Tuesday 31 January 2012

Filming Day 1. Personal Development.

Today was the first day of filming, and it didnt go too well for multiple reasons.
Personally, I felt iscolated when using the camera and didnt feel confident enough to use different shots/angles/movement; this was purely because I was too conscious of time and not taking any chances of wasting the time we had.
This limited the range of shots we had, which generated the poor quality of the footage.
I hope that next time we film, I'll overcome this and feel more comfortable and able enough to explore a diversity of media techniques.

Filming Day 2. Personal Development.

So today we re-filmed Lucy's 'getting ready' scene, and it (unlike previous attempts) turned out to be successful.
I felt that I'd personally gained the confidence to move around freely and try out different angles and postitions, unlike before when I felt quite iscolated when using the camera.
Also, I've communicated to my team members effortlessly and have found that working with them as a group has been benefitial in that they can contribute to everything we do as a group, even personal goals of my own. (such as becoming more comfortable with the camera equpitment)
I'm sure that my personal progress will improve as I go on, and even contribute to my performance in the group.

Monday 30 January 2012

Day 2. Improvements of filming.

Our improvements consisted of;
- using the correct equpitment correctly, constantly and to its full potential (tripod)
- sticking to the script/storyboard to avoid conflict within the group and misunderstanding, also this has helped manage our time.
- full communication with the actress; briefing our idea to her and explaining how the female character should act, speak and present herself throughout the opening sequence.

Here, we've pin-pointed a camera shot that we've improved on.
Lucy is applying her make-up in this scene, and clearly, she is not in the centre of the shot, the top of her head is cut off and the camera is tilted slightly - causing this shot to look ammiture and unproffessional.



Here, is our new shot of this scene. We can clearly see that improvements have been made, such as -
. we've highlighted the importance of her doing her make-up, but using an extreme close-up while she's applying her lipstick. - This is for multiple reasons, such as; the audience can infer that in the actresses mind, her concentration is purely on her lipstick - making the audience feel 'at one' with the actresses thoughts. Also, lips conote femininity and female dominance which is stereotypically made for the opposite sex's attention. This tells the audience a bit about the character herself and gives an insight on how women of that generation/class/status/maturity present themselves. Furthermore foreshadowing a result in romance, which is our aim in the opening sequence.
. we've used the tripod, which sets the camera at a flat, straight angle that looks proffessional.



This, like many other scenes in our filming, is evidence of improvement and that we (as individuals, and a group) are mastering the ways of proffessional filming. (camera angle/shot/movement/duration)

Experimenting with editing.

So today we wernt able to film, because our actress Lucy was unable to attend filming and the group itself was missing crucial equiptment that we needed whilst filming, one of these was the storyboard. Even though this was published on everyone's blogs; we needed the copy itself to take with us when filming, as computers were unavailable throughout filming.

In our screenplay, when Lucy checks her email, the camera will show her computer screen alerting her that she has '1 new message!'
Here we have created the screenshot that the audience will see, assuming that it was her own computer screen they were looking at :



Here, Teni was experimenting with screen credits and how our film title will appear, what it will look like and its general connotations.
'Lost & Found' :


We did this today simply to fill up time and get to grips with our editing techniques, despite this - our main focus is filming, and in order to obtain the extended deadline, we must stick to a strict schedule.

Monday 23 January 2012

First Day Filming, Update no.1

PROBLEMS,
- Lack of organisation - actor/actress wasnt prepared.
                                  - original props were forgotten.
                                  - members of the group showed up late to filming.

- Lack of understanding - the group itself wasnt crystal clear on the idea/script/camera angles/general aim.
                                     - the actress misinterpreted her role/character.
                                     - how the tripod was to be correctly used.
                                     - how camera could be used to its full potential.

- Lack of communication - storyboard was not used as a guide for camera angles/shots/movement/dialogue.
                                       - idea's were made up in the heat of the moment, no discussion; plot wasnt clear.
                                       - random selection of roles; in the group.

REQUIREMENTS NEXT TIME...
- Organisation - have a set time for all members of the group to turn up, and (if necessary) have their immediate contact information available to reach them.
- frequently be in communication with actor/actress, keep all group members informed of updates/changes to the schedule.
- props are to be brought to attention to everyone, they are to be brought to lesson a few days in advance to filming, so that they are accessable at all times.
- having a set time-table of events, this includes times of filming, what we're filming, props used, characters involved and the estimated time that we should be finished.
- Understanding - before filming, and (prefferably) on a regular basis of filming, resort to the storyboard and plan, discuss any other possible options and film both - so that when we're editing, we can sort out the good footage from the bad and have a variety of options to chose from.
- sit down with the actor/actress and brief them on our plot, our representations, costume, script, screenplay and all the basic, so that they can fuly grasp their roles. Also have sessions briefly before filming with the actor/actress to be pristine on whats expected.
- each individual group member must master the methods of using equiptment correctly and effectively.
- each individual group member must adapt all roles to the best of their ability - filming, sound, editing, scripting.
- Communication - have the storyboard present throught all the filming and refer to it when experimenting with angles/movements and shots. - stick to the initial plan, any other ideas/suggestions are to be taken onboard and filmed also, then, when editing, we can differ the useful footage.
- select roles equally in the group and make sure that each person gets to experience all methods of filming, planning and editing.

Saturday 14 January 2012

Our Opening Sequence Re-write.

The screan shows 'new message'.
Lucy walks in from other room, can only see her feet.
She clicks 'open' and zooms in on her horoscope.
Blurs out the rest of the writing except 'you'll meet you prince charming today'
shows the back of the screen, and then her face comes up, smiling.
*music plays*
split screen.
Homeless man is shown on the right-hand side.
She begins getting ready, as he just sits there watching people go past.
HER; 1. dances out of the room.
         2. throws clothes/shoever the bed.
         3. does her make-up in the mirror.
         4. sings in the mirror with hair brush.
HIM; 1. watches people go past.
         2. mimes thanking a stranger for change.
         3. wrapps his sleeping back around him more.
         4. behind his head watching people.
she walks out the house, music died down - screen on left-hand side largens to fit whole screen.

Her feet walking down the street, tilts up at her whole body.
side of the homeless man looking in front, looking to the camera - double-take.
She looks up from her phone and spots him.
shot reverse shot of their eyes.
he looks down, she looks away.
behind his head - her walking past.
him looking at her and then down.
her walking down the street, mugger seen behind walking after her.
tilits toward him counting to three and then grabbing her bag.
close-up of the bag being pulled.
his panicked face as she doesnt let go.
girls face tugging at the bag.
the homeless man looks up at them and runs toward them.
just as the woman lets go, the homeless man grabs it.
the mugger looks at them both and lets go.
giving a yelp, he runs off almost tripping over.
homelessman hands the woman her handbag, tilts up at her.
she smiles.
he smiles back.
she thanks him and offers him money for his help but he refuses.
he walks back to his spot and sits down.
she starts walking aswell, pausing to look at him aagain -and then walks away.
A card drops from her bag onto the floor but she doesnt notice it.
the homeless man does and gets up to retrieve it.
he calls out to the woman but by the she was already gone.
the card is her oyster card, with her name and picture.
zooms in to the 'if missing please return to ____'.
he smiles.

Monday 2 January 2012

Encouraging Focus Group (letter, brief explanatory).

To whom this letter was given to,
                                      We are writing to invite you to attend our focus group that will be held in ME2 at 9:50am on Monday. You dont need to bring anything but your advice and personal opinion to help us establish the target audience for our media production.
During the focus group, you will encounter a series of simple questions regarding our media project.
This focus group should take no longer than 20 - 30 minutes.

We hope to see you there, thankyou for your time !

Group 1.

'Lost and Found' ; Our Opening Sequence.

LOST AND FOUND.

SETTING; big city, busy streets, large buildings etc.
TIME; daytime, morning, bright and sunny.
CHARACTER(S); successful business woman on her way to work, and homeless man on the floor outside a building watching everyone go past.
DIALOGUE; none.
BACKING TRACK/MUSIC; cheerful music, comical, positive.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
__  = ANGLE OR SHOT.         ___ = SOUND OR DIALOGUE.         = CAMERA MOVEMENT.

       = EDITING.

(SPLIT SCREEN - LEFT BUSINESS WOMAN, RIGHT HOMELESS MAN)(LEFT, LONG SHOT, FLAT ANGLE. RIGHT, MID SHOT, HIGH ANGLE)(LEFT, TRACK. RIGHT, ZOOMS IN ON HIM)(CHEERFUL/COMICAL MUSIC IN THE BACKGROUND)Woman is getting dressed and ready for work, while the man is sitting on the floor with his sleeping bag and backpack are behind him. The woman leaves her house and starts walking down the street with her purse over her shoulder. (LEFT SIDE IS LARGENED TO FIT THE WHOLE SCREEN - WOMANS SIDE)(LONG SHOT)(MUSIC DIES DOWN, ALL WE CAN HEAR IS HER HEELS ON THE PAVEMENT)(TRACK, TILT)
The woman walks along, and passes the homeless guy. (LONG SHOT, LOW ANGLE)The man looks up at her walking past and gives a brief smile, only to be ignored. (MID SHOT, FLAT ANGLE)(STATIC)
Woman continues walking down the street (MID SHOT, FLAT ANGLE)(TRACK)and suddenly a man from behind her, hooded and unrecognisable, seizes her hand bag from her shoulder.
The woman shrieks and grabs the other strap of her bag desperately. (CLOSE UP, HIGH ANGLE)(STEADY CAM)(FAST PACED MUSIC IMPLYING DANGER)
(BIRDS EYE VIEW)(ZOOMS IN ON ACTION, PANS ROUND TO SEE BOTH PEOPLE TUGGING AT HER BAG FRANTICALLY)(FAST PACED MUSIC STILL PLAYING)The woman screams at the top of her lungs, and yet no-one stops to help her, the walk on. (LONG SHOT OF EVERYONE WALKING PAST, FLAT ANGLE)(STATIC)
The homeless man looks up and spot the woman in danger (MID SHOT, HIGH ANGLE)(ZOOMS IN ON HIS FACE)he jumps up and runs to he rescue. (LONG SHOT, LOW ANGLE)(STEADY CAM)(HEROIC MUSIC GRADUALLY BUILDS UP)
The man snatches the purse from the mans hands, just as the woman lets go of it (MID SHOT, HIGH ANGLE)(ZOOMS IN ON PURSE, AND PANS ROUND TO CAPTURE THE WOMANS SUPRISED REACTION)(HEROIC MUSIC PLAYING)automatically, the thug runs away and disappears in the sea of people. (LONG SHOT, LOW ANGLE)(STATIC)
The homeless man, breathless, hands the woman her purse, (CLOSE UP OF THE PURSE, FLAT ANGLE)(TILTS UP AT THEIR FACES LOOKING AT EACHOTHER, AND ZOOMS OUT SO THAT YOU CAN FULLY SEE THEM)(HEROIC MUSIC TONES DOWN TO NOTHING SLOWLY)
The woman takes her purse back gratefully and thanks him humbly, (MID SHOT OF WOMAN, SLIGHTLY HIGH ANGLE - POINT OF VIEW SHOT FOR THE HOMELESS MAN)(STATIC)and smiles. (ZOOM IN ON HER SMILE)
The homeless man smiles back and says that it wasn't a problem at all, and starts to walk away. (MID SHOT, FLAT ANGLE)(STATIC)
The woman frowns slightly at him walking away. (CLOSE UP, FLAT ANGLE)(STATIC)
The woman looks up at the street of people, about to walk away - and then stops, deep in thought. (LONG SHOT, FLAT ANGLE)(BACKWARD CREEP/ZOOMS OUT TO SHOW PEOPLE WALKING PAST)She looks back in the direction of the homeless man again and walks up to him.(LONG SHOT, LOW ANGLE)(PAN, ZOOMS OUT)
She smiles lightly and sighs, lowering herself to his ground-level to speak face to face again. (SIDE VIEW, LONG SHOT, FLAT ANGLE)(ZOOMS IN ON THEM)
The homeless man is lightly suprised she came back. (CLOSE UP OF HIS FACE, HIGH ANGLE)(TILTS DOWN AT HIM, LIKE POINT OF VIEW OF THE WOMAN CROUCHING DOWN)
The woman explains that she in partnership with a banking business on the highstreet and that she's looking for an work assistant to help her, (MID SHOT, FLAT ANGLE) she adds that she knows his situation at the moment isnt ideal - but its the least she could do to repay him.
(CLOSE UP OF HER HANDING THE CARD OVER, POINT OF VIEW, HIGH ANGLE)(STATIC)She hands him her business card.
(MID SHOT, FLAT ANGLE, POINT OF VIEW OF MAN)(ZOOMS IN ON HER FACE)She starts to tell him to ring the number, but then she looks down at his bags on the floor and realised he doesnt own one. (MID SHOT, HIGH ANGLE)(PANS ROUND TO SEE HIS BAGS, ZOOMS IN, AND THEN BACK AT THE WOMAN, STATIC)She carries on and says how he should pop in, and ask for Eleanor Green.
(CLOSE-UP OF THE AMNS FACE, FLAT ANGLE)The man frowns at the card (ZOOMS IN AT THE CARD IN HER HAND)(PANS ROUND)(MID SHOT, FLAT ANGLE OF MAN)(ZOOMS IN)and shakes his head.
(TILTS DOWN AT HIS CLOTHING)He looks down at his shabby clothing,(MID SHOT, SLIGHTLY HIGH ANGLE)(ZOOMS OUT) thanks her for the oppertunity, but refuses it. (BACKWARD CREEP UNTIL YOU SEE THE SIDE OF THE WOMANS FACE)
(MID SHIT, FLAT ANGLE)(STATIC)The woman smiles slightly, reassuring him that she'll fix him a suit and a temporary apartment to live in, just to get him going.
(LONG SHOT, LOW ANGLE LOOKING AT THE BOTH OF THEM LOOKING AT EACHOTHER)(STATIC)They both look at eachother.
(CLOSE-UP OF HER FACE, FLAT ANGLE)She smiles again, stating that she wont take no for an answer.

THE END.