Today me and my group did our final bit of filming which was as we call "the flash back scene". In order to achieve a good shooting we had to create a small, detailed table on what camera shots and angles we were going to use. We did this because it would help us when filming as it would be easier instead of improvising. This scene is considered highly important within our title sequence as it is to some extent the trigger which reveals the girls inner feelings which is why we felt the need to organise ourselves before actual shooting. Furthermore, I think me and my group did very well partly because I feel as a group we have progressed with our filming skills.
Choice of actors:
To create authenticity and realism within the title sequence we used a real drama teacher to play the schoolteacher so that it could look genuine. We then used a young girl, Asian to play the part of a younger version of our protagonist. We found it hard to find a girl who looked similar to Cindy (our main character but because we finally did, it will make our sequence look and feel more real towards the audience.
Camera? Mise-en-scene? Sound?
We decided to use an opening shot of the teacher and girl sitting with each other so that the audience would understand what they are doing. We then went onto a close up of the girl, looking concerned (as she has been pulled aside by a teacher). It then goes onto a close up of the teacher speaking the dialogue of how her brother went missing. After, a close up, reaction shot is shown of the girl so that the audience can understand and see her reaction to what has happened. The costume is very simplistic as we kept the young girl in uniform to add to the authenticity of her being at school. The teacher, wearing a smart casual outfit so again it will add to the current realism which is being presented. I think these decisions that we made with the camera, editing and sound are all significant which will help add continuity to our title sequence.
Overall, I am happy with what me and my group achieved today and I think we are constantly progressing. If I was to improve the way we approached this side of filming I would say that we maybe should have tried out more camera shots. Apart from this, I think we can now go back to editing and put the clips into a right place so our continuity is good.
Today, we managed to put all the correct clips in order. However, we discovered a problem; one of our clips was too "jumpy" which took away the continouty out of our title sequence. To overcome this, we had to play around with clips to see which one would fit. Furthermore, after this problem was resolved we went onto adding in our titles. We decided to put our titles over the top instead of fading to a black screen. This is because we ran out of time because when editing and putting our clips together we found out they were longer than we thought. This is not a main problem as we could still successfully fit in our titles and make them look good. Overall, me and my group are doing very well with editing as any problems or challenges we have faced, we have overcome. I think to improve the way we approached editing is to look at tutorials more so that no time is wasted when figuring out what to do.
Current Title
This is our current title of our film. At the moment, we are quite sure we will use this in our opening sequence, however have not received any feedback or advice on this so we do not want to make a final decision. The reason why we decided to make our title like this is because we wanted a "creepy, mysterious, scary" effect. The reason why did white text with a black background is because when doing our research we found out it was very common and was very effective. We also decided to use sans serif font because again, it is bold, common and eye catching which will draw the audience in. Also, the "smoke" fits in with the narrative as it is a metaphor for the antagonist (boy) drifting away. I am very content with this title.
Moreover, I think me and my group are doing well as we are frequently discussing current ideas and how to improve upon them. Editing is our main issue but I think we are working good and will meet the deadlines. We have one last bit of filming to do which will then (hopefully) fit into our sequence nicely.
As me and my group came to the conclusion we are going to re shoot we have already faced some challenges whilst doing this. On our re shoot we found everything slightly easier as we had completed it before. It helped us focus on the actual camera work to ensure the technical codes were being completed to a higher level than before. Before filming, we decided to change the location. This was not a huge deal as it was still completed in the same house environmental just in another room which we did not acknowledge and did not think it would be suitable for the filming. However, this made aspects of filming slightly harder as we have put ourselves into a new room.
What we decided to change and focus on:
Ensure the actor looked and acted drunk so the authenticity was there
Make sure the camera did not move or become our of focus
Location (we found a better room)
Include an establishing shot
Editing
We have now uploaded our re shoot and have started editing. After doing some editing as a group together we have been successful in putting the clips in the correct order. Now we have done this, we can see what does and doesn't work. We may need to move clips around or add in transitions. I think as a group we are doing well in editing as we are working together a lot to make sure our project is frequently being pushed forward. However, to improve our editing skills it may be a good idea to watch videos online to use Adobe Premiere more in a more advanced way. Below is some screen shots of the editing we have done:
To ensure we keep up to date with editing, me and my group have discussed times and dates where each (or all) will come in and do some editing This is helpful as our project will be looked at frequently therefore allowing it to be pushed ahead so that we meet our deadlines.
I have decided to look at another TV drama extract. This is because I want to be constantly reminding myself of camera, editing, mise-en-scene and sound. By revising these it will help me when coming to re shoot and editing. I have chosen an extract from Waterloo Road which focuses on the representation of age. Even though the main question is on age, I am going to focus on the camera, editing, mise-en-scene and sound before linking it to age. Before even looking at the extract I am going to think about the stereotypes and if the different age groups meet or slightly link with them. Teenagers are always associated and portrayed to be disrespectful and disruptive towards over members of society. Additionally, elderly people are usually stereotyped to be "moody" and their costume normally consists of browns, blacks and grey's. By knowing the stereotypes before looking at the extract it will give me an insight and understanding to see whether the certain characters represented have portrayed to be atypical or stereotypical.
In this extract from Waterloo Road; the characters have all been represented as stereotypical.
The extract opens with a close up of of a man foot walking under the desk, this creates quite a mysterious tone within the extract. Immediately there is a mid shot of two young boys which therefore links into the mystery and mischievous behavior already connoting the stereotypical nature of the young teenage male characters The diagetic sound of the characters 'whispering' reinforces the secrecy and rebellious attitude of the characters. Furthermore, the editing of the shot reverse shot from the pupils to the teacher creates tension within a scene emphasises the rebelliousness which the two young boys seem to maintain. Consequently, this has already inferred to the audience that the 'teenage' age group will be portrayed to be stereotypical. Moreover close up of the teacher reveals his facial expression and his concern about what the two boys are doing which potentially opposes to the usual stereotype as his facial expression is not dull or uninterested. The wide shot of the three characters helps the audience gain an insight into the diagetic sound of the dialogue which is the pupils making up excuses of how they broke the object. However, the eye line match and over the shoulder connote to the audience that the characters are equal implying that the age groups are no more advanced than the other. The panning shot introduces a middle aged Indian woman to the scene. The mid shot demonstrates her body language and her facial expression which is presented as worried and perplexed. Similarly, when she is displayed she is also at eye line match which reinforces the equality between all age groups. The mise-en-scene of the two teenage characters help make it evident to the audience that they are young and are in school. However, they are wearing their uniform incorrectly which connotes their nontraditional frequent behaviour. The old teacher is wearing dark grey's and black which signifies his old age and is iconic of what an old person may look like. It also symbolises his personality as being 'dull'. Additionally the middle ages woman is wearing two contrasting colour's such as a bright pink and a grey. This is significant because the pink symbolises beauty and love which is then contrasted with a dull colour connoting a cross between a young and old inferring she is between the two. The constant high key lighting in the scene helps make everything appear clear and apparent. Furthermore, the next scene consists of a young teenage boy and a middle aged man. The boy is marginalised which infers his age is less important. Whereas, the middle ages man is centralised when first introduced connoting his signification within the scene. The non diagetic, ambient sound in the background of the scene reinforces the realism and authenticity as they are based within a school. Moreover, the two characters are shot at eye line match and over shoulder which juxtaposes when both characters are introduced. The low angle shot of the middle aged man emphasises his importance which therefore juxtaposes with the middle aged woman who was seem to be equal to the different age groups. Additionally, the next scene features two pupils. They are introduced with a long shot and are centralised in the scene which therefore demonstrated the importance they uphold within this scene. The surroundings of the pupils in the hall ways are not in focus which reinforces the audience concentration of the two young teenage characters. The ambient sound within the background also emphasises the realistic nature and helps give the audience an insight into the young character's life. The diagetic dialogue of the two characters talking suggests they are worried and distressed which is stereotypical as it is known to be common that teenagers have an attitude. Moreover, another teenage character is introduced. The mise-en-scene of the two teenage girls connotes their sexuality, gender and rebelliousness. This is because they are wearing their uniform incorrect but have also accessorized which illustrated their femininity but also their 'fun' and 'engaging' attitudes towards their lives. On the other hand, the dialogue of one of the girls shouting juxtaposes this and therefore implies that she is distressed from family issues. This is again, a stereotype being made as her costume has portrayed her to be rebellious and her attitude and raising of voice to be frustrated and irritated. The editing such as the over the shoulder shot of the three young teenagers displays their equality. I have finished analysing over half of this extract and I feel as if I have reminded and revised it very well. I have come to a conclusion that the representation of age within this extract is equal between all different age groups even though they have all been stereotyped The director may have done this to imply to the audience that all people are equal. However, because of the use of stereotypes it immediately makes the audience form a judgments between characters. Moreover, I am very satisfied with the revision I have done on this extract as I now have been reminded of the camera, editing, mise-en-scene and sound which will help me when I come to changing and adjusting my coursework. If I was to improve the way I approached this I would have focused more on sound as in my coursework it is what we are currently struggling on. For my next revision, I am going to revise sound to make sure I know that the sound I am putting into my coursework piece will match it and create tension (which is what we want).
This is our groups timing schedule for our re shoot. Making this helps us keep up to date on our future deadlines which we need to meet. This also helps us organise what we need as we can view a list of props, and essential filming sequences we need to complete. We are hoping to complete our overall filming soon so that we can progress onto editing so the quality of our work is to a high standard.
We have previously just filmed the main part of our title sequence. We then edited it (together) to see what works and what doesn't. Me and my group have have to the conclusion that we are going to re shoot. Together, we watched and analysed our short film critically to see if their were an extreme amount of negatives. There appear to be several small or big mistakes which have occurred in our title sequence that we need to re shoot. However, we wanted to re shoot everything so that it would be better.
It was evident to us that the most fundamental issue which appeared from the first sequence. The sequencing was not effective and clear enough for the viewers because of the poor and lack of camera shots which would make it hard to understand and engage into our narrative. To improve this we are going to make sure that we have more camera shots to make sure the high quality sequencing is reinforced throughout. Additionally the mise-en-scene was a problem too as her make up seemed slightly over dramatic. We now know that when it comes to re shooting we can make sure her make up is more authentic. Furthermore, the diagetic sound was very good as it made the sequence sound very realistic However, we are (still) struggling to find music which will fit into the second part of our sequence and this is becoming quite a big problem within our coursework. In terms of editing, me and my group seem to be successful. I think that with the camera shots we have made we have made a smooth sequence (as to what it could be) and a slight good sense of continuity. However, the one issue with editing is the transitions. We have used about 5 transitions (ATM) and the one of the ones we have used does not appear to fit in because of the poor continuity in this part of the sequence. This is something we will improve upon when it comes to re shooting Even though we do not get marked upon our acting we decided it would be better to make our actor look a bit more drunk so that we have that sense of realism within our title sequence. This will also expand the amount of different shots we do which wil also be very helpful.
Overall, even though we have decided to re shoot I am very satisfied and content with what me and my group have produced. We have all worked very hard towards this and struggled slightly in some parts (for example the first shoot). However, clearly highlighting the errors we have made will help us as we can now re shoot and correct them.
Recently in class our coursework piece was displayed to the class and we were given some feedback on how our opening is looking so far. Even though he have not finished editing and included essential parts like the music we still managed to fit the clips into the right order. This helps as the people reviewing can give us critical analysis on what we need to improve upon so that we can progress and move forward with our project.
Positives:
We tried very hard to make our camera smooth and professional and the feedback we gained was successful. For example; the zoom into our protagonists eyes looked very good as it was very nicely done.
The diagetic sound that we have originally had fitted the scene very well and is appropriate to the mood and atmosphere within the scene.
The fast shots of our protagonists created tension and suspense which is good for us to know as this is what we wanted to try and display.
At first, me and my group were unsure on what non diagetic sound to include in the first part of the title sequence. We quickly chose a piece of music, knowing we would most likely change it. However, when the class received it we got told it fitted the atmosphere and created a relevant tone.
Negatives: How to improve?
Problems that we are currently facing with camera work - we used a pan to follow our protagonists whilst she walks from the window to the desk and it is slightly too fast. Therefore, we will have to re shoot or replace it with other footage we have filmed.
Also, we used a continuous tilt which tilted down then up. However, when it tilted down it was not very professional as the moving of the camera was not smooth enough. We are going to edit this thoroughly to make it look smother.
Overall, I am content with the progress me and my group are currently making. I feel that we are in line with the deadlines. Even though we are doing well at the moment we still need to carry on working hard to make sure our project is up to high standards. Also, receiving critical feedback has helped me personally and my group also as it helps move the project forward.
