Actor's Release Forms

Now before we start filming our actor's we need to get their permission to film them, which means they have to sign a form which is called an "Actor's Release Form". Also if they're under the age of 18 they must get their parent's permission.

So here is the official forms and the terms and conditions they have read and agree to.

Preparing for the Shoot

So I will be talking in this post about how we are preparing for the shoot. I will also be discussing the roles our group members will be taking on:

Here are all the roles of our group members:

Charlotte-Director
Jack-Camera Work
Lucy-Lighting, framing of shot and wardrobe
Tom-On location sound recording

Shooting Schedule

So as part of the preparation process we need to produce a shooting schedule which is timetable listed of the times of where and when we are going to shoot. The information that will be included on this shooting schedule will be what type of shot we will be filming, what we will be filming, whether it will be inside or outside and of course, the time of day it should be filmed at.

Before we could produce this shooting schedule we needed to ask each of our group members when they will be free. So to do this we created a timetable showing the school day timetable and when we were all free. The boxes highlighted in green simply means that that member of our group is free at that time of that day. It also includes weekends. Here is our timetable that we created.

Media Shooting Availability

Now here is our actually shooting schedule that we will be bringing with us when we film so it helps us with what shots we've got to film.


Filming Schedule

Animatic

This is our Animatic



 I think our animatic is very effective and really well created. The sound in the background is really effective and emphases the mood of the film. The sound effects that have been put in are realistic and good to represent the actions in the animatic. When the animatic is watched all through it is easy to make sense of, and therefore the audience the story of our film, and will understand what it is about.

Storyboard

We have all have had to complete a storyboard, which is basically drawings of each frame in the film and with each one of them are descriptions explaining what type of shot is being used, and what is in the shot. There is also a description of the camera movement we will be doing in that particular frame and shot. If there is a person in the shot, then we there needs to be an explanation of the facial expression that the person is showing. On each frame it also tells you whether it is exterior or interior, and also whether it is day or night. During the filming process we will bring the storyboard with us so we can look at it as to what shots we need to film and what we need to film in that particular frame. The numbers on top of each frame tells us what number frame it is and helps to arrange it in order.

Here is our Illusion of Existence storyboard that we all created:

Illusion of Existence Storyboard

Production Review

So as part of the R and P process we have to do a production review of how we are all getting on working as a production team.

I think that so well we are making a brilliant amount of progress. We are all extremely organised and are always contributing to the set of the group with brilliant ideas. We try our absolute best to meet up with each other at the same time and work well around out timetables. Although, we have different timetables so it can be difficult to meet up with each member of our group, but like I said before we try our absolute best to meet up with each other. So far it has worked pretty well.

I do feel myself that we are on schedule to complete the R&P, however it will be as close to the deadline I think as we have so much to do with very little time. The storyboard probably should have been well under way but that is on the way to being completed soon.

Script

The script also known as "screenplay", is the most important thing we need during our filming process. The actors, directors and film crew need it so they know what exactly is being filmed, what action is going to be happening at pacific time in the film, and where it is going to be filmed. The script is mainly the lines of dialogue in which the actors need to learn.

On the script it also has the stage directions, and what facial expressions they should have when stated in the script. During filming the film crew (us) will have the script and reading through it so we know that what we are filming and what the actors are doing and saying is correct.

So, here is our script for our film "Illusion".

Final Script for Illusion of Existence

Props Research

Here is the formal props list for all the props we will be using in our film. We will take this list with us when when we go to film so we know what props to use in a particular scene of the film.

Props List - Justice Productions

I'll speak about a few of these props that we chose to have a certain look about them.

The Chipped/Stained Mug:
We wanted to use a older looking mug in the film to show her carelessness and that she doesn't really care or feel the need to buy anything new if she has no one to impress so she carries on using the same mug.

The Tatty Handbag:
This is again used for the same reason as the mug. She's had it a long time and doesn't feel the need to replace it for any reason.

Stack Of Folders:
The folders will be messy and look unorganized as she carries them, we wanted to show that again she doesn't really care and she does what she can to get by in the world.

Apple
When we came up with the idea that Mallory will be eating an apple and her dropping it we were looking at the apple from Disney's Snow White. She eats the apple and then dies, in our case the apple represents the death of Peter.

iPhone
Because she has an iPhone which is typical expensive device, this subverts the idea of Mallory being shown as not so wealthy.

Laptop
Like the iPhone, the laptop will be expensive looking rather new and well looked after. This again proves the point to the audience that she is rich and has lots of money, but she spends most of her money on practical objects rather than spending money on stuff to make her appearance look great. The audience sees this through all the new things she has and compares them to the old things she owns, seeing her true priorities.

Keys
The keys will be rather tangled with a few key rings on them. This shows that she may have a lot of responsibility if she has a chain full of keys. It also shows her to maybe have a good memory as we see her walking out the door and locking the door. She knows straight away which keys are here's.

Risk Assessment

As part of our film planning we had to consider all the risks we would have to be aware of when filming on locations. So to do this we had to complete a risk assessment, which shows all the risks and how they will be controlled:

Location Risk Assessment A2

Costume Research

When looking at each characters costume choices, we began to look at how we would want them seen on screen and how their costumes could be seen by an audience member. We first began to look towards the Male lead character who we wanted a costume that wouldn't give away too much of his character.

Having the character dress in all black with no dignifying clothing item or accessory, gives the audience a sense of mystery about him and want to know more about this character, giving them a shock when they find out his back story of his past and his death.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            Our female character in our film will have three costumes as we see her throughout the film. This will be in the form of a pair of Pajamas, an Everyday Outfit, and then an outfit when she decides that she'd like to reinvent herself. We liked the idea of her wearing darker reds with black/grey accessories, so she slides under the radar of anyone's attention.

When she has her personal transformation into her higher equilibrium we decided to move away from the autumnal colours we see her wearing throughout the film and go for a brighter and happier colour with a Blue dress. This is also showing the idea of a new life and moving on from darker times. Her hair will also change from being a lazy pony tail into her hair being down and made up and her glasses removed.

For our final character, we have our supporting male, who comes into the film at the end that creates the females higher equilibrium. We chose to dress him as different as we could from our male lead character to show the contrast in the personalities and future relationship of the two.

He is dressed alot smarter than the Male Lead, as though he was going to work also. We also chose a light blue shirt to match with our female character to make show a link between the two characters.

We've also had to make a costume plot for when we are on set and getting the characters costumes ready:

Costume Plot

Location Research

These are the photos of the locations we will be using to film our scenes in our short film. We all think that these locations are ideal and suitable to film at. Also it is easy for us all to get to, as we have accessible transport in the group.

Here is a photo of the first location we will be filming which is the female character's bedroom. It is quite a dark bedroom. When we see the bedroom for the first time it appears to be rather messy, and it looks like it's not well looked after. This shows that Mallory doesn't care about appearance. She doesn't care about appearance because there is none there to judge her on how tidy her bedroom is. The room will be rather dark, and won't be very lively with items of importance. This shows the idea of her maybe being old fashioned. She shows also by this that she is not caring for style but only for humbleness and the homely feel.

It may seem like a landfill to the audience, but to Mallory it's her normal bedroom. Around the bedroom will be photographs, and what looks like her friends and moments she's cherished when she used to socialize with her friends and party. This shows that there is still a part of her, that doesn't want to be the boring person she is now, and constantly working all the time. Her bed will be made perfectly on the one side to show that she is alone. However, the fact that she has got a double bed shows that she hopes one day that someone would fill that empty space. The room will look really clean and like a proper bedroom the next time we see it, which suggests to the audience that she has a sudden change of heart. The male's death showed her that life is short and you make the most of it, by having a social life for example. Her clothes and bedroom reflect this.

The room will be easily accessible to all the production team members, as it would be a good way of representing the female character with a few additions and changes. In the bedroom there is limited space, so we would have to limit the amount of camera equipment we will need for us to able to film.

Here is a photo of the outside of the house. As you can see here this is a fairly big sized house and clearly looks like more than one person is living here. When the audience find out that only Mallory lives here, it builds up sympathy for this character in the way that she is well of with her finances but she spends it on things that make her appear to seem desperate for someone to live and share with her. Also, she comes across as hopeful and dreamy as if one day her house would be like this if she had a family or if she had boyfriend. This house shows that she'd rather spend her money on things she would need in the future, instead of things she needs to get where she wants to be. An example of this would be nice clothes to allow her to meet someone she likes. This location is easy for us all production team members to get to, and of course there will be loads of space for us as it is located in a cul-de-sac, meaning there won't be many vehicles driving down here.

 We will also be filming in the dining room. As you can see this is just a plain, and small dining room with nothing that stands out, or anything fancy, it is just a plain dining room, which shows that she is a very plain and not very interesting person. There will be loads of paperwork on the table and on the floor which will look very disorganized and messy, which will also show that she doesn't care much about the appearance of her home. Also it shows that she is alone, and that she has no one to impress or any visitors.

Here are some photos of the second location we will be filming at.

As you can see in these photos there is a large main road with a path on the side. Next to it is quite a big field. The scene we will be filming here is when the female character bumps into the male character and when she drops her bags. The two characters will be engaging in conversation, and when they say goodbye to each other and they both go in the opposite directions, the female character turns around and sees that he has completely gone.

The reason we have decided to film in this location is because there is lots of space, and it is virtually clear to the audience that there is no place that this male character can hide within the amount of time between when they both go in the opposite direction and from when she turns around. So this leaves the audience wondering how this character disappeared in such a short amount of time, with no side roads or bushes to quickly hide into.

Location is a vital part of a film, and we feel that this street location would set the realistic, mystery mood we want in our film. Not many people walk round here, so this adds more mystery as to exactly why this mystery male character walks down there. This location will be good in setting the mystery and realistic atmosphere and the element of mystery in the males' mystery as to why exactly he is walking down there. This location will be easy for us all as a group to get to as we have accessible transport from one of member's in the group.

The only thing we will all have to be careful with is that we will need to be aware of cars driving on the road, so if any of us cross the road we will need to take extra care especially as at times we will be carrying expensive filming equipment. We will be covering this in the risk assessment that we will later carry out in the preparation process. 

Now here are some photos of the third location we will be filming at:

 In these photos shows a park with massive open fields. This is the scene where the female character is sitting on a bench and she hears the sound of a male voice which is the voice of the male character who she bumped into in road location. This is an ideal location once again because like with the second location there is lots of open space, but with this location there is even more open space. There will be an establishing shot of the park.









As you can see more clearly in this photo there is lots of open space.

So in this scene the similar event will happen again with them both talking then walking in the opposite direction, only for her to turn around seconds later to see that he has completely vanished. It will become clear to the audience that there is literally no place for this male person to hide or go in the amount of time between when they go in the opposite directions and when the female character turns around. The location allows us to show the that there is something not quite right about this mystery male character. This location will be fairly easy to get to due to the accessible transport we have in our group.



Here are some photos now of the fourth location we will be filming at:

This photo shows a part of a shop. Past here is the train where the female character will be making her way to. So we will simply film her walking past this shop. This should be fairly easy to film, and also simple to get to.

The female character will be shopping here and will bump into the male character once again, but it would be hard to show the disappearance of the male character.

The only other issues with filming here is that as this is popular shopping place, quite a few people will be shopping here and of course may get in the way of the camera during filming. Also we would need rights to film here.




Now here is the final location we will be filming at. Here are some photos of the location.

These photos show the train station where we will be filming. The scene that we will film which happens at this location will see the male character and the female character once again engage in conversation, after she hears the same male voice again asking about the train times when she is looking at the train timetable.

As they engage in conversation, the female wonders off to the train timetable asking the male character what train he was getting and where he was going. But when he doesn't reply she turns around and sees that he has vanished.



For the third time the audience is left wondering where this male character went and how he dissapeared in the amount of time between when she walked to the train timetable and turning around. In these photos you can clearly see that there is nowhere for him to hide.

This location is also easy for us to get to as we have accessible transport from one of our members in the group. We would have to take extra care when filming as we are by a train track, and trains will be passing at arriving times stated on the timetable.

Film Treatment

Here is the treatment of our film giving every single detail of what happens in the film.

Film Treatment

Identified Target Audience

In this post I am going to be identifying the different British Board of Film Classifications. I will be looking at how our film compares to the BBFC. I will also identify our target audience and give an example of a person who would would be a typical target audience member. 

Our Target Audience Member 

This is Kate Marshall. She is a British female twenty years old and a student at Staffordshire University and studies English literature, as she has a major interest in English, she also enjoys studying different drama texts and plays.

She has a band income of £3000 a year through her part time as a factory assistant. She is a regular user of the book sharing website Scribd. She has a good family background and has been bought up really well by her parents. She has two sisters and two brothers, so she has quite a big family. Her favourite films include "The Note Book" and"Time traveler's Wife" (2009). These films are all drama and romance genres are what she would take the much interest in.

Her hobbies include going out with her friends to the cinema and other places, also she enjoys going shopping with her mates as well.  

BBFC 

As part of our film we have to identify an appropriate British Board of Film Classification for our film, so therefore we had to look at all the BBFC classifications. Here is a link to all the different British Board of Classifications from my AS media blog last year.

http://www.tdbmediagwhs2014.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/identified-target-audience.html 

Our British Board of Film Classification is a PG, so therefore it is a parental guidance film.

Now for the target audience of our film the age range is going to be 14-45 with the gender being female. The ethnicity is going to be British and their income level is going to be part time/middle class jobs. For their education they would of been to university. Their film tastes will be drama, thriller and romance.

The ways they view films is Internet streaming, low key film festivals, limited cinemas. The way they would find out about the film is mainly YouTube in the trainers, adverts on DVDs before the film begins or on a film site when people are searching for new and upcoming films.

Existing Film Analysis

So to find out that our target audience would like our film, of course we did some research of some other films with a similar target audience to ours that likes them films.

Night At The Museum

The Time Traveler's Wife

These two films are similar to our film as they both have the same/similar target audience. With the film The Night At The Museum, the target audience is mainly female, and consists of the similar age range as ours.

The film "The Time Traveler's Wife" also has the same target audience, as it is accessible to all age ranges but mainly females due to it being a romance drama.



    

Final Idea Pitch

Now we as a group had agreed on our final film idea, it was time to pitch it to the commissioner (Mr Hood). At the end of our pitch we would all know if our film was to be commissioned or not. So to see how our film pitch went and what advice our commissioner gave us in order to make our film plan better watch this video below:



So first of all lets begin with the main positive: Our film was commissioned first time round.

Now lets recap some of the points, positives and negatives that were bought up in our pitch and some of the advice that was given to us in order to improve our film plan:

The first few positives made were that we would be able to pick our actresses easily, location was good but just need to be aware of the health and safety. So prior to the health and safety the risk assessment is a task we need to get sorted.

Now the first point that was bought up was the location. We were told that the location at particularly when the female character turns round and the male character has disappeared is a vital part of our film. As we need to make it clear that there are no exits for this male character, as people might misunderstand this part of the film.

So prior to this point the timing of the cuts and the editing was bought up as well as we were told that this is going to be key to our film, as to whether these sequences work or not.

A point that was suggested to us for our film was having a level of narrative. This was suggested so there could be an added level of pity for this female character so that audience could feel some kind of pity and sympathy her. It would also be good as we there would be a bigger contrast in emotions the audience will feel in the film as it is happy when she meets this person, but it's later not real. There was also a suggestion to have a short narrative at the start of the film as well when she wakes up.

The next point that was bought up was the costume and bedroom representation, and how we were going to use all of this to represent her as someone who doesn't quite follow the path as everybody would all want ourselve and someone who is alone and doesn't have a partner. So we told our commissioner that we are going to have the girl dressed in a big, thick, cardigans, with sunglasses. For her bedroom we said that we were thinking of having a double-bed and putting it on one side and having her bedroom look like a confined space so that it looks like no one could live there.

Referring to this point and the narrative, a suggestion was made to us of after the girl finds out that the male character is not real, and she wakes up the next morning, instead of her going through her usual routine of getting her cardigan and putting her nerdy sun glasses on, she should glamor herself up and bumps into someone who turns out to be real. This was suggested as it would be a very effective way to close the narrative, as the audience would know that the female character is fine and okay.

Our commissioner was concerned about our target audience range of 18 to 30. So we said that we thought that the age of characters within that age range would be relatable to them. Our commissioner then said but why wouldn't someone over the age of 30 who is about 38 for example not find our film interesting. We also said that some films have young female lead and young male lead characters in them and referred to an example of the film "Tom Traveller's Wife".

We were given advice to increase our target audience a little bit more.

Overall our film pitch went really well. We've just got to develop our narrative a bit more and increase our target audience a little bit.

R&P Schedule

Before we could even get our film commissioned we had to decide on the schedule for our filming process in order for all of our jobs given to be done, completed and discussed with each other on time, for the deadlines given. Here is a timetable showing who will be completing what when:

My Member's Short Film Pitches

Tom Bentley (me): Separation

This is my (Tom Bentley) short film pitch I did. The name of my short film is "Separation".

    

My Own Evaluation

I think I did really well with my film pitch, and presented to the rest of class very well, as I was confident and was speaking clearly. I think my story was a really good idea, and I think I came up with a good target audience.

Feedback

The first question I was asked was how does the brother know that the girl he mugs down the alley is his long-lost twin sister. So I explained that to the group. Secondly I was asked how I was going to show the separation at birth, so there was suggestion of possibly a narrative in an establishing sequence as he is traveling to work, which was suggested by Mr. Hood.

Finally I was asked how I was going to get twenty-five year old actors. So I responded to this by saying maybe getting teachers in the school who are in their high twenty's, who look about twenty-five to film if they have enough time. Someone though in the group suggested making the age lower, to around eighteen, as it would be easier to get actors that age. It would also be a good idea as the mugging, and stealing elements that would be in my film are more associated with youth.

Overall I delivered a fluently well, presented film pitch to the rest of the class, with useful feedback from the group.

Lucy Smith: Puzzle Pieces

This is Lucy Smith's film pitch that she did. The name of her short film is "Puzzle pieces".

Evaluation

We liked the idea of how Lucy called it an "Indie" styled film where boy meets girl in the end. This would of been different to the other short films that we have looked at as it would be in the indie style filters. However, we did think it may be a little too simplistic for us as if we chosen some of the elements they may need to have been changed or made more exciting like that of a short film. The location was another concern as we would have to film in a big city meaning we would have high risk factors of equipment and busy times in a city.

Jack Parkes: Replay

This is Jack Parkes' film pitch that he did. The name of his short film is "Replay".

Evaluation 

The film idea was innovative and would be easy to have a comparison as professional film that in some ways has similar features to the idea that has been pitched. The way in which we could use the shot types to represent the bully getting hit in the film would also be good as we can imply things without showing it. Also the location would be ideal for us to films it is at the school. We did however think that the ending may be a little cliche with the bully getting hit by a car due to the conversion of the nerd's powers which he uses for bad. We would have to consider an alternative ending if we chose this film as we wanted to steer away from cliche. 

Charlotte Billingham: The Illusion of Existence 

This is Charlotte Billingham's film pitch that she did. The name of her short film is "The Illusion of Existence".

Evaluation 

The storyline of this film was great and would be interesting to a wide audience. There wouldn't be a worry to find many actors for this film as there isn't many actors needed in the film. There is a typical twist in the short film which many short films have, which we found when we did research, would be appealing to the audience. The only worry though with this film was the problems we would have with location safety with it being by roads and having to find a specific road that is right for the film and representation of the film. 

Production Team Name

Our decided production team name is "Justice" productions. We all found it rather difficult to come up with this name, but the way in which we came up this name is that we thought of scales which has a relation to balancing. In the end we came up with the name "Justice" as we want to do Justice to our film.

This is our production team logo:

Introduction to our Production Team

We all started off by completing a prelimary task which involved filming a one and a half minute long documentary. This group we was put into was just a test for our teacher Mr. Hood and our group members to see how well we all work together as a filming group. Our production team name is Justice productions.

Our group members for our prelimary task and now for our upcoming final product are:

Myself (Tom Bentley)

I am a very hard working person and contribute alot to the rest of the group. I always show a lot of commitment and share my ideas with the rest of our production team. I am very good at filming techniques such as different camera movements. I also show a great stength in editing on the software. An example of this I show a good strength with is the titles.

Areas Of Improvement?

I think my areas for improvement are just to practise more with the use of camera, and to practise more with the updated software of the Final Cut. Also a main filming technique that myself and the rest of our production team need to work on is the focusing.




Jack Parkes:

Jack Parkes is a very hard working person to work with and a real joy to our team. He communicates well with us all and brings a lot of interesting ideas. He has got very good filming skills involving a lot of camera techniques such as focus pulling. He has got technical skills which are a very good standard particularly with the software used to edit the film. Jack contributes to the rest of the group always and shows a lot of a commitment to our production team.

Areas Of Improvement?

I honestly don't think there are any areas for improvement other than the fact that Jack and the rest of us need to practise more on the camera techniques of focusing which occured as his and all of the rest of our production teams's weakness.


Charlotte Billingham:


Charlotte Billingham is a joy to work with. With her good contribution and commitment to the group she is a very good member to work with. She communicates really well with the rest of our group, and brings new interesting ideas always to the rest of us. She's also got good camera techniques and editing software techniques. An example of a good camera techniques she shows alot of strength with is the focus pulling which was an example of a filming technique we used in our preliminary task. An example of a good editing technique is the titles. She creates some interesting titles, edits them and puts them together in a very professional way.

Areas Of Improvement?

The areas of improvement for Charlotte is the same for Jack and the rest of our production members, is that we all need to practise more on the focusing in our filming stage which was our main weakness when completing the preliminary task.


Lucy Smith:

I also enjoy working with our other member of our production team Lucy Smith. She contributes a lot to the group and shows a lot of commitment. She communicates well with the rest of us and always comes up with new and interesting ideas. She's a very good director and clear with her instructions. As well as the rest of our group members and myself, she is also good at filming techniques with the camera and also good at the editing stage using the software. An example of a good filming technique she shows is the focus pulling. With the editing stage onj the software an example of where she did well with this was when she was editing the sound.

Areas Of Improvement?

I wouldn't say there was a major area for improvement but just the minor area which is the same for the rest of us like I mentioned before with the focussing on the filming. This area of weakness is an area in which we will all as a production team work on and improve.

Documentary Evaluation

 Here is our litter documentary that we filmed:



I think that our documentary went extremely well. I thought that it flowed very well, and was fluent throughout.

First of all the very first strength of this documentary was the establishing shot. I thought that this shot panned very well and was very smooth. The second strength of our documentary was that we had a really good focus pull at 0.11 into the documentary. This was really effective as it the focus pull allowed the litter on the wood to be in focus, so this would then gain the audience's attention.

The other part of this task that I think we did really well with was the title coming onto the screen at 0.15 introducing the names of the bird watchers. It came on at a steady speed and was at the right place on the screen as it was on the bottom of the screen and was on the left side of the screen which was right under Lucy's face, this would enable the audience to focus on the title and the person talking. Also I thought that Lucy was in focus very well and the background was blurred out slightly drawing the audience's attention to Lucy who was talking.

At 0.36 into the documentary there was an interview of Tom (me) talking about his litter picking, and I thought the shot of that was done extremly well as Tom (me) was in focus and the background was blurred out so therefore the audience would be drawn to the litter picker who was talking. I also thought that the insert shot at 0.42 was really well shot and completely relevant as to what Tom (me) was talking about. It was in focus well as well.

The title at the end was really effective as well as the font and size of it was appropiate and easy for the audience to understand. It was good as well how we came up with the name of the title "LitterALLY RUBBISH" as when you say it, it is like "literally rubbish" almost. But it matches as we got the word "litter" and put "ally" on the end to make the word "litterally", to make it sound almost like "literally".

The first weakness was the establishing shot as one of our peers thought it went on a little too long.  The second weakness of this documentary was that at 0.20 into the documentary which was a insert shot there was a focus pull in there which didn't go well as it was in focus firstly and then as the focus pull happened it went blurry.

Another weakness was that when we did a shot of a plastic bag in a bush it wasn't that much in focus as the bush in front of it was more in focus. Also I think it wasn't much in focus because it was behind the bush so you could hardly see it. Another weakness was that when we shot some more litter it was by some small rocks, and the rocks were more in focus than the litter.

This video here shows what other people thought of our documentary:

Improvements:

1. To add in credits at the end, so that the audience knows who made it, directed it etc. 
2. Shorten the establishing shot.
3. Create a realistic representation of the characters so that they look the part (props included).
4. Practice with the manual focus.
5. Collect a variety of shots rather than similar subject ones. 
6. Make less use of the manual focus and try using auto focus and full focus.

FCP X Training

We are now using a new version of Final Cut Pro. The reason we are now using new software for the editing process of our film, is that it has more updated advanced features, which enables us to edit our film and make it even more interesting to watch. We can also edit our film in a more professional way. An example of a feature in which you can do on the updated final cut is that you can take out part of a clip and then add another part into it.

So this is the software that we will be using to edit our documentary footage. We will also use this software to add in the titles in our documentary. As this software has been updated we had to start practising on it and learning about the new techniques you can do on it.

This is a list of all the commands we had to learn for the new Final Cut Pro.

This is what Final Cut Pro X looks like. This is what we will be using to edit our documentary footage in add titles into our documentary.

Inserting clips into the timeline:

Now we have got our clips we now have to divide them up into folders so we could easily find them. An example of how we did this was we divided the B-roll and interviews with the people at Chasewater. 

How to add name captions

Name captions are used a lot in documentaries particularly to show the name of the person who is being interviewed and the description of their job. So for example the job title ('Litter Picker') might be shown to show what their job title is. This is usually at the beginning of the interview over the top of the head shot of the person or people being interviewed.

To do this you have to add an image over the top of the clip under the tab called 'titles'. When you have done this, it is then attached to the image as seen in the next images for a certain amount of time (enough time for the audience/reader to read it).

And here is how it looks when we did this in our documentary

As you can see the local picker's name and job title is stated in a caption in the lower third of the shot.

How to add a film title 

The way to do this was basically the same method as it was with the captions. We selected the font style and format of our title and then we added it to the end of our documentary.

This is our chosen title layout.

Linking audio to clips

 

In this image you can clearly see that the sound is attached to the main timeline of clips. This allows us to attach the audio we recorded separately on the on location recording kit. As the audio was separate to the on screen action from the digital SLR camera it allowed us to get the sound more clearly, than if we used the sound captured on the on screen action from the digital SLR camera. If the audio is clear and easy for the software to match it to the clips, then most of the audio syncs to the clips.

Now this is what our final product should like on the timeline as you can see in the shot below, with the main footage in the middle with the jump shots, audio and music at the top and the bottom of the main timeline.

DSLR Training

For our preliminary tasks we were all put into groups and had to shoot a documentary about a litter. We were given this task which involved the use of the new cameras the DSLR's cameras. Before we could start shooting with these new cameras, we firstly had to learn how to use them. There was some tutorials of how to use the cameras on the blog. There is an improvement with DSLR's than AS as these are more manual which gives you an opportunity to control the cameras more professionally.

Examples of how these cameras are better is that you can control the amount of light exposure, by altering the different elements such as the shutter speeds, apertures and the ISO.

It is also a good camera because it is a small sized camera  so you can therefore take it anywhere with you easily.

Here is a video tutorial of the DSLR camera:


When I watched this video tutorial of the DSLR camera it helped to understand how to control the camera and how to alter the different settings on the camera in order for how we want to film it. I also learnt new manual controls on this camera such as aperture, shutter speeds and the ISO. It was good for me the watch the video tutorial before the lesson of the introductory of the new camera as I already knew how to control most of the controls of the camera before the lesson. So I would understand more of what the teacher would tell us about these cameras.

Here is a photo of the new DSLR camera we now use:

During the shooting process of our preliminary task when we had to shoot a documentary about litter, our shooting sessions went extremely well and we particularly did a very good focus pull. The only part we struggled on at times during this shooting session was the exposure and the focusing.

GWHS Short Film Festival

At our school between our media students we all presented our short films we had researched in the film festival.

Here are the short films:

Daniel Vidmar's Film:
Film Name: Inside
Rating: Pitch-3    Quality of Film-9




Deanna Hopps
Film: Post it
Rating:     Film-8
                Pitch-6



Tilly Whitehouse's Film:
Film Name: One Man's Loss
Rating:   Film: 8
              Pitch: 6



Charlotte Billingham's Film:
Film Name: Waste
Director:
Duration: 9min 43secs
Rating: 8-Film
             8-Pitch



Jack Parkes's Film:
Film Name: Writer's Block
Director:
Rating: 8-Film
           10-Pitch



Lucy Smith's Film:
Film Name: Dead Girl
Rating: 8-Film
             9-Pitch



Dan Springthorpe's Film:
Film Name: Awake
Rating:    8-Film
               5-Pitch



Sam Lenton's Film:
Film Name: Knowing Too Much
Rating:      10-Film
                    8 -Pitch



Tina Vidmar's Film:
Film Name: Time
Rating:         10-Film
                       4-Pitch
Duration:



Cameron Hargreaves:
Film Name: Alone
Director: Brock Torunski
Duration: 6.10
Rating:         8-Film
                     6-Pitch



I think my favourite short film was the 'Writer's Block' because it had a good story in it and made me feel interested in it. I also like the animation as it thought it was very good and very quick, furthermore the fact that the characters read the script is quite good. A very good film. The winner of the film festival was Deanna Hopps with her film 'Post It'

Best Film!

I think the film 'Perfect life', should be the best film because it is very tense with great use of technical elements, directed by Jared Lee.

More initial film research

I found three more examples of short films.

The first one I found was called 'Perfect life'



The target audience, I think would range from 18 to 30 as it is someone who has a family. What's good about this short film is it is very tense. The shot where the the thief appears suddenly makes it even more tense and scary. Also the many uses of close ups and extreme close ups made it more tense. The quick cut editing made the pace more quicker which helped this short film to be even more tense.

Her is another example of a short film called 'A Child'



The target audience for this film I think would be 12 to 16. What's good about this film is that the paced cut editing is really good and the camera movements are also good.

And her is the last example of a short film I found called 'Ecuador'

The target audience in my opinion would be 12. What's good about this film is that the cut editing is really sharp and snappy, which helps to make this short film very tense. Also the many used over the shoulder shots represents he is the bigger and stronger one.

Initial Short Film Research

In todays lesson we had to watch three short films and evaluate them. The three short films we watched were 'Strangers', 'What's virgin mean', and 'Black hole'. A short film is not long enough to be a feature film, as these films may last under fourty minutes.

The first one we watched was 'Black hole'



The target audience for this short film would be teenagers. What was good about this short film was that it was intriguing and interesting as it focused on this black hole, also the many use of close up shots, and editing of the cutting shots made it more interesting as well.

Audience would find it appealing because it's a mystery of how this black hole exists and it's also something very interesting.


The second short film we watched was 'What's virgin mean'.

Here is the short film 'What's virgin mean'



The target audience for this film would be teenagers. What was good about this short film was it was funny and very comedic. The awkwardness and wonder of this short film made it more interesting. Also the double mean which was the twist at the end of the short film.


The third short film we watched was 'Strangers'

Here is the short film 'Strangers'



The target audience for this film would be teenagers. What was good about this film was the extreme close-ups. As it made the tension rise. The editing cuts between the two enemies helped to increase more tension.