Production Entry 1: 3rd November 2013
Today we were meant to shoot numerous
shots at the location ‘Shannon’s House’, however due to actors being
unavailable, we have rescheduled this for Sunday 17th November.
Although this is the day before the deadline, as it will be film at the weekend, we will able to get more shots done due to not being at sixth form and will be able to complete filming before the deadline.
Although this is the day before the deadline, as it will be film at the weekend, we will able to get more shots done due to not being at sixth form and will be able to complete filming before the deadline.
Filming: Day 1 – Front of School 3rd
November 2013
Today my group and I filmed shots
17-25 and 45-46, all of which are situated outside our school location.
Regarding what I contributed in today’s production work; I directed half of the shots on the shot list for the location by making sure the actor’s knew where they should be positioned in the clip, what they were saying and how they were delivering their lines; I helped with sound management by making sure the microphone was close enough to the actors to pick up proficient sound so the quality would be good enough and I played a small acting part which required me to say one line.
Regarding what I contributed in today’s production work; I directed half of the shots on the shot list for the location by making sure the actor’s knew where they should be positioned in the clip, what they were saying and how they were delivering their lines; I helped with sound management by making sure the microphone was close enough to the actors to pick up proficient sound so the quality would be good enough and I played a small acting part which required me to say one line.
(Left) Me in charge of sound management
First successful shot that I directed
Second successful shot that I directed
On the whole, the filming went well as
we shot all of the clips twice to make sure we have sufficient footage to
choose the best quality clips for our production and the actors all played
their part convincingly to fully represent the characteristics we intended.
However, there are two things that we could improve on.
One shot’s mise-en-scene was disturbed as a pile of coats and bags can clearly be seen in the background, and the character of Mia’s costume wasn't what we had planned in the character profiles.
In terms of how these problems could be fixed; Mia’s costume isn't too important as what the actor was wearing can connote the same representation, and the mise-en-scene can be fixed by cropping it by editing the clip in adobe premiere.
Ultimately, if this does not work/look aesthetically pleasing, we will need to re-shoot the specific shot.
However, there are two things that we could improve on.
One shot’s mise-en-scene was disturbed as a pile of coats and bags can clearly be seen in the background, and the character of Mia’s costume wasn't what we had planned in the character profiles.
In terms of how these problems could be fixed; Mia’s costume isn't too important as what the actor was wearing can connote the same representation, and the mise-en-scene can be fixed by cropping it by editing the clip in adobe premiere.
Ultimately, if this does not work/look aesthetically pleasing, we will need to re-shoot the specific shot.
Production Entry 2: 11th November 2013
As my group and I have not managed to film any more shots
since the last shooting session, today has revolved around reviewing footage to
test the suitability of each shot.
Shannon was responsible for actually constructing the shot log and I contributed ideas to do with the quality of the video and whether or not the shot should appear in our teaser trailer.
Shannon was responsible for actually constructing the shot log and I contributed ideas to do with the quality of the video and whether or not the shot should appear in our teaser trailer.
Footage Log: 11/11/13
Now that we have finished filming and gathered all the shots we need for the particular scenes, we need to create a footage log to identify which shots we will use and which we may need to re-record. In our lesson today, Shannon filled in a table to cover the 2 scenes we shot in this one location- covering the quality, amount of takes, duration, whether or not it is usable and any points worth noting, whilst Alex and I contributed ideas in what to put in each section.
The table of the footage log can be seen below.Now that we have finished filming and gathered all the shots we need for the particular scenes, we need to create a footage log to identify which shots we will use and which we may need to re-record. In our lesson today, Shannon filled in a table to cover the 2 scenes we shot in this one location- covering the quality, amount of takes, duration, whether or not it is usable and any points worth noting, whilst Alex and I contributed ideas in what to put in each section.
Production Entry 3: 14th November 2013
Yesterday, on the 13th November, my
group and I shot 29-34, all of which are situated outside the ‘Costa’ location.
Regarding what I contributed in today’s production work; I directed all of of the shots on the shot list for the location by making sure the actors knew where they should be positioned in the clip (a vital element of mise-en-scene), what they were saying and how they were delivering their lines.
I also filmed a couple of different angles for each shot so we could have more choice when we pick which shots will appear in the final production piece, which will initially help out with continuity editing.
Regarding what I contributed in today’s production work; I directed all of of the shots on the shot list for the location by making sure the actors knew where they should be positioned in the clip (a vital element of mise-en-scene), what they were saying and how they were delivering their lines.
I also filmed a couple of different angles for each shot so we could have more choice when we pick which shots will appear in the final production piece, which will initially help out with continuity editing.
Myself (right) directing the shots in the scene
Successful shot I directed
Yet, as we filmed in the late afternoon - around 4:30, the lighting wasn't as good as we intended it to be because we relied on the sun as our key light and as it is winter, it gets darker earlier.
This then caused some of the colouring of the actors' skin to have a strange hue, however this problem can be fixed in the editing stage.
If we could film again, it would be more appropriate to film in the earlier in the after noon to achieve a more high key/natural light look in our clips.
Picture of the colour gradient problem- the actor's skin has orange and pink patches that will need to be fixed with the colour gradient tool in Adobe Premiere.
Footage Log: 14/11/13
Now that we have finished filming and gathered all the shots we need for the particular scenes, we need to create a footage log to identify which shots we will use and which we may need to re-record. In our lesson today, I filled in a table to cover the 2 scenes we shot in this one location- covering the quality, amount of takes, duration, whether or not it is usable and any points worth noting.The table of the footage log can be seen below.
Production Entry 4: 17th November 2013
Today, my group and I filmed shots 1-7 ,which are situated outside the 'Kirsty's House' location and shots 37-50, which are situated outside the 'Park' location.
Regarding what I contributed in today’s production work, I directed a handful of shots and managed the audio involved with the shots, but mainly focussed on directing the actors themselves.
This is because Shannon had not been able to properly direct until today as she had been starring in the shots herself as the character, Grace, therefore it would only be fair to share the responsibility.Thus, I concentrated on helping the actors with their delivery and body language, to help convey the intended atmosphere of the scene and also add to the mise en scene of the shot/s.
Regarding what I contributed in today’s production work, I directed a handful of shots and managed the audio involved with the shots, but mainly focussed on directing the actors themselves.
This is because Shannon had not been able to properly direct until today as she had been starring in the shots herself as the character, Grace, therefore it would only be fair to share the responsibility.Thus, I concentrated on helping the actors with their delivery and body language, to help convey the intended atmosphere of the scene and also add to the mise en scene of the shot/s.
First successful shot that I directed
Second successful shot that I directed
In general, filming was sufficient today. We managed to obtain shots that were to the quality we intended them to be and did manage to shoot some successful shots that would look aesthetically pleasing in our final piece.
Both of the successful shots can be seen above and both show clear conventions of the thriller genre, which is the sub-genre that will be more evident at the end of the teaser trailer.
This is because both have low key lighting, connoting a sense of danger and in particular, the first successful shot really displays the convention of mystery, as the over the shoulder shot doesn't reveal the identity of the man who is approaching Emma.
However, there were some problems with filming today. For example, shot 38 had to be re-taken 12 times because the scene's framing didn't look aesthetically pleasing or because the actors could not maintain their composure. This initially wasted a lot of time as we needed to shoot a few shots outside at dusk to create a low key lighting effect, yet we couldn't leave it too late as it would be too dark.
Therefore, shots could not be shot twice, meaning that if something had gone wrong, we would have to re-shoot again on another day.
On the whole, every shot did turn out to be how we intended it to be therefore we will not have to re-shoot any scenes.
Both of the successful shots can be seen above and both show clear conventions of the thriller genre, which is the sub-genre that will be more evident at the end of the teaser trailer.
This is because both have low key lighting, connoting a sense of danger and in particular, the first successful shot really displays the convention of mystery, as the over the shoulder shot doesn't reveal the identity of the man who is approaching Emma.
However, there were some problems with filming today. For example, shot 38 had to be re-taken 12 times because the scene's framing didn't look aesthetically pleasing or because the actors could not maintain their composure. This initially wasted a lot of time as we needed to shoot a few shots outside at dusk to create a low key lighting effect, yet we couldn't leave it too late as it would be too dark.
Therefore, shots could not be shot twice, meaning that if something had gone wrong, we would have to re-shoot again on another day.
On the whole, every shot did turn out to be how we intended it to be therefore we will not have to re-shoot any scenes.
Production Entry 5: 18th November 2013
Today, my group and I filmed shots 12-44 in the location that is 'Shannon's House'.
Regarding what I contributed in today’s production work, I focussed on sound management and helping actor's with the delivery of their lines as I had directed a lot of the shots in the other scenes, meaning Shannon and Alex were able to direct more shots and therefore share the responsibility as a group.
Regarding what I contributed in today’s production work, I focussed on sound management and helping actor's with the delivery of their lines as I had directed a lot of the shots in the other scenes, meaning Shannon and Alex were able to direct more shots and therefore share the responsibility as a group.
Myself controlling sound management
Due to the availability of our main actors in our sequence, it has meant that we have had to reschedule most of our filming. Originally, these shots were meant to be filmed in the day time so the sun could be used as our key light and the natural lighting from this light source would create a clearer, more focussed shot.
However, this filming session was rescheduled for the evening of today because our actor's could not make it earlier in the day.
This meant that we had to rely on the ceiling lights has the key lights which were not as effective with illuminating the shot.
Yet, the scene where Emma first enters her new room could have low key lighting as time would have passed travelling to a new home. Also, when Mia arrives to tell Emma some bad news, it is more likely it'd be done in the evening as the girls would both be at sixth form in the day time.
The successful shot I directed above isn't successful in the sense of mise-en-scene, as one of our team member's legs can be seen in the shallow focus of the shot.
To fix this problem, the shot can be edited to have even more shallow focus, or the legs can cropped out in the editing stage which would make the shot completely successful overall.
If we had time to film again, filming in the day time would be a priority to get completely HD, professional looking shots with high key lighting to make the shots clearer as low key lighting could always be achieved in post production.
All in all, with with regards to the previous justification, the shots in the scene suffice to a pretty high standard.
Footage Log: 21/11/13
Now that we have finished filming and gathered all the shots we need for the particular scenes, we need to create a footage log to identify which shots we will use and which we may need to re-record. In our lesson today, Alex filled in the log regarding the remaining scenes we shot in the location- covering the quality, amount of takes, duration, whether or not it is usable and any points worth noting, whilst I helped with footage suitability.
The table of the footage log can be seen below.
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The table of the footage log can be seen below.
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Production Entry - Editing 21st November 2013
Today was the first day of editing our teaser trailer and I was left with the responsibility of outlining the structure of our product which meant placing all the clips we'd shot in chronological order on adobe premiere.
After I had completed this task it was evident that our teaser trailer was too long as it lasted approximately 2 minutes and 30 seconds length-wise, meaning that the teaser trailer was unconventional and fitted the conventions of an ordinary trailer more so.
Thus, as a group we decided that it was necessary to cut some shots from the sequence so the length would represent a standard teaser trailer.
Therefore, Shannon then took over the editing role and prioritised certain clips over others and managed to cut the sequence down.
Whilst she was doing this, I researched similar products to our sequence and focussed on audio as our chosen audio for the wasn't as suitable as we had hoped.
After I had completed this task it was evident that our teaser trailer was too long as it lasted approximately 2 minutes and 30 seconds length-wise, meaning that the teaser trailer was unconventional and fitted the conventions of an ordinary trailer more so.
Thus, as a group we decided that it was necessary to cut some shots from the sequence so the length would represent a standard teaser trailer.
Therefore, Shannon then took over the editing role and prioritised certain clips over others and managed to cut the sequence down.
Whilst she was doing this, I researched similar products to our sequence and focussed on audio as our chosen audio for the wasn't as suitable as we had hoped.
After conducting this research, I found two royalty free audio tracks that would be suitable to feature in our teaser trailer and can be seen below.
We will test both tracks when editing in the future to see which fits best or if another track needs to be chosen as sound is a very important component of a teaser trailer.
Overall this first editing session was very useful as it allowed us to see the problems with our teaser trailer straight away so we could eliminate these problems sooner rather than later.
For the first half of this editing session, Shannon continued working on cutting out less important clips from the sequence whilst Alex looked at tutorials for adobe after effects in which we plan to use to construct our titles with to create a more professional looking piece, and I searched for relevant sound effects that would feature in our piece.We will test both tracks when editing in the future to see which fits best or if another track needs to be chosen as sound is a very important component of a teaser trailer.
Overall this first editing session was very useful as it allowed us to see the problems with our teaser trailer straight away so we could eliminate these problems sooner rather than later.
Production Entry - Editing 25th November 2013
Once Shannon had finished cutting the clips, the sequence was around 1 minute 30 seconds in length meaning it was more conventional and was at the length we originally intended it to be.
Then, for the second half of the lesson I worked on adding audio to the timeline and editing volume and audio transitions as each main component of a teaser trailer is vital as sound can either 'make or break' a teaser trailer when it comes to targeting a chosen audience.
Whilst I did this, Alex continued to work on creating titles and Shannon made the title for our film name, Identity, again, on Adobe After Affects and the result of this can be seen below.
This title is not only aesthetically pleasing, but also has elements relating to features within our teaser trailer. The font has quite an ‘internet-feel’ which relates to the common running theme of online usage and furthermore, the smoke effect adds to the ‘unveiling’ of Emma’s partner who isn't who she expected him to be.
Production Entry - Editing 27th November 2013
In today's session, the group came to the realisation that the pacing of our trailer wasn't very effective and lacked clarity. This is because timing with clips was not as considered before and the lack of audio meant the sequence looked 'messy'.
We also came to realise that the audio in some of the school scenes were too loud and included too much background noise so Shannon suggested re-recording the audio.Shannon and I therefore an mp3 voice recorder in order to re-record the dialogue needed for this shot outdoors to get the same effect. The recording went well and was then placed over the video to create the shot we needed, this has ultimately made the whole scene work a lot better and more effectively.
In most of today's session, I focussed on audio and pacing of the second half of the trailer which contains elements of our thriller sub-genre. This is because in our research, we found that are target audience would like mostly drama throughout the trailer, then an upbeat, quick section of thriller, meaning this section is to be focussed on first as building incrementum is essential in building excitement for our audience.
To achieve this effect, I added in cinematic bass booms to accompany the cut- to-black transitions that have been placed in that section as this makes the cuts more dramatic. The idea of audio also helped with pacing as I sped up the occurrence of each bass boom, meaning the sound effect started to sound like quickening drum beats. I coincided this technique with and using jump cuts in clips to make movement jerky and less consistent.
Then, I used a build up sound effect and paired it with the quickening drum beats to make the audio more phonologically pleasing and so suspense was properly created as it is a convention of the thriller genre.
Lastly, I placed a cinematic boom between the last clip and the title. However, there was no audio to go with the title which meant any real drama was lacking, therefore Shannon came up with the idea to use an 'electricity hum' sound effect as this isn't too distracting as an audio effect, and also relates to electronic/internet theme that features in our teaser trailer.
We also came to realise that the audio in some of the school scenes were too loud and included too much background noise so Shannon suggested re-recording the audio.Shannon and I therefore an mp3 voice recorder in order to re-record the dialogue needed for this shot outdoors to get the same effect. The recording went well and was then placed over the video to create the shot we needed, this has ultimately made the whole scene work a lot better and more effectively.
In most of today's session, I focussed on audio and pacing of the second half of the trailer which contains elements of our thriller sub-genre. This is because in our research, we found that are target audience would like mostly drama throughout the trailer, then an upbeat, quick section of thriller, meaning this section is to be focussed on first as building incrementum is essential in building excitement for our audience.
To achieve this effect, I added in cinematic bass booms to accompany the cut- to-black transitions that have been placed in that section as this makes the cuts more dramatic. The idea of audio also helped with pacing as I sped up the occurrence of each bass boom, meaning the sound effect started to sound like quickening drum beats. I coincided this technique with and using jump cuts in clips to make movement jerky and less consistent.
Then, I used a build up sound effect and paired it with the quickening drum beats to make the audio more phonologically pleasing and so suspense was properly created as it is a convention of the thriller genre.
Lastly, I placed a cinematic boom between the last clip and the title. However, there was no audio to go with the title which meant any real drama was lacking, therefore Shannon came up with the idea to use an 'electricity hum' sound effect as this isn't too distracting as an audio effect, and also relates to electronic/internet theme that features in our teaser trailer.
Production Entry - 28th November 2013
Making the questions ...
First Draft
Production Entry - Editing 4th December 2013
Audience feedback ...
Audience feedback ...
Production Entry - Editing 7th December 2013
After receiving audience feedback it had become evident that
our teaser trailer needed to be more conventional to be recognised more
effectively by the audience. Although we wanted to have not too many titles
included in our piece; having a release date is both conventional and not too
significant in terms of taking away the narrative as it is stereotypically at
the end of the sequence or in the penultimate position before the final title.
Therefore Shannon created the title in after effects, maintaining our internet
theme by using the same font as our final title and similar colours to achieve
both consistency and a professional looking title (which can be seen below)
Production Entry 5 - 8th December 2013
Today consisted of just myself filming shot 32 as it was fairly simplistic and only required me to feature in it. As a group, we had decided it was essential to include the shot as we had not done so yet and there was dialogue in the sequence such as 'have you seen those pictures of her, slut'. Although the audience would most likely be able to infer that Emma had been a victim of revealing photos of her being sent around the school, narrative is an essential part of a teaser trailer meaning this needed to be completely clear. Our main actress was unavailable, but as the shot was of the side of a female's body that shows her bra from the side, I voluntered myself to replace her in the shot as we are roughly the same size both height and weight-wise.
Although the shot was not filmed by anyone in the group, I had directed the person I was with properly to ensure that the shot mimiced the one we intended in our storyboard/shotlist. I told my friend to not use a tripod and esnure that a slight 'shaky cam' technique to make sure the shot appeared to be like a point of view shot. Furthermore, I made sure there was low key lighting to include the convention of mystery meaning the image was not intended to be sent by Emma and the phone was positioned in the middle of the frame with a close up shot to connote both the device's and image's importance.
Overall the one shot went accordingly, although the sound in the background was not fitting to the scene, the clip will be muted in the editing stage so that is not a problem.
Although the shot was not filmed by anyone in the group, I had directed the person I was with properly to ensure that the shot mimiced the one we intended in our storyboard/shotlist. I told my friend to not use a tripod and esnure that a slight 'shaky cam' technique to make sure the shot appeared to be like a point of view shot. Furthermore, I made sure there was low key lighting to include the convention of mystery meaning the image was not intended to be sent by Emma and the phone was positioned in the middle of the frame with a close up shot to connote both the device's and image's importance.
Overall the one shot went accordingly, although the sound in the background was not fitting to the scene, the clip will be muted in the editing stage so that is not a problem.
The shot we plan to use in our sequence
Production Entry - Editing 9th December 2013
After filming the footage, I placed it on the timeline and edited it to the cinematic bass booms. By this point in the sequence the pace had quickened so I edited the clip to the speed of the sound effects with the cut to black in between the clips. This was not only to keep the consistency and pace of the trailer, but to build tension, a typical convention of the thriller genre which is our prominent sub-genre. After the clip was successfully placed and edited, Shannon edited the lighting and gradient so it matched previous clips.
Production Entry - Editing 11th December 2013
Today consisted of tweaking any final errors that consisted in our teaser trailer. Our first main concern was the audio in shot 20 as the wind in the background disturbed the actress' voice and made it harder to hear, not only that, but the lack of a professional sounding clip which made the sequence overall appear less professional. Shannon and Alex had originally tried to distort the sound on Adobe Premiere however the wind was too strong to completely eliminate. Therefore, we called back our actress and re-recorded her voice externally to achieve a clearer audio track. Yet, when I placed the audio in the sequence, the pace at which she delivered her lines had changed meaning that I had to cut and seperate her speech so it matched the video clip. Moreover, as the audio was re-recorded, it was 'too perfect', which led me to copying some background noise from another video clip and placing it underneath to make it appear mroe natural.
Another issue we had was the image of the 'Jason' as we had obtained the image from the website 'Tumblr' which is public for images, however as we didn't have permission for the image itself, we were unable to use it. Thus, Shannon took a picture of a boy who looked like our intended character at lunch-time today and edited the lighting on photoshop. I then placed the clip on the timeline and cropped and placed the image over the video clip. In still, the image fit perfectly but in motion, as the video in the background moves slightly, the image doesn't appear to be on the screen. I then tried to key-frame the clip so it would move with the laptop but it appeared jerky and was not aesthetically pleasing in the slightest. Shannon then tried to tackle the problem before coming to the conclusion that we would re-film the clip to achieve a better looking clip.
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