Monday, 10 May 2010
Wednesday, 24 March 2010
How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?
Moodboard Technologies:1. Mino Flip video camera
A simple pocket sized camcorder which has a USB internally, making it easy to move straight from filming onto a computer. This was used to record the feedback from our first audience, viewing an exported copy of our rough cuts. This has made the feedback process run smoothly, due to not having to stop our audience to take notes and being able to log our feedback instantaneously. Without this technology, I would have either filmed the feedback on the Handycam, a voice recorder or simply have taken notes on paper, later typing them up
2. Sony Handycam
The Sony handycam is basic hand held camcorder which is simple to use. I used this piece of technology to record my commentary for my projects rough cut, and the audio for the drum and bass blaring from Leon's bedroom. I placed a tape with free footage into the camcorder and recorded all my notes on the feedback I had been given about my rough cut, explaining and justifying any decisions made. Without this piece of equipment, I may have recorded my commentary on a voice recorder, or typed them up with screen shots. The music for Leon's bedroom would have need to have been recorded with a microphone plugged into the PD150.
3. Computer edit suite
The edit suite we worked on consisted of a keyboard, speakers, a computer tower and a mouse. This suite has all the programs necessary to edit, convert, burn and create the project to the standard we would like. Without this suite, we would be unable to edit our film, unless the programs needed were on other computers based around school.
4. Scanner
The scanner has allowed me to scan up and pre-production work, postcard designs and film reviews which I may have need to analyse. By being able to scan any work onto the computer and onto my blog, I have been able to not only present it in numerous ways, but have also saved myself a copy in case the hard copy is lost, and the work is easily shared amongst the production group. Also by being able to scan up my work, it is also available to be edited on, on programs such as Adobe Photoshop. Without the scanner, the work would not easily be able to put onto the computer, unless photos were taken, or the work was typed up. If it was just needed to keep extra copies, a photocopier would also suffice.
5. Sennheiser headphones
These headphones are of high quality and were used through a large chunk of our post-production editing stage. By having headphones we were able to focus individually and closely on only the sound of our project, being able to head directly any issues that might need changing throughout the process. Without the Sennheiser headphones, as a group we would have either had to have brought in our own headphones or would have had to deal with using the speakers and blocking our minds out from exterior distractions and noises.
6. Toaster light
We decided against using the toaster light within our project. However, we used it within our research when doing our lighting experiments. Without the toaster light, our group would have been given less of a choice when it came to decide on what lighting we were wanting to use for our project.
7. Pro-light
Due to the pro-light not being an overly strong piece of lighting, with additional barn doors, we decided to use this for the majority of our filming. Since AS, I have learnt a great deal more about lighting, including how to set it up and how to put it away, and how to use gels effectively with lighting. By doing our lighting experiment before our filming dates, we were all equip with the basic knowledge of what and where we needed our lighting. Without the pro-lights, our group would have either used the red-head more frequently, or stuck to more naturalistic light settings.
8. Windshield microphone
This microphone was used throughout the filming of our project, capturing the necessary sound. This is plugged into either the first or the second input on the PD150, where the sound levels can then be monitored. Without the microphone, the camera would have recorded no form of sound, so either another model of microphone would've had to have been used, or we would have had to use one of the Sony handycams, which have inbuilt microphones.
9. Red-head light
After doing our lighting experiment, we found that the red head lights create a very strong and over powering light. We decided to use a red head, when it was necessary to get across the blue glow of coldness surrounding shots with Leon. Unless we had done the lighting experiment, we would have been unsure of which lights to use throughout our project, also spending unnecessary time working out how to set up lights. Without the red head lights, we would have stuck to singularly using the pro-lights.
10. Sony PD150 camera
The Sony PD150 is a new piece of technology in A2. Being unable to use this with our AS projects, the basic commands and uses of the camera needed to be learnt. After learning all the basics, we were able to film our project, leading to it being all in all, better quality. Being able to grasp the basics of this camera, hopefully suggests that we may be able to pick up instructions and uses of other pieces of slightly more complex equipment. If we were unable to use this technology, we would have had to use one of the Sony handycams to film our entire project.
11. Canon EOS 450D
Due to taking an interest in photography, I enjoyed and understood how to use this piece of technology. When taking photos for both the location recce and my postcard designs, I had the choice to use a variety of different shutter speeds, flash, focus and zoom. Understanding how to use an SLR more than the rest of my group, I was able to pass on any knowledge I had, to help them also create their postcard designs. Without the SLR camera, we would have had to use a simple camera with a small optical zoom, which would not produce the same quality of photo.
12. Blogger
Blogger has been the website on which we have been able to upload blogs containing all the written work for our projects. By having to post our work as blogs, rather than paper work, I am able to edit and come back and update any piece of work when needed or when given more information on the situation. This also prevents work from being lost in the process. Since AS, where we still had to write a blog, I have come to use the program more efficiently, being more able to create more aesthetically pleasing posts. If Blogger was unable for use for our coursework, we could resort to using other programs such as LiveJournal or Tumblr (other blogging programmes).
13. Facebook
Facebook is a social networking programme, and has been used to back up our project in numerous ways. One way is through me organising my time with lists of required times, dates and equipment for shooting dates. Another is to promote the project and receive feedback from my target audience, as I feel the teenage age range is one of our target audiences. Without Facebook, I would have had to organise my team over individual phone calls and print-outs, and I would have to organise screening events for my target audience to view our film.
14. Adobe Photoshop
Adobe Photoshop is a photo editing program, which I conveniently find myself very familiar with. Due to using the program for recreational reasons and for my Graphics A-Level I have been able to use the program without wasting time finding myself stuck on how to edit or do a simple yet vital task. On Photoshop I have edited each of my postcard designs (adding text, effects and frames), created a film review pages imitating both Empire and Sight & Sound, and put together our Location Recce. Since I have been using Photoshop since GCSE Media, I feel that I have been adding to the basic skills ever since. Without this technology I would have to use a program such as Serif Photoplus.
15. Youtube
Youtube is a website that streams videos online. Even though it is blocked on the school system, I have been able to find uses for this technology in my project. One way is to look for needed clips and videos for my research; for example, when looking for dialect of gang culture, I searched for KiDULTHOOD clips on Youtube. I will also be able to you Youtube to upload our film onto my Youtube account and receive comments and rating from people in the video streaming community. If Youtube was unavailable, I would have to take my research from DVD and other websites that had appropriate and relating clips. And the video could be uploaded to Facebook videos for feedback.
16. Adobe Premiere Pro
Adobe Premiere Pro is a complex program that we have been using to edit our projects on. We have had access to our sound levels and numerous transitions to help create our project seamlessly. By using this program since GCSE, through to A2, I have built up a basic knowledge of how to use various tools, learning something new every time I am on it. Without Premiere Pro, the only program that is really accessible without spending large sums of money is Windows Movie Maker, however this program is not on the same levels of complexity and would not help us create a realistic short film.
17. Microsoft Word
Throughout our project, from Pre-production to Post-production, we have been able to use Microsoft word: Whether it be on our Script, storyboard or our Logging tables. It is a simple and widely used program, making it easy for us to take home work and share documents amongst our group. There are a variety of fonts and the program is aesthetically pleasing to use, compared to programs such as Notepad. If we were unable to use Microsoft Word throughout our project, we would have to create a large amount of paper work, and use Notepad, which has no page layouts and only one type of font, making it not the most suitable program to use.
What have you learned from your audience feedback?
Part 1:
During the post-production stage, I exported a rough cut of our project - making it screen-able and viewable to my audience. Whilst watching our rough cut, I asked the audience to take notes on what stood out to them throughout the film. After presenting the rough cut to my audience, I filmed each of them reading out their feedback. From this feedback, I edited the audio, along with my explanation onto a relevant place on the rough cut.
The feedback given by my audience was extremely helpful, considering they were picking up on things that, as a group, we may not have noticed. However, not picked up on by our audience was the lighting - which we tried to use different gels and strengths of lighting to set the mood around characters.
Part 2:
After editing and finalising the product, I had it burnt onto a DVD so I collect audience feedback on the finished short film. To collect my feedback, I wrote up a questionnaire consisting of 6 questions - when collecting up my data after showing my audience, I had to take into consideration that my audience know who I am and might be soft and lenient with their feedback.
This questionnaire was given to an audience of 10 people, all varying in age. However, I made sure my prime target audience (older teenagers) made up the majority of my audience. By varying the age of my audience I would be able to see if the difference in age will affect my feedback.
For the first question, all of my audience bar one put 'drama' as the genre for the short film. The one result that was different was 'thriller'. After my audience had filled out their questionnaires, I asked the participant why they answered thriller, and their response was that they expected more to become of the film, expecting a twist. This lead me to assume that the person had not understood that this was not an opening sequence, but a resolved short film. As no one answered 'other', question 2 became obsolete.
With question 3, understanding the change from day to day through the repetition and long slow fades, the result was split down the middle. The majority of the younger audience, including the media students, understood that the repetition and fades represented day change, however the other 5 participants were unclear and unsure of the day change. When asking why they were unsure of the day change, they felt that it was only really clear when the lighting was different between day and night time, lighting being used more appropriately.
With question 4, eight out of my ten participants felt that the short film had realism at it's heart and presented realistic values. However, as two of my audience said no, they stated their reasons in question 5. One of the audience felt the acting could have been better as "you did not follow and get involved with the idea of her being the mother". The other felt that they were "unsure of which character's story they were meant to be following".
With the final question, question 6, my audience all picked up on similar things that they liked about the film. These included:
- The use of hangman to represent the breakdown of the brother.
- The close up of the items that Leon is left to pick up.
- The realism of Leon's aggressive attitude with excessive slamming of doors.
Part 3:
Considering I had successfully got together an audience of 10 people, I was also able to take a few extra minutes of their time to show my ancillary texts to my audience. Firstly I showed them 4 of my designs for my postcards. These included:
Design 1: Leon's looking at his reflection in the blade of a knife.
Design 2: Lily sitting writing brother on the hangman game.
Design 3: The close up of all Leon's items on his drawers.
Design 4: The portrait of Leon's beaten up face.
I asked each of my audience to chose the postcard which they felt stood out most of all to them out of the four designs, then I collected the results and created a chart. The names on the chart relate to the design number above:
The results about my film review were almost split down the middle with 6 having a positive response about the review, and 4 having negative responses. Even though 4 had negative responses, they all agreed that the layout for the review was realistic. The positive response agreed that my criticism was fairly placed and the star rating was correct. However the negative responses felt that their could have been more criticisms brought up within the review, feeling that "reading the review could give 'too much hype' to the film".
During the post-production stage, I exported a rough cut of our project - making it screen-able and viewable to my audience. Whilst watching our rough cut, I asked the audience to take notes on what stood out to them throughout the film. After presenting the rough cut to my audience, I filmed each of them reading out their feedback. From this feedback, I edited the audio, along with my explanation onto a relevant place on the rough cut.
The feedback given by my audience was extremely helpful, considering they were picking up on things that, as a group, we may not have noticed. However, not picked up on by our audience was the lighting - which we tried to use different gels and strengths of lighting to set the mood around characters.
Part 2:
After editing and finalising the product, I had it burnt onto a DVD so I collect audience feedback on the finished short film. To collect my feedback, I wrote up a questionnaire consisting of 6 questions - when collecting up my data after showing my audience, I had to take into consideration that my audience know who I am and might be soft and lenient with their feedback.
Here is a copy of the questionnaire:
This questionnaire was given to an audience of 10 people, all varying in age. However, I made sure my prime target audience (older teenagers) made up the majority of my audience. By varying the age of my audience I would be able to see if the difference in age will affect my feedback.
For the first question, all of my audience bar one put 'drama' as the genre for the short film. The one result that was different was 'thriller'. After my audience had filled out their questionnaires, I asked the participant why they answered thriller, and their response was that they expected more to become of the film, expecting a twist. This lead me to assume that the person had not understood that this was not an opening sequence, but a resolved short film. As no one answered 'other', question 2 became obsolete.
With question 3, understanding the change from day to day through the repetition and long slow fades, the result was split down the middle. The majority of the younger audience, including the media students, understood that the repetition and fades represented day change, however the other 5 participants were unclear and unsure of the day change. When asking why they were unsure of the day change, they felt that it was only really clear when the lighting was different between day and night time, lighting being used more appropriately.
With question 4, eight out of my ten participants felt that the short film had realism at it's heart and presented realistic values. However, as two of my audience said no, they stated their reasons in question 5. One of the audience felt the acting could have been better as "you did not follow and get involved with the idea of her being the mother". The other felt that they were "unsure of which character's story they were meant to be following".
With the final question, question 6, my audience all picked up on similar things that they liked about the film. These included:
- The use of hangman to represent the breakdown of the brother.
- The close up of the items that Leon is left to pick up.
- The realism of Leon's aggressive attitude with excessive slamming of doors.
Part 3:
Considering I had successfully got together an audience of 10 people, I was also able to take a few extra minutes of their time to show my ancillary texts to my audience. Firstly I showed them 4 of my designs for my postcards. These included:
Design 1: Leon's looking at his reflection in the blade of a knife.
Design 2: Lily sitting writing brother on the hangman game.
Design 3: The close up of all Leon's items on his drawers.
Design 4: The portrait of Leon's beaten up face.
I asked each of my audience to chose the postcard which they felt stood out most of all to them out of the four designs, then I collected the results and created a chart. The names on the chart relate to the design number above:
From the pie chart, you can clearly see that the more simple of the designs were the most effective: Both the design of Leon beaten up and Leon's items getting 4 'votes' each. Firstly I asked the 4 that chose design 4, why they chose that as their favourite design. Responses included 'liking how well done and realistic the make up is', considering they felt they were unable to see it fully in the film; other responses included "Oh, I miss Josh". Sadly, I feel that people may have chosen this as their design as they are good friends with our actor, Josh Rose.
For design 3, I asked the same question and received more appropriate answers. These included "I really like how I can get an insight into this boys life just through the items on his desk" and "Even though having cigarettes associated with a knife is majorly stereotyping, I feel that it is appropriate and adds to the character".
After finding out the two favourite postcards, I felt that by choosing design 3 as my final design was the right choice because it received the most appropriate comments and only subtly adds to the plot unlike giving it away with design 4.
Alongside my postcard designs, I also showed by final film review to my audience. I asked them if they agreed or disagreed with my film review, then placed it into a chart - placing it as either positive or negative.
The results about my film review were almost split down the middle with 6 having a positive response about the review, and 4 having negative responses. Even though 4 had negative responses, they all agreed that the layout for the review was realistic. The positive response agreed that my criticism was fairly placed and the star rating was correct. However the negative responses felt that their could have been more criticisms brought up within the review, feeling that "reading the review could give 'too much hype' to the film".
How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?
Postcards:
My ancillary texts consisted of my postcard designs. Here I was explain how shots throughout our short film have influenced my poster designs and led me to my final design.
Design 1:
My first design which was moved on into editing was influenced by scene 13 and the shot of the game of hang man. When drawing out this shot for the storyboard, I instantly was inspired and had an image in my head of what I wanted my postcard to look like - wanting to use the 'Brother' of the hang man to create the second word in the title, 'My Brother Leon'.
Even thought I was greatly inspired by this design, I decided against using it as my final design as I was unable to get a decent camera and lighting on the night of taking the photographs - This left the design looking unprofessional.
Design 2:
My second design was influence by our day of filming when Leon has his beaten up and bruised eye. Although I was not totally for this design at first, I felt the make up look better than expected and I was inspired by the aggression of Josh's character.
The photo for this design was taken on a Canon 450D just before we filmed the kitchen scene. I felt that by taking it against a white background added to the dramatics of the photos. I also felt by raising the contrast and sharpening the image would also add to this effect.
Although I still really like this postcard design, I decided against using it as my final design due to it being too obvious of what will happen within the film. I felt that something much more subtle would would more effectively as a postcard.
Design 3 - Final Design:
My final design was influenced by the variety of items scattered on Leon's chest of drawers. Before arranging the items for this scene, I went off in a trail of thoughts, leading to me feeling that you can always judge a persons personality by what their bedroom is like and what's lying around their room. After thinking this, I was inspired to take a photo as you can judge Leon's personality and have an insight into what his life is like, just by looking at the items on the drawers; a knife, cigarettes, money and a phone.
The same effect of delving into his life in one shot was suppose to be given off with this jump cut in the actual finished product. However, due to being half hidden by the door and slightly grainy, I felt the need to make the shot more cinematic by taking in on the Canon 450d - This I then edited on Adobe Photoshop, heightening the contrast and adding extra 'sharpening' to the knife, which makes it stand out most of all. I felt that by using this photo as my final design, the audience will associate the title of 'My Brother Leon' with the objects, leaving them with a sense of what could be to come in the plot.
Film review:
I based my film review page around a page of Empire. This was achieved by adding the extra articles on the side to make the page look realistic, as if my article belongs on that page of the magazine.
Final Film Review:
When deciding on which style of magazine to base my film review around I chose Empire magazine. This was decided after analysing numerous sources and feeling that my written review fitted most appropriately with Empire. This was because the layout of my paragraphs and my language was at similar levels. This layout I feel consists of:
1. Introduction
2. Plot Summary
3. Positives about film
4. Negatives about film
5. Overall verdict
Before writing my film review, I brain-stormed ideas around this writing layout. Leading to deciding which were the most relevant points to bring up throughout the review. This included the decision of what 'star-rating' to give our film. I gave our film 3-stars due to it having it's minor flaws. I also wrote my article for Empire as if they were doing a 'short-film special' issue of their magazine.
One of the scenes that I brought up from the film was the argument between Leon and the Gang member. This was because the argument presents Leon's life deteriorating through auditory codes, where as we are visually able to see how the arugment is affecting Lily - Which is presenting our theme of dysfunctional families.
I tried to target my audience through creating a visual layout as similar as possible to Empire's film review layouts. I used the same colour scheme and created the layout using photoshop. I also tried to have a potentially humorous caption to go with my photo. This photo I felt needed to be a shot from the film itself and decided to use the Hangman scene as this scene has great relevance to the story artistically. By making my page similar to a page of Empire, I have attracted an audience with a professional looking piece.
I also created a layout for Sight and Sound, however I decided against using this because my article was not appropriately written to fit in with the magazine's creative style.
My ancillary texts consisted of my postcard designs. Here I was explain how shots throughout our short film have influenced my poster designs and led me to my final design.
Design 1:My first design which was moved on into editing was influenced by scene 13 and the shot of the game of hang man. When drawing out this shot for the storyboard, I instantly was inspired and had an image in my head of what I wanted my postcard to look like - wanting to use the 'Brother' of the hang man to create the second word in the title, 'My Brother Leon'.
Even thought I was greatly inspired by this design, I decided against using it as my final design as I was unable to get a decent camera and lighting on the night of taking the photographs - This left the design looking unprofessional.
Design 2:My second design was influence by our day of filming when Leon has his beaten up and bruised eye. Although I was not totally for this design at first, I felt the make up look better than expected and I was inspired by the aggression of Josh's character.
The photo for this design was taken on a Canon 450D just before we filmed the kitchen scene. I felt that by taking it against a white background added to the dramatics of the photos. I also felt by raising the contrast and sharpening the image would also add to this effect.
Although I still really like this postcard design, I decided against using it as my final design due to it being too obvious of what will happen within the film. I felt that something much more subtle would would more effectively as a postcard.
Design 3 - Final Design:My final design was influenced by the variety of items scattered on Leon's chest of drawers. Before arranging the items for this scene, I went off in a trail of thoughts, leading to me feeling that you can always judge a persons personality by what their bedroom is like and what's lying around their room. After thinking this, I was inspired to take a photo as you can judge Leon's personality and have an insight into what his life is like, just by looking at the items on the drawers; a knife, cigarettes, money and a phone.
The same effect of delving into his life in one shot was suppose to be given off with this jump cut in the actual finished product. However, due to being half hidden by the door and slightly grainy, I felt the need to make the shot more cinematic by taking in on the Canon 450d - This I then edited on Adobe Photoshop, heightening the contrast and adding extra 'sharpening' to the knife, which makes it stand out most of all. I felt that by using this photo as my final design, the audience will associate the title of 'My Brother Leon' with the objects, leaving them with a sense of what could be to come in the plot.Film review:
I based my film review page around a page of Empire. This was achieved by adding the extra articles on the side to make the page look realistic, as if my article belongs on that page of the magazine.Final Film Review:When deciding on which style of magazine to base my film review around I chose Empire magazine. This was decided after analysing numerous sources and feeling that my written review fitted most appropriately with Empire. This was because the layout of my paragraphs and my language was at similar levels. This layout I feel consists of:
1. Introduction
2. Plot Summary
3. Positives about film
4. Negatives about film
5. Overall verdict
Before writing my film review, I brain-stormed ideas around this writing layout. Leading to deciding which were the most relevant points to bring up throughout the review. This included the decision of what 'star-rating' to give our film. I gave our film 3-stars due to it having it's minor flaws. I also wrote my article for Empire as if they were doing a 'short-film special' issue of their magazine.
One of the scenes that I brought up from the film was the argument between Leon and the Gang member. This was because the argument presents Leon's life deteriorating through auditory codes, where as we are visually able to see how the arugment is affecting Lily - Which is presenting our theme of dysfunctional families.
I tried to target my audience through creating a visual layout as similar as possible to Empire's film review layouts. I used the same colour scheme and created the layout using photoshop. I also tried to have a potentially humorous caption to go with my photo. This photo I felt needed to be a shot from the film itself and decided to use the Hangman scene as this scene has great relevance to the story artistically. By making my page similar to a page of Empire, I have attracted an audience with a professional looking piece.I also created a layout for Sight and Sound, however I decided against using this because my article was not appropriately written to fit in with the magazine's creative style.
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
The following are screen shots from the short film About a Girl, directed by Brian Percival. I chose this film to depict the conventions of a short film because it has similar characteristics to our film.
Screen shot 1:
Screen shot 2:
Screen shot 3:
Screen shot 4:
Screen shot 1:This screen shot if of the opening title. I chose this as it instantaneously gave me an idea of what the film could be about - which was teens and youth. This was not only due to the title of the film, but also due to the visual and audio of someone 'texting' the title. This could be considered conventional of shot films in the way that the title relates to the films themes itself.
Screen shot 2:I chose screen shot two as I feel it shows a good representation of all it's characters, the main character in the front as a 'forgotten youth' with her mobile phone out. Whilst you get an idea of her family in the back with her nagging sister and her mum scratching away at a scratch card. By having the girl in front it connotes that she is the main protagonist.
Screen shot 3:I chose this screen shot because it represents the girls isolation, her walking alongside the river. It also presents the darkness of the plot unravelling through the blue filter being added gradually frame by frame - making an audience feel cold although the girls stories are so innocent. I also chose it because it clearly presents the rule of thirds.
I chose this screen shot as direction clearly shows the girls isolation - her hands on her lap, slightly hidden in her sleeves and her face looking down sorrowfully. I also chose this shot because it when I first started becoming curious of what was in the carrier bag, as the girls thought trail becomes darker and darker, you become more aware of the carrier bag and what form of morbidity it may contain.
Screen shot 5:
I chose this shot as I felt it added to the artistic style of the film - the usage of high angle shots. I felt the use of high angle shots on the girl could suggest how small she is in a 'big world'. I felt it could also connote that the 'grass is greener on the other side', being the opposite river bank which could be metaphorical for how her life could be different with fame and money.
Screen shot 6:
I chose this screen shot as it wraps up the whole story. Like every short film I have seen, there has been some form of shot or scene that wraps up any questions on confusion throughout the film. Like Home, which has a shot of a Donkey to clear up any confusion of what the man could be hiding in his flat. Again, I feel the use of an underwater shot also adds to the personal creative style, it shows how brutal things really can get for such an innocent young girl.
Screen shot 7:
I chose this screen shot as I felt it was a good way in which to end a short film - A high angled establishing shot of the girl walking away from the 'problem' as it has been 'resolved'.
By having it high angled and establishing, you feel like you are just an audience of the story and as she walks away you feel the story coming to a finish.
Screen shot 8:
My final screen shot is of the final credits of the film. They are simple black and white credits rolling up from bottom to top. The font is a sans serif font which connotes the youth of the girl as it is a curly and childish looking font.
My Brother Leon:
The following screen shots are from our own short film 'My Brother Leon'. Comments will describe how each of the screen shots has met or broken away from the conventions of a short film.
Screen shot 1:
My first screen shot I chose was the title of our film. I felt this title both broke and met the codes and conventions of a short film. Firstly, I felt it broke the conventions through where it was placed in the film. As it was not place directly at the beginning, I felt it was more conventional to that of a feature length film. However, I felt it met the codes and conventions through the simplicity of the title, the plain black and white.
Screen shot 2:
I feel that this screen shot meets the codes and conventions of a short film. This is because it's clearly establishing the surroundings and the life-style of the main character within the first few scenes. The audience would pick up on the girl wearing her uniform and sitting doing homework on her own, which both suggests her isolation and her innocence.
I also feel that the over-stereotyping of a young innocent girl meets the conventions also. This is because there is a shorter length of time to get the message across. So the use of uniform and folders clearly gets the message across. Like in About a Girl, simply by giving the mother a scratch card and a pram, they have represented what type of character she is.
Screen shot 3:
I chose this screen shot as it again portrays the girls innocence through her staged directions. The audience will be able to related and think about times when they may have thought that putting a pillow over your ears would block out all the noises and thoughts, making things instantaneously "okay".
I feel that this meets the codes and conventions of a short film, as the use of a close up is used effectively to create the desired response from an audience. By having the shot closer to the girl, you feel that you are closer with the girl and her problems.
Screen shot 4:
Similarly to screen shot 1, I feel that this shot both breaks and meets the codes and conventions of a short film. I feel that it breaks the code in the way that the choice in casting of the mother takes away from the realism. I have always felt that the vast majority of short films have tried their up-most best for the heightens sense of realism.
However, I feel that the use of an over the shoulder shot meets the conventions and adds to the sense of realism. It feels as if you are there with Leon whilst he is arguing with his mother.
Screen shot 5:
I chose this screen shot as I feel it meets the codes and conventions of a short film. It has met the conventions, in my opinion by you taking the side of the main character and watching through her eyes as her mother watches her son, Leon, shout and slam his way out of the front door. I feel this has been achieved by seeing over the shoulder of Lily as the action is happening behind her.
I also feel that the blue gels put on the lighting in the hallway meet the conventions of a short film as it subtly represents the cool and dark mood of Leon as he slams his way out of the front door.
Screen shot 6:
I chose this screen shot as I feel that this also meets the codes and conventions of a short film. I feel that this has met the conventions through the use of a personal artistic style, the way the extreme close up sucks you into the feelings of a silent youth.
I also feel that it meets the conventions through the use of an extreme close up to add emphasis to a darkening plot. I feel that this shot is a potential turning point in our film which ends up as the demise of her brother.
Screen shot 7:
This is the final shot of our short film and I feel that it has met the conventions of a short film. This is because it shows a sense of resolve to the story - the look shared by the mother and Lily gives off a sense of joint understanding and grief.
The slow fade at the end of this shot works similarly to the girl in About a Girl walking away in the last shot: They both leave you feeling like you are being pulled out of the story.
Screen shot 8:
My final screen shot is of my end credits. I feel that my credits break the generic codes and conventions of a short film. This is because it has slow fading credits with slow music, like that of a feature film. However, I felt that this was more fitting with the end of the film, even if it breaks the conventions, as it gives a resolving sense of sadness to the audience.
Screen shot 5:I chose this shot as I felt it added to the artistic style of the film - the usage of high angle shots. I felt the use of high angle shots on the girl could suggest how small she is in a 'big world'. I felt it could also connote that the 'grass is greener on the other side', being the opposite river bank which could be metaphorical for how her life could be different with fame and money.
Screen shot 6:I chose this screen shot as it wraps up the whole story. Like every short film I have seen, there has been some form of shot or scene that wraps up any questions on confusion throughout the film. Like Home, which has a shot of a Donkey to clear up any confusion of what the man could be hiding in his flat. Again, I feel the use of an underwater shot also adds to the personal creative style, it shows how brutal things really can get for such an innocent young girl.
Screen shot 7:I chose this screen shot as I felt it was a good way in which to end a short film - A high angled establishing shot of the girl walking away from the 'problem' as it has been 'resolved'.
By having it high angled and establishing, you feel like you are just an audience of the story and as she walks away you feel the story coming to a finish.
Screen shot 8:My final screen shot is of the final credits of the film. They are simple black and white credits rolling up from bottom to top. The font is a sans serif font which connotes the youth of the girl as it is a curly and childish looking font.
My Brother Leon:
The following screen shots are from our own short film 'My Brother Leon'. Comments will describe how each of the screen shots has met or broken away from the conventions of a short film.
Screen shot 1:My first screen shot I chose was the title of our film. I felt this title both broke and met the codes and conventions of a short film. Firstly, I felt it broke the conventions through where it was placed in the film. As it was not place directly at the beginning, I felt it was more conventional to that of a feature length film. However, I felt it met the codes and conventions through the simplicity of the title, the plain black and white.
Screen shot 2:I feel that this screen shot meets the codes and conventions of a short film. This is because it's clearly establishing the surroundings and the life-style of the main character within the first few scenes. The audience would pick up on the girl wearing her uniform and sitting doing homework on her own, which both suggests her isolation and her innocence.
I also feel that the over-stereotyping of a young innocent girl meets the conventions also. This is because there is a shorter length of time to get the message across. So the use of uniform and folders clearly gets the message across. Like in About a Girl, simply by giving the mother a scratch card and a pram, they have represented what type of character she is.
Screen shot 3:I chose this screen shot as it again portrays the girls innocence through her staged directions. The audience will be able to related and think about times when they may have thought that putting a pillow over your ears would block out all the noises and thoughts, making things instantaneously "okay".
I feel that this meets the codes and conventions of a short film, as the use of a close up is used effectively to create the desired response from an audience. By having the shot closer to the girl, you feel that you are closer with the girl and her problems.
Screen shot 4:Similarly to screen shot 1, I feel that this shot both breaks and meets the codes and conventions of a short film. I feel that it breaks the code in the way that the choice in casting of the mother takes away from the realism. I have always felt that the vast majority of short films have tried their up-most best for the heightens sense of realism.
However, I feel that the use of an over the shoulder shot meets the conventions and adds to the sense of realism. It feels as if you are there with Leon whilst he is arguing with his mother.
Screen shot 5:I chose this screen shot as I feel it meets the codes and conventions of a short film. It has met the conventions, in my opinion by you taking the side of the main character and watching through her eyes as her mother watches her son, Leon, shout and slam his way out of the front door. I feel this has been achieved by seeing over the shoulder of Lily as the action is happening behind her.
I also feel that the blue gels put on the lighting in the hallway meet the conventions of a short film as it subtly represents the cool and dark mood of Leon as he slams his way out of the front door.
Screen shot 6:I chose this screen shot as I feel that this also meets the codes and conventions of a short film. I feel that this has met the conventions through the use of a personal artistic style, the way the extreme close up sucks you into the feelings of a silent youth.
I also feel that it meets the conventions through the use of an extreme close up to add emphasis to a darkening plot. I feel that this shot is a potential turning point in our film which ends up as the demise of her brother.
Screen shot 7:This is the final shot of our short film and I feel that it has met the conventions of a short film. This is because it shows a sense of resolve to the story - the look shared by the mother and Lily gives off a sense of joint understanding and grief.
The slow fade at the end of this shot works similarly to the girl in About a Girl walking away in the last shot: They both leave you feeling like you are being pulled out of the story.
Screen shot 8:My final screen shot is of my end credits. I feel that my credits break the generic codes and conventions of a short film. This is because it has slow fading credits with slow music, like that of a feature film. However, I felt that this was more fitting with the end of the film, even if it breaks the conventions, as it gives a resolving sense of sadness to the audience.
Tuesday, 12 January 2010
Post-Production
Our post-production consisted of the entire editing stage of our final production. This included the capturing, exporting and the many decisions and hurdles we had to climb over as a group. I have taken 8 screen shots of throughout our editing stage on Adobe Premiere Pro, and will discuss any major decisions we went through as a group with these stages.
Screen shot 1:
This first screen shot is of scene 11. Due to on this day of filming, the microphone kept cutting out and resulted in having no sound on occasional parts of scenes. With this scene, Leon and the mother are arguing in the kitchen as we have the visual of Lily coming down the stairs and listening. Luckily, we had sound for this scene, however after Adobe Premiere Pro crashed, the sound for this scene disappeared.
After we searched for the piece of sound and were unable to find it, we resorted to re-adding the sound clip, editing the levels so they fitted appropriately with the scenes and shots both before and after.
We also found that we had a similar with scene 14. Here we lost the picture rather than the audio. We checked to see if we had 'hidden' that layer, however this was not the case. So similarly to above, we re-added both the sound and picture to make sure they were still in sync with each other.
Screen shot 2:
With this screen shot, it was the simple decision of when and where it was appropriate to place cross dissolves between shots. Collectively we felt that we needed longer and slower cross dissolves between the changes in days, and shorter more abrupt cross dissolves when it is only a change within a few seconds, minutes or hours.
The day changes were also made longer by making a gap between the two scenes, leaving a short period of black screen.
Screen shot 3:
This screen shot is one of the first decisions we made as a group when it came to editing. For scene 2 we filmed and extra shot to add emphasis to what Leon is picking up. Although it is a jump cut, we felt it added to the story and could be considered as one of our stylistic attributes.
When editing the shots in this scene together, we cut the shot of Lily watching Leon pick up his stuff into two and placed this in the middle. However, when doing this we had to make sure Leon's hand was in the right place moving from one shot, to another of him picking up his stuff.
This shot was also over-layered with drum and bass music coming loudly from his bedroom. This sound was filmed separately so it could be singularly controlled. Finding the correct levels so it sounded realistic proved as a challenge due to making it suddenly stop as if Leon had switched off his music before heading off on his way out. We also made sure the music levels varied for each day. For example, in scene 12 when Lily walks past her brother's closed door, we made sure the music sounded more dull and muted by the door.
Another example with the drum and bass music was scene 5 when Leon is playing xbox and slams the door in Lily's face. Here we decided upon lowering the music around the speech and door slamming to make sure it did not take away the emphasis of the aggression presented.
Screen shot 4:
After capturing all our clips, we discovered that a great deal of our clips suffered from high levels of interference. So as a group we went through sound effects including: De-Esser, De-Hummer, De-Crackler and De-Noiser. We decided that De-esser and De-hummer had no effect on the interference levels so we stuck to using just De-crackler and De-noiser. The settings we used for both included:
De-crackler:
- Reduction 100%
- Threshold 0%
De-noiser:
- Threshold 0%
- Reduction 20db
- Offset 10db
We also found out that by double layering these effects you were able to lower extreme levels of interference greatly. The shots with major interference included 3.2, 4.1, 8.2 and the whole of scenes 9 and 10.
The scene visible in this screen shot is scene 13, which was one of our main scenes in our film. Lily is found muting the TV to listen to the argument happening between her mother and brother. We overlapped the sound of these shots with the argument between Leon and the mother to find that the argument was too short for the scene. We decided to try and take the 'just fucking leave it' from a previous argument and place it on the end, resulting in making it longer. However after attempting this, we felt that Leon's attitude was not in the context of this argument and took it back out. The argument sound was also double layered so you were able to hear what was being said.
Screen shot 5:
This screen shot is of scene 4, which suffered a few issues down the line. The main issue was that it would not play through and kept jolting, even after rendering. This was resolved by re-adding the scene's shots onto the timeline. Although we had resolved the issue of the scene not playing, we had to readjust all of our continuity. How smooth and flowing the movement of Lily picking up and using her books was commented on in our audience feedback of our rough cut and we wanted it to be the same again. We also picked up on the feedback of this scene being two slow so we cut out the first shot, and the last shot of the previous scene to increase the pace.
Once the visual was sorted for this scene, we realised that the sound of the television in the background did not match continuity. We resolved this by choosing the best TV sound out of all the shots in this scene and extended it's length so it took over the whole scene. We were lucky that in this scene there was no major sound made by Lily.
Screen shot 6:
This screen shot is of scene 10. This scene suffered greatly due to the microphone not working and losing large amounts of sound. Sound was a necessity in this scene as it contains a great deal of dialogue. This meant that we had to work around which shots had sound, taking out any that didn't. This included our main shot reverse shot, and the extreme close up of Leon's face, which we felt added great emphasis and the make up of the bruised eye adds to the realism.
Continuity was also an issue with this scene as we had to make sure there hands and Leon's hood was in the right place when lines were being said. However the scene was cut down with shots removed and shorten to only contain the vital shots. An example of this was where the mother is closing the dishwasher. We cut this out as it did not add anything to the story and the kitchen is not big enough to see what she is doing fully unless it's a very high-angled shot.
Screen shot 7:
This screen shot is of the creation of the titles for the beginning of the sequence. As a group we had to decided what was necessary to have as titles at the beginning and what could be left until the end credits. For the beginning we decided to have our production team name, the two main actors names and the title of the film 'My Brother Leon'.
We decided to keep both the opening titles and ending credits as simple as possible, using plain white font on a black background. Our main font used throughout was Trajan Pro, as it matched what was used on my postcards. I felt this font was also appropriately used as it quite sharp.
When creating the opening titles we left the film to play until just before the fade up to scene 4, until we put on the title 'My Brother Leon'. As a group we felt that this was more conventional of films and took good use of a black fade out. The transitions between each of the credits was also just a simple cross dissolve. We decided on this against the generic 'roll' of credits up the screen because it fitted more suitably with the pace of the ending music.
Screen shot 8:
This final screen shot is presenting how the end credits were created. As we have done throughout our project, we started by setting our sound levels with the bars and tone and the speakers, making sure it was at an audible level.
We then decided that the credits will flow more appropriately if the fade up's and fade down's were placed on time with the beats in the piece of music. So before creating the visuals for the credits, we went through the soundtrack and placed markers on every beat until about a minute in - this made it easier to line up the titles with the marker on the music. The final credit also fades out slower than the rest, ending on what we all considered to be an appropriate place on the track.
Screen shot 1:This first screen shot is of scene 11. Due to on this day of filming, the microphone kept cutting out and resulted in having no sound on occasional parts of scenes. With this scene, Leon and the mother are arguing in the kitchen as we have the visual of Lily coming down the stairs and listening. Luckily, we had sound for this scene, however after Adobe Premiere Pro crashed, the sound for this scene disappeared.
After we searched for the piece of sound and were unable to find it, we resorted to re-adding the sound clip, editing the levels so they fitted appropriately with the scenes and shots both before and after.
We also found that we had a similar with scene 14. Here we lost the picture rather than the audio. We checked to see if we had 'hidden' that layer, however this was not the case. So similarly to above, we re-added both the sound and picture to make sure they were still in sync with each other.
Screen shot 2:With this screen shot, it was the simple decision of when and where it was appropriate to place cross dissolves between shots. Collectively we felt that we needed longer and slower cross dissolves between the changes in days, and shorter more abrupt cross dissolves when it is only a change within a few seconds, minutes or hours.
The day changes were also made longer by making a gap between the two scenes, leaving a short period of black screen.
Screen shot 3:This screen shot is one of the first decisions we made as a group when it came to editing. For scene 2 we filmed and extra shot to add emphasis to what Leon is picking up. Although it is a jump cut, we felt it added to the story and could be considered as one of our stylistic attributes.
When editing the shots in this scene together, we cut the shot of Lily watching Leon pick up his stuff into two and placed this in the middle. However, when doing this we had to make sure Leon's hand was in the right place moving from one shot, to another of him picking up his stuff.
This shot was also over-layered with drum and bass music coming loudly from his bedroom. This sound was filmed separately so it could be singularly controlled. Finding the correct levels so it sounded realistic proved as a challenge due to making it suddenly stop as if Leon had switched off his music before heading off on his way out. We also made sure the music levels varied for each day. For example, in scene 12 when Lily walks past her brother's closed door, we made sure the music sounded more dull and muted by the door.
Another example with the drum and bass music was scene 5 when Leon is playing xbox and slams the door in Lily's face. Here we decided upon lowering the music around the speech and door slamming to make sure it did not take away the emphasis of the aggression presented.
Screen shot 4:After capturing all our clips, we discovered that a great deal of our clips suffered from high levels of interference. So as a group we went through sound effects including: De-Esser, De-Hummer, De-Crackler and De-Noiser. We decided that De-esser and De-hummer had no effect on the interference levels so we stuck to using just De-crackler and De-noiser. The settings we used for both included:
De-crackler:
- Reduction 100%
- Threshold 0%
De-noiser:
- Threshold 0%
- Reduction 20db
- Offset 10db
We also found out that by double layering these effects you were able to lower extreme levels of interference greatly. The shots with major interference included 3.2, 4.1, 8.2 and the whole of scenes 9 and 10.
The scene visible in this screen shot is scene 13, which was one of our main scenes in our film. Lily is found muting the TV to listen to the argument happening between her mother and brother. We overlapped the sound of these shots with the argument between Leon and the mother to find that the argument was too short for the scene. We decided to try and take the 'just fucking leave it' from a previous argument and place it on the end, resulting in making it longer. However after attempting this, we felt that Leon's attitude was not in the context of this argument and took it back out. The argument sound was also double layered so you were able to hear what was being said.
Screen shot 5:This screen shot is of scene 4, which suffered a few issues down the line. The main issue was that it would not play through and kept jolting, even after rendering. This was resolved by re-adding the scene's shots onto the timeline. Although we had resolved the issue of the scene not playing, we had to readjust all of our continuity. How smooth and flowing the movement of Lily picking up and using her books was commented on in our audience feedback of our rough cut and we wanted it to be the same again. We also picked up on the feedback of this scene being two slow so we cut out the first shot, and the last shot of the previous scene to increase the pace.
Once the visual was sorted for this scene, we realised that the sound of the television in the background did not match continuity. We resolved this by choosing the best TV sound out of all the shots in this scene and extended it's length so it took over the whole scene. We were lucky that in this scene there was no major sound made by Lily.
Screen shot 6:This screen shot is of scene 10. This scene suffered greatly due to the microphone not working and losing large amounts of sound. Sound was a necessity in this scene as it contains a great deal of dialogue. This meant that we had to work around which shots had sound, taking out any that didn't. This included our main shot reverse shot, and the extreme close up of Leon's face, which we felt added great emphasis and the make up of the bruised eye adds to the realism.
Continuity was also an issue with this scene as we had to make sure there hands and Leon's hood was in the right place when lines were being said. However the scene was cut down with shots removed and shorten to only contain the vital shots. An example of this was where the mother is closing the dishwasher. We cut this out as it did not add anything to the story and the kitchen is not big enough to see what she is doing fully unless it's a very high-angled shot.
Screen shot 7:This screen shot is of the creation of the titles for the beginning of the sequence. As a group we had to decided what was necessary to have as titles at the beginning and what could be left until the end credits. For the beginning we decided to have our production team name, the two main actors names and the title of the film 'My Brother Leon'.
We decided to keep both the opening titles and ending credits as simple as possible, using plain white font on a black background. Our main font used throughout was Trajan Pro, as it matched what was used on my postcards. I felt this font was also appropriately used as it quite sharp.
When creating the opening titles we left the film to play until just before the fade up to scene 4, until we put on the title 'My Brother Leon'. As a group we felt that this was more conventional of films and took good use of a black fade out. The transitions between each of the credits was also just a simple cross dissolve. We decided on this against the generic 'roll' of credits up the screen because it fitted more suitably with the pace of the ending music.
Screen shot 8:This final screen shot is presenting how the end credits were created. As we have done throughout our project, we started by setting our sound levels with the bars and tone and the speakers, making sure it was at an audible level.
We then decided that the credits will flow more appropriately if the fade up's and fade down's were placed on time with the beats in the piece of music. So before creating the visuals for the credits, we went through the soundtrack and placed markers on every beat until about a minute in - this made it easier to line up the titles with the marker on the music. The final credit also fades out slower than the rest, ending on what we all considered to be an appropriate place on the track.
Monday, 11 January 2010
Production Report
Day 1:On our first day of filming, we tried to film as many shots as possible that were similar to each other. These included all shots from scenes 2, 5, 12, 3 and 6 - Only using two of our locations: The upstairs and downstairs hallways. All of these scenes were evening scenes, and unfortunately we still had natural light. This meant that we had to black out windows with black card and black bin liners to achieve the level of light that we wanted for night time scenes. We also had to set up Leon's bedroom, getting ready all the props and making it appear like a messy teenage boys room.
Out of all these scenes, there is only one line of dialogue, which made the filming process run smoothly as the actors had less to remember. The filming of these scenes was finished within a few hours, including the filming of extra takes as precaution. I feel that it went as smoothly as it did, due to the excitement of finally starting to put our planning into a finished product leaving us working well together with no major disagreements.
Day 2:Day 2 we managed to film 3 scenes, including 9, 10 an 11. When drawing up our shooting schedule, I felt that filming these scenes together is a necessity due to the time of day we needed to film. Due to having no curtains or blinds in my kitchen, it was vital that we filmed when it was dark. We all met at our location at around 5.30, setting up everything needed until it finally got dark. This included creating Leon's 'beaten up' make up, getting our actors into costume, and helping them get the desired emotion out of their lines.
Once it got dark enough to film realistically, we started with scene 9, which is Leon coming through the door. This scene had to be re-shot numerous times due to Josh having trouble unlocking the door. Next we moved onto scene 11, which was still in the hallway, with Lily listening to the second half of the argument from the bottom of the stairs. By doing this scene first, Danielle and Josh were both able to read through the scripts helping them memorise more so, and get deeper into their characters.
The final scene of the evening was scene 9. This took a large amount of time, and a great deal of effort on all our parts due to a number of problems. These included the lack of sound, interference levels and the number of takes we had to do for each shot due to lines being forgotten. The shot-reverse-shot shots in this scene had to be filmed by me as I was one of the smallest in our crew, leading to me being the only one able to fit on the counter to film. To make sure I was not seen in the window whilst filming, we moved the plant pot along to disguise my reflection.
This may have been our longest evening of filming, with the whole team tiring. However, once we got these scenes out of the way, we felt more of a drive to get on with the rest of the filming.
Day 3:Due to this being a Friday, we had the camera from 11am and were able to film any day scenes needing naturalistic bright lighting. These included scenes 14, 15, 16 and 17. Again these scenes are linear to each other because of the need of a specific time of day.
Luckily all of our actors were also available to film during the day. Our only organisational issue that we really faced on this day was the fact that we forgot to bring the base plate for the camera, and had to go back to school to get it. Whilst Danah went back to school to get the base plate, the rest of us set up each of the rooms needed on scene including tidying Leon's bedroom (putting his tracksuit bottoms neatly folded on the end of the bed), moving about the living room (putting sofas in the correct places and having minimalistic props on the coffee table).
When we finally got onto filming, we had issues concerning that quality of acting. I felt that this was that case due to never having to be a mother losing a son or a policeman in real life that they were unable to get into character. We also had problems with the sound. This was down to two factors: One was with filming outside there was uncontrollable noises such as cars driving past and the wind. The other was inside variables such as the washing machine making noises whilst we were trying to film. These could however be used as advantages, adding in to the realism of our film.
Day 4:Again, due to needing dark lighting, we had to wait for another evening to film, taking into consideration that none of us would have been able to reach to black out all the Velux windows in the living room safely. For filming on this day we only needed to film in one room, with one actor (Steph). As Steph has nothing to say throughout the film, we were able to film all of the necessary shots with ease. The scenes shot were 4, 7 and 13.
The filming also ran with ease as we prepared for this day of filming the Sunday previous, where I taped the Hollyoaks Omnibus, which we planned to having running through in the background. This made things easier when it came to continuity, and we made sure that whenever we had stopped filming, that the recording of Hollyoaks was also stopped. We also prepared the Hangman drawing previous to filming.
When setting up the lighting for this day of filming, we made sure that any added lights had an orange filter to add to the warm effect around Lily. This was opposite to Leon, where we used a cold blue gel.
Day 5:This was our final day of filming, consisting of only filming our final scene - Scene 8. As this was filmed at a different location, it had potential to be a problem, as people may have struggle to get there, however this was not the case.
Only the lamp already in the bedroom was needed to create a realistic night-time setting. This meant that no large lengths of time needed to be spend setting up lighting. However the main focus of the days filming was the sound of the argument happening outside of the bedroom. We ran through the script numerous times to make sure we had the correct levels from being in the bedroom. Due to our actors also not having to learn the scene's dialogue off-by-heart, made our day of filming significantly shorter.
One thing I felt went well this day was how aggressive the argument between Leon and the gang member really sounded. When going over the script with them, they felt it necessary that they added their own personality into their characters, leading to them improvising around the script slightly, which resulted in a greater success. Filming ended on a high note and we were keen to get onto editing what we had shot as soon as possible.
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