Filming: Day 1

Today we filmed the first draft of our project.

Firstly, we needed it to be dark when we filmed so we had to wait until it was the evening. 

We needed to set up the room before we could start filming. For this, we needed to place lamps into the correct places of the room. If the lamp was in the wrong place, you would get a lens flare appearing in the camera - something that needed to be avoided at all costs. We then needed to set up the desk in the room, this was done easily enough. 

 The only area that could have been improved in the set up of the room is the plain walls - I think that if we were to re-film, we should add posters or drawings to the walls which will add to the tense feeling that something is not right.

One of the difficulties we faced as a group was following the storyboard. As we didn't have it with us, we were going by a digital version. Also, some of the angles that we had hoped to film were not as easy as it was to write down on paper, this meant that we needed to change certain shots and think up new creative angles that we could use to still successfully convey the meaning if our film, whilst keeping a high level of cinematography.

Another element that we found difficult to control was the continuity of the miss-en-scene. In a few of the shots we did not realise that some of the background had changed and the make-up of the model had altered. Luckily though, we noticed there and then and not when we came back to edit. This meant that we would do a quick re-shoot with the miss-en-scene under control and back in the same state as it was in previous shots.

Filming Locations

This is the location that we will be filming our opening at. We have chosen this location because it has a very lonely, small feel towards it. We think that this room will create the right atmosphere for

our film, as we will be able to light it correctly, which will hopefully convey the idea that something     is wrong with the protagonist. In the room we will have a desk in the room which will house the laptop. We will also have a lamp on the desk, which will not only help to light the room how we want it, but it will also add to the minimalistic, simple feel of the room. 

Revised Animatic

After listening to our feedback, we decided to edit the animatic and re present it. We only made a few small changes to the animatic - putting in foley sound effects  and adding in movement - zooms and camera tracking.
In our presentation, we tried to use more technical language and explain why we had used various shots and how they created meaning. The one area that was said we needed to really work on, was our editing. We did not speak about it too much and if we want to achieve the highest grades then when it comes to our evaluations, we would have to talk about why we chose to edit the film as we did and how it has created meaning and conveyed the ideas we wanted to get across.

Animatic

To help visualise what are film is going to look like. We needed to make an animatic. An animatic is a preliminary version of a film, produced by shooting successive sections of a storyboard and adding a soundtrack. Now that we had our storyboard in the final order, the making of the animatic could begin. To start, we photographed each individual part of the story board, and then placed them into Adobe Premier Pro. From here, we arranged the photographs and set them to the right amount of time that we wanted the shot to last for. We then looked at the kind of cuts & transitions that we could make. Most of our cuts are going to be straight cuts whilst we do have a few cross dissolves in there to keep the fluidity of the piece going when changing the scene. We then added in the music for the piece. As we did not need to use the exact music, I used a piece from the 'Dark Knight Rises' sound track by Hans Zimmer. This piece of music reflects the vibe and feel that we want our final piece to have. 








Once the animatic was made, we needed to present it. After we did this we got a number of constructive comments: 
    - Add movement to the animatic
    - Use technical language when presenting
    - Look at the evaluation questions and refer to how our film is targeting/answering these questions
    - Look at how to create meaning - how are we targeting different social groups 
    - What is the specific genre of the piece

Updated Roles

At this point in time, we need our project to keep moving. To ensure that this happens we have assigned new roles to each member of our group:

Reece: Animatic

Harry: Shooting Locations

Beth&Charlotte: Prop list, Characters, Make-up, Costumes

Shot List

The shot list for our final film are as follows:

• Long shot from behind character
• Mid shot from behind character
• Long shot of character and laptop
• Close up of laptop (point of view)
• Close up of characters face (webcam point of view) 
• Long shot behind character (high angle) 
• Close up of characters face (webcam point of view) 
• Mid shot of laptop (over the shoulder) 
• Long shot - tracks around the room
• Mid shot of laptop (over the shoulder) 
• Mid shot of laptop (over the shoulder) 
• Mid shot of character (webcam point of view) 
• Mid shot of character
• Extreme close up of characters eyes
• Mid shot of character (webcam point of view) 
• Close up of titles (birds eye view) 
• Close up titles (birds eye view)  
• Close up titles (birds eye view)   
• Close up of titles (birds eye view)  
• Close up of titles (birds eye view)   
• Mid shot of character hanging
• Long shot of character picking up the camera (webcam point of view)

Final Storyboard

Since our group put our storyboard up, there have been a number of discussions about the order of our intro. The main cause for concern was the positioning of the title sequence. The group thought that based on our thriller opening research, that we should have a bit of live action film before going into the title sequence. After moving the storyboard around, we decided that we should have the suicide tape section first and then go into the title sequence. The reason that we have decided to arrange our intro like this is so that we can build the maximum amount of suspense in the time given. We felt that if we started off with a suicide tape, it will leave the audience feeling some sort of sadness but also confusion as to where the film is heading. This would then lead into the title sequence. After the title sequence, we can begin to resolve the questions asked by the very first scene by showing the person they thought had just killed themselves is still alive.
For this storyboard, we have added large arrows that show the angle of the camera. This just reinforces the shot as our drawing were not highly accurate at times. We have also added the types of transitions that we will use for each shot. Another important element that we added was the shot time. This has made us realise that we may need to change the amount of shots that we use to show certain things. For example, how many shots would it take to show someone moving across a room? Do we need more than two angles?

First Draft Storyboard

This is the first draft of our storyboard. This storyboard is no where near as detailed as we need it to be. In this version of the storyboard, we had decided to place the title sequence at the very beginning. We thought that this would be a good idea as it would slowly introduce the audience to the film and prepare them for what is to come.
We need to add many different things onto our storyboard. First, we need to add the shot length - this will give us an indication as to whether or not we are over or under the 2 minute time limit. We need to add sound bridges and transitions which will make the whole thing more detailed.

Actress Choice For Our Final Piece

In our final piece, we are only going to need a female actress. As this person is going to be pretending to kill themselves, we want the actress to be someone that we can dress up to look dark, and mysterious.

Our first idea was to use Jodie Burridge. Jodie would have been a good choice, but we as a group we didn't feel as though she was the right person to use in our film; we don't think that she gave off the right feeling for our mysterious opening.

Our second - and final - choice, is Beth Richardson. The reason we have chosen to use Beth is due to the fact that she has long dark hair. We had always envisaged our character to have long flowing dark hair as it adds to the mystery of the character. We plan to have Beth wearing a fair amount of dark makeup which again will emphasise the mystery and darkness. Beth is also a Drama student which means that she will be able to act. As a group we have decided that she is overall the best possible choice for our film.

Continuity Task Evaluation.

How has the Continuity Task aided my understanding of the film-making process? 

Storyboard/Shot list: When we had come up with the story for our continuity task, we needed to bring it to life in a number if steps. The first of those steps being to draw up a storyboard and shot list. The storyboard would be vital as we would need to follow it when it came to filming. 

I think that our group used the storyboard when filming very effectively. Having it with us when filming allowed us to efficiently get the whole film shot. Simple things like knowing where to set up the camera for the correct angle, and if there would be any dialogue in the shot, meant that we were able to film everything in a good amount of time, leaving us with a good chunk of time to edit and re-shoot anything. 

The only element of the storyboarding process that I feel our group could have improved on is the detail that we put down on the paper about mise-en-scene, sound and transitions. Most importantly, we need to include details about sound bridges - something we did not think of when making the storyboard for this task. 

Filming/Editing: I think that the filming of our task went very well. We filmed most of our shots all on one day. I think that we used a various number of shot types which has added to the originality of the piece and all of the shots are stable and in focus which adds to the quality of the shots. I feel that the continuity has been kept throughout the piece, however, the first shot of the scene was filmed on a different day to the rest of the piece. This meant that our main character was in different clothing - yet, the clothes are fairly similar which was very helpful for us. I personally, do not feel that it is very noticeable and does not ruin the continuity of the task very much. 

If we could re-film the piece, then I think we would need to try and include more interesting camera movements. For example we could put a track in or a pan. This would add variety to the piece and not make it look as still as it does. 

As for editing, we edited it together as a group using Premier Pro. The editing process was not that advanced - we cut the clips down and put them in order. Then where necessary, placed in different types of cuts. We have a few cross dissolves which makes the flow of the piece less jumpy and quick. This was said about one of the sections in our film. That the cuts where too fast and sudden and made the scene too jumpy and harsh on the eye. 

In our piece, there is not that much dialogue, which mean that the sound was taken out of the a majority of the clips. Meaning that we needed a fitting piece of music. I found a piece that was used in the film 'Kick Ass' which suited our piece well. When we added it over the top, it suited the piece and the timing was synced.