Production Diary

Production Diary

11/11/2016 – In today’s lesson we made a presentation based on our opening scene which includes topics like the target audience and the narrative. Then presented it to the class and the class were asked to give feedback and constructive criticism and how we could improve or what they liked about it.

14/11/2016 – In lesson today we made and produced an evaluation for our opening scene presentation based on the feedback we were given by the class to help us understand how audiences feel about our film opening. We also let the audience choose the name for our film which is “Outlaw”

15/11/2016 – In today’s lesson we discussed who would do what planning. Josh is to organize the shooting schedule. Sam is making the storyboard and I am doing the Production Diary. We also discussed specific props and costumes and how to organise the scenes that we are recording.


17/11/2016 – Today in lesson we all worked on research and planning for out film opening. Josh made and completed a shooting schedule; Sam researched film openings and titles, and I made and completed a document on costume research. We uploaded two posts onto our blogs as they were finished then Josh started on music research and I stated primary and secondary audience research.


20/11/2016 - Today we went out to Willingale to do the main bulk of our recording for our film opening. Overall the day of recording went well, everyone showed up and we recorded all the main fights scenes to a high standard that looked very well done and realistic due to the different angles we used we needed but unfortunately we over-recorded the main scenes with different angles that when we looked over the footage at the end of the day we realised some of the transitions between scenes were choppy and the main protagonist, Sam, looked like he was skipping out stepping between scenes and made us wonder how he got there. We have organised a re-recording on Sunday the 4th of December to record filler scenes and even record another fight so that our film opening can be to an even higher standard.

21/11/2016 - In todays lesson we took all the footage off the camera and started to organise the footage and edit it. Josh worked on special effects on after effects and I ordered and cut the footage in Premier. Sam worked on research for titles that we could use for the opening.

22/11/2016 -  Today in lesson Josh worked on the special effects of the gun shots, since I already ordered and cut the footage me and Sam worked on research for different aspects of the marketing and titles.

23/11/2016 - In lesson Josh had finished doing the special effects so he practiced editing random clips to makes sure when he edits the new set of recording clips he can do it faster and to a better quality. Sam continued to research and I worked on the production diary.

24/11/2016 - Josh continued practicing his ability to do special effects whilst we waited to record the next scenes. I worked on the production diary and helped Sam record the storyboard to post on our blogs.

25/11/2016 - I worked on editing the storyboard video whilst Josh continued to practice. Sam worked on marketing research for ideas of what we can do after the main editing is done.

27/11/2016 - We were unable to record as the group and actors had problems with work so we had to postpone the recording until the 4th of December.

29/11/2016 - As a group we reflected on Josh's editing and suggested different ways he can add the effects and how he can make the effects look more crisp and professional.

1/12/2106 - As a group this hour was wasted as we where unsure on what to do with lack of footage due to a unfortunate setback. From this we learned that we need to always make the most of our time and when we have nothing to do work on research for other parts of the film opening.

4/12/2016 - Today we went to record our next set of footage but we had another problem, the other actors all decided to leave without notifying us. So me, Sam, and Josh recorded the opening as just us three. The scenes we recorded worked and flowed a lot better than our last set of film, we over-recorded this time to make sure that we have enough footage to be able to edit properly.

5/12/2016 - Today josh worked and a new set of special effects for the new scenes and I worked on the production diary. I will be editing the footage together after josh has finished the main special effects. Sam worked the behind the scenes and finding the footage the we can use to make a good behind the scenes post.

6/12/2016 - Today Josh worked on the first half of the opening scene, he was working on adding the plasma shots to the gun as he had already done the plasma launcher. I worked on editing an d uploading the video storyboard evaluation. Sam worked on risk assessments and made a prezi about it so that it is interesting to look at.

8/12/2016 - As a group today we sat down and reflected on what we have done and haven't done. Me and Sam were caught up to date wit how far Josh was with editing and Josh was told what Me and Sam had and hadn't done. We also talked about what we were planning to do.

12/12/2016 - In today's lesson Josh worked on editing the second half of the opening scene, he was editing a shield on my arm to reflect bullets that Sam shot at me. I worked on the Film poster whilst Sam worked on the marketing for the film.

14/12/2016 - Today Josh finished off the second half of the special effects for the film opening. Sam worked on making a post about audience and I finished of the poster and sent it to Sam so he could add it to the marketing post. 

16/12/2016 - Josh has finished the special effects for the film opening and is now working on adding diegetic sounds and the titles. Sam reworked some of the old post to update them of the new plot line. I worked on sending Josh the timings for the titles and the order of the people in the titles.

19/12/2016 - Josh finished off the titles an dis now adding the last few diegetic sounds to the film opening. Sam was not in today so he couldn't update his blog. I worked o genre conventions of our film genre which I made a post about.

Music Research

For our film opening task we decided that we would like to include music in our final piece and make it a key part of the opening sequence. Therefore there was a lot of importance in choosing the right piece of music to use and took hours of research. We sat down over three days and simply listened to all sorts of different music tracks. We cannot use Copyrighted music due to the rules of our exam board (OCR). Therefore we had to look through Royalty Free Music and music that was over 50 years old as these songs are not copyrighted.

After looking through Royalty Free Music we found a large amount of them sounded very cheap or poorly instrumented (yet still impressive for a 'one-man band') and they simply did not suit the music style we had in mind. Therefore we began listening to music over 50 years old and found to our surprise that a lot of popular and great music is of the previous generation. We came to a conclusion of three songs that we felt would suit our action-comedy genre/film idea. These were the three songs that we felt were good.

The Rolling Stones - Paint it Black


The Animals -  House of the Rising Sun


The Monkees - Daydream Believer


After listening to the beat of the songs and to how we felt they would contrast or match with what was going on onscreen we decided that the Monkees - Daydream Believer was the song we were going to use as it suited the ironic comedic element of our film opening, the happy music contrasted to the killing that ensued on screen, much like in the Deadpool [film] opening.

Deadpool Film Opening Credits


We felt that 'Paint it Black' had been overused by the existing media and despite it having a good rhythm to it and sounding like a good match, we decided not to go with it. As for 'House of the Rising Sun', the overall feel of the song was great but the beat of the song seemed like it would be hard to match with what was happening on screen. Therefore we decided that 'Daydream Believer' was the best song to use. We tracked the scenes to certain points in the song and felt they matched perfectly.

After Effects Shooting Test

For our Film Opening Task we have decided to use special effects in order to improve the overall look of our Opening Scene. Therefore I decided to play about with Adobe After Effects and see what effects I could achieve. I took a sample clip of someone shooting a BB Gun and layered on top a muzzle flash as well as some smoke to create the effect/illusion of a real gun shooting. This was simple a test and a chance for me to improve my editing abilities in Adobe After Effects, but I now know how to create a realistic effect and have practiced since also which means that the final task should hopefully look very professional and have a sense of realism to it.

Opening Scene Film Pitch

We had to display our Opening Scene Ideas on an online presentation software and present it to our classmates and explain our main idea for the film opening to them. We also explained what props we would use and how we would edit fight scenes and edit the scenes in post production to get a realistic 'film-look' to our film opening. We also showed an example of the special effects that we would use (below in Prezi) which I made when learning how to use Adobe After Effects and whilst experimenting with the different effects achievable.

We also asked our peers which name they think the film should be called, we asked them to write down their favourite name idea based from a list presented (below) and we came to the conclusion that 'Outlaw' was the most popular name voted for by the class. Therefore our film will be called 'Outlaw'.

Something that was not outlined in the presentation was how we were to present the titles of the film, we intend to slow down shots and 'engrave' or embed the credits onto walls and into knives so that they become a part of the scene.




We also received feedback from our classmates who commented on the theme, genre, narrative, target audience, institution and whether they would pay to see the movie and any other comments they have on the idea.


Some of the comments we received:

'The idea is really ambitious and sounds very exciting. Credit to them if all of the effects on after effects work out. Sometimes super ambitious projects can be a let down. I have confidence in you if you're willing to put in the time for the special effects."

"Keep in mind the idea of props and special effects i.e. fire/gunshots etc."

"This film takes influence from Deadpool with the anti-hero and a comedy-action genre throughout so I like the idea and would see it, it certainly sounds interesting."

"The target audience suits the film well as the action and comedy appeals to a teenage audience."

"The film sounds intriguing, I would definitely watch this film."

Overall, our presentation seemed popular amongst our peers, we received no negative comments and everyone showed clear interest in our project and our ideas for the film opening. We have learnt that they like the editing style and our ambitions for the project so we intend to keep the use of special effects and want to continue experimenting with Adobe After Effects so we can achieve a high standard, professional-looking film opening.

Shooting Schedule

For our Film Opening Task we had to create a Shooting Schedule so we could organise the date, time and location of which we would be shooting the film opening. We also had to list the props, costume, sets, cast and credits we would be using. As well as this we gave a brief outline of timings throughout the day so we had a schedule of when we could shoot specific scenes, when to take breaks and when to check footage etc.


Link: Shooting Schedule


Overall, having a shooting schedule makes filming much easier as it outlines all of the props we need, and is a basis for timings and dates, it can also be handed out to the cast and crew so everyone has the same information.

Juno Opening Scene Recreation

For this task we had to recreate the opening scene for Juno where the main character is walking through the streets with a milk carton in her hand and wearing a red jumper.

We chose the best and most suitable locations which were most similar to the original clip and filmed our actor walking in the same style as in the clip, recreating the same motions. We also moved the camera in the same motion as in the original clip. The original scene uses advanced editing to make it look as if she is walking on a 'drawn' street, therefore we attempted to recreate a similar effect in Adobe Premiere by enhancing certain colours and reducing other colours to get a 'sketched' look to the final edit.

We also placed the original scene in the bottom-right corner of the screen in post so that we could see how close our recreation was to the original scene. This also allowed us to time the cuts and scene changes as easily as possible and in time/motion.



Overall, this task taught us how to use some of the features that Adobe Premiere has to offer and taught us about camera angles and motion as well as the importance of the mise en scene, editing and post-production.

Prelim Production Diary

Production diary

 

On Monday we were first put into our groups, the group included Josh, Leah , Amara and Lorna.

 

The next day we came up with ideas for the film and made a plan, we had an idea to begin with but we wasn't happy with it so we changed it. The next idea that we came up with was to have a boy in a classroom that couldn't read, we planned out the setting, characters and props that we needed. We also decided on what each person would do when making the film, Josh would edit and act, Lorna would act and Leah and Amara would film. Josh also made the script for this.

The next  lesson we made a story board of the film clip and the shooting schedule, we planned out the days that we would film and how long the filming would last. We also planned out which days we would edit the film.

The next two lessons we spent filming, we did the whole film a few times so that when we looked at them back we could choose the best of each shot.

We then spent 2 lessons editing and evaluating, Leah and Josh did the editing , Amara did the evaluating and Lorna made the logo.

 

 

Here is the Shooting Schedule:

 

 

Prelim Task Evaluation

For this task we had to spend time working in allocated groups to create a short Prelim Film as practice for our final media production. We were allocated into random groups and given a random genre in which we had to create a short film opening, sketch or other form of filmed media.

 

I was in a group with Amara, Leah and Lorna and we chose at random the genre 'Comedy'. At first we felt this was a great genre to be given, however it proved quite difficult in certain areas.

Here is the final edit of our short comedy sketch:

 

 

 

Our short Preliminary Film began with our group brainstorming ideas to use. As comedy was our genre we looked at multiple short sketches and comedy film scenes for inspiration. We then came up with different ideas for our Prelim task by all writing down possible ideas on paper. We decided to do a sketch in the end and ran through multiple different ideas before we came to a decision on what to do. I decided to think up my own idea and write a script for my sketch, I shared this sketch with my group and we all added to it, altering the jokes and adding stage directions and camera placement ideas as well as facial expressions used, we printed out the raw script and then added these ideas in pencil on the paper.

After I had written the script and we had altered it together, we assigned roles to each other. I was an actor and editor. Lorna was an actress and assisted in all departments. Amara was in charge of camerawork and diary work. Leah was an editor and camera operator. We then began filming on day three after creating story boards and a shooting diary. Unfortunately we lost some of our footage and had to reshoot, this taught us to backup recordings as soon as possible. We then compiled all of the footage together after reshooting and uploaded it all into Adobe Premiere. From here I put all three of the different camera angles together in order to make them align with one another, I also deleted the audio on two of the tracks so there was no echoing of sound. After this myself and Leah began to put the clips in line and make the script come to life. We decided after compiling some of the clips together that the project was going to take a long time to edit together into the final, fully completed version, with time that we did not have. As a result we decided that we would cut out a large amount of the footage from the script and settled for a shorter sketch and focus on making these scenes better than they would have otherwise been.

 

Overall our final prelim task was 'short but sweet', we encountered many errors along the way but in the end settled with a short, well edited piece of work. We received a positive reaction from the audience which clearly shows that the final edit was well produced and that it was in fact, somewhat funny. We also received positive feedback on the editing of our prelim task as well and only received a negative comment on one of our shots where the camera was at the wrong angle which made the eye contact between the two characters distorted.

Art Of The Title

 

 For this task we had to look at a film's opening title sequence on Art Of The Title and analyse the length of the title and the presentation of the cast and production teams names in the opening sequence. I then had to summarise the opening scene at the end (at bottom of page).

Captain America: Civil War - Main Titles from Michael Burke on Vimeo.



For the first three seconds (00:00-00:03) the directors names are on the screen in bold silver writing against a darker background, there is also a shadow around the writing which makes it clearer to see as it stands out.

 

Between 00:03-00:07 the Screenplay writers names were on screen with the same font and style of writing.

The producers name was on screen for three seconds (00:07-00:10)

 

The executive producers are on screen for 8 seconds but are split between three different cuts/shots (00:010-00:18)

 

The Comic Book writers are then on screen for three seconds (00:18-00:21).

 

The Co-Producers name is then on screen, followed by the associate producer, the director of photography, the production designer, the editors, the costume designer, the Visual Effects supervisor, the Visual Effects Producer, the Musician, the Music Supervisor, the casting director, all of which appear on screen for three seconds each, totalling to 33 seconds (00:21-00:54).

 

The Actors names then appear on screen on their own for three seconds each also, each actor has the shot to themselves (00:54-01:41).

 

Finally, the Production Companies name appears on screen for three seconds (01:41-01:44).

Before the screen fades to black before the Main Title appears for 5 seconds (01:44-01:49).

 

The film opening begins quite suddenly with a swift fade in transition straight into the title screen. The action music/superhero theme starts straight away from this point. The background used in the opening scene is presumably computer generated or partly due to the style of it, the background seems to be broken concrete, as if it is the result of a battle through a city or urban area, there is also a lot of rubble and rocks on the ground too, also implying this. The Opening Scene certainly has elements of CGI as there are shadows being formed and moving around to create certain shapes from the light being shined onto the rubble. The general key colour throughout the opening scene is a concrete grey colour with low light which allows the bright, shiny text to stand out on top of it.

The font used looks like a custom or private licensed font, but is very bold and stands out in front of the darker background as it is a light silver/grey and reflects the light shining onto it. The font is a impactful bold font which clearly shows that it is a serious action film as opposed to a comedy film or a narrative font where a lighter or more comedic font might be used (i.e. a curly font or thin font).
The font only changes at the end of the opening scene where the main title of the film is on screen. The font changes style and colour to a bold dark red saying "Captain America" which stands out against the background which is still the grey cracked concrete, however the second part of the title is indented into the floor saying "Civil War".

The only sound used throughout the opening scene is an action/adventure style of music that suits the theme of a superhero movie and has a generic sound/tune to it that is generally associated with this style of movie. The tune slowly builds up until the end of the opening scene then ends when the screen goes black after the main title is presented on screen. This use of music instantly tells us the kind of film this is going to be and what the target audience is.

From this opening scene I have learnt that in order to have a successful opening scene you do not need to use live action footage, this opening scene successfully builds up suspense but not a large amount of it as opposed to a live action opening scene. I have also learnt that the text needs to be bold and stand out against the background so that anyone can read the credits for the film. As well as this I have learnt that the music used in the opening scene (if any) needs to suit the style of the film and needs to build up the opening scene well for the actual film.