The peer assessment forms were a tricky one to write as it is hard to judge my peer's efforts when 2 of them out of the 3 are close friends. I felt that I didn't answer my peer assessment form as honestly as I would have liked to. I felt that some people, although had good ideas in the initial process of the development of the idea, did not pull their weight in the actual production of the film e.g. filming process.
I also do not feel as though my efforts were appreciated, which also comes with working with friends (especially when there are 3 friends). As mentioned in my previous post, I filmed in 2 of the 3 filming sessions, and in some cases I was directing myself and some of the actors in front of my camera - as there was no one else around at the time, they were either off talking or doing something else. When it came to us discussing who did what, 2 members of the group said that Edward was the camera person and said that I was the director, which did not show their acknowledgement of my efforts in doing the large majority of the filming and putting forward ideas which came to be some of the best highlights in our short film. I had to say that I filmed a large majority of the footage, to which they replied 'oh yeah..'.
I know this is something that will come with team work, and despite this I am impressed with everyone's efforts as a whole as we made a very good film, which we actually finished and submitted early, due to everyone's impeccable team work.
Wednesday, 5 April 2017
Editing Process
So after 3 filming sessions, we managed to get all the footage that we needed - myself filming the whole time for 2 of those sessions. We were really pleased with the footage we got as it the shots that we got meant that we had a variation of different shots we could use for the same action and so if there were any we didn't like, we nearly always had an alternative to make the shot look as we wanted it to.
The editing process was fairly easy also, as we started to edit after each filming session, and so after we pieced together everything we had after the first filming session, we then knew what we had to film in our next filming session. In the moving image workshops we had every Thursday, we were able to get feedback from Helen and technical support staff on what we could better in our project and what they liked and disliked.
When we originally started to organise who would be doing what, we never finalised the roles of each person. My main roles were director and camera person. Along with Edward being a camera person for 1 of the filming sessions and organising the main character, with Grace organising extra actors and over seeing the project, while Emmy also over saw the project and taking a role in recording the sound.
The editing process I felt could have been split more evenly between the group, as Emmy was mainly in charge of the editing due to the project being saved to her account. I did take over at times when I could, if I had an idea of something we could add or if someone in the group didn't know how to do something. As I had drawn the story board, I wanted to stick to the original idea as much as possible, however as we were going through, other members in the group had other ideas as to where they feel scenes could be improved.
I had the idea for the introduction of the short film, where we would see a delivery guy bringing the box of sandwiches into the store, so we could get an establishing shot of Essentials and where the story will be based. I had the idea to put the camera inside the box, to which Emmy and Edward then had the idea to open the bottom of the box so that I could hold the camera inside and they would open the other end of the box to make the filming of the camera filming the box opening from inside much easier. I then had the idea for a white fade to over expose the screen as the box opened, to where we would then see the title of the film, and then we would have a white fade which introduced our main character.
The editing process was fairly easy also, as we started to edit after each filming session, and so after we pieced together everything we had after the first filming session, we then knew what we had to film in our next filming session. In the moving image workshops we had every Thursday, we were able to get feedback from Helen and technical support staff on what we could better in our project and what they liked and disliked.
When we originally started to organise who would be doing what, we never finalised the roles of each person. My main roles were director and camera person. Along with Edward being a camera person for 1 of the filming sessions and organising the main character, with Grace organising extra actors and over seeing the project, while Emmy also over saw the project and taking a role in recording the sound.
The editing process I felt could have been split more evenly between the group, as Emmy was mainly in charge of the editing due to the project being saved to her account. I did take over at times when I could, if I had an idea of something we could add or if someone in the group didn't know how to do something. As I had drawn the story board, I wanted to stick to the original idea as much as possible, however as we were going through, other members in the group had other ideas as to where they feel scenes could be improved.
I had the idea for the introduction of the short film, where we would see a delivery guy bringing the box of sandwiches into the store, so we could get an establishing shot of Essentials and where the story will be based. I had the idea to put the camera inside the box, to which Emmy and Edward then had the idea to open the bottom of the box so that I could hold the camera inside and they would open the other end of the box to make the filming of the camera filming the box opening from inside much easier. I then had the idea for a white fade to over expose the screen as the box opened, to where we would then see the title of the film, and then we would have a white fade which introduced our main character.
Tuesday, 21 March 2017
Things that can go wrong!
So we have started filming and up until yesterday, all was going as planned. The first day we managed to film, we managed to film a whole scene to our liking and after we edited it together, it is looking amazing and we are really happy with it!
However, we booked all of the equipment out yesterday with the intention to go into Essentials to film our sandwich scene. We lugged the equipment around campus until we met at Essentials and had to spend a while finding managers to confirm our permission to film in there. Essentials was quite a lot busier at the time we went than we had anticipated, so this was a negative to start off with.
After we had finally got permission, the manager didn't seem totally up to the idea, as the store was still fairly busy, but none the less we had prior permission and the time we went was outside of their peak store times.
So we got ready to start filming after the manager had got a staff member to completely re-order the shelves for us and tidy the shelves up, we got the camera out and found that we had no battery... Disaster! So that was the extent of our filming that day.
So lesson learnt, always check the equipment when you first receive it, as if that was a paid shoot, it would have been an incredible amount of money wasted.
However, we booked all of the equipment out yesterday with the intention to go into Essentials to film our sandwich scene. We lugged the equipment around campus until we met at Essentials and had to spend a while finding managers to confirm our permission to film in there. Essentials was quite a lot busier at the time we went than we had anticipated, so this was a negative to start off with.
After we had finally got permission, the manager didn't seem totally up to the idea, as the store was still fairly busy, but none the less we had prior permission and the time we went was outside of their peak store times.
So we got ready to start filming after the manager had got a staff member to completely re-order the shelves for us and tidy the shelves up, we got the camera out and found that we had no battery... Disaster! So that was the extent of our filming that day.
So lesson learnt, always check the equipment when you first receive it, as if that was a paid shoot, it would have been an incredible amount of money wasted.
Wednesday, 8 March 2017
Mood board
Film
Mood Board Research
Mood boards are a way of bringing together different thought processes and brainstorm ideas. These will usually include photos, colour swatches, related items of interest and any notes that come to the designer at the time. These ideas will all help to focus a group of ideas into one and these images and notes can be reviewed and then edited and refined.
Below is a mood board that someone has made, which is clearly do with suspense, romance, crime and gang movies. They have brought together different movies, and worked on looking at different shot sizes and angles to tell stories. You are able to feel the emotion through extra close ups of the characters eyes, intimidation in the shots where the characters are standing over the camera and we are looking up, romance in the black and white mid close up shot of two characters embracing each other from the side, and so on.
https://kudarokoi.files.wordpress.com/2014/10/moodboard.jpg
Other mood boards for home ideas usually include colour swatches. Colour swatches are a good idea in film mood boards as you can match these colours to the emotion you want to feel in the film. In that way, they can help with costume design colours, the setting/environment, the time you film to create a certain mood and so on. Mood boards, like the one below, tend to be rough and fairly messy as they are a rough collection of ideas for development/prompting.
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/6e/54/49/6e5449c1b00ff08f70d4f4b7bb382f3f.jpg
In other areas, such as ideas for a tattoo studio, as seen in the image below, you can see that they have taken images of other studios that they like the look of and have put different elements together, which would then help in the creation of their own studio. They have included colour swatches at the bottom of the page, which all kind of match up with the colours in the images. As you can see they have put ideas up for signs, wall designs, decor, seats etc. Just because the images are there, doesnt mean that they will be used. Mood boards can be a selection and deletion process, but they are a good visual way of planning. They help you to see things for what they could be and help you to process the thoughts in your head from seeing something visually.
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj41lkCO5IuZCOXjaFm0VzTz7MkHXNEthX0JG_bbq2TnNFsmQWeSQpKWHEhuG8A0aPYQ0eGWFkoo1L_GVlbEt3wVLtyhUB6cmxEiriZA0xSZ0Tg-CN0UTonUqnGYEe7LlkbsDS1fVhwRWU/s1600/Tattoo+moodboard.jpg
In the mood board I will be designing, I will use a colour swatch palette (taking into account the colours from all of the location shots I will also be adding), clothing ideas and shot ideas. I will include shot sizes that we will be aiming to capture, such as extra close ups, close ups (to show emotion), high angle shots looking down or low angle shots looking up at a character (to show intimation). The mood board will help us to build and develop our ideas and give us pointers as what to film, whilst also helping with the locations and outfit decisions.
Tuesday, 7 March 2017
Watching Wall-E
Silent films, they convey emotion through many factors such as facial expressions, body language and shot sizes. My group were encouraged to watch some silent films, which would help the development of our short film.
http://cartoonbros.com/wall-e/
We have chosen to shoot a silent film, with which the music will be the key factor in the emotion that is portrayed - as well as the factors listed above. I am going to watch Wall-E, which is a silent film as there is limited dialogue in the film (only from the humans), but we are able to convey emotions from Wall-E and EVA, who are robots and do not talk. As you can even see from the image above, without having watched the film, you can see a connection between the two robots. This is through their surroundings, it seems to be a fairly romantic setting due to the colours used and the moon being in the centre of the background. EVA, the white robot, has a typical cartoon closed eye facial expression, and her arm is touching her mouth, as though she were laughing or giggling. Wall-E however is looking up at her, as though he is mesmerised by her and is falling in love with her. He is holding a boot with a plant as a gesture.
Notes from watching Wall-E
http://cartoonbros.com/wall-e/
We have chosen to shoot a silent film, with which the music will be the key factor in the emotion that is portrayed - as well as the factors listed above. I am going to watch Wall-E, which is a silent film as there is limited dialogue in the film (only from the humans), but we are able to convey emotions from Wall-E and EVA, who are robots and do not talk. As you can even see from the image above, without having watched the film, you can see a connection between the two robots. This is through their surroundings, it seems to be a fairly romantic setting due to the colours used and the moon being in the centre of the background. EVA, the white robot, has a typical cartoon closed eye facial expression, and her arm is touching her mouth, as though she were laughing or giggling. Wall-E however is looking up at her, as though he is mesmerised by her and is falling in love with her. He is holding a boot with a plant as a gesture.
Notes from watching Wall-E
- Jolly music to open with - we then see Wall-E is the one playing the music surrounded by depressing silence of rubbish everywhere - not letting his surroundings bring him down
- His eyes - his 'eyelids' squint to show laughter
- His body language shows friendly hand gesture to cockroach when he puts out his arm and open and closes his hand
- Eyebrows raise to show surprise or shock
- By seeing his home (environment), we get a sense of his personality - compassionate and has manners as he takes his 'shoes' off
- Compassion from watching a romantic film - large 'puppy dog' eyes - clasping his own hand - walks past and shoots back into the shot when the romantic moment catches his eye
- Wall-E sees a bright light around EVA when he first sees her (love at first sight)
- He follows her - romantic music
- When Wall-E tries to trick EVA into thinking he isnt himself/goes deffective, he remains still showing no emotion and becomes an inanimate object (this is why facial expressions and body language are so important) - it is the eyebrows, eyelids etc that create the emotion on his face and make an object that wouldnt normally make the audience feel a connection, develop one
Examples of facial expressions/body language
- Eyes drooped and shaking when scared (as seen in the first image below) also anticipation as (seen in the second image below)
- http://sarembaart.deviantart.com/art/Wall-e-facial-expressions-428786581
- Eva - suspicion (as seen in the image below her eyes squint/scowl to look sly)
- http://www.chud.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/WALL-E-02.jpg
- Typical cartoon eyes when EVA is happy or laughing (as seen in the image below) - squinting
- http://orig01.deviantart.net/94fa/f/2010/197/f/2/eve_giggles_by_cri86.jpg
If it werent for these facial expressions, especially on EVA, she would be a white robot with a blank black face - we would not be able to see a personality, but due to her eyes forming in different shapes on the screen, we are able to see the emotions she is feeling and we also grasp a sense of the mood by seeing her feelings in her facial expressions.
Monday, 6 March 2017
Storyboards
Storyboards that show emotion
The storyboard for our short film needs to show every shot in detail, listing the length of the shot, details about the shot size, angle and we need to be able to understand what needs to be shot to correlate with what we want to happen. We need to show direction and emotion in our storyboard to shoot an accurate creation of our ideas. I have listed a few detailed examples of other storyboards below, which will influence the detail of ideas that I will use when drawing the images in the storyboard for our short film.
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/54/05/71/540571df914d5f039b257aa1aa0f30c8.jpg
This storyboard shows the emotion of the male in great depth. It greatly focuses on his eyes to accentuate the tears, the sorrow in his eyes and the direction in which he is looking to anticipate the next potential shot and direct the viewers eyes in that direction. As you can see in the sketches at the top, lines have been drawn around the hands to show movement. This is key when re creating these shots with the camera. Every shot is drawn exactly to the size that the camera will be on the object, which helps when re creating the shot during filming.
When drawing the storyboard, I will ensure that I draw every shot in sequence, so that when it comes to filming, we will know exactly which shot to shoot and when. I will include emotion in the drawings to show built up relationships and how the characters felt at the beginning vs at the end. Music that will be used will help to create this emotion, however we are looking to compose our own piece of music to go with our short film, and so will write in the sound section of the story board 'custom music'.
The storyboard for our short film needs to show every shot in detail, listing the length of the shot, details about the shot size, angle and we need to be able to understand what needs to be shot to correlate with what we want to happen. We need to show direction and emotion in our storyboard to shoot an accurate creation of our ideas. I have listed a few detailed examples of other storyboards below, which will influence the detail of ideas that I will use when drawing the images in the storyboard for our short film.
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/54/05/71/540571df914d5f039b257aa1aa0f30c8.jpg
This storyboard shows the emotion of the male in great depth. It greatly focuses on his eyes to accentuate the tears, the sorrow in his eyes and the direction in which he is looking to anticipate the next potential shot and direct the viewers eyes in that direction. As you can see in the sketches at the top, lines have been drawn around the hands to show movement. This is key when re creating these shots with the camera. Every shot is drawn exactly to the size that the camera will be on the object, which helps when re creating the shot during filming.
When drawing the storyboard, I will ensure that I draw every shot in sequence, so that when it comes to filming, we will know exactly which shot to shoot and when. I will include emotion in the drawings to show built up relationships and how the characters felt at the beginning vs at the end. Music that will be used will help to create this emotion, however we are looking to compose our own piece of music to go with our short film, and so will write in the sound section of the story board 'custom music'.
Wednesday, 1 February 2017
Roles for treatment
These are the roles that were discussed today - these roles will not change, but will help each other out if needed.
The story is now to do with a homeless girl who (maybe) gets kicked out of her home, and is living rough on the streets. She is trying to save up enough money to buy food from essentials. We see a contrast between the life of the girl and the sandwich.
Roles
Title - "Shelf Life" (DONE - GROUP)
Pitch - Emmy
Narrative Structure - Emmy
Character Profiles - Grace
Script - GROUP
Story Board - Lauren
Mood Board - Lauren
Location (taking pictures) - Ed
Casting - Ed
Permission (emailing essentials) - Grace
Location shots:
- Outside Essentials
- The sandwich shelf inside Essentials
- Cash tills in Essentials
- Hot food counter
- Bench along path by Eliot (at night under street light)
- Area next to Cafe Nero and Eliot where food stalls are usually set up
- Various areas on campus which would be a good setting to base the homeless person
- Outside a Keynes flat (door way and area in front of door)
Casting
- Homeless girl/boy
- Cashier
- Passers by - 2
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