Thursday 7 April 2011

Where to find our Evaluation

This is a link to our YouTube channel that features our videos for our evaluation.

http://www.youtube.com/user/grouptmedia

As you're watching us, we're seated in this order across the screen - as you look at us-->

Sam G (7217) -- Aisha E (7054) -- Max D (7205) -- Holly O (7122)

Evaluation

We finished our evaluation today and are currently in the process of uploading it to Youtube so that we can create a playlist for the questions we answered. We created answers beforehand as a group although some of the questions are only answered by two people.

Tuesday 5 April 2011

Finished our soundtrack

We finished our soundtrack today and we've also fitted it so that it matched with the film after we had done editing it with the improvements we got after the showcase.

Plans for our opening sequence

We finished most of these sheets before we created our film but we had to wait till our film was used in the showcase so we could get responses from our classmates and teachers.


Friday 1 April 2011

Feedback to our film

The feedback we gained was quite positive from our audience and our teachers but also received ideas of improvements for our film.

From our audience, they said that they enjoyed scenes such as the cigarette dropping scene, the flashbacks and the final shot of the gangster standing over the victim. What they thought we should improve was that they felt a soundtrack was a keyrole in the film so we've sped up trying to create a soundtrack for our deadline.

From our teachers, they enjoyed the fast pace action at the second half of the film and the use of camera angles that we used. They also thought the scene when the victim is smoking allows the audience to connect to the character. For improvements, they thought that the pace of the start of the film was too slow and that we should add quicker cuts to make it more fast paced. The credits we added should also be rearranged so that they come before any footage.

Overall, we recieved some positive feedback and we're taking into account the feedback from the class and teachers to further improve our film.

Thursday 31 March 2011

Showcase Film



This was the film that we showed as a group to our classmates during the showcase. Everything went according to plan except we hadn't finished the soundtrack in time for the showcase but it didn't affect people's understanding of the narrative or genre. Although, the clip of the red lips didn't export with the rest of the video so it came up "Media Offline" This was a problem as it did affect the control of the narrative but we explained to the audience after the clip what the scene should've been.

Friday 25 March 2011

Production image created

We finally finished our production logo for our film, we used Photoshop CS3 to create the image.

Tuesday 15 March 2011

Friday 11 March 2011

Problems with filming

When we all went out for our last filming session, we encountered a big problem that threatened to damage the quality of our film. The problem was the street that had a street lamp that we used for our main source of lighting had been removed. This meant that we couldn't film in the same location anymore and had to find somewhere similar. Luckily there was a suitable light source from a street lamp up the road from where we was filming and we had to edit some our planned shots to try and avoid showing the change in scenery.

Difficulties in editing

During editing we encountered a problem with one of the flashbacks, where we planned to desaturate all of the colour except for the red colour of the lips. We chose to do this effect to show that the person speaking was a woman and the colour represents the love and blood; themes which run throughout our opening. It also fits in with the red colour of the title, which appears at the end. The programme we are using didn't include the correct tool we needed to use this effect and so we had to use a different programme to edit this one clip and then move it back across into Final Cut Express. Instead we used Final Cut Pro which allowed us to use an advanced colour corrector. This meant that we could isolate the colour red on our clip and desaturate all the other colours.
We also managed to find sound effects to a couple of our clips, including the sound of a match lighting up and are still deciding between different footstep sounds.

The clip that we edited in Final Cut Pro

Monday 7 March 2011

Detailed treatment form

We've finished doing our treatment form although some of it may have changed due to our change in storyboards.

Thursday 3 March 2011

Change in storyboards

We have decided to change the scene in which we use a silhouette to suggest that the a character has been stabbed. This is due to the fact that we found it too hard to create a correct silhouette without any problems. The problems was the lighting out side wasn't up to our standards and the camera kept casting a shadow. Instead we have created a different way to portray the scene which still fits into the next scene of our storyboard.

Tuesday 1 March 2011

Next film shoot

We need to finish filming the rest of the film at our last location from the last filming session in Loughton. We filmed the majority of it but need some fews quick scenes to try and make the film seem more fast-paced. We're thinking about filming next weeek because we need some time to get the props together, we need a knife and find a fake gun.

We're also working on changing the storyboards because we feel that we could make the opening fit more into the thriller/gangster genre that we want to get. We're going to try and make the last scenes more dramatic and gain more control on the narrative.

Thursday 10 February 2011

Detailed storyboard


This is just a section of the detailed storyboard that we created.

How our filming went

We planned to shot on the Sunday however we had to cancel due to the fact that we did not have our storyboards and the weather was to windy for the scenes we planned to film. So instead we filmed on Tuesday after school. We all arrived on time at the correct meeting point, and began filming straight away. 
We had to carry all of the equipment when a long hill to get the place where we where filmed the establishing shot. We did several takes of this to make sure we had the shot at the right speed and focus to give the opening of the film the right effect. 

There were a few problems that occurred whilst filming, for one we forgot the lighter which is a key prop, so we improvised and used matches instead. However in the end the matches give off a better effect, the glow of the flame reflecting on Max's face is more effective feel to the opening. It makes the opening much more scary. 

Another issue that happened was the lighting, as we needed it to be dark, so we meet at 5:30 and but it got incredibly dark quickly. By it turning very dark we had to find a way to get round it and still be able to shot. So we used street lights, this was hard as we had to pick a spot that had a street light but still be able to fit into the set that we imaged in our storyboard. 

The weather was another issue, it was so cold that we had to delay filming. The cold made it very difficult for us to hold the camera and use the zoom properly. So we chose to end filming as we did not want to carry on and make a poor quality film. Instead we are planning to meet up again and carry on with where we left off. 

A thing that we managed to complete though was the first flashback scene of the victim and his lover. We used a teacher's office so that we could use the space away from the rest of the school. We wanted this because it was a good location that showed the woman at work, we were going for secretary finishing her work, as her lover surprised her.

Friday 4 February 2011

Plans for our first shoot

We have, as a group, decided on a location for filming. This is a street in Loughton that also overlooks the town, allowing us an establishing shot which is needed for the beginning of our opening sequence. The street is also long enough to allow us to follow the characters down it, which is needed in the next part of the opening.
We have decided to shoot on Sunday, this weekend, but there may be a cancellation due to the chance of heavy rain. This will set us back a couple of days in the process, as we need dry weather in our opening sequence, not rain.

Saturday 29 January 2011

Delayed filming

We had to delay our filming this Sunday due to the location of our film has not been decided yet so we will postpone the filming to next Sunday when we will decide on a location during the week.

We also plan to film a flashback scene during school on Tuesday, so hopefully we will be able to do that.

Thursday 27 January 2011

Costume organisations


Actor clothing and props needed:

Max:

Formal clothing (blazer, tie)
Cigarettes

Sam:
Formal clothing (see above)
Hat
Knife
Gun

Aisha:
Casual clothing
Ring

Production name decided

We have finally come to an agreement to what we wanted to call our production company. We wanted to go for a dark feel so that the mood of the film will be created straight from the beginning and maintained till the end of the film. After suggestions such as "Dark fantasy" and "Two ducks full" we came to the answer that the best name was "Hollow" as it was short, memorable and gave a dark feel.

Filming begins soon

We have come up with plans to begin filming this sunday in Loughton. We plan to film the short film in one location near staples road which isn't far from the high street. Ideal for getting the natural sounds of traffic in the background, although that can be added during editing.

Wednesday 26 January 2011

Brainstorming for film genre

We came together as a group to brainstorm different genres to help us decide the codes and conventions of the genres. We finally went with the thriller genre out of the four that we brainstormed.

Tuesday 25 January 2011

Introduction

We're Group T

Left to right - Aisha, Holly, Sam and Max

Ignore the dinosaur.