FINAL FINAL CUT

Preliminary task :)

On Friday last week we completed our Preliminary exercise:
A continuity task involving filming and editing a character opening a door, crossing a room and sitting down in a chair opposite another character, with whom he/she then exchanges a couple of lines of dialogue. Demonstrate match on action , shot/reverse shot  and the 180-degree rule.

Q. Technically, what is the 180 degree rule in the context of this task?
This is the rule that states when you are filming a scene with two people, you can only film inside a semi circle (180 degrees) on one side of an invisible line during the scene. This is because if the camera crosses the during the scene it can confuse the viewer because it make it look like the actors swap places during the scene. So if you apply the rule to the context of this task, the shots would all have to be on one side of the chairs which the actors sit on. Below is a diagram of the 180-degree rule:

Q. What is a match-on-action?

Match-on-action consists of two shots that are connected together to maintain the continuity of the action that the actor is doing in a scene; thus in relevance to this task the match-on-action would be the shot of them walking through the door, in which it starts off from behind with them opening the door and then cuts directly to a shot from the front of them walking through the door. Below is an example of match-on-action shot from the film The Descent.

Q. What is the shot/reverse shot?

 Shot/reverse shot is when you have a shot that is in the opposite direction to the previous shot, giving the effect of looking from on actor to another. This usually takes place within a conversation between two people, as depicted in the clip from the Hunger games below:
r Games below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1Ey0a6LJRA

Q.How did it go?

I think ours went okay, the concept was simple and something we all knew a lot about due to the fact it was about a student starting sixth form, and we filmed it all within our first couple of weeks as a sixth former. Therefore the plot was simple and easy to script, as well as making it easier for our actors as they too had just started sixth form thus it would have been easier for them to emphasise with the characters. We chose the sixth form cafe for our location, which was a good setting as it was simple and easily accessible but had some issues with noise and different people being in the background in different shots. For the casting we went and asked people in our year group who had frees at the same time that we would be filming to make sure they didn't miss any lessons, however this was a bit daunting and awkward at first as I was a new student to the school and didn't know anyone but the other people in my group helped cast as they has been at the school previously so there wasn't really any problems. The equipment was simple to understand and we didn't have any issues with that; however during the editing some of the shots were a different size once transferred onto the software to what we originally filmed, thus it took some time to figure out how to turn them back to their original size. Other than that we didn't have any problems editing because Megan had used the program before, so was familiar with how it works. Setting up my blog was also simple thus not an issue, I just had to create a gmail account to be able to access the website and then just follow the instructions. 

Q.What would you change/ do better if you had the chance to do the task again?

If I was to do it again, I would either change the location to somewhere quieter or record the actors saying the script and then add that on top of the film to try and make the sound clearer as it is difficult to hear them with all the background noise. I would also try make sure that the people in the background were the same in shot to shot, as they change randomly due to the order in which we filmed the shots. Furthermore, I would make sure the actors were aware of what was expected of them before we started to film as we had some issues with them not knowing what they were doing because we hadn't told them before hand.

Here is the final video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAOGOr0n59I

Coursework Evaluation : Question 7

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

Plan:

Link to preliminary 
Link to final product

Here is an audio clip for my answer to this question:

Coursework Evalutation : Question 6

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

Plan:

Coursework Evalutation : Question 4 and 5

Who would be the audience for your media product?

Plan:

Coursework Evalutation : Question 3

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

Plan:

Coursework Evalutation : Question 2

 How does your media product represent particular social groups ?

Plan:

Here is a video I did to answer the question:

Coursework Evalutation : Question 1

 In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Plan:

I did some research into the genre to find out the typical conventions included in media products within it.

Costume and props:
Usually within the sci-fi genre the costume and props are futuristic and imply a sense of space or otherworldliness, such as the light saber in star wars to give a science fiction effect of something unusual . In this aspect I strayed from the usual conventions as although I used technology as a focus within the opening (which could be seen as sticking to the conventions) I only used typical things from 21st century period in time; such as a mac. It is not unusual to see a teenage boy on his laptop therefore it adds more of a sense of realism than what one would stereotypically expect from the genre. Furthermore, his costume is also not typical of the genre, as one would expect it to be again futuristic, but my character is dressed eccentrically in smart clothes, as seen in frame 7, but not so much that he looks startlingly out of place; therefore again defying the conventions.

Title:
Usually the titles of this genre are very simple; they define what is in the film quite outrightly, for example Monsters vs Aliens lets the audience know exactly what the film is going to be about simply from reading the title. In this case, I think I develop this convention slightly as my title does let the audience know about what the film is going to be about but in a far more subtle manner, integrate is a word used in technology which lets them know that will be the premise for the film; but can also be used for as integrated into a new place or environment, which if the film was to be made in full the plot would carry on to show how teenagers had been taken into this new universe; therefore the title implies the plot rather than straight out inform as typical of the genre.

Title font:
For this genre, it is usually simple and static typography. My title, as seen in frame 9, fits into this convention as it is very simple white writing, in a static font that very sharp and separate so the title is easy to read and understand therefore conforming the the typical conventions of the genre.

Camera work and editing:
This typical contains a lot of special effects and close up of unusual or futuristic objects within the sci-fi genre, to again show the audience a different sense of time or space. Within my opening I stray from this convention as I tried to give my opening a more realistic feel than typical from science fiction. Although there is a large focus of the camera following the laptop, the main camerawork has  emphasis on character his movement. Furthermore, as shown by frames 2 and 6, the editing does use some special effects such as over lay and a glitch, as well as time lapse in earlier shots within the opening. However the time lapse and over lay are more to show time passing and give the audience a sense of character rather than add other worldly feels, therefore conflicts the typical conventions. However the glitch effect is meant to portray something unusual and therefore is more conventional.

Character:
The typical character of this genre is 'geeky' or defies the norms of society in some way, or fits into a different society which has different rules and regulations to ours. My character, as shown in frame 3, is very nerdy and quite isolated from the rest of society, therefore fits the conventions to a certain extent as he is an introvert that acts in a very exaggerated version of the normal teenager.

Setting/ location:
This is usually alternative/parallel universes or in a different time period. The locations used in my film challenge this as they are set in modern times, frame 1, but also develop this as they then transfer into a parallel computer setting, frames 6 and 7. This therefore makes it a more stereotypical setting as it makes the audience aware that the character it not in a normal location; even if started off in one.

Sound:
The sound in my  opening develops upon the typical conventions of sci-fi openings. Usually there is some form of narration to introduce the audience into the concept of the film, which my opening has, but it does it after the use of a soundtrack which conflicts the normal conventions of the order of the sound in the opening. It also switches from diegetic sound to non diegetic sound, which goes against the conventions of how sound is introduced. It also included dialogue at the end, which follows the normal order as it sets up the rest of the film, so this fits the conventions of sound within the genre.

BFI : Wix page

For my arts award as part of doing the bfi film academy, I had to make a website documenting everything that we have done. So here is the finished website, with all the work we did during the academy.

https://tasminlucascwe.wixsite.com/film

Here is the link to the finished documentary we created in production week, which was only 4 days long:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZyTz-U-baw

Coursework Construction : Final cut changes

After my audience feedback I decided to make a few more alterations to my video. It was clear that some of the issue with my video was the fact some people didn't understand the storyline, so to try counter act this I made a short piece of narration that will hopefully make the plot more obvious and easy to understand. I have also made some changes to the titles to make them fit in more with the feel of the opening, they are more sophisticated and there is also a more complex ident to add to the level of professionalism in the opening.
Here is the script for the narration I have added:

Most people think of technology as just that. Technology. A man made creation, which supports us through our daily lives, a pre written software, programmed to carry out instructions ordered by us. Most people do not think any further then that, it simply is just a group of mindless machines, a collection of cells carefully constructed for our benefit. My name is Alex Heath, and well I, I found out different.

Coursework Construction : Final cut feedback

Here is some audience feedback from my peers:

Coursework Construction : Final cut

Here is the final cut of my opening:

Courswork Construction: Audience feeback of rough cut

After showing some friends and family the rough cut of my coursework I was given some feedback:

Positives;

• Interesting concept
• A range of shots
• Cool lighting in the parts where he was trapped in the screen
• Appropriate to target audience

Negatives:

• No title/titles
• Music doesn't fit very well
• Bumpy transitions between shots
• Not completely clear what is going on

Changes to make upon feedback:

• Add titles
• Add some video effects to make the transitions smoother
• Edit the music and sound to make it fir the opening better
• Film some extra cutaways of the back of the computer to add in during the shots where he is trapped inside the computer, to make it more clear what the plotline is.

Coursework Construction: Explanation of final cut

Here is a summary of why I have done the different aspects of my film opening in this way and the thought process behind it.


Sound:
 I have chosen to make the sound in this opening what the character would be hearing. So it starts of with just the general background sound of  a city and then when he puts his headphones on the music he is listening to starts. This song then continues until he gets into his bedroom, where it still is playing but slightly quieter as he has taken his headphones out; so it is like he is playing out of his computer. I chose the song Feel Good as  I though it suited the characters personality from the profile I did during the planning process. When it moves to the computer shots, the sound is predominately the humming sound of a computer, which is loudest when he is inside the screen and gets quieter when it is from his sisters perspective. This is to try and make the audience aware of what they are listening to is what the character is listening to.


Lighting:
The lighting starts of as the natural light from outside when Alex is moving around the different places, but as soon as he gets into his bedroom it is the artificial lights in his room. This is meant to represent the predominance of technology in his life, and the contrast between the natural lighting to that in his room is meant to amplify that. The lighting when he is trapped in the computer screen is meant to be very clean and artificial, to suggest that wherever he is inside some form of technology. I wanted the background to be blocked out so it was more ambiguous as to where he is.

Props:
The  main prop is the laptop, and I  made it so that Alex is never seen without it, he has it on him all the time and never stops using it. It is shown in pretty much every shot to show the dominance is has on his life. The other prop that is important are the headphones, as not only do they just allow the audience to hear what the character is hearing but they are almost like a form of protection for him, as he wears them when out in public but as soon as he is in the safety of his own bedroom then he doesn't have to wear them anymore.

Titles:
The titles are in a very electronic typography to fit in with the theme of the video. The name Integrate was inspired by the fact it is a word that can be used in computer terms as lots of different files being brought together, which links to the rest of the plot of the film if it were to carry on as it is lots of teenagers being sucked into this same technological world.

Editing:
I chose to do the time lapses to try and suggest how much time was passing whilst Alex was sat on his laptop. Also the glitches on the computer screen to try and suggest that something had gone wrong, just before Alex gets sucked into the computer. I also tried to make it appear a bit like it  has a glitch  when he is trapped inside the computer screen to try and show that he is somewhere else, perhaps where the connection isn't that strong. I also have chosen to export it so there are black bars around the screen, to make it look like we are watching in on him through a screen.

Coursework Construction : Rough cut

Here is the original rough cut:

Coursework Construction: Behind the scenes

Here is a behind the scenes vlog of the filming days :

Unfortunately, as I am working by myself I was not able to get any pictures of us during the actual filming process.

Coursework Construction : Day 2 review

 When did we film:
We re-filmed on the 18th of January as we did not want to leave it too long between filming days so the idea would still be fresh in our minds.

How did it go?
Our second day of filming went far more smoothly than the first, I remembered to bring my story boards so we were able to have a really specific outline of what we needed to film. Alex's house was a much easier location to film as his room was bigger to be able to move around in, as well as suiting the character more. He also has a big conservatory which we were able to use the windows of to film the bits of him behind a screen with.

Was there any issues?
The only real issue we had was getting from Norwich to Alex's house and then also waiting for the rain to stop so it wouldn't make too much of  a noise against the conservatory roof for us to film. The  actor for Alex's sister was unfortunately still sick so we just had to use me briefly to get those shot. 

Do we need to film anymore?
We got plenty of footage and as we already had the footage for the outside scenes, I do not think we need to film any more as I think that we can work with what we have and just edit it to make any adjustments we may want to make.

Coursework Construction : Day 1 filming review

Here is a brief video diary talking about how the first day filming went:

A more in depth review:

What went well?
I think what went well was the way we worked together, making the process easier as his responses to my directions were really good. He also had some ideas for different shots which was cool because we collaborated our ideas to come up with some new shots and angles.

What didn't work as well?
The shots in my dads house did not go as well because the space wasn't particularly easy to film in as it was all quite tight, so the shots there do not look as good as I want them to.  I also had not thought ahead to filming the scenes of him trapped in the computer, and our location did not have any windows to give us the space to do that so we could not get it filmed as planned.

Anything that needs to be refilmed?
We need to refilm the shots of him in the room and also film him behind the screen, so there will be another day to do those. I think all of the shots of him in Norwich are fine as we got a large amount trying different things, so I should have plenty to choose from during editing.

Did everything run smoothly?
Everything went well and there wasn't any major hiccups, just that we have to refilm some shots. Also, our actor for his sister became sick before the shoot so we had to improvise and use me to make up for it.

Any changes to make?
I think that I will try and do the sister coming into the bedroom differently as I think the basic angles I used just watching her walk into the room are quite boring and look really ametuer.

Did we use the storyboards to good effect?
I sent them to him beforehand which proved very useful as he had  a clear idea of what we were going to be doing before we filmed, but I forgot to bring them with me on the day which meant I forgot  a few shots as I was remembering them from the top of my head.

Coursework Planning: Shooting schedule

Date of filming:
14th January 2017

Times:
Morning ( 11am-1pm) - filming in the different locations around Norwich of Alex on his computer.

Afternoon ( 2pm-5pm) - filming the scenes in Alex's room and of him trapped behind a screen.


How have we organised this?
We organised this using mainly social media as it was the quickest way for us to communicate.

Has it proved easy/ difficult to organise?
It was relatively easy to organise, it was more of an issue to get transport for Alex from his house and back as his parents had to be free as well. I also sent him the storyboards and script to give him more of an idea of what we are doing on the day so we can go straight into it.

BFI: selection day video

Here is a stop motion animation video that we had 4 hours to create, from ideas to editing. We had to do it as part of the selection day for the BFI film academy, we had the conditions of:

• A clown
• Horror genre
• A cuboard
• A cactus
• 'The sun is shiny bright'

Coursework Planning: Final Locations

The final locations we are going to use are:

• My dads spare room- This is  because it is the easiest to access whilst filming whilst still being suitable to what we want to create.
• Chapelfield - This is because it has the most potential for different shots to try and create the scene that we want, as it is always busy and has lots of different spaces we can film in.
• The Forum - This is because again we can try film in different spots within the location, and also it is very easy to access.
• City Centre - This one because it is easy to get to and film, and also has the busy ambiance that we want when trying to portray Alex's character.

To see a more detailed analysis into the different locations please see this blog post.

How does the setting we are using help construct a mis-en-scene?
The settings I have chosen ( in the city and the characters room) help do this as they allow paths to introduce the audience to the character to make the plot make more sense. The city will be a busy background to the shots to add emphasis to the isolation of the character, and the props and set-up of his bedroom will build up the different aspects of the character; adding more diversity to the mis-en-scene.