Sunday, 22 February 2009
Editing first shoot
The next day when we got back into school we began the editing. As soon as we started we discovered how low standard the shots where, which was fairly disappointing. However we studied each shot and thought of ways to improve it. We decided to keep the story bored the same, but to shoot from different angles to convey the meaning of the shots better. We also decided to change some of the actors to help us produce a higher quality film. From this we rescheduled to film next Wednesday again, to give us time to do some extra planning and to give notice to the actors.
14th Jan, first filming session – disaster
As me, Sehb and Amber all had a day full of free periods, we scheduled to meet up for our first shooting session. As the actors needed where free as well, we decided to take advantage and try shoot as much as possible, all at once.
However I think this is where we seriously went wrong.
We began with a scene in the food hall at our school, ‘the cafe’ – it was a perfect location at the time, not many people where in there, making it quiet but ambient sound still present.
We positioned the camera the other side of the room to the actors, at a point of view level. We wanted to create a sense of isolation for the character as no one appeared to be near him. In addition to this, he was far enough to be unnoticed by the couple.
We had chosen performing arts students as our actors to make the direction easier and to make the footage look more professional. However this didn’t go to plan as we were hoping. As we began to film them it was clear that they felt completely uncomfortable and weren’t able to get in character at all. After many takes we ended up with useable footage but it was nowhere near the standard I was hoping for. This kept occurring as the day went on, which I started to get frustrated about.
However we carried on. After school we went to our next location – the protagonist’s house.
Whilst in a negative attitude from the footage we got at school, we decided to test the bath scenes before shooting the real deal. I volunteered to get in the bath to act the person drowning whilst amber filmed. Although we attempted a variety of shots, we discovered it would be more difficult than we expected. What we filmed wouldn’t be suitable for the final piece at all. we decided to leave the bath scenes for a later date so we could concentrate on the rest of the footage.
The next scene we filmed would be the first 15 seconds of the sequence when the main character and the scrap book are introduced, meaning they had to filmed to our best ability. We had to assure we centralised the book at all times and the lighting was correct. We also didn’t want a clear shot of the protagonists face to create mystery. The footage began to look better, the shots where still and we used a variety of shots. However, it was difficult to do, we had issues of being able to get home and a member of the group became ill, distracting us from concentrating. We did manage to get the shots we needed though and we were later able to sort out our personal problems.
However I think this is where we seriously went wrong.
We began with a scene in the food hall at our school, ‘the cafe’ – it was a perfect location at the time, not many people where in there, making it quiet but ambient sound still present.
We positioned the camera the other side of the room to the actors, at a point of view level. We wanted to create a sense of isolation for the character as no one appeared to be near him. In addition to this, he was far enough to be unnoticed by the couple.
We had chosen performing arts students as our actors to make the direction easier and to make the footage look more professional. However this didn’t go to plan as we were hoping. As we began to film them it was clear that they felt completely uncomfortable and weren’t able to get in character at all. After many takes we ended up with useable footage but it was nowhere near the standard I was hoping for. This kept occurring as the day went on, which I started to get frustrated about.
However we carried on. After school we went to our next location – the protagonist’s house.
Whilst in a negative attitude from the footage we got at school, we decided to test the bath scenes before shooting the real deal. I volunteered to get in the bath to act the person drowning whilst amber filmed. Although we attempted a variety of shots, we discovered it would be more difficult than we expected. What we filmed wouldn’t be suitable for the final piece at all. we decided to leave the bath scenes for a later date so we could concentrate on the rest of the footage.
The next scene we filmed would be the first 15 seconds of the sequence when the main character and the scrap book are introduced, meaning they had to filmed to our best ability. We had to assure we centralised the book at all times and the lighting was correct. We also didn’t want a clear shot of the protagonists face to create mystery. The footage began to look better, the shots where still and we used a variety of shots. However, it was difficult to do, we had issues of being able to get home and a member of the group became ill, distracting us from concentrating. We did manage to get the shots we needed though and we were later able to sort out our personal problems.
Monday, 16 February 2009
shot list
1. Pan across bookshelf, zoom in on hand grabbing book
2. Camera on ground, feet walk towards it
3. Close up of protagonists hand opening draw
4. Close up and pan of scrap book and alcohol placed on table
5. Zoom in on alcohol being slowly poured into glass
6. Zoom in on book being opened and pages flicking and hand stroking page
7. Pans across page to photo of first couple
8. From the photo it links into the next scene and setting, at school
9. Long shot at school, of couple kissing.
10. Back to room, protagonist cuts pictures, covering his face
11. Back to school, centralized close up of girl pulling away from kissing her boyfriend,
12. Back to room, close up of him flicking the pages frantically
13. Pans across page again to next couple
14. Zooms into photo, leading into next shot, location – school sixth form centre.
15. Point of view, peering round the independent learning booths to watch couple kissing again
16. Cuts to a close up of girl again, smiling
17. Quick point of view pan from girl to desk, looking down expressing disheartened feeling
18. Back to room, increase in pace. Mid shot behind Protagonist, scribbles in book aggressively,
19. Close up of his scribbles.
20. Close up, camera slightly pans to next page to see next victim, long blonde haired girl.
21. Back to school location, hiding behind brick wall then peers round it to see next couple, (long blonde haired girl with boyfriend holding hands), point of view.
22. Long shot, point of view: Protagonist starts to follow them,
23. Mid shot of boyfriend turning round.
24. Back to point of view, protagonist quickly turns the opposite direction.
25. Back to book, close up, turns page to dead victims, in bath dead
26. Flash backs begins, quick shot, hand leans over bath, girl screams and hand goes round mouth,
27. Back to book, more pages of dead people, and blood
28. Close up of page turning, next girl
29. Zooms into book to next scene, in a pretty green area, location –the quad
30. Close up of protagonist holding a book,(over the shoulder) pans to couple sitting fair bit away on a bench.
31. Zooms into them kissing, centralising the girl
32. Close up of girl smiling and biting her lip
33. Quick shot of her screaming and drowning
34. Back to room, crossing out her picture
35. Back to her in bath, hands strangling girl vigorously
36. Flipping through scrap book more, sticking in pictures
37. Face lifts out of water, mascara ran down her face, screams
38. Back to book him flipping pages.
39. Shadow of girl being pushed in and out of water, screams increase
40. Back to room, arm moves off book, the word next appears.
2. Camera on ground, feet walk towards it
3. Close up of protagonists hand opening draw
4. Close up and pan of scrap book and alcohol placed on table
5. Zoom in on alcohol being slowly poured into glass
6. Zoom in on book being opened and pages flicking and hand stroking page
7. Pans across page to photo of first couple
8. From the photo it links into the next scene and setting, at school
9. Long shot at school, of couple kissing.
10. Back to room, protagonist cuts pictures, covering his face
11. Back to school, centralized close up of girl pulling away from kissing her boyfriend,
12. Back to room, close up of him flicking the pages frantically
13. Pans across page again to next couple
14. Zooms into photo, leading into next shot, location – school sixth form centre.
15. Point of view, peering round the independent learning booths to watch couple kissing again
16. Cuts to a close up of girl again, smiling
17. Quick point of view pan from girl to desk, looking down expressing disheartened feeling
18. Back to room, increase in pace. Mid shot behind Protagonist, scribbles in book aggressively,
19. Close up of his scribbles.
20. Close up, camera slightly pans to next page to see next victim, long blonde haired girl.
21. Back to school location, hiding behind brick wall then peers round it to see next couple, (long blonde haired girl with boyfriend holding hands), point of view.
22. Long shot, point of view: Protagonist starts to follow them,
23. Mid shot of boyfriend turning round.
24. Back to point of view, protagonist quickly turns the opposite direction.
25. Back to book, close up, turns page to dead victims, in bath dead
26. Flash backs begins, quick shot, hand leans over bath, girl screams and hand goes round mouth,
27. Back to book, more pages of dead people, and blood
28. Close up of page turning, next girl
29. Zooms into book to next scene, in a pretty green area, location –the quad
30. Close up of protagonist holding a book,(over the shoulder) pans to couple sitting fair bit away on a bench.
31. Zooms into them kissing, centralising the girl
32. Close up of girl smiling and biting her lip
33. Quick shot of her screaming and drowning
34. Back to room, crossing out her picture
35. Back to her in bath, hands strangling girl vigorously
36. Flipping through scrap book more, sticking in pictures
37. Face lifts out of water, mascara ran down her face, screams
38. Back to book him flipping pages.
39. Shadow of girl being pushed in and out of water, screams increase
40. Back to room, arm moves off book, the word next appears.
animatic first draft
Above is our first animatic we produced for our thriller production.
Whilst producing the animatic it initially went well, besides the short period of time where I was off due to personal reasons. Once i returned to school we immediately got down to business and worked well as a team.
I took the role as the photographer, which i feel worked effectively as it created a realistic effect, rather than drawings. I assured the lighting looked affective and that it highlighted the significant objects within the frame.
Sehb managed to find suitable copyright free music, which we mixed together and overlapped to create our own music script. However i doubt we will use the same music for our final piece, we will have to find music with the right pace that will allow us to edit our footage around it.
However in this animatic there is a lack of diagetic sound, which will be sorted for the final thing. Once we add diagetic sound it will enhance the sense of reality.
In addition to this, we suffered some technical difficulties. When presenting our animatic to our teacher and class mates, we realised the first clip was in the wrong place, wrong size and had the wrong transition. After some confusion we came to the conclusion that there must have been an error when exporting the footage from the Mac to our memory sticks. Because of this, as a group we have decided to produce an improved animatic, as it will help us in the long run.
However in this animatic there is a lack of diagetic sound, which will be sorted for the final thing. Once we add diagetic sound it will enhance the sense of reality.
Wednesday, 17 December 2008
update
Unfortunately our animatic is taking longer than our group originally expected. Within the space of two weeks I had to travel to Liverpool and back to help my sick Nan and I came down with food poisoning myself, which really dehydrated me. However I don’t like using this as an excuse. Once I’d recovered and got myself back into school I found I was extremely behind in all my subjects as all the final pieces where due in. The other two members, Sehb and Amber did a great job though making sure we didn’t fall too behind whilst I was gone. Now that we are all back together we are all working hard and communicating together to try get our animatic finished.
thriller development
After a lot of debating my group and I came to a rough idea for our thriller.
We had to take into consideration we have no budget, everything we use as props or locations will be from our own pockets. To make things easier for ourselves we’ve decided to use local locations and use actors who we are familiar with and who are able to take direction well. In addition to this we will have to film some shots in school locations so we are able to use our time wisely, even if it is typical.
To make our shots dramatic and effective without the cost, we came up with the idea of our protagonist being obsessed with water. Reasons for this may be because someone close to him drowned or he had a near death experience with water but that doesn’t really matter for our opening. We thought this idea could really be suitable for a thriller, also that it would be easily done in our homes as we could simply use a bath, which could also fit into the narrative quiet well as the protagonist will be a teenage boy living at home. To be drowned is also one of the most horrific deaths possible, including this should make our opening attention grabbing and most importantly, thrilling.
To make the narrative flow and make sense, the protagonist will have his own personal scrapbook of which he collects Polaroid’s of people he envies. Whether it’s about popularity or girls, the book will be full of people from around the school. However the photos will be taken secretively without the victim knowing, along with anyone else. He records their day to day life and try’s to figure out what their like so he is able to be like them and replace them once he kills them, obviously wouldn’t happen though as he’s psycho.
From ambers storyboard I was able to take photography for the animatic to give a good representation of what our thriller will hopefully look like. I believe they came out pretty good as I tried to get the correct lighting suitable for each shot. I also tried to use as many colour connotations such as the alcoholic drink, which I chose a bright red Lambrini. I also shone the light onto the bottle to give a red rippled water like reflection.
From the storyboard and photographs we have been able to make decisions on the detail of our props and locations.
Props:
- Scrapbook
- Polaroid’s of victims
- Shot glass
- Red alcohol
- Pens pencils
- Stationary, (anything for scrap book)
- Draws and desk
- Bookcase and books
- Anything that is generally in a bedroom
Costume: (male protagonist)
- Black skinny jeans
- Plain white top
- Black leather jacket
- Black beanie hat
- Bear feet
All of which are typical teenage fashion whilst including necessary connotations.
Victims:
- Fully clothed
General teenage fashion/ smart school wear.
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