Filming Schedule #2

We unfortunately couldn't get all of our filming done in one day, so this was our second film schedule for when we filmed at Costa coffee in Leatherhead.

Tuesday 22nd December 2015:

1:00pm- Arrive at Costa

1:05pm- Brought drinks and chatted for a bit before filming

1:20pm- Set up camera and tripod onto the correct angles and viewpoints needed for filming

1:30pm-  Began filming.

1:40pm- Struggling to get into character, so had a break to talk about where we were going wrong.

1:50pm- Finished the rest of the scene accurately.

2:00pm- Looked at all of our shots to see any faults, meaning that we would have to do the scene again.

2:10pm- re-filmed a few scenes.

2:20pm- Went home and uploaded blogs from our day.

Own Production Company- Red Canyon Films.

We decided to use the Grand Canyon as our production company. We feel it has a positive mood to it, and the grand canyon is a very powerful place, so we wanted to incorporate some power and authority to our production company.  We decided to put the noun " Red" in replacement of the word "Grand" as we waned to add our individuality to our film. We used the "disperse" effect on the photograph, this changed the colouring of the image, and also made it fade in nicely. In addition it made it look more sophisticated and professional.

The colouring of the picture makes the film seem like it will be exciting and thrilling. The colour "Red" connotes danger, blood and power, which are elements which are in our film.

We all worked together discussing the relevant pictures,transitions and layout that we liked and what we feel would be the most successful for our film.

This is going to be the first thing that our audience sees, so we wanted to make sure that it looks inviting and effective.

For our production, we chose a picture of a tiger catching its prey. Tigers are seen as strong and powerful animals, and we want these connotations to fit our film. We used the word "Vivid" to describe our production, it creates a sense of mystery and  puzzle-like atmosphere, which is what we want to demonstrate in our film too. The use of the white background against the black background creates a stark contrast and suggests a sense of good and evil which is also relevant to our opening two minutes.

Film Schedule #1

As there is a lot of us working together on our film, we need to find the correct time when everyone is free to film. We filmed our opening two minutes in the Christmas holidays on Sunday the 20th 2015, as it was the Christmas holidays, everyone wanted to relax, this is why we felt it was important to put a film schedule together, so that we were all motivated and determined to work and get the filming done! Unfortunately, we were not able to film everything all in one day as we needed different locations. Using the film schedule helped us a lot in arranging our film and the scenes in our film.

Sunday the 20th of December 2015--

12:00pm- Meet at Sainsbury's local in Fetcham village, go into the supermarket to purchase food, for in-between filming snacks.

12:10pm- Start walking towards the woods, also known as " The Splash".

12:25pm- Set up the camera onto the correct modes and settings.

12:30- Get into costumes and outfits to prepare for scene one.

12:45-  Get first shot filmed accurately and precisely.

1:00pm- Move further into the woods into a different scenery to film scenes 2 and 3.

1:20pm- Have a break/snack and look over what we have done, and decide whether we need to retake any scenes to improve them.

1:40pm- Film the rest of the scene 3 if not already completed.

2:00pm- Set up assault scene, by cutting holes into the plastic bag precisely around Nadiye's head.

2pm -3:55pm - Filmed the rest of the scene accurately and we were all happy with the final outcomes.  

Software Research

The editing software used for our film is a very vital and important factor to consider through the making of our film. Its important that all of us in our group understand fully how the software works, from editing clips together, to adjusting sound levels. This is important to achieve a high standard opening two minutes and also so that we can benefit from the editing software.

MOVIE MAKER:

Movie Maker is an editing software which is produced by Microsoft. This immediately suggests that its effective, as Microsoft is a very well known company and is very user friendly, suggesting that it would appeal to a wide range of audiences. Movie Maker is a fast and easy to follow software, where you become the editor. There is no complicated buttons or procedures that would make the editing software be too complicated to use. To upload videos and images, you simply import them from your devices files or documents. This is the most common way of uploading media, which would mean that it is much easier to use.  In addition, Movie Maker ensures that videos and pictures are imported quickly without any buffering, this ensures that the pictures/videos come out at the clearest resolution, which avoids blurriness. There are over 130 effects, transitions, titles and credits available. This gives us a broad range of themes which we can select, meaning our film will become more sophisticated and interesting. Movie Maker also allows you to share your film through social networks, such as: Facebook. YouTube, Twitter and even by Email. This means that it can transfer our production to each other to do even more editing and make all of our ideas come together. Also, you do not need film or editing experience to be able to work Movie Maker, this makes it more user friendly and easy to access and understand.

ADOBE PREMIERE ELEMENTS 10:

Another software which we considered to use is called "Adobe Premiere Elements 10". This is another editing software like Movie Maker, however this specific editing software is primarily aimed to edit films and videos. From the name of the software, the application is made by "Adobe" which was founded in February 1982. The operating income of "Adobe" is $ 412 million, suggesting that it is a well known and successful company. Adobe Premiere Elements 10 allows you to have a much bigger and clearer timeline, this means that you can see your clips/pictures much more clearly so that you can see what's happening in your film without having to play the video each time. The software also has much more effects than Movie Maker, such as the stabilizer effect, which allows you to keep shots still if they are moving or shaking when they are not meant to be. This will benefit us when making our film as we want to make our film look as professional as possible... However, this makes the process a lot more complicated as there is more techniques used resulting in the software being slower and a lot more complicated.

SOFTWARE USED:

In the end our group decided to use "Adobe Premiere Elements 10". We believe that this is the easiest software to use, and has a much bigger selection of transitions and credits than Movie Maker. Also, our teacher has used this software before with other students, meaning that if we get stuck with a tiny problem, our teacher should be able to help us. The use of the bigger timeline means that all 4 of us can see our film clearly and see how its all coming together. We feel that this is a brilliant software, for all age groups and will help make our film the best it can be.

Bloopers video!

Props in Filming

The Dog:

The primary reason we chose to use the dog, is because it gave Tara a purpose to be in the woods in the first place. I feel that some films have the stereotypical "girl in the woods and gets killed", but don't always have a meaning as to why the girl is in the woods in the first place. The woods is an ideal place to walk a dog, as there is different places to go and explore. The use of the dog, also makes our protagonist appear more innocent, as walking your dog seems like an innocent activity to do. 


The Plastic Bag:

The plastic bag is our assault weapon. We thought that using a bag is unique, as not many films use suffocation, its usually being stabbed or shot. We feel this gives our film a unique twist and has our own individuality to it. When filming the suffocation, we had to ensure that everything was safe. So, we cut holes in the bag so that i was still able to breathe efficiently. 



The Balaclava 


The main reason we decided to use the balaclava, was to hide the  identity of the antagonist. In thriller films, there is usually a chase to find out who killed the victim. By hiding the face, it creates suspense and a climax in our film. By only being able to see the eyes, it appears more sinister and scary-looking, as it allows the audience to see the emotion in an individual facial feature, rather than the whole face. 






The coffee cup

We feel the coffee cup is an effective and subtle prop used in our film. It helps to make the film more realistic, as the general public can relate to the brand, as well as the location. We all agreed that by buying the drink it would help to set the film, and make it more relatable to the audience.




The Phone:

By using the phone in filming, it helps to show a more modern twist on our film. The use of technology is increasing globally and becoming a great success to modern day life. By using the phone, it allows the characters to communicate without being face to face with each other. It also allows us to do more filming, as we have to film each of the characters on the other end of the phone. 

Font Titles Research

From this title, we can can initially tell that the film is aimed at a female audience. We can see this primarily through the colour used which is pink. The colour pink connotes romance, beauty and fairness. However, the colouring on the font has a graduation effect, as at the top of the lettering, its a much darker shade of pink, and then fades into a lighter colour. This would made the audience want to go and watch the film, the dark fading to light, could suggest a sense of good and evil, which could be shown through the characters in the film. Also, the word "mean" is much bolder than the words "girls" suggesting that there is nasty or manipulative characters involved in the film.  The font in general is very simplistic, it has no swirly letters or unique twists on the text, its just normal in capital letters. This makes the font appear more formal and sophisticated, which makes me think that the age of the target audience would be girls aged 14-21. 



This title has a stark contrast from the one above. Firstly, the genre is different, meaning the coloruing would be different. Again, the letters are in capitals, which makes it more bold and adventurous- looking.  Taken is a thriller, so we would expect blood and violence. The letter "3" is in red, which connotes danger,blood and violence, so using red lettering in their title seems ideal, as it shows a clear link to the film. In contrast, the rest of the lettering is in the colour white. The colour white however, has the opposite connotations to red. The connotations are purity and fairness, which creates the idea of good vs. bad in the film, which is a classic, thriller convention. The background is a muddy brown colour, which makes you think of dirt and the outdoors. It immediately suggests to the audience that the film is energetic, adventurous and an exciting film. 



This title i like a lot. Firstly. the font of "the dark knight" is small and the letters are spaced apart a lot.  Again, the white lettering suggests purity and goodness, which has a sheer contrast to the black background which makes the font stand out more. The batman logo in the background is included in the title, as people wouldn't necessarily know that "The dark knight" is from the Batman franchise. The logo gas a white glow around the perimeter of the shape. this could suggest that the "good" is trying to overcome the bad, which fits the conventions of a thriller film. The black background helps the lettering to stand out, but also gives a touch of formality and sophistication to the title. The audience would assume that the film is aimed at the male gender, as males are usually drawn to the violent and charismatic nature, and the negative colouring in the title reflects this well.  

Film interviews (3)- The Protagonist

Antagonist Interview:

Film Interviews (2)- Protagonists Best Friend

Film Interviews (1)- The Antagonists Sidekick

Analysis Of Script One

Tara- Hi its Tara, sorry i cant get to the phone right now, please leave a message after the tone.

( Answerphone soundtrack )

Ellie- Look Tara, you obviously don't care about our friendship, so don't speak to me again. ( ironic, as Tara wont be able to speak to Ellie again, regardless, as she is "dead") 

*GASPS*


*STRUGGLING NOISES*

Bella- Is it done? ( Bella cant bring herself to verbally say what Rosemary has done. )

Rosemary- shes dead. ( Sounds blunt and sharp, makes it seem like Rosemary doesn't care about what she has done, and makes the audience feel negative towards Rosemary, due to the fact she is not sympathetic towards Tara, and has no care for what she has done.)


Bella- How did you do it?! ( shows that Bella is unaware of how Rosemary had done, shows her to be doubtful, and a little bit inconspicuous.)

Rosemary- ( pulls out plastic bag from her right pocket) - (shows that she has no words to justify what she has done- could suggest a sense of guilt to the audience.)


Bella- Wheres the body?


Rosemary- I left her down the alley, but the dog got away...-    ( "The Alley" is mentioned in the script by one of the characters, shows a direct link to the content of the film and the title of it. "But the dog got away" The use of the coordinating conjunction "but" suggests that the dog getting away could be seen as a problem which may occur in the rest of the film. Also, saying the word "her" instead of using her proper name (Tara) shows a rude and disrespectful trait that our antagonist has,which suits the conventions of a thriller film.) 


Bella- We never speak of this again. ( shows that she may be feeling guilty and regretting what has happend. Could also suggest that she is scared of the consequences the assault could cause.)

Script 1

In order for our film to be more understandable, putting a script together will help our audience to understand the situation more, as everything is written down on paper. Our script may change in some points, but this is the general overview of our opening two minutes. 

Tara- Hi its Tara, sorry i cant get to the phone right now, please leave a message after the tone.

( answerphone soundtrack )

Ellie- Look Tara, you obviously don't care about our friendship, so don't speak to me again. 

*GASPS*


*STRUGGLING NOISES*

Bella- Is it done?


Rosemary- shes dead. 


Bella- How did you do it?!


Rosemary- ( pulls out plastic bag from her right pocket) 


Bella- Wheres the body?


Rosemary- I left her down the alley, but the dog got away...


Bella- We never speak of this again.