My Opening Two Minute Film : Editing to Create a Present Day Effect...

I have got my home-video footage and edited them to a degree in which I am happy with, it was therefore time to focus on my recently filmed footage which was of the interview and the extreme close up shots. I decided that similar to the home-videos I would dim the lightness as I personally thinks it makes me the transitions between the home-videos and present day footage more smooth by having the same tone of light. I also decided that in terms of the police interview scene, a dim light enhanced the sparse small interview room effect

The Interview Scene Effect

I therefore manipulated each of my footage clips in a few keys way:
+ Lightness = -10.0%
+ Saturation = -40.0%

Manipulating Lightness and Saturation

I personally think this footage is effective, by not editing I have created a real life effect which I wanted, it also does not distract the audience from the storyline and genre of the film, as crime thrillers are stero-typically known for there low lighting. Overall my film is all starting to come together and I am pleased with the work which I have created.

My Opening Two Minute Film : Fourth Day of Shooting...

Thursday 23rd February 2012

So my film is finally coming together and the light at the end of the tunnel is getting ever closer (also the deadline is getting closer but always look on the positive side!), I just had a few last shots that I needed to get in order to complete my filming (I know how upsetting this is my last diary post!), so here it goes my final entry to my production diary!

Props, Actors and Equipment used:
+ Old Family Photographs
+ Camera
+ Script (copy for me and actors/actresses)
+ Storyboard (copy for me)
+ Actors = Sheila (recording the Mothers voice over)

8:30pm
It was time to look back at very fond family memories (and have a few giggles at some photos of my brothers when they were little) as I went on the hunt for old family photographs, I chose a range of photographs where the boys were aged between 3months to 5 years. I chose to pick photographs from a different age to the home-videos so that I can demonstrate a wide range of childhood development and how the different stages may affect the choices made in later life
8:45pm
It was time to record the mothers voice (I thought it was appropriate to use my own mum for this!), for this take I instructed my actress to use a clear voice so that the audio for the film can be as clear as possible! I am going to edited this tomorrow, as I took this in one shot with a pause between each sections of speech, therefore I need to cut each part and then match them to the correct footage in my film

My Opening Two Minute Film : Creating My Title Sequence...

My film is starting to come together (at last!) so I have decided to start focusing on my title sequence. I decided that after the workshops which we did with James about creating text in after effects and how simple it is that I would create my initial titles in after effects and then export them to premier, where (in theory) I shall overlay the titles on top of my footage. In order to do this I have done the titles on a transparent background, in terms of font and colour of my titles I have decided to use the same font and colour which I used for my production ident in order to link it all together. Similar to how we reviewed examples of professional openings in order to develop an idea of what worked and what didn't, I reviewed examples of professional opening credits in order to determine what went into their credits and what I need in my titling sequence (I reviewed three professional openings which are stated below and what they use in order to create their titling sequence).  

Juno

(Production Idents. Actors. Casting By.Costume Designer.Music By.Songs By.Music Supervisors.Co-Producers.Editors.Production Designer.Director of Photography.Produced By.Written By.Directed By)

Rainman

(Actors.Casting By.Costume Designer.Associated Producers.Co-Producers.Music By.Film Editor.Production Designer.Director of Photography.Executive Produced By.Story By.Screenplay By.Produced By.Directed By.)

Se7en



(Actors.Casting By.Music By.Costume Designed By.Edited By.Production Designed By.Director of Photography.Co-Producers.Co-Executive Producers.Executive Producers.Written By.Produced By.Directed By)

My Opening Two Minute Film : Third Day Of Shooting...

Sunday 19th February 2012

I had orginally wanted to use the police station as my location for my interviews, however due to security reasons I was unable to use their interview room I therefore had to get my thinking cap on for a new location I decided to ask my brother for advice and even though it was a house, a student house is very much known for their blank white walls which would be perfect to create a mock interview, I therefore took up resistance with him for the weekend, along with my camera and tri pod and finished (finally) my filming.

Props, Actors and Equipment used:
+ Table
+ Four Chairs
+ Tie
+ Watch
+ Papers
+ File
+ Mug of Coffee
+ Camera
+ Tri-Pod
+ Script (copy for me and actors/actresses)
+ Storyboard (copy for me)
+ Actors = Rich (playing Sam) and Francis (playing Jack)

Saturday 18th Feburary:
I arrived in Thornaby, North Yorkshire ready for a weekend of filming and having my first experiences of student life. After discussing with my brother what I had already filmed, how I had editied, what ideas he had for any music I could use and also how I was going to film this police interview scene, we decided we would film on the sunday morning after hunting out a location to do the interview and asking for an actor to play Sam. So today was really a getting used to uni life day, including all you can eat chinese at a budget price, getting used to a house with no heating and generally getting used to a house of all boys!
10:00am:
After a rather chilly nights sleep, it was time to get down to some work. I asked my brothers housemate Rich if he would mind giving up half an hour of his time to do some acting for me, I also recruited my borther Francis to play the other character. After hunting round the house for a location, I decided to use the blank white wall in the living room as my backdrop for the interview, I used the dinning room plain wooden table and four black chairs and actaully created as a rather relistic interview setting. I got Francis to wear a dark hoody, and Rich to wear smart black trousers, white shirt and a black tie this was to enable the audience to know straight away who had a higher status. I personally think the shooting went really well and I hope tomorrow when I look over my footage that it looks as good as I hope it will!
10:15pm:
After filming the interview scene (and the boys getting very excited at watching themseleves on the playbacks!), I decided to film the extreme close ups of the detective doing his tie and putting on his watch, this I think looks really effective and demonstrate as extreme close up shot well.
10:20pm:
I filmed then the shot of the detective walking throught the door and the close up shot of the criminal face, these shots I am not to sure about. I have deicded that I will review it tomorrow, but I am not sure whether I will use it in the final cut it all depends on whether they work or not. Overall though todays shooting went really well, and quick as I was all done in half an hour - now thats a good result!

My Opening Two Minute Film : Editing To Create A Homevideo Effect...

Today I finally had footage which I was happy therefore the long task of editing was awaiting me. As I am filming the present day footage in half term, I decided before we break for half term I would like all my home video footage to be edited and ready to be put into my final film sequence so I break for half term feeling like I have achieved something. I decided to edit my home video sequences on Premier Pro. To start with I had a play around just looking at how I could manipulate my footage, however the effects were still not creating the home video look I was focusing on. I then decided to you tube "super 8" effect to see if there was any tips on how others had created the "super 8" effect.

The Example I Found of Super 8 Effect



 I decided to use an effect that creates a real 8mm film effect (http://www.mediafire.com/?t89h3aabwwbm8ej). I exported this into premier, and then exported my own work overlaying it onto of the "real 8mm film effect".  

Importing "real 8mm film" to premier

 I then manipulated each of my footage clips in a few keys way:

+ Noise = 34%

+ Lightness = -0.5%

+ Saturation = -38.0%

Manipulating my footage using video effects

I personally am happy with the edit of my home videos, I asked for audience feedback from one of my class friends and shes said that they were effective, she agreed with me on the idea of having non-digentic sound as the background to my voice over rather than digentic and she stated it would distract the audience less from the actual voice over which is the important dialogue. I know am on the hunt for copy free music!

Cinema City : The Viewing of Submarine...

On Wednesday 8th February, me and Caitlin tagged along to join the Year 13's at the viewing on  Submarine and a talk by an associate producer of Warp films. This talk being the main reason of joining them, as Warp Films is one of the must respected independent companies, it was launched in 2001 and leads the way to exciting and original British film making. The productions of Warp Films include 'This is England' (2006), 'Rubber Johnny' (2005) and off course Submarine (2010). Throughout the talk, discussions were made on the job of a producer, the job of posters and also how to progress in the film industry in terms of careers prospectives.

I decided to post about today as not only has to the talk given me more information on Warp Films which I shall be able to use as a case study for the summer exam but I also found Submarine, gave me lots of ideas for my own film. I have at the moment been editing my home video sequences for my opening two minutes and Submarine is a great exemplar of a film that involves lots of "home video" footage, I thought the rounded edges were really affective and I am going to try and re-create that for my own footage (see 1 minute 52 seconds on the trailer). I have also been struggling over whether to have digentic sound (the actually sounds my characters were making during the home video) or non-digentic sound in the form of a song over my footage. In Submarine, non-digentic sound is used for the section of home-videos and has made me come to the decision that I am going to chose a copy right free song in order to play over the top of my footage. I think this is also the best option as I am having a voice-over of the mother asking apposing questions to the audience, and the use of a song will not distract the audience from the key speech.

Now for an overview of the film, as I went in not knowing much about the film and have come out stating to my own family that they must by it on DVD and watch it! Submarine is a coming of age comedy based on the novel by Joe Dunthorne, it was produced by Richard Ayode in 2010. It is all about the life of 15 year old Oliver Tate who has two objectives : to lose his virginity before his next birthday and to extinguish the flame between his mother and her ex lover who had resurfaced in her life. The film involves following Oliver and he develops a range of unorthodox plans to ensure his parents stay together and ensure that Jordana still likes him. The opening weekend in the UK was the 20th March 2011 and the box office made £244,476. One of the co-production company's was Film4, this is another reason why I posted about Submarine as I personally think that my own film would also attract Film4 Productions, as similar to Submarine is not the typical mainstream film by exploring the issues of psychology along side the issues or crime, family and childhood.

Submarine Trailer

My Opening Two Minute Film : Second day of shooting...

Thursday 2nd February 2012

I had originally shot these scenes in the daytime on Saturday however once surveying my footage I decided that the lighting for these particular scenes would look more "homely" if I used artificial lighting from lamps and fairy lights therefore I decided to re-shot these parts of my videos at night time.

Props, Actors and Equipment used:
+ Cake Stand
+ Birthday Cake
+ Cluedo Boardgame
+ Coffee Table
+ Camera
+ Tri-Pod
+ Script (copy for me and actors/actresses)
+ Storyboard (copy for me)
+ Actors = Thersea (playing mother), Jacob (playing Sam) and Reuben (playing Jack)

01:30pm: 

I decided to buy a cake this time instead of making one firstly I haven't really got a two hours free to make a fresh one and secondly I thought it looked more like a birthday cake if it had icing around it - so overall I thought it was time to take a trip to the co-op in my lunch to buy one of there cakes (I must say this was also just as yummy).

06:30pm:

I have planed for my actors and actress to come to mine for around 7:30pm, in order to make sure the filming was as a quick as possible I set up all the scenes before hand. I decided to use the two living rooms in my house as my location this time as I thought the boys might feel more natural and comfortable sat on sofas. I used my small living room for the board game scene, as I thought the fairy lights in the corner added as a more "homely" feel to the overall shot. I also decided to find a new cake stand for my cake, choosing a multi-coloured stripy one as I thought this was more likely to be used to hold a child's birthday cake on.

07:40pm:

Anyone for a game of cludo?

There time keeping is getting quicker my actors were only 10 mins late! I started of by filming the board game scene, I filmed this both with the use of the tri-pod and by hand, as I decided that in tomorrows lesson I am going review my footage, ask others which one looks most effective then decide which footage to use (I thought it was better to have lots of footage to choose from then not enough). This went really well I thought the boys felt much more natural, and comfortable around the camera - fingers crossed the footage will portray this. I then filmed the cake scene - this involved both the boys, and there mother (I thought this was most appropriate to used there real mother as the character of the mother). Off course my mum and dad didn't get out of being involved, as I needed as many people as possible to sing happy birthday to create a real family feeling. Again I did footage using the tri-pod and footage hand held, I personally think from this shot the hand held footage looked the best but I shall get some audience feedback tomorrow to help me decide.