and I think that I won't have any problems when recording the audio for my film opening.

Test Footage

Here i got some test footage for my film opening, I got some simple footage of the curb in my classroom and have then added some text in after effects, the sort of style and effect that I want for my final product.

Continuity Task 2

After the last continuity task being a total disaster, and now that we have the HD cameras available, we have now re-done the continuity task, one in standard definition, and one in High Definition.

Standard Definition:


High Definition:


The difference between the two is very obvious to those that can see it. The Standard definition is much lower quality than the high definition, and you can see allot more detail in the high definition, unfortunately you tube has lowered the quality of even the high definition, and so you cannot view it in all its glory.

(Also severly unfortunatly, I am not sure what the hell happened, but the standard definition version is not what I uploaded, and is certainly not what I edited. I'll try to fi that soon)

Schedule for the rest of the project:

Now that I've got almost everything done in pre-production, I can start to schedule everything else that I will need to do in order to get my film opening completed.

Thursday 5th Feb -- Sunday 8th Feb

-- Costume Design - Use the Sims to create 'dummy' costumes.
-- Transition Test with own footage.
-- Find Locations that I need for all shots

Monday 9th Feb - Sunday 15th Feb

-- Continuity Exercise with HD Cameras
-- Film Shots 3 - 9
-- Location 1 for 3 (any suitable road)
-- Location 2 for 4 (corner road with a building with a sharp corner)
-- Location 3 for 5 (Inside a cafe/shop with a window looking out onto the road)
-- Location 4 for 6 (Inside a carpark with pillars and lighting, probably Grand Arcade Car Park in cambridge)
-- Location 5 for 7 - 10 (Eccles Close, Sawston)

Monday 16th Feb - Sunday 22nd Feb (Half Term)

-- Upload all filmed shots to computer and begin post production.
-- Film Shots 1 - 2 & 10 - End
-- Location 6 for 1 - 2 (Any suitable clear curb with a puddle and a clean road)
-- Location 7 for 11 (Inside looking at an old fashioned desk and a dark backdrop)
-- Location 8 for 12 - End (Same building as above, preferably, corridor with a coat rack, and a door at the end for the hanging)
-- Location 9 for the Last shot, to be green screened in. (Sawston Police station)

Friday 20th Feb - Friday 27th Feb

-- Upload all remaining shots to Computer and continue Post Production
-- Add all neccesary clips to After Effects
-- Use photoshop to create images for transitions
-- Use after effects to create transitions
-- Use after effects to create any other effects
-- Import all footage into Final Cut/Sony Vegas for editing
-- Edit
-- Render
-- Upload to Blog
-- Evaluation
-- Done

Foreseen Major Problem 3:

Problem: Finding ideal cars for my characters.

Explanation: Because I want to set my characters up well enough so the audience know what they are like even from the very beginning, I will need to have cars that suit their personality. Another issue that I have run into already is that the guy that has a very nice Mercedes SL600 who agreed to let me use him and his car for one of my characters, is currently out of the country and I cannot now use his car.

Possible Solution 1: Change the characters so that the cars that I can use suit their personality. Although this would change the aura of my film completely, and possibly make it look a whole lot worse than it did before, it is a simple solution and would enable me to get the opening shot.

Possible solution 2: Ask around at some car showrooms (Elms BMW, Shelford) to see if I can borrow a car to film with. Although it is a long shot, I can atleast ask to see if someone will let me borrow a car to use.

People to help: Parents, because i've not got a driving liscence yet, I will need one of them to come along and drive it for me.

Foreseen Major Problem 2:

Problem: Perhaps not enough time with the camera.

Explanation: Because there will be a very limited number of cameras to share around the class, I think that I may not be able to have one for long enough to film all of my opening with the hd cameras. Because there are so many people in the class that will want to use them the availability of the cameras will be very limited and I may not be able to get one for aslong as I will need it to film my entire opening sequence.

Possible solution 1: The obvious solution to this problem is that I am to use either another college camera, and sacrifice High definition film for being able to film the whole thing. Or to use my own camera to film my opening. This way I can guarantee that I will be able to use the camera for the whole time that i need it.

Possible solution 2: Another solution that I can use to fix my problem, is that if I were to arrange with another class mate to share a camera with them, and in exchange help them out on there opening. This is potentially risky because I cannot say for definite that someone will agree to this.

People to help: Classmates and/or teachers, arranging times for me to have the camera so I can get my whole film shot.

Foreseen Major Problem 1:

I have looked at the list below and have predicted that three of them may be a major set back if not fixed before filming.

Problem: Perhaps not enough time to film.

Explanation: Because the weather is not great right now, I have been out of college for two days. And that's two days that I'm not going to have added onto the end of my deadline. If the weather gets worse or even repeats itself, I am going to loose more time in college and so even more time to film my opening.

Possible Solution 1: One way of getting around this is to talk to the teachers and get them to put all the work that we need to get done onto the blog, so that any time that I am out of college, I can find out what I would be doing in college, and if it is possible, complete the tasks at home. Other tasks that I will need to be in college for, I can do as much as possible at home and minimize the amount of work that I need to do in college.

Possible Solution 2: Another solution to this problem is to work really really hard while I am in college and get as much of the work done as I can. So that when I am out of college I can do some more and hopefully get the work done earlier than originally thought.

Possible Solution 3: One more thing that I can do to make sure that I can get all of my filming done in time is to schedule all of the filming sessions so that I know that all of my cast and crew are where they need to be when they need to be there. And so if I stick to the schedule that the filming is all done in time.

People to help: Teachers, by putting all the work on the blog.

Foreseen Problems:

There are several problems that I can predict I may run into. Here is a short list of some of the potential problems that I may run into when trying to film my project.

Lighting not being quite right, trying to get a night time effect.
Finding Ideal Locations that fit well with my storyboard.
Having the actors do a quality job, not making it look amateur.
Making sure that the Costumes fit with the characters that I am trying to portray.
Weather not being suitable for filming.
Weather reducing time in college, and so on filming.
Soundtrack being suitable for film (am not too good with audio)
Perhaps not having enough time to film because planning takes too long or am not in college for the full time on project.
Not enough time with the camera because others are using them and there are not enough to go around.
Finding the ideal cars for the characters, and not using cars that don't go with the scene that I'm trying to set.

Locations:

I think that the locations for my opening are very important, I was thinking about shooting it in a limited number of locations so that the film gains the sense that its going to loop over at some point.

For the detective and second bad guy, I was going to use 'Eccles Close' and the Police station in sawston. The police station would be useful because it has a large amount of police cars and vans out the back, and it is set up with the road next to it well enough that I can fit it in with my film.



One scene that I foresee problems finding a suitable location for, is the very first shot, of the curb with the credits going past. While I have seen several curbs that would be suitable, I have not been able to find one that is both clear enough to put the credits on the top, and has the ability to have the puddle for the car to splash. I will keep looking though.

For the inside shot of the first bad guy getting out of the car, I was going to use the car park in the Grand Arcade. It has the pillars and the lights that are perfect for my film. I just need to find a time and date when it is not too busy to film in it.

For almost all of the other shots, I can find generic locations, with scenery that closely mimics that of my storyboard.

Props:

Bmw 3 series:



I will use this for one of the bad guy's cars, probably the first. Although the car that I have access to is not exactly the same as the one pictured above, it is still a bmw 3 series.

Another Car, hopefully a black car that can give the impression of a villan character. I was hoping to use a Mercedes SL600, but unfortunatly the guy that owns the one I wanted to use is now out of the country, and so I can't use that unless he is back before the deadline.

Mobile Phones: Not particularly important what make or model, just aslong as they are easily recognisable as mobile phones, and have a big enough screen so that I can effectivly use them for the transition between characters.

Coat hanger, this is an important prop because it is where the detective character picks his coat up as he is walking towards the door, I will need this because it will show the audience that the character is heading outside.

Fake Blood, I am going to need enough of this to make sure that the drip from the hanging body at the end looks realistic.

Desk, again with the detective, I need an old fasioned enough desk for him to sit at, this is important because it will set the characters personality a bit more, showing that he still uses an old desk, giving him a very authentic aura about him.

Film Title

After much cosideration, and various ideas I have to think about a name for my film, so I can atleast create the title sequence accuratly. And due to College being closed today and yesterday, I may aswell get what I can, done.

For a long time I just used "Film Title" as the title for my film, as you can see in my storyboard. I think I was trying to avoid thinking about it, because I know that choosing a title for my film would be one of the hardest parts.

As you can see in my animatic, I used "A Fallen Lie". I like it, but I am not sure it really works. Not that it doesn't fit with the film, more that it doesn't fit as a phrase/title.

I really like the idea of a lie/truth having fallen; so I have come to a conclusion on my title.

The Fallen Truth.

I think that it represents the film idea well, and gives it allot of mystery to it, which is exactly what I am going for. It is also a very dark think to say, making sure that the audience knows the film they are about to watch is not a light hearted film, but a film full of heart and mystery; Which I am intending to portray in the first two minutes.

Animatic

Here is my newly done animatic, with the two missing frames from the storyboard shown at the end. I know that the timings are not quite right, some are too long and others are too short, but I will have a much easier task at fixing that when it comes to shooting the real thing.