Sound

I would like to make a few comments on the sound that is already finished by my partner, Anna. She did an amazing job!

In detail, what she did was find a sad and dramatic instrumental song which would add to the mise-en-scene and affect the audience. But she also added a piano sound right when the guy comes shows up on the screen which is creates suspicion and by changing something in the sound it also keeps them interested and engaged, makes them follow what is happening on the screen. When there is a close up of the girl's face and the disturbing POV shot, she added a heartbeat. It keeps the tension and as closer the guy gets to the girl, the faster the heartbeat gets. I really like one thing that she did, when the guy is very close to her, the heartbeat disappears and the action is in slow motion. We see a close up on he girl's face, holding on to the wall and it seems like she is about to die because the heartbeat is gone and it's like her heart just stopped and then in the slow motion we have time to see how the guy grabs the girl.
After watching both parts of the filming, we realised that at the end when the girl takes out the drugs something is wrong and it doesn't bring the attention to what she is doing, it looks as it is almost normal to take drugs and be excited about it. So, what we decided to do is when there is a close up shot of the girl's hand taking out the drugs fromt the draw, it is slowed down and there is a bit of the piano sound which is also in the beginning of the film. That would link both parts and make the audience realise that after taking the drugs, technically what they just saw in the beginning is what is going to happen.
Overall, I think the sound goes perfectly with the piece.

Titles 2

Hi everyone.

I want to share with you today how hard it is to come up with a suitable and original type of titles.

We experimented with all kinds of fonts and colours but they all seemed too exaggerated for our genre. It was either action or thriller but not drama. Then we realised that the writing can be simple but the way it comes up on the screen could be different. For example, here: 

The font goes bigger and bigger and dissolves into each one. I quite like because it seems like it is coming from the water.

The next one is our names which we thought could be like a shadow in the water:

This screen shot doesn't clearly show what I mean but imagine when the leg is out of the picture It will be only the writing in the water.

One more thing that I decided to do for two main reasons is to do this shot in slow motion. First, it is a close up shot and it show detail and second by slowing it down it shocks the audience more and makes them pay attention to the fact that she is actually not wearing any shoes.

And the other reason is so it gives the audience time to read the titles.

Editing 4

Hello guys.

I have been doing a lot of editing again because this is my main job in this production. It was much easier for me to montage the shots. I had a better view of how things should look like because I have been doing a lot of practice. By having a variety of different shots I had the opportunity to choose the best ones and create a great continuity throughout the whole piece.

To create a good mise-en-scene in this part we needed darker shots to give the feeling that it is in the morning just until the sun comes up. Unfortunately, we waited a bit too long in the morning and the shots were too bright. So, when editing afterwards we experimented with colours, brightness and contrast. We thought that making the shots a bit more blue which makes the weather looks bad and adds to the atmosphere we are aiming for. Here is an example:

It is not very clear in this picture but I hope you can see the difference in both.

Also, before even filming we had the idea of adding blurry point of view shots which could symbolise a hallucination which we know from previous research that is a sign of taking ecstasy. I think we achieved that very well by doing this:

I made the shot blurry and Anna really liked how good the continuity is when adding this shot but she had an idea of how to make it even better. She changed the colours, making them brighter and more colourful and I think her improvements really made it better.

Titles - finished

From my previous post you can see the idea we came up with for our opening titles, Unique productions. We had another idea and we decided to add to what we already created and it looks like this:

First we have the unique productions comping up and the universe spinning, and after the picture appears. We thought that it adds to the sense of it being unique and that's why we added it. The colours go well together as well, the picture and the colour of the writing.

Titles

Me and my partner have been thinking about the titles of our production and how we can make them original. In a previous post we have showed you how we thought we could do the title "UNIQUE PRODUCTIONS", but we realised that there is nothing original about it and when we actually did it in the program Premiere Pro, together with the other shots we came up with another idea. We experimented with titles on a background, a different ways of coming up and we created something which was much better. Here is a comparison of the two:

In this screen shot I've also tried to show the transition. The background is spinning and the titles appear. I believe this is much more unique and it also looks like a real professional company.

Filming 2

HELLO GUYS!

I am very excited to share our experience from yesterday's filming.

We had a fun night in my friends house and it got pretty late so we decided not to go to sleep and wait until the daylight started to come. Around 7 o'clock we went out to the chosen place where we were supposed to film. It was kind of easy for me to act in a way because I was very tired plus I was put in the character's clothes like a jacket falling down, ripped tights, messed up make up and hair and walking in bare feet! It helped me to develop the character that is needed for our production.

Anna was filming very well considering the weather, it was very cold and it just stopped raining before we went out. We followed our storyboard but we changed a few shots because when we were at the place we saw potential from different angles and I gave Anna ideas for different shots.
It was easier to film this time in terms of space. We didn't have the same problem as in the first part of our filming. Anna successfully took still shots without shaking the camera. After our previous filming and experience, we are becoming much better at it. We didn't struggle with the tripod at all, it was easy to adjust it to whatever position we needed it.
We had a problem in the past when we took only one shot of an action and when we actually saw it on a computer it wasn't good enough so we couldn't use it and we couldn't go back to filming because the lighting and the mice-en-scene would be different. And missing one shot could affect the whole continuity of the piece. So this time we got about 70 shots from different angles so we can choose the best ones when we do the montage. We followed a chronological order of the character's actions using different angles and shot types in order to get a good continuity when putting the clips together.

Props - Preparation for Filming 2

Hello.
Today we are getting ready for filming tomorrow. The plan is to go to my partner - Anna's house in Camden and wait until the morning light comes. Our second filming is going to be the scene where the girl comes back from the club and that will be early in the morning. We wanted it to be realistic and that's why we've decided to film it in the morning.
We are taking our storyboard and equipment, the main character's accessories and clothes. Anna is going to be the camera person and I am the actress as you already know. It will be quite a challenge because it has been raining and the ground is wet and I have to walk without shoes but I am willing to do it. It is also quite cold so we need to have everything planned before hand so we can do it quickly but successfully. We are also gonna need a person to hold an umbrella over the camera in case it rains again so we will have our friend with us.
I think we are much more prepared now, learnt from previous mistakes, we have a better storyboard to help us and I hope everything goes well.

Desicion - Sound

Hi everyone.

From previous posts you should have seen that we have been advised to change our sound and we were going to do that. We experimented with different kind of sound, more modern, club sound which we thought will be better for the piece but it didn't go well.
If we changed the sound into something like this then that would mean the girls need to act more confident, cocky, maybe using slang words but that's not how they are in the video and i think this is a reason why the club sound doesn't go well.
I think that the sound that we already have goes well with the video now is because it shows the innocence of those girls. They don't really know what they're getting into by taking drugs, they don't realise what the consequences might be. And this is good because this is what we want to show - ordinary girls in a situation like this. There are so many other girls out there who might do the same, but we hope that seeing our movie they wouldn't want to.

LOCATION 1st part of opening sequence

 Me and my partner Anna have talked about the possible locations we could use when filming our 1st part of the production.
The first idea was to use Camden Town in the night, thinking that we could show the clubs first which would show the audience where the girl has been and then after show her in a small street where she is just lost. It will be also easier for us because we live near it and we want to film at 5 o'clock in the morning when the sun is just rising.
The specific place that we've chosen also has a lot of potential risks like the river. If you can imagine a drugged young girl coming back from a party and walking by a river, what would that make you feel as an audience member? Is she going to fall in the water, Is someone going to push her in it? It highlights the danger of taking drugs and loosing control over your actions.
We are planning to take some shots and post them so you can give your opinion. Keep following.

Feedback

Today we showed our work to some of our class mates. I was a bit disappointed because I thought that the sound went very well with our scene and It looks nice and the scene flows but our friend actually made a point. In our production we try and educate a bit and a good way of doing this if our audience can relate to our characters. For example, like our friend said if a teenage girl is getting ready for a party and she is about to take drugs, we should put like a clubbing sound, something more exciting, more modern, something that our audience is likely to listen to. This was the point that our friend made and I think she is right. We are going to work a bit more on the sound and see if we can change it to something better.

Editing 3

Hello Guys!

Yesterday while I was editing, my partner Anna worked on the sound. From the beginning of our idea we knew what kind of sound we want to go with our scene. We wanted to have a nice slow happy sound to bring a positive atmosphere and make the audience relax but also interest them in what is going to happen in the scene. I wasn't involve in the making of the sound, Anna was mainly working on it and I was just giving my opinion and giving her ideas of what would be better. We created a nice sound which I think achieves the purpose of the scene. We are planning to ask some of our friends what they think of what we've done.

Editing 2

Hello!
Today I found out about the different transitions, I needed the shots to dissolve into one another which i thought will help transmit the positivity of the scene to the audience. I tried all of options so I know what options I would have for the future but I found one which is most suitable for the purpose of this scene. Here is a picture in which you can actually see how it is done.

Me and Anna experimented with changing the colours, specifically the brightness of the shots. I managed to make it lighter which achieved my purpose which was positivity and contrast with the previous scene. Here is a picture to see the difference.

Storyboard 2

Whilst editing what we have already filmed, we did the rest of the storyboard so now we are ready to film the rest of our production. We've made it quite detailed because it is very useful when filming.

Editing 1

I haven't wasted any time and started editing straight away. Using my skills from the preliminary task, first I put the shots together. I was more speedy as I already had some experience on that and I knew what needs to be done.
After that i played around with some effects and discovered that I can remove the visuals but still use the sound which is what i needed for one of the shots. I cut the visuals and I let the sound go on to the next shot. I think that this is a valuable skill and I am quite happy to have it.

Next time I am gonna work on the colours, try and change the brightness of the shots because they were quite dark and it would ruin the whole sense of this scene - which is supposed to be light, happy and bring a positive feeling in the audience. Also, try and find suitable transitions.

Filming 1

Hi Everyone.

Our second half of the filming is done! The day was long and tiring but successful. It went well but we did face some difficulties and we need to improve on them.
Anna was filming most of the shots this time and I was just giving her ideas and helping her.
What went well was that when filming we knew what exactly we were doing because we had our storyboard so we just followed it and filmed each shot. We had to repeat most of the shots because the continuity wasn't good in terms of lighting and positioning. We didn't worry so much about it though because we know that we can edit it afterwards.
We kind of struggled with the space - it was hard to film certain shots because the room was quite small but we still managed to get some great shots. Also, half way through we realised that in a conversation, first we can film one person's reactions and then we can repeat it and film the other person's reaction. Instead of changing the camera position and adjusting the tripod every time which we did struggle with but we managed to get still shots, not shaky ones.

Looking forward to the next day of filming!

Target Audience

By doing some research I found out what is the most suitable and relevant age for our production. We want our target audience to be teenagers but we have to be aware of censorship issues. Our production is mainly targeted on teenagers because they are more vulnerable and more likely to get addicted to drugs. Legally we are allowed to show it to 15 year old and older. This is the proof:
  

http://www.bbfc.co.uk/what-classification/15 

I've also carried out a survey to find out what age group is more interested in the theme of our production.

So, to summarize this, people aged 15-25 would be most interested in watching our production so this is something we need to consider if we want our production to be successful. The audience is very important for any piece of work.

There is something else playing a big role in our production. Teenagers are the most vulnerable and likely to get addicted to drugs so we are going to try and emphasise how bad the use of drugs is. Also, by having teenage actors we think that it will be easier for them to identify with our character and almost see themselves in the same situation and hopefully think that they don't what such thing to happen to them and they wouldn't take drugs..

Our target audience could be BC1C2 which is middle class, lower middle class and skilled working class.

Costumes - Desicion/Preparation for Filming 1

We are now one step away from the filming. The last thing we need to do is provide the needed props that we are going to use.

We've discussed how we want our main character to be dressed like - Wearing a dress, accessories and make up. So, we met at Marble Arch station and bought a dress and tights. I will bring my own stuff as well like make up, earrings, necklace, shoes etc.

The dress is going to be black. We've chosen this colour because stereotypically older women are more likely to wear black dresses and look more sufficient. That's one thing teenagers try to do as well. They want to be taken seriously and they want older guys to like them.

We've chosen a red lipstick because again signifies that the girl is seeking attention and wants to be noticed.

We've decided to keep the idea of a normal look for the guy but wearing a hoodie.

Tomorrow's filming is going to be done in our friend's house. It is a quite girly house - pink, so we think that this is going to add to the mise-en-scene that's why we've decided to use it.

Everything is ready to go and we'll be filming tomorrow.

LOCATION 2nd part of the opening sequence

We have now decided where our first filming is going to take place - our friend's house.

Reasons why:

• We know it is a PINK room. Stereotypically, girls are assosiated with the colour pink, so we think it will be nice to show the girls getting ready in her pinky room.
•  It adds to the mice-en-scene and it is in quite a big contrast with the previous scene which is exactly what we want. Also, the girls are teenagers so it is another way so symbolise that. 
• Our friend is actually acting in our video, so we think it will be easy to use her room. It is also quite close to where we live, it will be easy to get there and bring all the equipment.

Auditions

We held auditions today. Me and my partner thought that I am most suitable to be the girl but we still wanted to see if we can find someone else. I can film the scenes that I am not in and edit afterwards. We've discussed how we want our main character to look (the girl). Just a normal girl, we don't want anything special about her because we want to relate to the girls who are going to watch it afterwards. We want them to identify with our character.

Actors - Costumes

We have already established that I am going to be the protagonist but we need two more actors. We are planning to hold auditions to choose them.

I had an idea of how the girl should look like. We have already mentioned that we want our production to be educational as well and one way to connect with our target audience is to make them relate to the characters. The danger which we will try and show in our video is likely to happen to any other girl in the world, just a girl with a normal life who gets dragged into this. So, I believe that we should go for a normal girl so most of the girls out there will be able to identify themselves in our character.
I was thinking, what do normal teenage girls do when they go out clubbing. They try to look older so they will be taken seriously. They seek attention. A way of getting that is the way they dress. I thought our character should wear a red or a black dress, definitely heels. Stereotypically, by wearing red she would get the attention but by wearing black she would look older. I will speak to my partner and see what she thinks and we will decide what look we will go for.

The guy in our video  has an important role. He has to go over a drugged girl and try to silence her. This emphases the danger of taking drugs and not being able to take care of yourself. Through our production we want to show almost every side of it, one way is by showing how dangerous it is to be on street, unaware of what is going on around you and anything could happen, there are all kinds of people out there.
So, what we have thought about how our  male actor should look like. We didn't want anything stereotypical because in real life situations it could be anyone, so race, skin colour, anything like that wouldn't matter. But we want to break the conventions of  a 'baddie' in a film. They are often presented as more intimidating, wedge and possibly tall, but we want to show that anyone could attack a young girl. We are looking for an ordinary guy - not very tall or masculine.
Although, criminal tend to hide their identities so we  would want him to wear a hoodie and hide his face which will also create enigma in the beginning of the film.

Storyboard 1

HELLO!

My partner Anna decided to do the second half of the storyboard today because we've decided to film that first so we wanted to have it ready so we can start filming.. I helped her a little bit with the some ideas of shots we could use. The 2nd half is easier to film because of the location we've chosen - a room. Also, it shows the girl getting ready so she needs to look nice and be dressed, so we thought that it will be easier if we have this sorted out first and then in the other half she is supposed to look messed up and it will be easier for us to achieve that afterwards.
Out storyboard is quite specific, we know exactly what shots we are going to use and I believe that this is going to make our filming much easier knowing from previous experiences that we need a storyboard.

SCRIPT

Today I wrote the script but it was kind of hard because normally there is a dialog or more talking but in our production there isn't much but we still need to give our actors a script which tells them what they have to do. To help understand what the script needs to include, I've looked at a few examples and this is what I've come up with.


Empty street, about 5 o'clock in the morning.

Girl - hardly able to walk, looking around confused, lost and signs of being drunk.

She is trying to hold on to a wall but she can't stay on her feet.
She drops down as if she's lost control over her body.

Guy - Walking behind the girl (very intimidating and manly)

He puts his hand over her mouth as if he is trying to silence her.
The girl struggles and widens her eyes.



Girl's bedroom. The girls are getting ready for a night out.

Girl - Looking in the mirror putting make up.

She turns around (excited and happy)

GIRL
So? How do I look?

  

The girl responds (excited and amazed)

  

GIRL FRIEND

Oh My God! You look stunning?

GIRL
Do you like it?

The girl responds and asks (worried and concerned)

GIRL FRIEND
Love it! But.. We still don't have the thing... You know.. The thing thing?

The girl answers (confidently)

GIRL
Don't worry. I took care of it.

The girl takes out the drug from her draw and shows it to her friend.

Girl friend (Surprised, happy and claps)

GIRL FRIEND
Good girl.

The girl jumps on the bed next to her friend and they both look at the drugs (excited)

GIRL
We are gonna have so much fun!

Production's name

Hello Everyone.

Me and my partner discusses in more detail what the name of our production is going to look like. We already knew how it is going to be called but we had to choose the font and the colour.
'Unique' is in different font and colour because it symbolises the meaning of the word. Unique is something different, one of a kind so that's why it is in contrast with the word 'Productions'. That's also why we came up with this name in a first place - we want to stand out, be different. We've decided to keep 'Productions' in simple font because Drama movies are quite serious and we've made it in a darker colour as well.

NAME of our opening sequence

This is a chart which shows the response of the people I interviewed.

As you can see in the pie chart above, it shows that the title of a movie is very important to the audience. The majority of the people have said that the title of a movie would have an impact on them and make their decision about watching the film easier.

After doing a questionnaire and asking people for their opinion we've decided how our opening sequence is going to be called. We've thought about it a lot because a name is quite important for a movie, speaking from experience if a name of a movie attracts me I would be more interesting in seeing the movie itself. So, the name is going to be "FALLING APART". The dilema was between this one and "THE CONSEQUENCES". The second one was my first idea and I really liked it because I thought it goes well with the plot of our production. We are showing the effects of drugs so it is basically showing the consequences, but after having a deeper thought on it I realised it gives out too much  to the audience and we don't want that. "FALLING APART" would be more of a question for the audience; I am hoping it would make them wonder 'What is falling apart? Why is it falling apart? What is happening?'. I believe that once they have these questions in their minds they would definitely want to watch it. The name also has a meaning of how a person's life can fall apart in every way - emotionally, health and physically, if continue taking drugs, which again relates to on of our aims and that is to make the audience think about it as if it is them in the movie - Do they want this to happen to them? Do they want to have this kind of life?

HELP!

HI EVERYONE!
We need to choose our title but we are struggling with it. If you have followed our idea please, help us! We are gonna give you some suggestions but if you come up with something yourself that would be great!

1. The Consequences
2. Falling Apart
3. The beginning of an Addiction
4. The Night
5. The Excitement of a Wider Imagination

Research into Drugs

Hi guys! :)

I've done some research into drugs to help me understand the effects of it and how we can show it in our production.
These are some of the drugs I found and their effects:

1. Heroin

• Shortness of breath
• Dry mouth
• Constricted (small) pupils
• Sudden changes in behaviour or actions
• Disorientation
• Cycles of hyper alertness followed by suddenly nodding off
• Droopy appearance, as if extremities are heavy

  Behavioural changes:

• Avoiding eye contact or distant field vision
• Increases in time spent sleeping
• Sudden worsening of performance in school work, including expulsion or loss of jobs
• Lack of interest in hobbies and favourite activities
• Wearing long pants or long sleeves to hide needle marks even in very warm weather

2. Cocaine

• Increased body temperature and heart rate
• Enlarged pupils
• Anxiety
• Dry mouth
• Increased breathing rate
• Paranoia
• Increased talkativeness or quiet contemplation and rapture
• Feelings of great physical strenghts and mental capacity
• Panic
• Reduced appetite
• Unpredictable aggressive behaviour

3. LSD

• Increased blood pressure and heart rate
• Dizziness
• Loss of appetite
• Dry mouth
• Sweating
• Tremors
• Hallucination

4. Ecstasy (MDMA)

• Irritability
• Depressive sympotms
• Exhastion
• Fatigue
• Insomnia
• Paranoid symptoms
• Concentration difficulty
• High temperature
• High blood pressure
• Rapid pulse
• Hallucinations

 

 

 

DESICION

We've decided to use Ecstasy because our plan of how to show the effects of it is similar to what it really is.

We are using heavy breathing on the background which shows rapid pulse, might mean that the person has high blood pressure.

The girl is stumbling, can't walk shows that her she can't concentrate.

Voice on the background - as if she is hearing things - paranoid symptoms and hullucinations.

Final idea - MAIN production PART 2

This is the second half of our opening  sequence. It was influenced by a real media product, a famous spanish film which gave us the idea.
Here is a link of the beginning in which you can see the girl getting ready and this is kind of what we want to achieve, but not exactly the same.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnrpzOrO_ms


The mice-en-scene changes completely with a happy song on the background and bright colours to highlight to the audience that the scene is different and make them realise that this is the beginning before she took the drugs.
We are gonna start with close ups of the girl putting make up - her lips, her eyes, putting earrings on, the dress and her heels. After that the happy song stops, over the shoulder shot of the girl turning around saying: So, how do I look? and this will bring the audience to reality and what's actually happening in the scene. Mid shot of her friends sitting on the bed putting make up as well. The last shot is going to be a close up shot of her taking the drugs from her draw and then a mid shot of her saying: ' We are ready to go?'.

Final Idea - MAIN production PART 1

Hello Everyone!

Me and my partner had our group meeting and shared our own ideas. We've decided to use the drug problem as our main theme but we changed it a little bit. In the beginning we wanted to show how drugs affect people's life, but we realised that it's going to be harder to deal with such a big issue so we made it a bit simpler. We are gonna show what drugs does to everyone who is not addicted and how it all starts by showing a girl going out to a party just for one night and coming back from it in a really bad condition.
We've also decided to keep the idea of starting with the end because it will be very interesting for the audience if we just show bits of the end of the night and then go back to how the girl is actually getting ready for the party.

This is our actual idea including the shots we are planning to use:

• Long establishing shot of London to identify the location and set the scene. Heavy breathing on the background which is to interest the audience and make them pay attention.

Variety of different shots of a girl walking

• Long shot behind her, cutting to middle shot, a pan beside her- these shots will be to make the audience follow the character.
•  A few blurry POV shots to show how confused and lost she is. 
• Close ups on parts of her body (ripped tights, messed up make up all over her face, her feet - wearing no shoes). We won't actually show her face in a close up in the first a few seconds, that would make the audience want to find out who she is and what's happened to her.

On the background there will be a voice which is going to be her talking to the audience as if she's hearing things and hallucinating - "Have you ever thought that you would end up like this when all you expected when you were a kid was the world. You never imagined the world changing you into something that took away your innocence, happiness, pureness.
By doing this we want to show how everything changes when you grow up and as we've said before the use of the dramatic voice and sound on the background is very significant to our piece.
The mice-en-scene is going to be very dark to set the atmosphere and the mood of the scene.
While this is happening we are going to show through a long shot of the girl trying to stay on her feet holding on to the wall but she falls down and we see a guy coming behind her. After that we are gonna show a close up of her face how the guy is trying to silence her by putting his hand over her mouth. We see her facial expression and the shot is gonna dissolve into another shot which is going to change the scene and that way we are gonna start the actual beginning of the movie.
The mice-en-scene changes completely with a happy song on the background and bright colours to highlight to the audience that the scene is different and make them realise that this is the beginning before she took the drugs.
We are gonna start with close ups of the girl putting make up - her lips, her eyes, putting earrings on, the dress and her heels. After that the happy song stops, over the shoulder shot of the girl turning around saying: So, how do I look? and this will bring the audience to reality and what's actually happening in the scene. Mid shot of her friends sitting on the bed putting make up as well. The last shot is going to be a close up shot of her taking the drugs from her draw and then a mid shot of her saying: ' We are ready to go?'.

Preliminary Task - VIDEO

Hi guys !!! FINALLY!

Our video is finished! Please watch it and comment on it. Enjoy. Thank you

Ideas - MAIN production 1

Hello Everyone!!!

I've had some ideas about our main production and this is what I've come up with:
Theme
One of my ideas was to make a Romantic Drama. The story would be about a boy and a girl falling in love with each other but after a while the girl tells her boyfriend that she's got cancer. The boy doesn't give up on their love and they are still together until she dies.
List of shots
In the opening sequence we could show how happy they are together using a variety of different shots and camera angles, such as close ups which would show more detail, low angle shots which would set them up as being powerful and happy, pan - I considered having a scene in which a pan around both of the character which could mean that they are centre of attention which would make the audience focus on how happy they are.
Sound
We could add a nice happy song on the background and probably show them in slow emotion  so the audience could take their time and feel the happiness between them. But while that is happening, we could give little hints to the audience like the girl being sad when she is alone shown through a high angle shot, or taking some pills or even having a heart attack. That would make them wonder why is she like that and keep them interested in the movie.

 

As I research a lot of sub genres I realised that if we create an Addiction Drama we can use more interesting shots and use different effects of sound as mentioned earlier I really liked the idea of the voice on the background revealing thoughts. So if we do something more tragic we can use that and it would be effective for the audience.
I was influenced by an Addiciton movie which shows what drugs do to young people and I found it very useful and educational. I would like our production to have a long term effect on young audiences.
So, this is my actual idea.
Following the storyline including all shots and effects.
Starts with a girl's voice on the background saying: Have you ever felt like you've lost everything? You feel like you're in a tunnel full of darkness? Pause. All you dreams, hopes... love, fall apart! Combined with a sad and dramatic but slow diagetic sound this could bring the desired atmosphere for this scene and also identify what the genre is.
While this is happening, we see a dark shot of a city, could be raining, this could be our establishing shot to set the location and show where the next actions are going to happen.Then straight after that we start with showing close up shots on pills, girl's cut hands and then a high angle shot of a messy room and a girl lying down in her bed. This immediately would indicate that she is a drug addict and her life is a mess, symbolising it with the messy room. Close up on her face while she is waking up, and the shot could be blurry going to normal. Close up on the girl's hand trying to reach for another pill from her desk but she realises that there isn't anymore. Long equal level shot of her sitting down on her bed. After a POV shot looking around the room while she's sitting down to show particular bits of the room which are very messy. A high angle shot of her back getting up starting to panic, looking everywhere to find any pills. Cuts to a POV shot of her hands looking through her bag, her jacket pockets, and her cupboard. She can't find anything. Close up on her hand shaking and taking her phone. Middle high angle shot of her calling someone. Close up on her lips while talking on the phone and saying: Where are you, can you meet me?? Without hearing the answer we cut a close up shot of her face saying: I'm coming. We don't want to show the answer5 because that would make the audience wonder, why is she calling him/her, where is she going, why is she going there. All these questions could go through a viewer's mind and this would be absolutely engaging. She picks her jeans of the floor, shown through a tilt as she is bending. She puts them on as quickly as possible. The door of her room is open, a long shot behind her zooming in when she is walking almost of there is someone behind her. Cuts to another shot from behind her running down the stairs, high angle shot. She leaves the house banging the door, we hear the loud bang. There's a blackout with the titles coming on and a sound which builds up, the volume goes up and the beat is faster.

Preliminary Task - Editing 2 and 3

Hi Guys :)
Yesterday and today we have been working on the editing again. Patrycja did the titles but all of us had ideas about it. Anna came up with the idea of "Green Pie Productions", I came up with the idea of the name of the movie - "Friendship". Then we chose the font, and Patrycja tried putting it in the right shot. Patrycja experimented and  tried to put the title of the movie in different shots to see how it goes. Her idea was to put it in front Anna's when she sees Veronika and her facial expression shows that she is not happy to see her. But then Dawn suggested that there was a better moment when Anna is leaving and the titles appear there.

Preliminary Task - Editing 1

Hello everyone!
I would really like to tell you how much I enjoyed editing our production! I was interested in editing so I took over and started putting the shots together. I realised a lot of things while editing. To make a good production you need to have good filming as well. For example, we had a long length shot and we didn't like it because it was kind of boring and it would have been nice to have a few short lenght shots to make it more interesting. Our point was to create tension but it didn't work, so we have to be careful when we choose our shots for the main production. Also, when putting the shots together you have to be careful so it is smooth and you have to cut them on the right place. For example, there was a shot where Veronika starts speaking, but first when I edited it i didn't cut it on the right place so it seemed awkward how Veronika is waiting for the camera person to tell her to start speaking and my partners noticed that and they told me to fix it.
Another thing I noticed when I was editing was that the Over the shoulder shots weren't very good, because we could just see people's heads but not their shoulders. This is something we need to consider when filming because it affects the continuity.

Preliminary Task - Filming 2

Today we went to do our second filming but we were really dissapointed! The weather was different than yesterday, it was raining! When we looked at our shots from yesterday's filming, they were bright and compared to today's weather, so the continuity would be bad. So, we had to re-film the whole thing.
I think it was for good, because we managed to do better shots and we were quicker as we already knew clearly what we are doing.
Something annoying happened as well, the memory was full so we had to delete files so we could finish our filming and this just put more pressure on us and it took more time.

Preliminary Task - Filming 1

Hi Everyone!

 

 

 

Today we did our first filming. Dawn was filming and Patrycja was helping her. We thought that filming is easy and it doesn't take long, but as soon as we did the first shot we realised that we shouldn't try and rush it because it really does take time. We also didn't have any experience with the tripod, it was hard to do the pan and the camera wasn't very steady.
We did it in our lesson and we just filmed half of it because we didnt have enough time. Tomorrow we will continue filming.

Script - Preliminary Task

Veronika turns around the corner
Close -up shot on her feet talking towards the door. Titles appear on this shot.
Mid-shot about to push the door
Close-up shot on her hand pushing the door
PAN on Veronika entering and walking by
Static Long shot of Veronika walking in towards the camera
Mid-shot behind Veronika turning the corner to meet Anna
Low Angle shot of Anna’s face expression
Mid-shot of Veronika:
Veronika: Hi Anna.
Over the shoulder shot from Veronika’s left shoulder sitting opposite Anna, showing Anna’s head and shoulders.
Anna: What do you want?
Over the shoulder shot from Anna’s right shoulder, showing Veronika’s head and shoulders.
Veronika: Oh come on Anna, don’t be mad at me. I never meant this to happen.
Over the shoulder shot from Veronika’s shoulder, showing Anna’s head and shoulders.
Anna: You never meant this to happen?! Why would you do that to me, I thought you are my best friend?
Over the shoulder shot from Anna’s shoulder, showing Veronika’s face zoomed in.
Veronika: I know I should’ve told you, I promise it will never happen again.
Two shot of the girls showing full length of their bodies.
Anna: It’s just better this way. Leave it.
Titles.

Preliminary Task Planning 2

Our group for the preliminary task is going to include 4 people: Anna, Patrycja, Dawn and myself.

We've shared our individual ideas and we decided to use a simple storyline of two girls having an argument and one of them is trying to make up.

We thought about the shots we could use. We are planning to use close up shots, point of view shot, over the shoulder shot, high and how angle shot to identify which one of the girls has got authority.

Also, we have to use shot reverse shot when two people are talking to show their faces and it's about identification of who is talking.
Another thing we have to do is the 180 degree rule which basically means that the director films on one side and if there was a line he/she shouldn't cross it and film on the other side when two people are having a conversation because this would confuse the audience, but if there is a reason for doing this then it is acceptable.
And the last thing is match on action, which is done when editing. The editor needs to make sure that the shots are continuous and everything is smooth and if there is a cut between two shots, the second one should start just where the first one has finished.

Next step of our planning will be creating a script and a storyboard.

Preliminary Task Planing 1

Hi Everyone! This is my first idea about our preliminary task.

I want to do something simple for the preliminary task and save all my ideas for the main production. We've been told to use the 180 degree rule, match on action and shot reverse shot.
This will be included in our filming. Also, the storyline needs to include a person walking through a door, sitting down and a dialogue.
So, my first idea was to have a girl, who is new to the school meeting a guy. Simple storyline. I'm planning to use close up shots, low and high angle shots, pan, point of view shot and over the shoulder shot.
I've done a detailed list of all the shots I want to use so it will be easier when filming.
Long shot of the girl walking down the corridor in the school.
Mid-shot behind her as she turns around the corner. We see a door towards the canteen.
Cut to a close up shot of the hand of the girl opening the door.
Track following her walking into the canteen.
POV shot of the girl looking into the sixth form area – sees a boy sitting on his own.
Long shot of the girl sitting down on a table not far from the boy.
POV shot of the girl looking into her back and taking out a sandwich.
Mid shot the boy asking the girl if she is new.
Mid shot of the girl saying yes.
over the shoulder shot of the guy asking her to sit on his table if she wants.
Over the shoulder shot of the girl saying ‘uhmm okay I don’t mind’
Long shot and a pan showing the girl going to the boy’s table.
Over the shoulder  shot of the boy saying: so when did u come to the school?
Over the shoulder shot of the girl answering: 2 weeks ago.
OVS of the boy: Do you like it?
OVS of the girl: Its better than my old school (Laughing)
long shot of both of them laughing.
Close up the boy’s face: Do u want to come and watch our drama performance after school?
close up the girl’s face: smiling, yeah sure.
Long shot of them: boy saying: alright I will see you later then, leaving
girl: see you later

I'm looking forward to my partner's ideas and how we can combine them together and make a good piece of work :)

Opening Sequence 3

Thirteen
Addiction Drama

The movie starts with a close up shot of a girl looking at the camera which gives the impression that she’s recording herself. There is a rock sound on the background which catches audience’s attention and engages them with the movie.
As she starts speaking, the volume of the sound goes down and we see a hand from behind the camera hitting the girl so we realise that this is a point of view shot, but because there isn’t a shot reverse shot (we didn’t see the girl’s face first and then what she is looking at we didn’t know that it’s a point of view shot and this is made to create enigma, mystery, to make the audience wonder who’s hitting the girl.
Straight after that there is a two shot of the girls sitting on their bed and this shot suggest that they’re experiencing the same thing.
There’s a series of close up shots after that to reveal emotions of the girl’s faces as they’re taking some sort of drugs. There’s a few quick over the shoulder shots as they’re talking to each other and it shows the 180 degree rule.

Comments: Again, a lot of close up shots used which definitely means that I will use them in my own production. I like the idea of the POV shot in the beginning without showing the person’s face first but I don’t really support the idea of the rock sound. I mean I like it in this particular film opening, it goes well with the scene but I wouldn’t use it in my own production. I’d rather use something much more dramatic and sad.

Opening Sequence 2

Listen to Your Heart Romantic Drama

         This movie starts with a narrator’s voice while showing the credits. The guy is talking about music and that shows that he might be into music, suggest to the audience that he might be a musician or a singer, anything related to music.  
Straight after that we see a long establishing shot of a big city, an ocean and the title of the movie. As this shot is shown, we hear a nice happy piano sound which just makes the audience feel good and interested in the scene.
Cuts to a traversing shot of a street to set the location moving down to middle shot of a few people walking, but one of them comes forward to the camera and that suggest that he is the main character and the audience should focus on him.
After that we see the guy talking another person on the street shown through a mid-shot of both of them. Even though the guy from the first shot is dressed in a black coat and shirt which could mean that he’s got higher status than the guy on the street who isn’t shaved and he is wearing a bit baggie and old looking coat, the shot is equal and the two men take the same amount of space on the screen which suggest that the guy in the coat doesn’t think of himself as something more than other people.
A close up shot of a girl playing a violin is shown. The girl smiles at the guy who is shown in a mid-shot smiling back and leaving some money to the girl. These shots bring a positive atmosphere in the scene as we see the people smile and also the shot of the guy leaving money to the musician supports the idea that he might a musician himself and a person who appreciates music.
We see a long shot of the Statue of Liberty which again sets the location and suggest where the next actions will happen.

Comments: Even though in my research I found out a lot about the conventions of a Drama film, after watching a few film openings I realised that in the beginning of a movie you shouldn't give out too much of the storyline. I like the idea of having a sound in the beginning to set the atmosphere and the mood. It really has a big effect on the audience and I know that because every time I watch a movie, either a sad, scary or happy song it has the biggest effect on me. If there was a sad scene in the movie it wouldn’t make me cry if there wasn’t a sad sound or a song to go with it. If the sound is well chosen it would definitely make me cry. And this is one of the things we want - a response from the audience.

Opening Sequence 1

Girl Interrupted
Psychological Drama

         The opening sequence of this movie starts with an establishing traversing shot moving down which makes the audience follow and engaged. Down to a close up shot of a girl’s face, continuing down to another girl’s face. Combined with the slow song on the background, it indicates that the movie is going to be about something emotional and probably sad.
After that we see a close up shot of the first girl but there is a narrator’s voice on the background. This could mean that the voice is her thoughts and it gives out a bit of information about the girl.
The girl’s face is shown again through a close up shot but this time to identify that the next point of view shot is hers. There is a long shot of a corridor showing a door and a few men trying to come in. This makes the audience question themselves ‘Who are they’ and this is what every 2 minutes of the beginning of a movie need because it keeps the audience interested in it and makes them want to find out what will happen next.
Back to the girl’s face in a close up shot, we still hear her voice on the background and there is a very slow pan around her. This shows that she is the main character and the producer wants the audience to focus only on her face, to show her emotions.

Comments: This movie supports my research, from the beginning we see a lot close up shots used to reveal emotions.I really liked the idea of having her voice on the background. I think it is really effective and I might use something similar in my own production.

Research

I’ve been doing some research on different genres and after our first meeting as a group we decided to do a Drama film. There are some sub genres of Drama:

• Crime Drama
• Historical Drama
• Comedy Drama
• Romantic Drama
• Childhood Drama
• Addiction Drama
• Docudrama
• General Drama
• Musical Drama
• Political Drama
• Medical Drama
• Musical Drama
• Psychological Drama

Conventions

It exhibits real life situations with realistic characters and stories. Portrays journeys of character development and intense social interaction. Purpose of a dramatic storyline is to move the audience emotionally.
Heart of drama is the conflict. Conflicts include inner/outer realistic struggles depicting hardships, difficulty and pain. Audience can relate to the characters.

Camera shots, angles and movements used in Drama films:

1. Long shot - This category includes the full shot showing the entire human body, with the head near the top of the frame and the feet near the bottom. But in many production it is used to set the scene and indicate the location in which the next actions will happen.

2. Medium Shot - Contains a figure from the knees/waist up and is normally used for dialogue scenes, or to show some detail of action. Normally, in any films there are people having a dialogue so it is used in drama film as well.

3. Close-up shot - It shows very little background and concentrates on either a face or a specific detail of mise-en-scene. The close-up shot takes us into the mind of a character. It is used to reveal deeper emotions or show more detail. This is quite a specific shot which is used in drama film because it helps the dramatic storyline, it affects the audience much more.

4. High angle - The camera is elevated above the action using a crane to give a general overview. High angles make the object seem smaller and less significant. If a character is shown it makes them look powerless and miserable. This is a shot quite often used in drama films because we often see people struggling or having problems in drama movies so they are more likely to be shown through a high angle.

5. Zoom in - Powerful thing. When done properly it can tell a story in itself. The zoom in can effectively portray a strong emotion, it will serve as strong support to your story. Slowly zooming in to a close up can make the emotion larger than life.