Millie's Snorricam Test

Millie built her very own Snorricam! Somehow we must learn to hide the wooden legs so they are not on show, hopefully with the school's new purchase of FinalCut. When we first discussed building a class Snorricam, I had not really thought about how we could incorporate ours into our opening, yet it in fact works rather effectively. I think the snow in the background along with the roughness of Millie's face works great with the expressive emotion we are wanting to display within Annika's surroundings.

Snow Day

Fortunately, we have also been given a snow day in England! A fantastic opportunity to get a few perhaps, big-money shots for our opening due to the snow. Millie and myself were forced to walk everywhere, I was quite pleased with the fact I managed to shoot quite an unexpected shot of 'Annika' walking in the middle of the road through the snow whilst the day started to get darker. We did attempt a pan shot of the sky (as the moon was very bright), yet the street lamps were so bright that the quality came out rubbish. We will without a doubt make use of this snow throughout this Christmas period - especially as it will add that extra Swedish feel to our entire opening.

School Trip to Holland

If Millie had remembered to update her passport, she too would have attended the Holland trip where it would have also been a great chance to get a few shots in the snow! As part of her punishment, she made her DIY Snorricam.

Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone

Snapshot of Storyboard

A Day Trip to the BFI

Today, our media class all decided to ignore the horrific weather conditions, which consisted of A LOT of snow and an extreme risk of catching hypothermia.. 

We took the train to Southbank where we visited the British Film Institute for a course on Film Openings. The first half of the course introduced to us the basics of what is reflected from a film opening about the film as a whole - whether that be by its narrative, genre, setting or sound. Speilberg's Catch Me If You Can was one of the openings we watched, it is a very clever opening - created purely from the magic of graphics.

A little unrealistic as we need to incorporate a variety of shots in our project, not just animation. 

Soon after being shown a couple more openings using a very useful website: http://www.artofthetitle.com, we were then able to listen to Daniel Kleinman, a commercials director. He shared his experiences during the making of titles for the Bond series - including, GoldenEye and Casino Royale. Heres one of Kleinman's commericials - this one is for planestupid.com

The animated polar bears are quite shocking, as well as the realistics of global warming. The hard hitting polar bears are effective in allowing the audience to sympathise with these statistics.

The last part of the course involved us viewing some previous AS media work. The first couple gave us an extremely clear idea of how to not film. The best one had to be The Premonition, which simply involved a teenage boy calling out "Is Anyone Out There?" in a strong Bristol accent.. I can safely say it should have come under the category of Comedy.

Heather was our film archiver for the day and put together this small film for us, which rounds up the day - managed to capture snowballs unexpectedly hitting Ms. Routledge's head.. 

RIP Flip..

..Unfortunately yesterdays filming didn't go exactly to plan. We had everything set up and rearing to go, did a few takes - then our flip decided to stop working. We luckily, however, know that when we do again re film, it will turn out accordingly, as it was going pretty well! As you can see from the image below, Annika was sitting in front of the white screen - being questioned by a fading figure (myself). The script is completed and now even I have to put on my best Swedish voice. 

Filming Day 2

We decided to go along with the interview idea and set up our second day of filming in the photography room - making great use of the white screen and the studio lights we had available to us.

Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone

Friday 26nd - Successes for Creative Filmmaking

After reading over and highlighting Mark Ramey's booklet on the 'five key ingredients for really good short film-making', it really did kick in that organisation is essential. It more than frequently increases the generation of creative ideas, as that equals structure. Having all read this, we are currently completely are storyboard. Oh, and we even named our characters for the time-being - Lilly May being Lina, Millie being stuck with Helga.. 


she forced us to change her name first thing Monday morning - she is now Annika.

Filming Archive: Day 1

We finally managed to put together a range of clips of our first filming day. Unfortunately even the most insignificant parts of the day were filmed - such as my 50 minute lateness..

Girl, Interrupted

A small discussion we had with Miss Foster recently made us reconsider what other possible elements we could consider for our opening. Girl, Interrupted immediately sprung to mine and Heather's minds after having a "light bulb" moment of perhaps, including a few seconds of our character being interviewed by a psychologist. 

"Why did you do it?"

After around 3:00 of this film, is what we were focusing on - both the doctor's passive questions and the girl's replies reflect aspects of irritation and confusion. I think this is key to include if we do continue with this idea, also picking up on the fact director, James Mangold, ensured Susanna lit a cigarette halfway being questioned. This film has always been one of my favourites, particularly due to the way in which Winona Rhyder's character is perceived as this 'crazy hard edged girl' who finds herself staying in a mental institution - not knowing why or if she is really supposed to be in there - her 18 month stay generates the need for answers as she begins to learn about the people she is surrounded by. A simply beautiful yet emotional character - a real essence we must capture for our own film.

Tracking Gone Wrong

Our first attempt of a tracking foot shot failed nicely, we found keeping our camera at a good level without any shakiness extremely tricky. We've decided to bring a skateboard when we re film..

An Interview with Lilly May

Millie's adorable sister, gave us an quick interview on her experiences during Day 1 of filming.

The SnorriCam

In our lesson today, we were shown this brilliant intervention used when wanting a camera devise to face the actor, therefore, allowing the actor's surroundings to move - fantastic portrayal of the actor's perceptive. 

The SnorriCam literally straps onto the front panel of the torso, using various poles and instruments attached to an overall harness. Sounds rather tech.. but our class is now on a mission to create one! We are unsure on how exactly we are going to make it, although we have found various tutorials. Our DIY Snorricam must be hardwearing especially as it will have to hold our camera, yet, it cannot be too heavy, as we will of course have to carry it around everywhere with us. 

YouTube Hits

We seemed to have unexpectedly attracted a range of viewers on our 5 minute practise Smoking shots and Swedish speaking clip we produced a little over a week ago. Not only have we received a surprising 319 hits in such little time but people seem to been genuinely interested in what and why we produced our film, judging for the inboxes/comments. As a group, we are happy to know our outrageous attempts on speaking Swedish have in fact, been a success!

Se7en Film Analysis - Friday 5th

"a dark masterpiece of modern horror"

Director, David Fincher, conjured up an amazing yet disturbing story line of the seven deadly sins - where killer, John Doe, turns each sinner against its sin in the most horrifically unimaginable ways. The entire film was set in very dim lighting, representing the hellish conditions and solemnity, proving that Doe had the power to manipulate his victim's sins. A sense of mystery was constantly being conveyed throughout, making use of darkness and silhouettes - creating an ultimate unpredictability for what was to come for their killer. A great selection of shots and compositions were used, particularly in the end scene, where Fincher wants his audience to get a real grasp of the location they have ended up in. Unlike the usual thriller or horror I have previously watched, I feel like se7en has certain elements within it forcing viewers to reflect upon the hard-hitting realities of immorality. 

Explicit or Implied?

I believe that it is not always essential for there to be use of explicit footage when trying to create a successful sympathetic audience. Being someone who can handle the images of blood and guts when watching a film perhaps alters my view as to whether films such as Se7en should simply imply the image of an disturbed, distressed, dying victim. However, when referring to the last scene of Se7en, I didn't feel it was necessary to see the actual shot of Mill's wives face - the distress and heartbreak he was feeling for the murder of his wife was enough for me to envisage the possible representation of what was concealed in his parcel.  

Sneak Previews

Character Profiles

As we were shooting throughout the day - we were continuously taking photos. Here are a few pictures to give you an insight to what exactly went on. 

Meet Lilly - Millie's sister - was quite a struggle getting her to act in that nightie

Reunited (happily) with the father who used to abuse her...

Heather, neatly positioned on the floor ready to film using the Flip,

Millie preparing herself for her great Swedish act.

Mollie outside using the Sony camcorder, 
filming the balcony shot from below.

Cigarette/Balcony shot.

We had certain difficulties filming the Goosebumps shot..

..the panning shot of the garden was particularly tricky too.

Our two actresses going home after a long day filming.

                                    

Shooting: day1

This is Millie - fully prepared for her first day of shooting. Appearance: Make-up is minimal - very pale pasty face, chapped lips, messy 'bed' hair, smudged eyes - all to create the effect she has been having many restless nights. The clothes she is wearing reflect her drab mood - a worn thick black jumper and a pair of old shorts with bare legs. 

After a long day of filming from 9am - 6pm, we have huge range of clips on both the Flip and Camcorder. We began by filming our little character Lilly (Millie's six year old sister) - filming with both cameras at different angles and perfecting the shot until around 'Take 20'. Mollie and myself then moved outside onto the decking to film the balcony shot of Millie, whilst Heather remained inside shooting close ups from where she was standing. We found shooting the 'goosebumps' shot extremely difficult, although Millie's legs were bare - the goosebumps took a very long time to appear and we were unable to get a perfect shot of this (this is one of the shots we will have to refilm). 

Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone

G321 Marking Criteria

G321 Marking Criteria

Friday 22nd - Smoking/ Swedish Practice inc. Outtakes

Flip Fun

A great proportion of this video we created was shot by 'panning' - this was ideal filming practice, as our opening will contain this for a good few seconds. A perhaps, lucky shot of a flee of birds at 9seconds, I think turned out beautifully (especially in the Black & White, which will be be using). At 32seconds, we included a moving credit which we learnt to do whilst playing about in iMovie and also finding various iMovie YouTube clips to help us out. Due to the fact we have chosen to include an underneath shot of a man's big boots in part of our opening - with a young child in front of him - we tried this out at around 2mins45seconds.

Preliminary Exercise

As a group, we decided to create our own reenactment of the famous Zoe and Kat scene in Eastenders. During this small 13 second clip, we managed to use a long track shot, an over the shoulder shot, a dolly shot and a face-to-face shot. After shooting the same thing around three times, we loaded the clips onto iMovie and began editing.

I personally love the bit which zooms into Mollie's face at 0.10 seconds - simply because her facial expression is so funny. However, after watching it over - it can be considered that the shot doesn't blend well enough into the previous shot. If done differently, we could perhaps do a slightly different shot when walking through the door instead of the typical long track shot. We may have also added a slight variation to the entire film by editing it with effects or maybe even the Eastender's soundtrack to finish it off.

Our First Edit

From this...



...to this

We had just recieved our Flip so Millie and myself decided to go outside for a little practise of a 'Panning Shot'. After uploading and editing it we come out with a Black & White clip of us both looking like we must be part of some sort of mental institution. (The music in the background didn't help).

Above is our very first attempt to film using the Flip - didn't quite work out as we hadn't tied the tripod on correctly!

Black & White Photography

Cigarette Shot -
captures the motion of the smoke,
we will perhaps have to slow down the
speed when editting

Bed Shot -
We have discussed having a bed shot where
our Swedish girl has time to collect her thoughts.
This image I found represents exactly how I
imagined to it to look on screen




Goosebumps Shot -
A perfect way to present the fear and
vulnerability of the girl. 
We intend on showing these Goosebumps
 perferrably on either her arm or legs

 

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

As part of our research, Mollie, Millie and myself had the opportunity to watch The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, as recommended by Miss Foster. It ties in fantastically with the language we will be using in our film opening - as the whole film is spoken in Swedish. The storyline itself is thrilling and at times, distressing to watch - the majority of parts involve graphic shots of abuse and torture, whilst Mickael and Lisbeth form a partnership in attempt to understand the reasons behind the forty year disappearance of Harriet.

When watching this film, I ensured I played special attention to the shots used. Much of these consisted of close ups - focusing particularly on Lisbeth's troubled face. These shots allowed us, as the audience to sympathise perhaps, with the experiences she was constantly reminded of (with her photogrpahic memory) and the ones she was yet to face. An idea our group had come up with before was to incorporate cigarettes into our opening - director, Niels Arden Oplev, also seemed to have had the same idea when producing his film as the effect of the cigarette smoke is exactly how we imagined ours to be.

Flashback Research

Our film will contain flashbacks, this I am hoping will work perfectly within the black and white tone of our film. Whilst browsing on YouTube, I found a video that I thought could have some influence in certain shots. I love the speed, lightening and melancholy captured in this five minute video. Constant repetitive flashing images of a light bulb, a car, lighter and a forest are shown. I was especially moved by 4:00, this is the last part of the video where an underneath shot is used to film the fast-moving motion of the sky. It brings about a sense of sadness and has a rather hypnotising element to it, which would be essential to incorporate in our own film. 

Our Pitch

Here we presented our proposal using Prezi, using few 
words and pictures we have created a general overview
on what we would like our film opening to be based on.

Media Pitch on Prezi

Questions for Presentation

1. Is your idea PRACTICALLY possible to film? (no speeding trains, sea battles etc)



Yes, we are set on Jade Hyde's house for our location and our plot is able to do.


2. Will it show off the strengths of EVERY member of your group?


Yes, our film will show off Millie's acting skills, my editing skills, Mollie's all round greatness and Heather's knowledge of photography angles, focus and framing.

3. Can it be storyboarded okay?


Yes, we have already thought of each shot and how it will impact the story. There will be lots of close ups so it will be easy to storyboard.


4. Is it something you can reasonably shoot and edit in the time available?


Yes, we can shoot the whole thing in one day as it's only in one location and we want to keep the continuity of the film.


5. Can you get access/permission to shoot in the chosen location at the chosen times?


Yes, Jade is one of our friends and her house is easy for us to access for shooting our film.


6. Would lighting/sound be an issue on location?


No, we will be using mostly natural light from her balcony and so we will shoot early in the morning to keep the melancholy style of the film.


7. Are you going to include dialogue? If so, can you do it on location or will you need to add it later?


Yes, our main character will get a phonecall in Swedish in which we will add in during the editing process. We will also include subtitles.


8. Who will be cast as your characters on screen? Are they reliable? Will continuity be an issue?


Millie will be our main character as she's part of the group she is very unlikely to let us down. We are also using her little sister for one scene and one of our friends (still undecided who) will play the father role.


9. Have you thought about style of credits and soundtrack?


Yes, we were looking into an artist I found on youtube to use as our soundtrack and seeing if the piece of music is copyrighted or not. Our credits will be in the pan shot of the house.

Introduction to Storyboards - Friday 1st Oct

Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone


Friday's lesson consisted of learning all about the preparation that goes before the filming - this includes, storyboards. A storyboard is essential when creating a film, as it displays a series of illustrations, labels and movement of the sequences within the film. We looked at a previous media student's Preliminary task and produced a storyboard for the first few seconds of their film. Once our group has finally decided on a genre and general idea for our film - we too will produce a storyboard.

An article by The Guardian

http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2010/sep/23/bass-opening-credits


Anne Billson has superbly written about the 'History of Cinema's Opening Credits', justifying exactly why they play such a significance within the film. She describes how with time, trends of film openings have rapidly changed - "the usual method was to present names and titles on cards, or against an unmoving backdrop...", Billson goes on further how Otto Preminger changed all of this.

Genre

Todays lesson (Monday 27th September) consisted on discussing the different variations of genres we could make our two-minute openings. These are some we came up with:

Comedies - paradies/spoofs
e.g. Hot Fuzz, Shaun of the Dead, Superbad
Alternative/Indie
e.g. Juno, 500 days of Summer
Horror/Thriller -
e.g. Devil, The Unvited, The Hole
Chick Flick -
e.g. Clueless, Sex & the City, White Chicks
British Films -
Kidulthood, Adulthood, Shank
Action -
Matrix, Born Identity, Spy Kids, James Bond
Bromance -
The Hangover, Best Friends, I love you, Man
Hand-held (shaky camera) -
Harry Brown, Paranormal Activity, Blair Witch Project

My initial thoughts on what genre I would like to do is a comedy, or perhaps an alternative genre. This would give me and my group(Millie, Heather and Mollie)the freedom to make it light-hearted and witty, with the additional bonus of perhaps, including aspects of our natural selves when thinking up ideas.

Shot by shot Analysis

Here is an example found on SlideShare of a Shot by Shot analysis of the opening for Jaws. Jaws Shot By Shot - Part 1

Having looked at the different filming techniques and previously created Shot by Shot analysis', I have chosen to produce a shot by shot analysis of Forest Gump.

A great deal of panning camera movement is used throughout this opening, as the white feather floats through the sky. 

The camera moves to a high angle above the ground, with the camera tilted downwards taking overhead shots of the city. 

Gradually the camera changes its angle – lowering the feather to the ground where characters in the scene are visable.

The setting of this beginning scene includes a great composition for the arrangements of the scenery, displaying a perfect example of mise-en-scene.1:32 shows a “working man” crossing the road, using an over-the-shoulder conversion shot.

Soon after, a leadroom composition is displayed, as cars move swiftly along the road.An undershot angle of Forrest is used – particularly using a close up shot of his shoes – whilst he reaches down and picks up the feather. 

The camera shot progressively turns into a medium close up shot (MS) – at eye level with its audience.
Camera position then changes as Forrest goes to tuck his feather into his suitcase.

As the bus arrives, a long shot is used ensuring the bus is the central focus at this point. The camera angle is straight on, only lasting a few seconds until the bus moves out of the scene.

Filmmaking Techniques

After watching this around three times, I have learnt about the variety of camera shots, compositions, camera movements, camera angles, conversation shots, focus techniques, animations and editing experiments available to use when producing a video. It will certainly help me when writing up my Shot by Shot analysis of Forrest Gump later.

Opening Scene of Birth

The introduction to this amazingly scripted film, Birth is one that despite being fairly understated, unlike Se7en – leaves a bewildering ambience whilst watching a man hurriedly run through a snow path. “…It’s me Anna and I’m back…I’m going to go running before I head home”. The small prologue spoken right at the beginning enables the audience to know from that point that this film is associated with death and reincarnation. Alexandre Desplat’s classical piece of music overpowers the entire opening, a remarkably enchanting sound, motivational and calming for the majority of the time.

If carefully listened to, at the point of 1:20, there is a much more haunting tone to the music - perhaps, suggesting the man is deep in thought of what extraordinary occurance is about to take place.At around 3:15 of the video after entering a dark tunnel, the man reaches a ‘birth canal’, which is incredibly shot as it symbolizes him ultimately coming back to life. The man himself, is completely alone - there is nothing surrounding him but the natures of the world.

Se7en

Below are the opening credits for the film, Se7en.

Within seconds of viewing the film, it had an outstanding ability to grasp my immediate focus with its fast-moving pace of music playing throughout the opening. The music releases a speedy "race against time" vibe, which could possibly be the unknown person in this opening - appearing to be preparing for a mysterious something. The closeness of the shots made me, as a viewer, feel anxious and pressured into identifying the chilling terror that the film has yet to reveal. Alongside the monochromatic and sepia tones of harsh, dark words and scribbles, the constant repetitiveness brought about a sense of uneasiness, allowing the audience to recognize a murderous and neurotic essence.