Green Screening-Amie Nelms

On Friday 26th February, we filmed our green screen sequences in the old media 'green screen' room.

We used this new technique to enable us to give Rich a ghostly portrayal in the editing process. No major problems occurred during filming. Andy helped us with the lighting and set up of the green screen as it was all new to us. But once in the swing of things, we finished filming with more than enough footage.

Ways in which we maintained continuity...

• Kept camera angle/shots the same when doing more than one take-tripod.
• Reversed end sequence of Rich hugging Amie, then reading the letter out loud, whilst also trying it forward, long takes enable no cutting, all one continuous movement.
• Practiced shots-eg. Rich hugging Amie from behind to make sure when Rich did it on his own, he was hugging an Amie-shaped space.

By doing practice shots, it helped us understand the layering process which we needed to take into account when editing Rich. For example, when we were shooting the laying down shot of Amie and Rich, we had to film Rich and Amie separately. We had to take into account whose hair was ontop of whose to make sure that the right person was the top layer-which was Rich. We had to pay attention to tiny details like that to make sure everything was accurately done, to maintain continuity. However these shots will be layered in editing, so Rich will look ghostly.

PHOTOS TO BE ADDED!

Amie Nelms

Update on Editing- Emma Robertson

Here are some stills from our production. We are still currently editing!

We are using Final Cut Pro as we want to use green screen for our resolution stage due to not being able to on location. So far, the duration of our film is 03.30mins long, but hopefully with the green screened ending and ending credits it should make up for the remaining 2 mins.

• We used video effects by clicking onto 'Effects', 'Video effects', 'Image Control' and finally 'Desaturate' to make our film black and white. From the stills upon it is really effective!
  
• We managed to crop some of our frames as we realised there was tripod leg invading one of our chosen frames so we corrected it by going into 'Motion'
• We are beginning to experiment with certain scenes such as Amie walking away, by introducing many cuts to create a dramatic and quick pace. Very much like Wasps!
• Plus we believe our film looks very much like 'Lou-Lou lives here', which is what we wanted to achieve- the whole ghosty ad surreal feeling
  

Our plans for tomorrow are doing the green screen filming and then continuing to edit the rest of the film. Plus, Amie has agreed to compose the soundtrack to our film, which will create an enjoyable and dramatic flow.

Emma Robertson

Notes about the day of filming- Emma Robertson

Here are my notes I made during our filming day:

Problems

Bench location= we had to change the ideal bench due to the slope, it caused the extreme long shot to be slightly slanted.

Muddy conditions= due to the great British weather! the grass was very muddy causing the final shots of the actors lying on the grass to be scrapped

Ambient sounds= some sounds worked really well such as the wind and birds. However, there were times when the sounds of trains, children and dogs caused some of shots to be destroyed

The tripod was broken causing us to use handheld camera- although it did help to produce a social realism gritty feel.

Camera batteries= we were very limited on time because the camera batteries were dying at a fast rate

Advantages

Continuity= Due to Rich's voice is the same tone

Iconic shots= we had some great shots such as a low angle of Rich with the trees in the background and a two shot of the couple sitting on the bench

Clear depth of field seen= due to the camera itself- WAS A FANTASTIC BIT OF TECHNOLOGY TO WORK WITH!

Worked well as a team= we all shared ideas on the set and to help find a solution to the final scene

What to do now?

We felt that we had enough footage on the day and the freezing temperatures made us pack up early

We kept in mind the post-production processes such as Final Cut Pro and Garageband- which will have a huge part in this production

Personally, I was worried about not having enough footage, but we have to remember, it's only a 5 minute film, I just being a perfectionist!

When I went home, I thought of a solution for our final screen- I thought we could use green screen so I went back to the location by myself and filmed some of the grass and establishing shots of the landscape to capture for the green screen background.

Emma Robertson

The day of filming in photographs..

On Monday the 15th we all met up at our Location and begain filming our short film, these are some of the photo's of us filming, and also some possible idea's for our film poster too.

Jo White

Box Office Success-Amie Nelms

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/8503545.stm
http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt0989757/

I had a quick look at the BBC website, and discovered on their homepage news of success for the film 'Dear John' which we have looked at as inspiration for film posters.

It has managed to knock box office smash 'Avatar' off the US number 1, which shows that 'Dear John' has been captured by audiences in America.

As the film is based on love letters, as hinted by the title, we feel that this succes is relevant to our film as it might appeal to wider audience due to this films release.

Amie Nelms

Letter of permission/Risk of Assesment- Emma Robertson

As the Location communicator, I emailed Crawley Council for permission to film at Grattons Park. Many emails were exchanged during this process and it was a professional and formal interaction. I received a formal email granting my team and I permission to film in this area.

This will allow us to take this printed email during filming just in case we are challenged by public, police etc

Also, the issue of liability is important as we will not claim against the council if someone was to get injured or the equipment was damaged during the production. This reinforces the College's risk of assessment. We, as a group understand, the reasoning and dangers for anything to happen and we accept full responisibilty if anything was to happen.

Emma Robertson

Film Review research- Emma Robertson

http://www.empireonline.com/reviews/reviewcomplete.asp?FID=136655

• I wanted to see the film review layout and was surprised by its simplity
• They are many charts with a rating system and film details- easy layout to allow the readerto see who is in the film and what it is about
• Headings were: PLOT, REVIEW, VERDICT
• The review talks about the acting, director's style, cinematographer and editor of the production

Emma Robertson

Making of the reflector - Jo White

We found out on Thursday that we are unable to use the reflector for our short film, as we are planning to film over half-term, and it has already been booked out by another group.

As we are using Black and White the use of a reflector could really help us with using natural lighting. So i watched a video on YouTube on how to make your own, and how it can be just as effective as a normal reflector.

As you can see in the photo that i have taken, the light within the room is being reflected

onto the carpet. So hopefully the shiny side of the foil will reflect day light onto our characters faces within the film.

Jo White

Inspiration for music-Emma Robertson

Amie is working on the non-deigetic soundtrack as she is more experienced within this field and has a talent for music. But I came across some music soundtracks from Titanic (which I know is a Hollywood film, but this music could act as an inspiration for our own production piece)

I like how the music is moving and it sounds ghosty! I would like Amie to listen to this, but I know she has a set piece in mind for our film anyway.





My favourite is this one as it is mainly piano and very moving! Although it is Celine Dion's 'My heart will go on' I still think this music would be effective for the ending and signals the short film has come to an end:

Emma Robertson

Research on Social Realism genre pt 2- Emma Robertson

I found this website: http://www.bbc.co.uk/britishfilm/summer/social_realism.shtml


This website was really interesting as it displays a map of the prime locations for a social realism film. Whilst looking at the map, the main location was in London.

Problems regarding our location

• Might not give a gritty feel to our production
  
• Doesn't symbolise the working class
  
• Unknown area- no iconography
  

Advantages regarding our location

• As the park location is not known, it will symbolise isolation and surrealism (as we have a ghost boyfriend)
• From the photographs I took of the Grattons Park it does not run down and the bench looks old and used- so it may create a gritty feel.
  
• We will be using establishing shots and hopefully beautiful frames of fields as Amie runs

Emma Robertson

Research on Social Realism genre- Emma Robertson

I decided to research into our chosen genre to find out the conventions and the deeper meanings regarding representation and the audience. Questions such as why is Social realism important and what does it stand for towards audiences were the main question I wanted answered. I want to apply this knowledge when we start filming in a week's time.

BFI website: Social Realism
http://www.screenonline.org.uk/film/id/1037898/index.html

• Pushes boundaries to put the experience of real Britons on the screen
• Reflects and reinforces society's norms, values and thoughts about certain topics
• Example of themes: Relationships/Unemployment/Social protest/Education
• Can be controversial
• Have borrow the conventions from documentary film making
• Release from tension
  
• Emotional indulgence
• Values of humanity
• British 'auteurs' like Karel Reisz, Tony Richardson and John Schlesinger dealt with themes such as abortion, alienation and relationship problems, the poor and depressed
• Addressed issues around masculinity
  

Celebrities' opinions on British social realism:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wj9yvVDwhX0

• Audiences love the gritty style of the genre
• "Challenge , irritate and make me cry"
• "Literature, pop music and cinema combine together"
• Can be depressing
• About escapism

Emma Robertson

Film Promotion/Poster ideas -Jo White

Another idea that we could use for our promotional poster could be two hands meeting in the center of the frame, with text around it. and the title of the film. Although this is a very simple idea this could also be really effective for keeping the film identity simple but still effective at the same time.

Jo White

Film Posters Research- Emma Robertson

Here are some posters, which I could use as inspiration for our film poster. These films posters either come from the romance, social realism or fantasy genre. I prefer the simple look with a white background, this is a convention of a low budget social realism film. For example, 'Precious' film poster is so simple and I had an idea of one of the main characters in centre and having the handwritten letter as the background.
However, 'Dear John' film poster draws upon the romantic relationship between their two characters. I like this idea as I can see a photograph of Rich and Amie posing in the fields, with a lying letter in the grass.

Our film poster needs to show a boyfriend/girlfriend relationship to draw the female audience. It needs to look natural and realistic. Also, to make the font, like its handwritten.

Emma Robertson

Film Review Research-Amie Nelms

I've been looking at a few film reviews from different magazines, and I have picked up on certain conventions that I would like to include...

• Star rating scheme-to clearly show how good they think the film is
  
• Who article is by
  
• Name of magazine
  
• Name of film
  
• A brief insight into the story
  
• Information on film- certificate, cast and crew info, release date etc.
  
• Some reviews had an overview section, eg. Total Film has a 'verdict' section at end, summing up their view.
  
• Use opinions as facts
  
• Some give brief background into director's previous work-eg. awards won, personal issues possibly relating to film etc.


• Breaks film down into sections-eg. themes in film-Vertigo magazine
  
• Perhaps a tagline created by magazine under title to get reader intregued, read review, go and see film eg. Total Film Magazine, using opinion to create hype "Dark times lie ahead in a sure-fire Oscar-botherer..."
  

Amie Nelms

Film Promotion/Poster ideas -Jo White

This is one of the promotional photo's for the film "Lovely bones" i think this might be a good example of a possible poster idea for our film. This photo could be made possible by using photo shop and a photo taken from our location.

This style of photo/poster could be really effective as it would make the viewer more aware of the storyline from the beginning of the short film.

Jo White

Credits Decisions-Amie Nelms

After a little discussion with Emma, we decided where to add the credits for our short film. We thought the best place to begin was with the "AJE Productions Presents", then add the actors names in between the shots of Rich waiting, then cutting up the Amie walking away shot at the end with the cast and crew credits. This will break up the long shot at the end, and at the beginning emphasise that Rich is waiting.

For example

Beginning

"AJE Productions Presents"

Shot 1
Shot 2

Shot 3- have multiple shots of Rich in different positions waiting on bench, whilst integrated credits eg. shot, Richard Franklin, shot Amie Nelms, then another waiting shot before shot 4.

Ending

Shot 27 (in colour)- break the walking long shot up with credits eg. Director-Jo White, Cinematographer- Emma Robertson etc.

Concerning the title of 'All My Love', we might impose this onto Shot 4 or shot 5, so the title is cleverly lined within the shot.

Amie Nelms

Information that may be useful

I found some information on reflectors. I came across this video on YouTube that may be useful, the video shows how you can easily make a reflector using some tin foil and some cardboard.This could be useful if we can't rent one. Also you can really see the difference that the reflector makes in the video. I also found out that reflectors are mainly used in photography, as they created the illusion of direct light onto the face which creates a soft focus which is mainly wanted in the use of photography, however this is also a good reason for why we want to use one for our short film, as we are using black and white we don't want any harsh bright light on the characters faces, so by using the reflector we can use natural light to create a soft focus on both the characters faces.

Jo White

Proposed use of Technology-Amie Nelms

We are going to use...

• Green screen
• Sony HD camera
• Garageband
• Final Cut Pro

Here's some info on what green screening is




http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chroma_key

Green Screen

• To enable us to film Amie laying on the grass, with Rich green screened on top to give him a ghost like appearance-so he's slightly over lapping her head, to give a clue to the audience he's a ghost.
• Film/take picture of grass, film Amie laying on floor, separately film Rich laying on green screen and put all the shots together.
• Impose grass background onto screen.

Sony HD camera

• To give a high quality film result.
• The camera comes with a microphone on top of the camera, which will give us a better sound quality.

Garageband

• Will be using this to create our ambient non diegetic sounds eg. birds, trains, wind (if there's any) etc.
• Possibly using it to create original non diegetic soundtrack for beginning and end of short film.
• If creating own music through recording, might use it to record instruments on for the soundtrack.

Final Cut Pro

• Using it to edit our short film.
• Will gives us a high quality film, gives us opportunity to make it more accurate with it's available tools.

Amie Nelms

Decided on Film's Title

Suggested Titles:

• Message
• Love Letters
• Spirited Away
• Spirit
• The Climb
• Gone
• L.O.V.E
• Love's gone
• All My Love
  
• Amie
• Rich
• Love Bench
• Double Spirit
• Benchmark
• Courage
• Ghost
• Moving On
• Free

We have decided on...
All My Love

• It's mentioned in the dialogue, end of letter
• It's romantic
• Something you would say to close a letter
• Suggests it's about romance, relationships

Amie Nelms and Emma Robertson

Feedback responses for Research part 4- Emma Robertson

Conclusion on feedback on this page

Likes

1. Good storyline
   
2. Sad- commiting suicide
3. wanting to find out more- WHY?!
4. not boring or O.T.T
5. Something new & exciting
6. Appeals to girl audience about boys, love and emotions
7. Fav scene: you don't know he is a ghost until she blanks him
   
8. Emotional drama
9. Likes the idea of boy wrote the letter, but he's not there- adds to the effect
   
10. Fav scene: girl walks off into the distance- moving on, new life
11. Poetic quality
    
12. Twist-guy is dead and waiting for his girlfriend

Dislikes

1. Boyfriend being dead- can't he have just left her? A lot of girls could relate to the story if he left their relationship

Emma Robertson

Feedback responses for Research part 3- Emma Robertson

Conclusion of feedback on this page

Likes

1. Depressing- grabs the audience's attention
2. Teen girls can relate to romance
3. Storyline of heartbreak and moving on
4. Favourite of girl reading the letter, but the boy's voice
5. Ghost illusion
6. Love theme

Dislikes

1. Ethical issues surrounding suicide- needs to be handled with care
2. Questions of why did he kill himself?
3. Wanting to know more
   
4. Teen girls are less likely to lose someone
5. Needs alterations to the girl running away in the field, maybe the boy walking away instead
6. Rushed ending?
7. Maybe show the gradual process of moving on regardin the female character?
   

Emma Robertson

Feedback responses for Research part 2- Emma Robertson

.....and more!

Conclusion on this page of feedback

Good points

1. Themes of ghosts, romance, relaationship break downs
2. Ending of moving on rather than a depressing character fleeing
3. Unique narrative and production
   
4. The idea of the male character reading the letter and the female silent
5. The representation of life after death and carrying on when you have lost something- determination to live life again
   

Dislikes

1. Not sure about the boyfriend being dead?
   
2. Random ending of the female character running away
3. What's the aim? Why is it aimed at 16-24 yr old audience?
   

Emma Robertson

Feedback responses for Research- Emma Robertson

These are some screen grabs from my friends' (Same as age as me and all girls) personal thoughts and opinions about our short film narrative. I found them really interesting and useful. I will be uploading more responses as soon as I get them.

Conclusion of feedback on this page

Likes

1. Tragic love story
   
2. Good looking characters
   
3. He wouldn't let go until he knew he was with her and apart of her= true love
4. Wanting to watch more!
5. Girlfriend reading the letter, but boyfriend is there is spirit= comfort
6. Different from other films

Dislikes

1. The ending? should affect the female character
   
2. Running away- what happens next?!
   

Emma Robertson