Sunday, 16 April 2017

Lighting

Because we filmed over the winter months it made sense to film indoors as this way we could have control over the lighting of our set. We filmed in Katie's garage a room that had no natural light, this was in some ways helpful as we didn't have to rely on the ever-changing british weather, however it was a large room to light especially when the ailing light was not very bright. We used three main sources of light - 
  1. Angle poise desk lamp pointed at the map
  2. Green fairy lights lighting the shelves 
  3. The celling light lighting everything
The comic genre conventionally has high key lighting whereas the sci-fi genre conventionally has low key lighting. Because our film spans both genres we wanted our lighting to reflect that so we UFO it in a dark low light space but brightly illuminated the crucial parts. The front portion of the garage where Elliot Sits it well iluminated,especially the map, Whereas the pile of junk behind him is in shadow creating a sense of foreboding and mystery.

Lighting in Alien a scuff movie versus lighting in Dumb and Dumber a comedy.


Mise - en - scene












In total it took us 12 hours to create our set we wanted it to look lived in so we didn't worry about perfection.

The Media Showcase

The other day we exhibited our film for the first time to parents, friends and family. After they had watched it we asked them to fill our a questionnaire.

Title

It is a common theme among Sci - fi films to have a short title Eg ET, ALIEN, LIFE. This is why we called our film UFO as it conforms to genre conventions an audience already have an idea of what they will be getting. Having a Short title if often preferable as it is more catchy and memorable.




Evaluation Questions & Mark scheme

EVALUATIONS

The questions that must be addressed in the evaluation are:

1  In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? 

2  How does your media product represent particular social groups? 

3  What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why? 

4  Who would be the audience for your media product? 

5  How did you attract/address your audience? 

6  What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product? 

7  Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

EVALUATION MARK SCHEME

Level 4 16–20 marks 

• Excellent skill in the use of appropriate digital technology or ICT in the evaluation. 

• Excellent understanding of issues around audience, institution, technology, representation, forms and conventions in relation to production. 

• Excellent ability to refer to the choices made and outcomes.

• Excellent understanding of their development from preliminary to full task. 

• Excellent ability to communicate.

Steven Speilberg

Possibly the most successful Director ever Steven Speilberg basically invented the modern blockbuster his films are known for their entertaining stories, relatable characters, impressive production values, and attention to detail Spielberg has created some of the most iconic moments in movie history. His Most successful films are timeless classics enjoyed by generations.


Audience feedback


A2 Feedback

We asked some of the girls in the year above what they thought of out opening so far.

Populair


I usually hate foreign films as I'm too lazy to read all those subtitles but this film instantly grabbed me  set in the 50s it follows a village girl who becomes a speed typing champion. The thing I liked most about this film however was its cinematography, every frame was composed perfectly. Remanicant of the style of Wes Andrson Populaire was beautiful from start to finish so much so I found my self forgetting to even read the subtitles and just enjoying the spectacle.

Editing

At the end of shooting UFO we had amassed hours of footage, but as our opening could only be 2 mins allot of this had to be cut.
Cutting room floor...

  • Tim harrison title
  • Anna Killeen title
  • Final scene of space raiders crunch
Despite this I am glad we had too much footage as it gave us the best chance of having the perfect take. It also allowed us choice and options when it came to the edit.




The directing process

- set design
- costume
- communicating ideas
- working with actor
- deciding what makes the cut
- flexibility

Overall Filming Expireance

- spent a long time filming
- low productivity levels
- had to do many re-shoots
- cutting it fine in terms of deadline
- Did not meet time limit Goals

Filming Day 14 - FINISHED!!!

Today was our final day of filming we just had to film a title shot - in the end we used the letter stickers on the map that spelled UFO, we did a close up shot no movement with contrasts from the previous establishing sequence, this make it stand out and shows the audience its importance as the title of the piece.

Today was also the final time we filmed with Ted our actor.    




Lala land review

I have now been to the cinema to watch LaLaLand twice - its already a classic
Directed by Damien Chazelle it is unlike any other film in recent years reminiscent of singing in the rain and New york new york, this film is a welcome break from war, space and killing. La la land is a film about ambition under the glare of Hollywood. Set to a fantastic original score by Justin Herwitz Chazelles unique style of directing fits perfectly with the musical genre.

Filming day 13

On Filming day 13 we had to RE do the phone shots again !!! 
When editing all the shots together we relized that despite our best efforts there were still a few continuity errors with the phone sequence so we re shot it for the LAST time.
This time we made completely sure every time matched and every text was the same.

Editing Sound

Using iMovie9 we were able to perfect our sound, as we muted all of our takes until the very end most of our sound was done in post production. 

When Elliot takes the headphones off we wanted the sound to drop and get muted slightly. We achieved this by adding the Telephone effect over the top.

At the End of UFO although it breaks conventions we edited the music into a crachendo as we felt the sound gradually lowering lessens the dramatic effect of Elliott running out. 

Filming day 12

Establishing Shots
On our original story board we had planed to film our establishing shots outside but due to time restrictions and poor weather we decided to cut that sequence and move it inside instead. Now we have filmed them I am glad we did this as I feel they go with the rest of the film wheat the original ones may not have.

The shots are all of Elliott's den and they introduce the audience to his doctor who figure collection and his solar system model. After trying a few shot types we found that pans look the best as plain static shots couldn't cover as much of the room so weren't as interesting.  The only problem we came across whilst filming these shots was lighting as Elliot has not ended the room yet so the main light had to be off. To combat this we used the flash light in the iPhone. Its cold silver light gave the effect of a moonlight glow and made the metallic paintwork on the figures stand out, the light is also easily distinguishable from the main light as that is vey warm toned, so gives a much different effect.



Certificate Rating

If our film were to be shown in cinemas It would have a PG rating as our target audience os 10-14 year olds. 
General viewing, but some scenes may be unsuitable for young children A PG film should not unsettle a child aged around eight or older. Unaccompanied children of any age may watch, but parents are advised to consider whether the content may upset younger, or more sensitive, children.


Discrimination

Discriminatory language or behaviour is unlikely to be acceptable unless clearly disapproved of, or in an educational or historical context, or in a particularly dated work with no likely appeal to children. Discrimination by a character with whom children can readily identify is unlikely to be acceptable.
 

Drugs

References to illegal drugs or drug misuse must be innocuous or carry a suitable anti-drug message.
 

Imitable behaviour

No detail of potentially dangerous behaviour which young children are likely to copy, if that behaviour is presented as safe or fun. No glamorisation of realistic or easily accessible weapons such as knives. No focus on anti-social behaviour which young children are likely to copy.
 

Language

Mild bad language only. Aggressive or very frequent use of mild bad language may result in a work being passed at a higher category.


Nudity

There may be nudity with no sexual context. Sex Sexual activity may be implied, but should be discreet and infrequent. Mild sex references and innuendo only.
 

Threat

Frightening sequences or situations where characters are in danger should not be prolonged or intense. Fantasy settings may be a mitigating factor.
 

Violence

Violence will usually be mild. However there may be moderate violence, without detail, if justified by its context (for example, history, comedy or fantasy)

Filming Day 11

On Day 11 we re did the light switch title shot was we were not happy with how shaky it was this time we put the whole title on one switch as apposed to two and didn't move the camera. The static close up was far easier for people to read and for us to film.
We additionally redid The shots were Elliott eats the space raiders as we realised whilst editing the  previous shots were far too long.

Costume

Filming Day 10

On our Tenth day of filming UFO we filmed another title (Cinematography by Katie Killeen and Rachel Harrison). In this sequence of shots Elliott reaches over to his laptop types cinematography and then we have a shot reverse shot. I had thought that the pan up from the keyboard to the laptop screen would be had but it was surprisingly smooth as the tripod had a lever which allowed us to pan  it seamlessly in all directions.

Ridley Scott

Sir Ridley Scott is a veteran film director and producer well known for his science-fiction horror film Alien (1979) and neo - noir dystopian science fiction film Blade Runner(1982). Coming from the world of TV adverting his ability to use images, motion, edits and sounds is unrivalled. His signature distopyan worlds are characterised by flames,metal, smoke, rain and  shadows. Often criticised for over doing the visuals and undergoing it in the plot department Scotts films have been controversial. His films use visual design to convey a message and always make the fullest use of set design to enhance the theme.

 “People say I pay too much attention to the look of a movie,”  “but for God's sake, I'm not producing a Radio 4 ‘Play for Today,’ I'm making a movie that people are going to look at.”

Alien...



Blade Runner...


Filming Day 9

On Filming Day 9 we filmed two title shots one in a book on a bookmark (Caspar Wright as Milo) and the other on a shelf on a can of paint (Kate Hide as Suzie). When filming titles we have to keep in mind that eventually an audience will have to read them so they a) have to be clear and b) have to be long enough. We are planning to make each title four seconds long.


News video

The video Milo sends to Elliott's iPhone shows a BBC news repot that features footage of a UFO flying over a river.  However it is not a real news report, as when looking on You  tube we could find nothing that would suit our film, so we decided to make our own video from the good bits we found. We knew we wanted a legitimate news channel as it would create verisimilitude, so when we found a segment of BBC news that had nothings to do with UFOs but had accidental UFO footage we tried layering another audio clip of an actual UFO report over the top. To our surprise it aoudad fine and didn't look like it had been dubbed. We wanted to have a news report included in the opening so Elliott didn't look crazy, and so the audience feels he really might be on to something.  


Filming day 8

On Day 9 we filmed Shot 20 - 21

20) Take Pen of shelf
21) Write comet on post it

Originally in our storyboard these shots would have been another title but we decided that we didn't need it any longer. Instead we added the shots listed above. We did this so the title in the book would link as we needed to get our character in that area as we the titles all appear along his journey though the space.  The physics book he opens will have a bookmark in it with a tile on it, the page references comets here why he writes it on the post it. 

Length of titles

A film Title usually lasts 3 - 5 seconds this is usually ample time for the audience to read the name and job. As we have made our own titles they may be more difficult to read than standard super imposed titles we decided that to make sure the audience had time so left all except 2 on for 4 seconds.

Capar Wright As Milo - 6 seconds
This tile coincided with action as in the scene Elliott is reading the book so it makes scene for the title which is on a book mark to be left on the screen longer.








Kate Hide as Suzie - 3.5 seconds
 We decided to slightly shorten this title as the words are very clear and also short making it easy to read meaning the full four seconds wasn't necessary.









Although we broke our 4 seconds limit both ways we still kept to the convention of a title lasting 3 - 5 seconds.

Filming day 7

On day 7 we filmed shot 14-16
14) title: eyeline match to polaroids reading 'Produced and Edited by Katie Killeen' 
15) extreme close up of Elliott's eyes squinting to look closer
16) long shot of Elliott reaching for book

shot 15 is an extreme close up of Elliott's face it was very had to film as there was not much space between the wall and where he was sat. Fitting a tripod in that small gap was a challenge, as we holding move the chair he sat on too far back as the background would differ from other shots.


Order of the title sequence

Conventional  Order of tiles:
  • lead actor/s
  • film title
  • other actors
  • casting
  • music/ editor/ production design/ dir. photography/ exec producer
  • produced by
  • written by
  • directed by



We are challenging the conventional layout of a title sequence as we have the director title second and the producer title third when they would usually be last as they are crucial roles. We chose to bring them forward as we felt the sequence wold flow better that way, because the titles as physical and imbedded into the set it is like a little journey in itself to get to them due to this it made more sense if the titles were chronological. On top of this we didn't have as many names a a normal title sequence most of the titles we didn't have i.e. music/ editor/ production design/ dir. photography/ exec producer are all the middle names so we thouht it made more sense to bring forward director and producer.

We did however begin typically with the name of our lead actor we did this because we wanted his name to be known straight away especially as there is no dialogue so the audience cannot learn it that way.

Our tiles 

  • film title
  • lead actor
  • created/ directed by 
  • produced/ edited by
  • other actor
  • other actor
  • cinematography




Filming day 6

On the sixth day of filming we filmed shot 7 - 9


7) tracking shot from behind Elliott following him further into the room
8) behind shot of Elliott sitting down
9) close up of biting some tape off

Shot 9 was not pleasant for our actor ted to film as he didn't like the taste of tape. We had to do quite a few takes as we wanted him to do one fluid bite, which is hard to do with industrial marking tape. Luckily he still has all his teeth.

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