Final Cut!

That's right even with all our problems we managed to get it in on time!!

The Media Vlog - WITH MARKERS

Throughout the making of this film we encountered a lot of problems. This is why I made a vlog capturing these problem  and how we overcame them. However I understand that this blog is very long as it does capture everything so I have made markers for each day and will be making markers for problems within my evaluation.

THE MARKERS FOR ALL THE PROBLEMS:

- 0:32 Fixing light - 1:23 Cleaning wheelchair- 1:51 Getting people and Reflector - 2:06 Van In the way of the house- 2:40 Cleaning - 3:15 Makeup- 3:30 Wheelchair dolly- 4:10 Improvised lighting - 5:08 Wrap and Solo filmmaking - 6:04 Editing - 7:30 Not enough crew- 7:50 End off school- 8:37 Soaked actor - 9:00 Bathroom walking - 9:22 Reflection time!- 11:01 Wrong angle - 11:26 Colour correction change - 12:50 Fence problems - 13:40 Fence explained - 14:45 After effects - 16:14 Field locked - 16:38 Stolen costume - 17:18 Makeup- 19:35 Can't film outside shots - 21:00 Don't use shinny spray - 22:27 Re-creating set - 23:01 Set team acting/can't open window - 23:40 Lighting - 24:39 Shots to fill gaps/window- 25:01 Window - 26:20 DELAY and ill - 27:18 After effects glow- 28:21 Still ill and gun arrest- 29:15 Re-Edit- 30:12 Gun confiscation - 31:15 Getting gun- 31:37 Gun still- 32:50 Editing and hard drive crash - 34:13 Story change - 35:39 Missed Mock Exam- 36:00 Credits - 37:37 Blog

Semi-Final Cut

The reason this is our Semi-Final cut is because we feel that the new opening shot is out of time with the rest. To change this I will have shorten both so that is doesn't mess up the pacing of the shots. Excluding the first shots pacing we are happy with the final product because even with all the changes we feel they were necessary and improved our opening dramatically.

Changes To The Storyline & Title

Through talks with our teacher examining the rough cuts of our opening we found that our original storyline didn't really hold. The old and young man didn't look similar enough for them to conceivably be the same person. This changed the whole of our original  premise. However we discussed what was feasible considering the opening is 95% done and came up with the idea that the young soldier is the old man's best friend who died in the war. This would explain the PTSD and the flashbacks he was having, and would explain away how different the characters looked. Because of this we wouldn't keep the names we were playing around with as they all centred around the idea that the two characters were the same person (e.g. a War on Two Fronts). We came up with a couple of names to fit the bill including for example guilt and corrupt memory but eventually through lots of group discussions settled on 'Conscience'. We like this title as it incorporates the guilt, and flashbacks and eludes and creates suspicion in regards to the rest of the film. 

Credit to Mariella.

Survey: Audiences Response

Survey: Audiences Response

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/DG7NVMC

This is a survey we made once we finish our film opening, so that we can get an effective and easy to handle response as if we to make a paper based copy most people would not fill it out as well as it would prolong the process of the working out the results. The questions that we have included in the survey are what are group best think will give us the most relevant feedback that we need. We will then analyse the results once a good amount of people have watched our opening and stated their opinion of it. These responses will allow us to see if we have met our targets initially set for our group.

Credit to Katy Ward.

Full Cast Roles

Full Cast Roles

Crew
Director -  George Turner
Editor - George Turner
Cinematographer - Mariella Devoil
Producer - Mariella Devoil
Assistant Director - Mariella Devoil
Production Manager - Katy Ward
Art Director - Katy Ward
Hair & Makeup - Mariella Devoil & Mellisa Askew
Costume - Katy Ward
Props - George Turner & Tamara 
Researcher - Katy Ward
Location Scout - Katy Ward
Location Help - Donald & Sheila Turner
Catering - Sheila Turner

Runners / Assistants -
Louise Tomas
Katherine Packer
Shawnean Milton

Special Thanks - Simon Ford & Kate Brown & The Postman

Cast 
Old Man - Frazer Camp
Young Soldier - George Turner
Stunt Man - Ed Cummings

All above credit To Mariella Devoil

Obviously we can't credit these people in the opening sequence like we did in our drafts because it makes the film look unprofessional due to the mentions in it. This mean't that I as the editor only used some peoples names in order to have more than the four-five main people involved. These people were not given roles but instead were put there as their part played in the making of the film was important. For example I used Melisa because the makeup was essential.

Forth Rough Cut Of Our Opening & Improvements To Be Made

• Text change to white not green
• 'Producer and Cinematographer - Mariella Devoil'
• Change title
• Make up production companies -> Copyright issues
• Smaller/ Subtler names
• Consistent placement of names in the bottom left hand corner
• more of a match on action on Frazer on the water scene
• Include the bucket shot?
• 'Set team' take this out  - too ammeter
• Names don't need to be true
• Include surnames
• Aspect Ratio change?

Credit to Mariella for the list

The text is always an issue in this opening because we wanted it broken and jittery but does prove hard to read. To overcome this I made the text bigger however this resulted in the titles being to 'in your face' and taking away from the actual story. To overcome this we are changing the colour to white instead of yellow/green so that it is a bit easier to read. Mariella also wanted to be credited for everything so I have to change that. We also changed the title to Conscience because our previous title is not linked well to our new storyline. I am also keeping the text consistently in the corner because otherwise it is distracting. I again used 'Lionsgate' and I will have to change that to 'Tigersgate' because of copyright grounds. I would change the aspect ratio however it looks ridiculous with the genre of film we chose.

Third Rough Cut Of Our Opening & Improvements To Be Made

• Shot of Frazer looking out the window is still too long
• Sound compression is off, sound effects too loud, backing track too quiet
• At the beginning the gun sound effects should start quiet, and one loud explosion should trigger him waking up

Credit to mariella for the list

For the sound I decided to bring the sound effects down and boost the soundtrack because it seems lost in all the other noise. The to build up the tension my group wanted a build up of noise until he wakes up.

Second Rough Cut Of Our Opening & Improvements To Be Made

• Production companies at the beginning
• Better pacing at the beginning
• No shot variety- of Fraser waking up
• More intercutting - so the audience know right away that it is PTSD 
• No Soundtrack
• POV shot of washing the hands
• Motivation of movement
• Need actual titles
• Hold the flashback and forward shots for an extra second each - the audience is too confused - the cutting is too quick
• Frazers reaction to the flashback in the mirror 
• Inc a shot of the house not exploded
• Inc a sound that makes Frazer want to look out of the window
• Frazer looks out of the window for 3 seconds too long - more consistency in lengths of shots
• The pacing lacks any consistency 
• More high / low / canted / distance - more shot variation
• Maybe needs something at the very beginning  
• Needs more engagement of the character

Credit to Mariella for the list

When I got this list of improvements I immediately looked into what production companies and directors put at the start of their feature films because I wanted to either make out own fake production company or if we lack time just put a name. The pacing was tricky because initially the film was jumping through days but due to complications we decided not to do that, This meant that I had to shorten shots especially the opening ones because they took up a good 25% of the opening. The shot variety was by far my biggest concern because Mr.Ford wanted the shots to always be dead still because otherwise it would show bad camera work. However when on set I decided that we could get away with having a hand held shot if done correctly so I grabbed a few from various distances and the extreme close up worked really well because it varied from the other shots and showed the panic in the character. The intercutting could only be done after our next shoot but will be there in the final film. For the soundtrack I got Katy to research 1940's music continuing on from my earlier research and to pick her three favourites then we picked our favourite two and I dragged each one onto the timeline just hearing the soundtrack without my mix of sound effects. This allowed us to better decide on which we preferred In the end I mixed together my music mix and 'My Little Sunshine' because the upbeat contrasted well and the ending line suited the scene perfectly. The flashback scene didn't mix well so I added in another shot which linked the two together. This allowed for a quick link to be made between the scenes and would avoid the audience being confused. I also have started work on the actual titles and I added in another shot which I felt was needed on set which was Frasers reaction to the flashback. This avoided a reshoot. Instead of just showing the house not exploding I decided to reverse it to provide an imaginary effect denoting that its in his head. For the sound to make him go to the window my group suggested a car however I felt that if we were to go to the window every time we heard a car we would be more like a dog. Therefore I used an air raid siren which would link to the explosion and create tension when the noise builds up. 

The Cameo!

So, due to our younger actor not being on set I had to take the lead role because Mariella with her hair tied back was not going to work. This meant that I had to make myself an actor profile and why I chose myself.

Name: George Turner
Age: 17
Occupation: A level drama student 
Previous work: Youtube videos on 'GeeEpic' and school productions

 The reason I chose myself is because my range of acting abilities are endless. I can range from miming a door to being a young soldier who meets his old best friend when returning from the dead. Furthermore I am reliable and am always on set, this is necessary because we fired the last guy who wasn't... anyway another reason is because of his understanding of film because of the vast amount of videos I have made. this meant that my movements were consistent and easy to edit compared to stage actors who change every scene.

Evaluation Questions For Our Opening Sequence

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



• How does your media product represent particular social groups?



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



• Who would be the audience for your media product?



• How did you attract/address your audience?



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



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

We have much much more skill in terms of lighting and movement shots than we did in our continuity task. 

Improving 'N' Painting Our Props

Yesterday during our single lesson we brought the spray paint as well as the props in as we wanted to make sure they looked authentic and fitted in with the theme and time period of our film. Therefore Katy and I used a hammer and made dents into the bucket so that it would look old/used. Then I then sprayed the bucket with primer/silver spray paint, to cover up the markings that were previously on it. After that I added a little black spray paint to add effect to the look, and as the paint was drying she used other materials to scratch/ mess up the pain to make the bucket look dirty and used.


Then to go into the transformation of the gun, it started off as orange however George decided that he wanted parts to look like more realistic, e.g wood and black metal, so we decided to cover the wood bits up with marking tape as Katy sprayed it. Katy painted the gun and after it was sprayed George added some silver bits of acrylic paint which we mixed up with black to make it darker to make it look even more authentic, this was are final outcome and process.





The last prop we improved was the sack to possibly go over our stunt actors head (undecided due to safety hazards). First I cut it in half as it would be too big on top of his head otherwise, and then I added black and green, in both light and dark shades, to make it look as if it was worn and used giving it more authenticity and a rustic effect.

Credit Mariella

Props

Today during our single lesson we brought the spray paint as well as the props in as we wanted to make sure they looked authentic and fitted in with the theme of our film. Therefore we used a hammer and made ​​dents into the bucket so that it would look old / used, Mariella then added primer / silver and black spray paint to add effect to the look, as the paint was wet she used other material to make the bucket look scratched / misused.

Then to go into the transformation of the gun, it started off as orange however George decided that he wanted parts to look like wood and the rest to be black so we decided to cover the wood bits up with marking tape as we sprayed it, we both contributed to painting the gun and after it was sprayed we added some silver bits of acyrlic paint which we mixed up with black to make it darker to make it look even more authentic, this was are final outcome and process.

The last prop in which we improved today was the sack which will possibly go over are actor head (undecided due to safety hazards), we cut it in half as it would be too big on top of his head otherwise and then added black and green both light and dark to make it look as if it has been used giving it more authenticity. Credit Katy Ward

Test Shots

Our test shots were purely to test our camera, location and our actor. Our actor was now able to experience the character on set for the first time after we had run through what we wanted. We discovered that our shots that involved camera movement would take a lot longer because we didn't have access to a dolly track or any stabilization equipment. This then lead to us having to use the tripod as fly cam tool. The problem with this is that it takes a lot of body movement to bring the camera down from the light, which creates the shaky camera. However the tracking shot from behind (mimicking a dolly shot) surprisingly worked well except for the framing where the head is cut off. Our lighting was poor in these shots due to us not having our lighting equipment.

Shot List

Scene 1
1. extreme close up- shifty eyes
2. medium shot, movement shot - young soldier running
3. medium shot, low angle, still - young soldier running
4. wide angle shot, still- soldier jumping down
5. close up, still - young soldier's face on the ground
Scene 2
6. close up, still, match on action ^ - old mans face
7. wide shot, still / dolly movement - old man sits up
8. extreme close up, still - water rushing out of a tap
9. extreme close up, still, match on action ^ - water rushing out of an old hose pipe
10. mid shot, still - pipe pouring water in to a rusted bucket
11. close up, high angle, still - old man splashes his face with water
12. close up, still, - [i have no idea whats going on in this shot]
13. close up, still, camera faces vertically upwards, match on action ^ - young mans face shoved and held in water. N / B camera will need to be in the water
14. close up, still - old mans hand gripping the basin
Scene 3
15. wide shot, dolly movement / still - old man walking his dog
16. medium shot, pan up - old man looks up (camera follows his gaze)
17. medium shot, pan down, match on action ^ - young man looks down (camera follows his gaze)
18. close up, still - barrel of gun, being shot, mussel flash
19. close up, tracking movement, match on action ^ - lit match to a candle / light bulb
Scene 4
20. medium shot, still - old man lights a candle out of shot (if light bulb this shot is not necessary)
21. medium close up, over shoulder, dolly forward movement - old man looks out of the window
22. close up, still - old man's face curios / knows somethings wrong
23. wide shot, still - though window you see the house opposite explode
24. mid shot, still - flashes between young and old man being horrified and scared
24. mid shot, still - flashes between old and young man being horrified and scared
25. mid shot, tracking movement - young man stumbles backwards
26. wide shot, still - back to house, now in smoke and still aflame
27. mid shot, still - old man falls into wheel chair
28. extreme close up, still - belts wrap around the old mans hands and hold him there, struggling
29. mid shot, low angel tilt, still / movement - young man in wheel chair freaking out
Scene 5
30. close up, still - belt strap becomes hand of carer
31. wide shot, tracking movement, over the shoulder - over young solider shoulder shows old man with a carer and another person
32. mid shot, still - young solider looking worried, watching
33. wide shot, still, over the shoulder - young soldier moves out of shot, old man's eyes following
34. wide shot, dolly movement (out) - slowly moving out, young solider walks half into shot and places his hand on the old mans shoulder. "Child, its time I told you my story": old man.
35. Cut to black. Name of film appears, then fades out.

Credit: Mariella

N / B every shot that is of the young man will be shot handheld, and every shot of the old man will be shot on tripod. This is so the audience are part of the young man's battle, therefore they will empathise with him more.

35 shots
5 scenes
2.5 ish mins
150 ish seconds