My evaluation and self peformance of the project

This project gave me the opertunity to produce a short film to show the different ways that people grieve when they have lost a loved one. I used my past experince of losing someone to the story in the film, to create a meaningful film that was created by someones on real life story. The story of how and the actors in it were changed to my real life story beacause I didnt want to produce a short film that would be personal to me in which I would feel uncomfortable and upsetting to share.

I think the only thing that I didnt peform well in was keeping my blog up to date, but this is a weak area that I will work on for furture projects and expesically for my third year project where it is crucial to keep a day to day blog updates. Looking at the final outcome, it has small mistakes that could be easliy filmed again to fix them for future development.

Looking at my achievement, I have produced my first short film that tells the story and shapes a narrative form of structure in it. My strong points of the project was the achievement of getting the meaning of the story across from my good control of the camera and angles. I also think that a strong point was the way I edited the film. There are small errors that could be fixed for future work like some shots that are near windows to improve the lighting of the shots. I could also re-evaluate the pace of the film in the beginning. The film showed emotion and feelings through music and a few shots that delivered the idea of lonelyness, but I could think of stronger ideas that I could do with camera work like more close ups and interesting view angles. I think that I could improve the film by adding more short scenes that shows more of the background relationship between the characters physically rather than to much content that the beginning had.

Overall I have produced the film with the outcomes intended, with room for improvements and learning mistakes that I can put right for future projects.

Short film complete

Today I finished editing my film and changed the volume levels for each track in my video to get the balance correct. I used Good quality speakers to do this because from past exerience, using headphones to play audio through doesnt give you the full experience of sound control editing.

I exported my video as a Mp4 and set the preset to HDTV 1080p, 25f becasue this is what I shot my video in. It is a small file size that can be used for the web, but the quality of the video reduced. To display the video for moderation, I exported it as AVI which is better quality, but has a much larger file size that wouldnt be appropriate to put on the Internet.   

Editing Part 4

Today I created a piece of emotional music that will be used in the grieving part in the film. I produced it using the software Garage Band lasting around 15seconds long. It only needed to be a simple melody of a repetitive string instrument, which I choose to use a Piano.

I exported my song as Mp3 file and imported it into Adobe Premiere where I timed it and increased the volume level.

The final editing part to my film that is coming towards the end of this project, is recording the narrator that I have already produced a script for and then put it in time with the first two scenes of the film. I plan to do this on the date 10th of May.

Editing Part 3

Today I matched the sounds of the scenes that needed a buzz track and other main sounds such as the telephone ringing and levelled the sounds between them. This took me a few hours todo in which I had some time left to start the two difficult scenes with the conversations. During the video recording stage, when filming the sound recorder was left on record throughout the whole session of that scene. This made it easier to layer the separate sound audio with the video footage.

Editing Part 2

Following on from my last post, at a later schedule then anticipated originally, I edited the rest of the scenes  for the film. I spent quite a long time on the pub scene because it is a conversation between two people that changes shot angles quite a lot. I had to listen to the conversation a few times to time the angle of shots so that the person who was talking at a certain point had the camera on them and then moved onto the other persons reply back. The conversation in the house with the girl and her friend was another quite intense scene to edit to make sure the camera was not cutting away to fast before the person had stop speaking to give it a realistic smooth flow.

You can see the progress and development made in the editing, which has visually been completed but now I have to import all the sounds and conversation audio that were recorded separately because the audio sound from the video camera was not the best quality.

This will be a difficulty task to do, especially the talking scenes to match the timing of the visual elements with the audio. If it is not done correctly in time, the conversation audio may be a second behind what you can see on the screen which would not be a successful result.

I plan to complete start this on the date Monday 7th of May and complete it by the date Wednesday 6th of May.

Editing Part 1

Today I started editing my footage together in the programme Adobe Premiere. I set my work area and used my storyboards to remind myself of the sequence the shots for the first 3 scences. Carefully I brought the clips together in time and focused using continuity editing from one shot to another. I didnt need to add any effects onto the clips, only a slight colour change and contrast was used to make the videos look better.

My next step is tomorrow is to finish editing the rest of the film using the same process of close editing from shot to shot to produce a flowing film visually with soft changing angle shots.

Finished Filming

Today I was able to film the last two scenes earlier than what was secheduled on Sunday to do it. The weather was great to take advantage of and I can now carry on editing for the next 13days to bring all the
scences together and produce two 10second music tracks during this process.

I also have to record the narrators script soon so that I can edit it in time with my video. But I will finish the visual editing first and then layer the music and narrator over the top.
My plan is to finish the video footage by the date 9th of May and then produce and layer both music and narrator to the video by the date 11th/12th. This then gives me 3days left over before the deadline to change fix any timing or sound problems. Because the timing and layering many sound tracks are crucial to the film, like any film.

Editing Process

Today I started to sort out all the video footage that I have. I used my storyboards to guide me through the sequence of shots for scences 1,2 and 3. I have setup my editing work area in the Programme Adobe Premiere that I am using for all editing effects and final export.
I have managed to edit the first three scences and used the tools in the editing software.
I used colour correction and transistions to lead between one scene to another. A soft transition, fade to black worked well after experimenting with them.

The timing of the shots from cut to cut throughout the first and second scences may need adjusting later on once ive recorded the narrator track on top and add it in time over the top.
Due to my actoress letting me down for the planned schedule dates in which we were going to finish the filming left to film, it did not happen and I have to now reschedule again this week to get it down.

Thursday: 9pm-5pm
Friday: 9p-5pm

My actress understands that I can not change these dates again because It won't leave me the time I need to edit. so as planned I will contiune to edit the rest of my footage I have until arriving at these dates to finish the filming that will allow me to spend the next week and a half to edit two scences.

Problems have arised with, my solution

Introduction
I started filming on the 2nd of April where I planned to film a different scene each day which would leave me with a week left over the holidays to reshot any footage that needed to be done before the assemnet on the 24th of April. Unfortuantly this plan did not work due to commitment by my main Actoress.

The Problems
A few days before filming my actoress dyed her hair bright red. Although I did not aprove of this, I had no control over it because like in the real world actors get payed, which I am not and is using her voluntarly.

I contiuend to film with the change of hair colour due to the problem that I had no one else to find in replace. But after filming for a week, making a great progress on getting Four scences out off the way, my actress decided that she wanted to change her hair colour back to normal, which left me with another problem arised to leave me with no choice but to reshot all the footage we had already done.

I thought about many ways that I could avoid having to reshot by adding a few lines in a conversation scene. The more I studied the idea of solving it, I realised that it wouldnt work because we had already filmed that scence. So I refilmied the footage we had already done and the footage left todo. Having to start again at this point was a little frustrating, but I worked with my actress throughout the week (9th-15th of April) to finish in plenty of time that would give me chance to look at all the footage.

On the 17th of April, having nearly finished all the filming my actress told me she didnt want to do it due to her falling ill. I was disapointed that I had been let down towards the end of finishing. It was hard enough in the first place to find one person to act so I did not have a back up, which left me in a bad position days before the assessment.

I though about my story and thought how I could work around the problem airsed. My actress was the main character along side my actor. So I thought that if I made my actor the main character in the story, grieving over his brother that had died, then I wouldnt have to change the story alot.

But I was lucky enough that my other friend Natalie Brendal agreed to be the replacement. I was confident enough that the two actors would still work well together as a couple to the films narrative.

 I have not shot all the raw footage I need for my video so far, but 70% of the footage has been done.

I have evaluated what is left todo and have created a plan of action which is timetable to this weeks schedule of footage to finish off. 

I will follow this timetable so that i can produce a good final piece within the time period of editing I have left.
My Self Performance
I started shooting 3weeks before the date of the 24th of April that would of gave me more than enough time to shot all the footage and any reshoots that were needed. My plan did not fall this way which has left me with not a lot of time to finish the filming and editing. But I will look at the negative in a positive and work with the time that I have got left. The end product can still be a well developed short film at the end of this product that I am confident enough to achieve. 

Research on Pre-Production and Post Production

Pre Production

All aspects of planning for the preproduction stage that must be considered and documented before any filming.

Date you shots

Log, take notes and assemble rough scenes for each shot (Storyboard)

Schedule days to shot on. 8hrs of filming usually covers 2-4minutes of the script

Crew up all the camera members that are needed for the shots. Timetable which camera people are needed for each scene.

Roles to play as part of the crew could be, DP, Camera assistant, Sound recordist, a Production and Costume designer.

Produce the script

Shot list: Scene number, Shot number, Duration, Location, Camera Position, Lighting

Music, Sound effects

Think about the colour palette, mood and tone you want the piece to have.

Collect images that inspire you visually

Find and secure locations

Casting actors for the roles of the characters for the film

Ask your self questions as you choose what will be on the set, is it relevant to the story, what lighting are you going to use for each scene, does the mood progress, do the characters type of clothing tell you something

Costumes and props

Language and act sent

Post Production

Post-production is part of filmmaking and the video production. It is the production stage after the end of shooting and/recording the completed work

Post-production include:

Video editing all the video footage using different editing techniques

Add any special/visual effects

Sound effects or theme music and change the volume levels to importance

Change any colour corrections if needed

Title and credits

This stage takes longer than shooting the film and can take several months depending on how large the project is to complete editing, color correction and all addition of music and sound.

Research on Narrative and Lighting

Narrative

Narrative is content, consisting of events, actions, time and location. The narrative is told by arrangement, emphasis/de-emphasis, and magnification/diminution, of any of the elements of the content. A narrative structure has usually got a Beginning, Middle and End.

Events are the constituents of a story, and are crucial to it. Without the different events there would be no story. An event is essentially a process, an alteration, which deals with occurrence of change. An event is an idea of change in time and is crucial in narrative. Each individual event can also be described as Major or Minor depending on the importance of its contribution to the overall narrative. An event can arise from the action of a character, natural causes or from an event before it.

The events are combined together to form the story line. A narrative has a main storyline that branches off into different events throughout the story making up the main plot of the story. The plot is defined as the sequence to the events of which a story is composed. Some events in the plot can also be defined as key moments in the narrative. A chain of events isn’t the plot but these events have significance.   

Lighting

A lighting technique to use is the tree-point-system. This consists of three lights, Key light, a fill light and a Back light.

The Key light is the primary light in the scene and it simulates the natural light either outdoors or an interior light, depends on location. This light is placed 30 degrees from the camera.

The Fill light partially softness the hard shadows from the key light. It has a lower intensity with a more diffuse light than the key light. It is placed on the opposite side of the camera from the key light at a 30 degree angle from the camera –subject axis and is set to the same height as the camera. The image can become flat if the fill light is too intense.

The Back light is placed above and to the rear of the subject. This is because you don’t want the light directly onto the camera lens. The Back light outlines the subject, mostly the upper portion to separate the subject from the background.

Other lighting system:

Eyelight- a small light that can be focused to reflect the subject’s eye to give them a reflective sparkle.

Background- to illuminate the background

Kicker light- A similar light to the background light. This light is usually low behind the subject opposite the key light.

Research on Storytelling and Filming Shots

Storytelling

When a story is being told, it will always have an ending. The ending is usually apart of the message that the film has. A story must have a message. A message/reason for the point of the story is the message that the viewers/audience take away with them. A good story makes you listen, laugh, participate and learn from the knowledge you experience from the film you watch. It is important when telling a story to keep it interesting and moving so that the audience don’t get bored. The story must make sense by using a sequence of actions that lead of another. As viewers we reflect put the different sequence events together to build the story. A story can often be an event that has happened in real life or a dream that someone wishes was real. We all have a story to tell. We tell stories everyday but its how we change the story to the audience were telling. Storytellers share there experiences and invite the audiences to watch them.

Shots

The exact terminology varies between production environments but the basic principles are the same.

Shots are usually described in relation to a particular subject. The subject could be a person, a moving object.

These are example shots for film making:

www.mediacollege.com/video/shots

These are guidelines of the different effects that each type of shot will show/play a part in the narrative. You can shots to help with the telling of the story. How you edit the shots together is important. They usually are edited to the continuity technique. E.g. Close Up to Mid Shot to Long Shot). Correct editing for shot to shot story telling when you follow the rules will be what the audience will expect for there eyes to follow what is going on. But these rules are only guidelines that can be broken. You can have a shot that will immediately throw the eyes of the viewers from one shot to another. An example shot like this E.g. Extreme Close up to a Long Shot would be ok to do if it was a reason of throwing the audience to a big adjustment in shot size to keep your audience alert.

Research on Discontinuity Editing

Discontinuity Editing

Discontinuity editing is used for most films these days. This editing technique is the opposite of Continuity editing. Discontinuity technique can emphasize emotion, key events, narrative in the film. When this technique is used carefully to tell stories along with Continuity editing, it can create overwhelming impacts on the viewers. An example of using this technique could be flash backs of something that has happened in the past (a man murders someone). The reason for this flash back would usually be important for the viewers to build the story in their heads.

Discontinuity shots stand apart from other cuts. They cut to something else that the viewer wouldn’t expect to be next. This draws attention to itself but it makes sense to the story later on.

The advantage of a discontinuity scene, it can condense weeks and months into a few seconds. The edits plunge the audience into many different places with quick edits. Discontinuity condenses a real time scene that may otherwise be 10mins long, but it can be retold within a few seconds with the same meaning/understanding narrative to it.

Locations

 Bedroom

Cafe

Pub

Sea Front

The Actors Of The Film

Jamie Howell Sibley

Gavin Jones

Age: 22

Height: 6ft inch

Weight: Average

Hair: Brown short hair

Costume: Dark jeans and a blue top

               Light jeans and a red top

Charlotte Jade Henry

Nikita Thomas

Age: 21

Height: 5ft 6inch

Weight: Tubby

Hair: Long dark brown hair/straight and curly

Costume: Black Jeans and a white hoody

               Black leggings and a purple top

              Dark navy jeans and a Black shirt  

            Dark purple jacket

Charlotte Brimble

Charlotte Wykes

Age:20

Height: 5ft 9inch

Weight: Average

Hair: Mid length, Dark brown with blonde highlights

Costume: Dark jeans and a blue top

               Dark jeans and a cream jacket

Title of film:

The Innocent

Credits:

Everyone involved in the film and behind scenes

Exporting settings:

Export as H.264 (Mpeg4) for the web

25fps

Progressive

Software:

Garage band to produce music

Adobe Premier for editing the video footage and finial video

Editing techniques:

Continuity editing

Story telling of sequence events

Frame shot of cuts from one frame to another

Colour correction

Transitions

Multi volume control tracks

Speed

Timing

Actors:

My main actress is reliable and can play the part to show the emotion and feelings that I want my film to have as the main character.

My main male actor is reliable and can play the loving sweet boyfriend that I want as the playing role.

These two actors are a perfect match in working well together to show a realistic couple that are in love. It was important to find two people who showed this to get the feeling of the film at its highest level of storytelling.

Making Music:

There will be three different emotional music tracks in the film. The music will be produced by me using real instruments and recording them. These will be later edited and tied in with the video

Sound list:

There are 5 main locations in the film. The location sound (environment) will be recoded to use as the buzz tracks.

The dialogue of the characters talking will be recorded at the same time as the video take. The volume of the characters talking in the scenes in which they happen will be the main track of volume.

The theme music tracks will be used to fill in the parts that don’t have any dialogue in them

Script

Scene 1 Int. The Girls Bedroom

Narrator

You wake up, and (Pause) it’s just another day. The thought of looking back at the moment it happened. That morning (pause) that changed everything.

Scene 2 Int. The Girls Bedroom and Kitchen

Narrator

I woke up it was a bright morning, sunlight beaming through my window onto my face.

The sound of my alarm telling me to get up was just a normal morning.

I got out of bed to wake myself up and thought of the evening I was looking forward to.

I got changed ready to go and meet my friend

I grabbed some breakfast

Realised I forgot one thing

Scene 3 Int. The Café in the Library

Kita

Hello (Pause) alright?

Charlotte

Yeah im good thanks

Kita

Sorry im late

Charlotte

It’s fine, I know what your like Kita. Never fail to be late.

(Kita Laughs)

Kita

Have you been up to much?

Charlotte

Well I went to watch the new film out in the cinema War Horse

Kita

Any good? Me and the boyfriend going to watch it tonight

Charlotte

Yeah it’s great! Loved it (Pause) (Charlotte smiles) but id take a box of tissues, I cried the way through (Kita laughs)

Kita

Awwwwwww Bless you!

Charlotte

(Charlotte talks over Kita) Gavin will hold your hand

Kita

Yes (Pause) either that or laugh at me making a fool out of my self.

So how did the job interview go?

Charlotte

Well I arrived at the interview…Transition fade out to black

Kita

Transition fade in black…..im glad we have had a catch up

Charlotte

Yes me too, It had been to long

Kita

Yes well I’ll see you next week (Kita stands up)

Charlotte

Yes defiantly same time?

Kita

Looking forward to it

Charlotte

Have a nice evening anyway

Kita

Thank you, I will

Charlotte

See you soon

Kita

See you soon, Bye.

Scene 4 Int. Outside the Cinema

Kita

I can’t believe I just cried watching that film

Gavin

I can (pause) (laughs) you just emptied a box of tissues.

Great film though, you enjoy?

Kita

Yes thank you honey really enjoyed it, even more with you by my side.

Gavin

Yes, it’s been a lovely evening with you, like always. (Gavin gives her a kiss)

Kita

(Smiles)

Gavin

I love you

(Silent pause)

Kita

(Smiles)

Arriving at the van

Kita

(She shivers) Its freezing

Gavin

It’s going to be a cold one

They get in the van

Kita

Heating please!

Gavin

Yes boss (winks) (Pause) Ready?

Kita

Lets go!

Scene 5 Int. Outside Charlottes house

Gavin

Alright?

Kita

Yes (pause) wish I didn’t have to go

Gavin

Wish you didn’t either. Did I ever tell you how amazing you are/

Kita

(Smiles) Yes all the time. Your the best!

Gavin

No (Pause) Your the best!

Kita

(Kita leans over and gives him a kiss)

See you tomorrow?

Gavin

Of course, Night honey!

Kita

Goodnight

Narrator

The perfect night (Pause) I was so happy, the smile on my face of happiness in my ideal life with someone who loved me the way he did suddenly changed

So quick (pause) that instant sound of horror in my ears

You think the worst and wish it wasn’t real

But god takes away the innocent

Scene 6 Int. Café and Bedroom

(Music theme 1)

Café

Charlotte

I wish I knew what to say (Pause) Im so afraid I’ll say the wrong thing

Bedroom

(Phone Rings, Charlotte has rang Kita)

Charlotte

Hello (pause) how are you? Im sorry to hear about (Kita jumps in with her answer)

Kita

Its okay, Thank you

Charlotte

I was wondering if you felt up to coming out with me and the girls for a few drinks in memory of Gavin.

Kita

I um…..um I don’t feel up to it sorry

Charlotte

Come on Charlotte (Pause) you haven’t been out the house in months, a different environment will be good for you.

Kita

Ok, I’ll come for an hour

Charlotte

That’s good, I’ll see soon Kita

Kita

Bye

Scene 7 Int. Inside Pub and Sea Front

Inside pub

Narrator

I sat there (pause) the environment filled with laughing and people smiling

I felt a lump in my throat appearing

And the more I sat there (pause) the more I felt trapped surround around the present world whilst I was in the past. 

(Music theme 2)

Sea Front

(Friend walks over)

Charlotte

Kita

Kita

You always say it would never happen to you (Pause) something taking away the person you needed the most

Kita

The night it happened (Pause) he told me he loved me

I never said it back to him, but I did love him (Pause) very much, so much im lost without him.

Charlotte

Your strong, and you’ll always miss him and think of him, but he wouldn’t want you to feel unhappy

Kita

Its been so hard these last few months to move forward and I know I got to

Charlotte

You will

(Kita and Charlotte hug)

Charlotte

When your ready you will put him at rest

Scene 8 Int. Bedroom

(Music theme 3)

Kita

I’ll never forget you