My role in the Prelim task was to mainly to work behind the scene such as the directing role with other team members. I found this role particularly rewarding and seeing the outcome would benefit us in filming the actual sequal of the opening scene and it meant that we would have a great deal of knowlege in creating our sequence in having our first hand experience in already filming and directing and for the actors acting.
My put in for the prelim was mainly behind the camera and this helped me a lot becuase i was also the camera person for the final product and i learnt mostly form the prelim and it helped me me to figure out how to use the camera and the tripods and all the equipements.
All my other team mates were also doing the same roles as me such as doing the camera work and directing and this was a pleasure for the outcome of the product as we exceeded our expectation and came out with an excellent Prelim task which everyone like and the audience enjoyed
By Amira Duale
Thursday 5 May 2011
Is your media product glamourising drug dealing?
By: Amira and Simona
In this Discussion with Simon (host) she asked me the question if our opening sequence was : Glamourising drug dealing to inform our youth that it wasnt all about the rough life but to inforn the audience that there is a better life rather than being in the streets and doing things you shouldn't be. In this discussion we discussed the facts that would occur after going through this such as :jail , death etc. Our audience were the main concern for our opening sequece because we would rather be a role model through our filming than an bad influence .
Ozzy our opening sequence we see the main charcter Ozyy have a rough upringing although he goes to school we see him also doing drugs part time whilst doing Art on the side. We see him sneaking out the door whilst Simona the character is doing her work (painting) here we see him quickly run out and she follows him, her reaction to him doing the drugs was not a good one. A close up of Simona's face in our sequence toward the end and she seemed so distressed, let down and shocked at the fact that she saw the boy that she liked was doing this behind her back and we instantly see Ozzy's face where the camera was a low angle shot insinuating the superiority of the character Ozzy and his influence to the youth.
In conclusion to the Question the host had given me my conclusion to it was that our ratings for this movie is 15 + and that was our final decision and we made it this age for a purpose that younger kids wouldnt be allowed to watch it because it entailed some drug/ violence. If we had the pleasure in creating the entire movie we would have seen Ash (Ozzy) the main character in a really dark misfortunate place and we would have seen him in a really a place that we would never want to any of our family/loved ones go through and this was the case for Simona. So glamourising drug deaing wasn't on our agenda on making this opening sequence but to rather inform the young ones out there who would be interested in our sequal.
By Amira Duale
Filming ! - Amira Duale
Videoing
My role as the camera person was to film the entire sequence this meant that i had to be able to have a hands on role in getting the sequence to my liking and as well as my team members. This meant i had to also direct some parts of the filming as well as Ash and see what he'd prefer and what actually looked good on the camera that i was looking through.
Process
At the beginning of the process of filming I used the larger camera this however changed during the filming as we saw it be very heavy and carrying it everywhere this was impossible to do and it would waste our time. However this camera was very precise in capturing the characters and making it more realistic and professional the editors of the opening sequel was Ash and Simona and they found editing with this camera very interesting because it was very professional looking and looked good.
Switching camera's
After Switching the cameras i have realised it was very good as an hand-he;d because it was very light and we didn't have to worry about it as much as the other one this was very good for me since i would be the one that would be carrying it everywhere. We also used tripods throughout the filming because we found it to be more steady than the actual camera it self, using it without a tripod was very convenient for us too because we wanted to get that realistic look such as the movies Kiddulthood and Adulthood.
Filming the sequel i found that it was interesting and very rewarding to the sequel and doing the right things such as the different shots together would be very easy for our editors. The camera that was used throughout the movie was a Legria fs200 -
My role as the camera person was to film the entire sequence this meant that i had to be able to have a hands on role in getting the sequence to my liking and as well as my team members. This meant i had to also direct some parts of the filming as well as Ash and see what he'd prefer and what actually looked good on the camera that i was looking through.
Process
At the beginning of the process of filming I used the larger camera this however changed during the filming as we saw it be very heavy and carrying it everywhere this was impossible to do and it would waste our time. However this camera was very precise in capturing the characters and making it more realistic and professional the editors of the opening sequel was Ash and Simona and they found editing with this camera very interesting because it was very professional looking and looked good.
Switching camera's
After Switching the cameras i have realised it was very good as an hand-he;d because it was very light and we didn't have to worry about it as much as the other one this was very good for me since i would be the one that would be carrying it everywhere. We also used tripods throughout the filming because we found it to be more steady than the actual camera it self, using it without a tripod was very convenient for us too because we wanted to get that realistic look such as the movies Kiddulthood and Adulthood.
Filming the sequel i found that it was interesting and very rewarding to the sequel and doing the right things such as the different shots together would be very easy for our editors. The camera that was used throughout the movie was a Legria fs200 -
By Amira Duale
Sound
We had to watch few films in order to be able to identify what non diegetic sound would fit in with our movie genre the best. The sound that we used was a free copyright sound, as we are just couple of student's which couldn't afford to buy a copyright for a well known song that we wanted. This soundtrack we found was very suitable, as it reflects Ozzy's lifestyle, as he is listening to the music in his earphones. We got influenced by the film which is called: "Get rich or die trying". The soundtracks for the film are very similar to the one that we used for our non diegetic sound. And the film involves crime as well, which we found relevant.
For our diegetic sound, we used a lot of atmosphere tracks, which we recorded in different places, but used for our shots. The original sound of our footage in some places didn't work or wasn't clear enough in order to be heard properly, this is why we used the atmosphere tracks in order for it to sound better and more clear, as well as more full in places, where as in some cases we needed the atmosphere track to be more quite than our original sound. Also if we used non-diegetic sound for our movie that isn't relevant, it might set the wrong atmosphere and confuse the viewers.
We used the original sound for our dialogue, as we found the voiceover just a little over the top. I don't know, it just did not work out, as our group agreed to leave the original sound for our dialogue. We only used a voice over at the moment when the character of Simona screams out "Ozzy!". Weirdly enough the rest of the sound was either non diegetic or the atmosphere track was used in order to set the atmosphere and make the narrative more clear and understandable.
By: Simona Larka 9575
Wednesday 4 May 2011
Tuesday 3 May 2011
Consent Form
Below is the text from the consent form we asked all the extras of our product to fill in.
I _________________________ give consent for A Freak Production to use any footage of me they film, for there purpose.
by Ash Khan
Signature____________________________
I _________________________ give consent for A Freak Production to use any footage of me they film, for there purpose.
by Ash Khan
Signature____________________________
Freak Production Logo
Our Freak Production Logo was created by me on Photoshop. The reason for a good logo is because if we were a real production company we would need a recognisable logo for our audience to be well known with.
Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the process from it to the full product? EVALUATION QUESTION 7
Our group, which involved 5 people did the preliminary task If I am not mistaking around the end of September, which was just right at the beginning of the year. All of us have learnt so much since then. The amount of information we have learnt, it is outstanding in my opinion. I have learnt, that there is so much more to it than justediting couple of shots together.
At the beginning of the year we learnt how to use lights and basic things about shot types and how we can apply it to the narrative.
At the beginning of the year we learnt how to use lights and basic things about shot types and how we can apply it to the narrative.
Thursday, 30 September 2010
Todays lesson!
Today we have looked at and experienced with many types of camera shots, lightning and different positions of it. 180degrees rule is also very important thing to remember in order to make the shot work. I have learnt that it is not up to characters and script but it is up to camera position to make the shot seem as you want it to seem! It also changes the mood of the shot. this gave me some experience and made me realise that you have to work hard to get everything done well.
Thursday, 9 September 2010
09/09/10 Second lesson
Today we have watched a drama scene and analysed the way it has been filmed, the way that lighting has been set up in order to bring out the main character from everything that is going on around them. I also have learnt that body language and clothing the character is wearing does introduce us to characters position in this scene! Either if it is the main character or maybe just a reporter, which in this case was less important character.
Important things to look at are:
Important things to look at are:
- Camera position
- Focus
- Location/ set
- Lighting ->key light
- ->back light
- ->fill light
- Body language, eye-line, performance
- Shot size and angle
All of these things are used to analyse a scene easier.
Theese are just posts that I posted on my Media AS blog in order to find out how much I have actually learnt from the process of making a 2 minute opening sequence with two group mates.
I went through the process of acting, filming, editing. I experianced with trying out many different shots and how they work with the story that we were trying to tell, in another words the narrative. And also not to forget, creating an opening sequence involved a lot more research than I ever thought. I have learnt how to use an IMac and video editor. I involved in editing the shots, so they flow together and tell the story. Also I was involved in sound editing, which my groupmate Ash did very well. We tried out recording a voice over for our lines, but sadly it worked well only at the moment, when the character simona screams out Ozzy's name. We started off by having 5 minutes of the footage, so we had to cut down two minutes of the visual edit. At first we thought that it is going to be very hard, but at the end it all worked out very well and we ended up having roughly 2 minute opening sequence.
As I was acting the role of Simona, I realised that having the wrong facial expression could change the all story and make a wrong impression to the audience, so I had to make sure that the acting suits with the genre, which in our case was social realism.
Filming the scenes and holding the camera still sometimes was very hard, asspecialy, when we filmed the high angle shot. We had to hold the camera very still, as if it wasn't still, it wouldn't look appropriate.
Also I have learnt how to work in a group, as we all were sharing the grade for the opening sequence, we tried to spend a lot of time filming it in order to get it right. We all tried our best in order not to bring the rest of the team and crue down.
By: Simona Larka 9575
As I was acting the role of Simona, I realised that having the wrong facial expression could change the all story and make a wrong impression to the audience, so I had to make sure that the acting suits with the genre, which in our case was social realism.
Filming the scenes and holding the camera still sometimes was very hard, asspecialy, when we filmed the high angle shot. We had to hold the camera very still, as if it wasn't still, it wouldn't look appropriate.
Also I have learnt how to work in a group, as we all were sharing the grade for the opening sequence, we tried to spend a lot of time filming it in order to get it right. We all tried our best in order not to bring the rest of the team and crue down.
By: Simona Larka 9575
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product? EVALUATION QUESTION 6
Technology used
Cameras: One of technoligies that I used within the process of filming the footage were two types of cameras. First camera that we did get to use, was a camera, which had very high quality,But the minus was that it was very heavy, and as we spent a lot of time holding the camera, we exchanged it to a smaller camera, which didn't have killer quality, but atleast it was more comfortable to carry around. So I have learnt that the big cameras are more heavy than they look! Also we had to keep camera in it's case, just incase if anybody would drop it. We also had to keep the camera out of the reach of rain. So we did look after the camera a lot in order to keep it safe, as it is school property.
IMac: At first the IMacs were frastrating me, as I had to get used to it in order to use it with all the advantages, that it offered. The programms that we used for the editing were I Movie and GarageBand. We also used Photoshop for few aspects.
What have I learnt about the technologies from this process? HA! I have learnt how to edit the sound and the visual aspects of the footage thatI have given or I have filmed. I have learnt How to use theese both programmes quite well and I think that this is a very big advantage, as beforehand I know only the basic stuff.
Photoshop was quite hard to use, as it confused me alot, so I haven't really learnt a lot about Photoshop from this process, but I think that it takes a bit more time to get used to programmes like that. Also the reason from me knowing how to use I Movie and GarageBand better is that I used it much more.
By: Simona Larka 9575
Cameras: One of technoligies that I used within the process of filming the footage were two types of cameras. First camera that we did get to use, was a camera, which had very high quality,But the minus was that it was very heavy, and as we spent a lot of time holding the camera, we exchanged it to a smaller camera, which didn't have killer quality, but atleast it was more comfortable to carry around. So I have learnt that the big cameras are more heavy than they look! Also we had to keep camera in it's case, just incase if anybody would drop it. We also had to keep the camera out of the reach of rain. So we did look after the camera a lot in order to keep it safe, as it is school property.
IMac: At first the IMacs were frastrating me, as I had to get used to it in order to use it with all the advantages, that it offered. The programms that we used for the editing were I Movie and GarageBand. We also used Photoshop for few aspects.
What have I learnt about the technologies from this process? HA! I have learnt how to edit the sound and the visual aspects of the footage thatI have given or I have filmed. I have learnt How to use theese both programmes quite well and I think that this is a very big advantage, as beforehand I know only the basic stuff.
Photoshop was quite hard to use, as it confused me alot, so I haven't really learnt a lot about Photoshop from this process, but I think that it takes a bit more time to get used to programmes like that. Also the reason from me knowing how to use I Movie and GarageBand better is that I used it much more.
By: Simona Larka 9575
How did you attract/ adress your audience? EVALUATION QUESTION 5
First attraction that could attract many teenagers into watching our movie is the age restriction. As the film is restricted to be for 15+, this means that the audience that it is adressed to will be familiar with the theme in most cases. This is why we stated the age restriction on the DVD cover/Poster in order to let the audience that this is 15+ movie and that it is social realism.
You can learn a lot from social realism, as it usually expresses the bad side of crime and let's the teenagers to find out what exactly crime is all about and how it is dealt with, as well as how it affects others around you. My personal thoughts are, that I would watch a movie, that is restricted atleast 15+ or 18+, as the information gained from it must be useful in (social realism). Also the age restriction tells the audience that the movie must be fun, so that could attract them.
By: Simona Larka 9575
You can learn a lot from social realism, as it usually expresses the bad side of crime and let's the teenagers to find out what exactly crime is all about and how it is dealt with, as well as how it affects others around you. My personal thoughts are, that I would watch a movie, that is restricted atleast 15+ or 18+, as the information gained from it must be useful in (social realism). Also the age restriction tells the audience that the movie must be fun, so that could attract them.
By: Simona Larka 9575
Who would be the audience? EVALUATION QUESTION 4
The audiance is a subject that involves a lot of researching as well as thinking. If you rate a film with the wrong age limit, it might influence the person either in a good way or a bad way. Not to forget, there are also different types of people. Some might be more informed or practicaly living the narrative of our opening sequence. Some on the other hand might be living a life that don't involve drugs. this in many cases could be very informative but only for certain age group. Obviously the theme is not suitable for small children, but I am thinking maybe the age group of 15+ or maybe even 12+ in some cases. But as the film might be viewed by a 12 year old that could get bad influence from it, we have decided for the sake of childrens safety to rate our film 15+.
In 1948, the government appointed a Departmental Committee on Children and the Cinema (the Wheare Committee), whose report in 1950 (Cmnd 7945) failed to find any clear evidence of the 'harmful influences' that the cinema exerted over impressionable young people. Nonetheless, in January 1951 the BBFC responded to Wheare's recommendation by replacing the H certificate with an X certificate for films to which children under 16 would not be admitted. The change was relatively subtle but showed up over time: the emphasis was no longer on dramatic 'horror' but on sex and violence.
The next revision in the classification scheme came into effect on 1 July 1970. Four certificates were now to be employed:
U Universal admission;
A Children aged five and over admitted unaccompanied but parents are advised that the film may contain material they would prefer the children under 14 not to see;
AA No admission for children under 14;
X No admission for children under 18.
The age of majority in the UK was reduced from 21 to 18 in 1970. But although it could be argued that X now genuinely meant 'adult', youths aged 16 and 17 were overnight excluded from the most restrictive classification of films. For a film to be granted an X certificate could henceforth remove it from part of the key age group for cinemagoing. Saturday Night Fever was originally classified X but reclassified as A following cuts.
http://www.terramedia.co.uk/reference/law/UK_media_law/cinema_and_film_laws.htm
The Video Recordings Act 1984:
It is an offence to supply or offer to supply a video recording to any person who has not attained the age specified on the recording. This legislation applies to video films, video games and computer games.
It is a defence to show that you neither knew nor had reasonable grounds to believe that:
The maximum fine for selling or renting an age restricted cassette/DVD to a child under the specified age is £5,000 and/or up to 6 months imprisonment.
Restricted 18 video cassettes and DVDs can be supplied only in licensed sex shops to persons 18 years of age and older.
http://www.surreycc.gov.uk/sccwebsite/sccwspages.nsf/lookupwebpagesbytitle_rtf/what+age+restrictions+are+there+on+productsq?opendocument#Films
Basically as the law states, it depends on what the movie contains that could influence the children. Sometimes children still can get a hold of media that they wish to watch online or just by staying up very late at night, so by having age restriction, we are hoping that it will stop influencing children and it will stop them from seeing the film, well atleast the majority of children.
Our film would contain strong language, crime. This is why it has 15+ as the restriction age. We just didn't want to risk it by influencing children into having to find out too much of information at young age.
By: Simona Larka 9575
In 1948, the government appointed a Departmental Committee on Children and the Cinema (the Wheare Committee), whose report in 1950 (Cmnd 7945) failed to find any clear evidence of the 'harmful influences' that the cinema exerted over impressionable young people. Nonetheless, in January 1951 the BBFC responded to Wheare's recommendation by replacing the H certificate with an X certificate for films to which children under 16 would not be admitted. The change was relatively subtle but showed up over time: the emphasis was no longer on dramatic 'horror' but on sex and violence.
The next revision in the classification scheme came into effect on 1 July 1970. Four certificates were now to be employed:
U Universal admission;
A Children aged five and over admitted unaccompanied but parents are advised that the film may contain material they would prefer the children under 14 not to see;
AA No admission for children under 14;
X No admission for children under 18.
The age of majority in the UK was reduced from 21 to 18 in 1970. But although it could be argued that X now genuinely meant 'adult', youths aged 16 and 17 were overnight excluded from the most restrictive classification of films. For a film to be granted an X certificate could henceforth remove it from part of the key age group for cinemagoing. Saturday Night Fever was originally classified X but reclassified as A following cuts.
http://www.terramedia.co.uk/reference/law/UK_media_law/cinema_and_film_laws.htm
Films, DVDs, video games and computer games
The legislation mentioned below, which controls the sale and supply of videos, is currently unenforceable due to a legal technicality but we have kept the information available until the matter is resolved. Further information is available from the British Board of Film Classification and the British Video Association.The Video Recordings Act 1984:
It is an offence to supply or offer to supply a video recording to any person who has not attained the age specified on the recording. This legislation applies to video films, video games and computer games.
It is a defence to show that you neither knew nor had reasonable grounds to believe that:
- the classification certificate contained the statement in relation to the specified age or
- the person concerned had not attained the specified age or
- that you had reasonable grounds to believe that the supply was or would have been an exempted supply, as defined by legislation. If you sell video films by retail you will not be dealing with exempted supplies.
The maximum fine for selling or renting an age restricted cassette/DVD to a child under the specified age is £5,000 and/or up to 6 months imprisonment.
Restricted 18 video cassettes and DVDs can be supplied only in licensed sex shops to persons 18 years of age and older.
http://www.surreycc.gov.uk/sccwebsite/sccwspages.nsf/lookupwebpagesbytitle_rtf/what+age+restrictions+are+there+on+productsq?opendocument#Films
Basically as the law states, it depends on what the movie contains that could influence the children. Sometimes children still can get a hold of media that they wish to watch online or just by staying up very late at night, so by having age restriction, we are hoping that it will stop influencing children and it will stop them from seeing the film, well atleast the majority of children.
Our film would contain strong language, crime. This is why it has 15+ as the restriction age. We just didn't want to risk it by influencing children into having to find out too much of information at young age.
By: Simona Larka 9575
What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why? EVALUATION QUESTION 3
A perfect media institution that could distribute our movie would be instictution that wish to make good changes and inform children about social realism. So basically an institution that wish to do good by distibuting social realism films in order to let teenagers see and find out about other peoples lives as well as to give them an idea of how bad crime is and how it affects others around you.
I liked the quote on this site I came across with, it says 'Media making change'. This website is Northwest institute for social change. I think, that we could actually contact this institute and tell them our narrative. As it might make change for teenagers, as our movie is made in order to inform, the institute might be able to distribute our film. This would mean synergy, as our production would coorporate with their institute in order for both parties to gain something.
http://www.nwisc.com/
By: Simona Larka 9575
I liked the quote on this site I came across with, it says 'Media making change'. This website is Northwest institute for social change. I think, that we could actually contact this institute and tell them our narrative. As it might make change for teenagers, as our movie is made in order to inform, the institute might be able to distribute our film. This would mean synergy, as our production would coorporate with their institute in order for both parties to gain something.
http://www.nwisc.com/
By: Simona Larka 9575
How does your media product represent particular social group? EVALUATION QUESTION 2
Representation of characters: The location we chose for our project is school/college. One of reasons were, that it would straight away make the representation part more interesting, as within school environment there are a lot of different people with different lifestyles. Our movie opening represents real environment and real life situations that happen within school environment.
Ozzy Simona
*Teenager (confused, independent) *Teenager (against drugs)
*Art classroom (artistic background) *Art classroom (artistic background)
*Hoody *Casual style
*Danger (male) * Worried, sensitive (female)
Music: Beat that is used for the non diegetic sound in our movie opening is slow and jammy beat, which straight away lets me know that the movie opening will involve drugs, as a lot of drug sellers listen to beats like that, well atleast within other films that I have seen. the sound plays a very large role within films as sometimes you can just listen to the bmovie and by the sound you can guess the genre of film that you are hearing. In our case, music allready would let the audience know that the opening sequence involves drugs, even though the visual part of it would leave the exposion till the end. So the slow beat represents drug selling that is happening in the opening sequence.
The first few scenes were filmed within artistic environment, which in our case was the art classroom of our school. This represents the artists being very free. This represents a theme of art, as it is quite popular for teenagers nowadays, as people are either very clever or very artistic. And in our opening sequence we set out clear representation of the art classroom and artists.
Overall mostly Ozzys lifestyle is the main story of our 2 minute opening sequence, so mostly Ozzy's social group is explored much more than the other characters social group. Ozzy's social status is represented through the drug selling. The storyline mentions that Ozzy comes from poor background and trying to get money for his family through this dangerous job, which is called drug selling. Also in our trailer, there are police car seen, which also might give the idea of crime, rule braking, which straight away gives the idea of lower class.
By: Simona Larka 9575
Ozzy Simona
*Teenager (confused, independent) *Teenager (against drugs)
*Art classroom (artistic background) *Art classroom (artistic background)
*Hoody *Casual style
*Danger (male) * Worried, sensitive (female)
Music: Beat that is used for the non diegetic sound in our movie opening is slow and jammy beat, which straight away lets me know that the movie opening will involve drugs, as a lot of drug sellers listen to beats like that, well atleast within other films that I have seen. the sound plays a very large role within films as sometimes you can just listen to the bmovie and by the sound you can guess the genre of film that you are hearing. In our case, music allready would let the audience know that the opening sequence involves drugs, even though the visual part of it would leave the exposion till the end. So the slow beat represents drug selling that is happening in the opening sequence.
The first few scenes were filmed within artistic environment, which in our case was the art classroom of our school. This represents the artists being very free. This represents a theme of art, as it is quite popular for teenagers nowadays, as people are either very clever or very artistic. And in our opening sequence we set out clear representation of the art classroom and artists.
Overall mostly Ozzys lifestyle is the main story of our 2 minute opening sequence, so mostly Ozzy's social group is explored much more than the other characters social group. Ozzy's social status is represented through the drug selling. The storyline mentions that Ozzy comes from poor background and trying to get money for his family through this dangerous job, which is called drug selling. Also in our trailer, there are police car seen, which also might give the idea of crime, rule braking, which straight away gives the idea of lower class.
By: Simona Larka 9575
Monday 2 May 2011
Editing the Film
After all the filming was done we had the hard job of editing.
We ended up with nearly an hour of film which we had to reduce to below 2 minute 30.
In the first sessions of editing we focused on cutting the film down to about 2 minute. We had to make sure it made sense for the audience too though. The most important thing was to tell the story, and then once this was done we could add the creative shots and titles.
We learnt that we could cut shots to make it have meaning.
For example we cut between the shot of Simona's and Ozzy's eyes to make it look like they looked at each other and this also this shows some romantic chemistry between the two characters.
Editing the painting of Simona;
Editing with the music;
We needed a song that linked to our genre, and music that the main character Ozzy would listen to. At first the music is non digetic as it can be heard at the very beginning, as you see the titles come up (linking to the normal conventions of real films). Once we are introduced to Ozzy, we don't see he has headphones until half way through the titles. The music (after the bell can be heard) then stops, showing he is actually listening to the music on his phone. the music then becomes digetic as both the audience and the character can hear the song. The song fades to a low volume until you see him put the headphones back in as he's walking down the corridor The song then heightens, until he walks away from Simona and Amira, where their conversation starts and he is out of the shot. The music once again heightens in volume when he approaches Dara.
We ended up with nearly an hour of film which we had to reduce to below 2 minute 30.
In the first sessions of editing we focused on cutting the film down to about 2 minute. We had to make sure it made sense for the audience too though. The most important thing was to tell the story, and then once this was done we could add the creative shots and titles.
We learnt that we could cut shots to make it have meaning.
For example we cut between the shot of Simona's and Ozzy's eyes to make it look like they looked at each other and this also this shows some romantic chemistry between the two characters.
Editing the painting of Simona;
The painting of simona had to be from Ozzys point of view since he is painting her in class. This was hard to do in the time of filming so the painting had to be done prior filming.
To make the painting as accurate we had to film the whole of that scene excluding the shot of the painting.
I then had to freeze frame the shot of Simona, from Ozzy's point of view, and then went on to then paint it from that freeze frame. If i had painted Simona before actually shooting her reaction, it may have differed from the scene behind her and what she may have been wearing. We had to film the shot of the canvas with the painting on it and edit it in.
To make the painting as accurate we had to film the whole of that scene excluding the shot of the painting.
I then had to freeze frame the shot of Simona, from Ozzy's point of view, and then went on to then paint it from that freeze frame. If i had painted Simona before actually shooting her reaction, it may have differed from the scene behind her and what she may have been wearing. We had to film the shot of the canvas with the painting on it and edit it in.
Editing with the music;
We needed a song that linked to our genre, and music that the main character Ozzy would listen to. At first the music is non digetic as it can be heard at the very beginning, as you see the titles come up (linking to the normal conventions of real films). Once we are introduced to Ozzy, we don't see he has headphones until half way through the titles. The music (after the bell can be heard) then stops, showing he is actually listening to the music on his phone. the music then becomes digetic as both the audience and the character can hear the song. The song fades to a low volume until you see him put the headphones back in as he's walking down the corridor The song then heightens, until he walks away from Simona and Amira, where their conversation starts and he is out of the shot. The music once again heightens in volume when he approaches Dara. We had to do this editing on 'Garage Band'. This allowed us to increase and decrease sounds at appropriate times, as well as keeping the original atmospheric track and verbal language. I had to search for this song on a website called 'Free Play'. This was avoid any copy right issues. We used garage band to search for the appropriate bell sound, which sounded realistic. This was copy right free as it already existed on garage band as a means for sound effects.
During the conversation with Amira and Simona i had to make sure the sound of song was decreased so you can hear both characters. We attempted to film the audio of the conversation and then filmed them, and used it as a voice over. This was unsuccessful as the sound didn't seem natural ideal. You could tell it was a voice over. I had to use the actual audio from the conversation which was fine and we realised it was ok to use.
By Ash Khan
Problems We Encountered..
The Classroom Scene:
When filming the classroom scene we realised there was not enough extras to make it look like a real , full, busy classroom. We tackled this by carefully framing the shots.
The Hallway Scene:
We needed extras for the hallway scene. Luckily some girls walked by and we filmed them in the background as we acted in the foreground. After we asked them for them for their consent and they agreed.
The Drug Deal Scene:
Our first choice extra was Ahmed but we could not get into contact with him so we had to call our back up extra Dara. He came and filming was successful.
By Ash Khan
When filming the classroom scene we realised there was not enough extras to make it look like a real , full, busy classroom. We tackled this by carefully framing the shots.
The Hallway Scene:
We needed extras for the hallway scene. Luckily some girls walked by and we filmed them in the background as we acted in the foreground. After we asked them for them for their consent and they agreed.
The Drug Deal Scene:
Our first choice extra was Ahmed but we could not get into contact with him so we had to call our back up extra Dara. He came and filming was successful.
By Ash Khan
Props Organisation
In our product there are a number of props we will be needing.
Headphones for Ozzy to wear
A small bag which will be used as the bag of drugs Ozzy trades.
Canvases
Paint Brushes
Most Importantly the painting of Simona...
-The painting of simona would have to be from Ozzys point of view since he is painting her in class. Obviously this would be hard to do in the time of filming so the painting would have to be done prior filming.
To make the painting as accurate we would have to film the whole of that scene excluding the shot of the painting.
Then i would have to freeze frame the shot of Simona ,from Ozzy's point of view, we plan to film and use that image to paint from.
Then we would have to film the shot of the canvas with the painting on it and edit it in.
By Ash Khan
Headphones for Ozzy to wear
A small bag which will be used as the bag of drugs Ozzy trades.
Canvases
Paint Brushes
Most Importantly the painting of Simona...
-The painting of simona would have to be from Ozzys point of view since he is painting her in class. Obviously this would be hard to do in the time of filming so the painting would have to be done prior filming.
To make the painting as accurate we would have to film the whole of that scene excluding the shot of the painting.
Then i would have to freeze frame the shot of Simona ,from Ozzy's point of view, we plan to film and use that image to paint from.
Then we would have to film the shot of the canvas with the painting on it and edit it in.
By Ash Khan
Organising Extras
We need one main extra. The characteristics needed are:
They were told to dress like a delinquent. So hoodies, fashionable trainers and black clothing.
Male
Big build
Looks at least 17
I asked a few of my friends and ended up with a few options.
Ahmed is the number one option
Dara is second
and Micheal is third option.
We have all their contact details and asked them to try and be free on the days of filming.
Also, we need other extras. We need other students in the classroom. We have organised to film during when students use the room for extra work and we asked for there consent for filming.
We also need extras to walk through the corridor. Even though it is risky we plan to improvise with students that are going to be using this corridor on the day. We plan to ask for there consent and then film them walking past.
Also, we need other extras. We need other students in the classroom. We have organised to film during when students use the room for extra work and we asked for there consent for filming.
We also need extras to walk through the corridor. Even though it is risky we plan to improvise with students that are going to be using this corridor on the day. We plan to ask for there consent and then film them walking past.
By Ash Khan
Booking the Locations...
Since we were going to film in a real school, we had to respect school policies. We did not want to interrupt lessons or learning so we pre booked locations which may do this.
We searched the school for appropriate art classrooms. We found one, but the teacher was not happy with us filming. We then continued to search and found another art classroom which was even more ideal for our filming. We had to book with consideration of our free time and the teachers lesson times. After coming to an agreement we had our classroom set.
Also we asked permission of the teacher who has a classroom on the hallway we were going to film in. We knew we were going to be noisy and we did not want to disrupt her lesson. After discussion we agreed to film during times when she did not have a lesson.
By Ash Khan
Friday 29 April 2011
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? EVALUATION QUESTION 1
Use
We used real media products as an example, as we researched on it quite a lot to set out a guideline of what exactly we had to do in order to make our movie opening look like a media product. We did get influenced by other media products, as there is certain way of doing things in the media world as well. Question that we came across often was: If our group did everything differently, would we succeed in being different in a good way, or we would just loose marks because of doing things in a different order. So this involved us a lot of research. As this time we chose not to be too spontaneous about it. So yes we did use conventions and form of real media products. But not to forget we tried our best in being different than others as well. Nowadays we do get influenced into doing things certain ways, as it was all started out that way, we just keep fallowing the path. It is just the way that most of the people roll, as they are too scared of being too different.
In what ways
› We did get influenced by other movie openings. We used media product, just as an example. Other media products showed us what works well and what don’t. We tried to take the best parts/shots/ideas and make them work even better in our movie opening. So one of things we learnt from other media products, were the mistakes that they made. And as people say you learn from mistakes.
› The one thing we really used was the correct order of the titling. We had to find out which name goes before which. So the order we used was: The actors, the producer, camera person, the director and the last was the title of the film. This is one of ways which is being used often within a real movie opening .
› We used the screen format of 16:9 which is also usually used in movies instead of TV Drama series. This also is one of the uses, that does express our movie opening being in the right format/size screen.
Develop
›Development is seen in every new film, as they experiment with things, and by experimenting they develop the verity of shots and ideas that others might come up with. From developing the media world with new and unseen things, films keep growing by learning from one another. This is how media world keep improving by every film that is being made, as other movies that are being made learn from one another. It is like a chain of improvement. This is why development is one of key factors.
›Development is seen in every new film, as they experiment with things, and by experimenting they develop the verity of shots and ideas that others might come up with. From developing the media world with new and unseen things, films keep growing by learning from one another. This is how media world keep improving by every film that is being made, as other movies that are being made learn from one another. It is like a chain of improvement. This is why development is one of key factors.
In what ways
›I personally think that we had a very large variety of shots. We developed quite a lot from other shots that inspired us. Like the 90 degree shot of the main character Ozzy exiting the corridor and Simona running right behind him. I found this shot very interesting, and I haven't seen a shot like that in recent films that I have watched, so I think that this is very great development of few shots, that are not being used a lot in famous films but looks great.
›I personally think that we had a very large variety of shots. We developed quite a lot from other shots that inspired us. Like the 90 degree shot of the main character Ozzy exiting the corridor and Simona running right behind him. I found this shot very interesting, and I haven't seen a shot like that in recent films that I have watched, so I think that this is very great development of few shots, that are not being used a lot in famous films but looks great.
Challenge
› Our media product don’t really challenge real media products, as the genre of our movie opening is very common. Our story is very realistic, which other movies might not have on their plate. This might be challenging to other media products in a way, that sometimes people wish to see realistic films about life instead of a made up story. It depends on what type of media products are being challenged. If it is fantastic story but in non fictional form, personally I would choose to watch something that I could relate to. As our movie is for 15+ even the parents of children could relate to our movie, as it might be very similar to their kids life stories. And all of my friends agree, that if the story relates to your life, you will want to watch it in order just to gain more information about it as well as to find out the conclusion.
By: Simona Larka 9575
By: Simona Larka 9575
Location
Before we started filming, we went around the location we were planning to film in and took some photos. Here are the photos of our location.
This is the corridor we plan for Ozzy to walk through. We needed a corridor where there were two turns like an "S" shape. This is so Ozzy can exit through one corner and Simona can enter through another corner, which we need for the narrative of our product.
Another location we are considering for the characters to walk through. It shows that it is clearly a school or college corridor which is what we are trying to capture.
This is a shot of the school from the playground. We are not sure if we will be using a shot from here
+ In hind-site we did not use this shot as it didn't include sufficient detail we wanted.
Another location we are considering. We are trying to capture a school environment.
We want to include this shot because it clearly shows a school environment. The goal posts and the pitch and the bench all add to effective mise en scene.
This is the one of the locations we are planning to use for the drug deal to occur.
In hind-sight we did not use this location. One reason was because cars were sometimes parked along the side and we did not want this.
The classroom scene. This photo is from where the classroom door is. We are considering using a shot from the door since Ozzy walks out through it.
Another shot of the classroom. This is from where the character Simona would be sitting. We wanted to see what areas we could include from her point of view.
This is the location where Ozzy walks through. Here we are trying to figure out which angle to shoot Ozzy from.
The last two shots are from the Simona's point of view. This is the 2nd location of the drug deal. We found this location better because it looked more like a school.
In this shot we wanted to see how we could capture both Simona's location and Ozzy's location using the near wall and the far wall.
Written By Ash Khan
Photos Taken and Uploaded By: Simona Larka 9575
Photos Taken and Uploaded By: Simona Larka 9575
Thursday 28 April 2011
Wednesday 27 April 2011
Risk assesment - Health and safety - Preventions !
Activity - electrical cables/wires
Hazard involved
Extremely hazardous to the filming crew, The public are indanger of tripping over the cables whilst film crew are filming the shoot. If filming outside, we need to be careful of the partially sighted because it could be extremely dangerous.
Prevention
To organise all the wiring and where its going to be placed before the shooting the flim starts. Placing all the wiring/dolphins away from public. We could also use mats to cover the wires.
Activity - Heavy equipment
Hazard involved
Can be too heavy to carry around, could be hazardous to public aswell as crew.
Prevention
Making sure the equipment are in their cases and not removed could be broken/damaged. Making sure the person carries the equipment carefully or two people carrying in case of injury.
Weather-
Hazard involved
As the weather has been very snowy we need to check if theres no ice as this could be a big hazard to the crew who are acting aswell the public, we need to be careful of the icy streets as this could injure a person. We need to make sure that we have some grit at hand as this could be very useful to help get rid of the icyness.
Risks and prevention of the filming process
Absence's of some of the team members in our groups, If some of the team members were absent in the filming process (such as the actors) we could get some back up's as this could help us in the acting process because of the absences. Backups's are very well needed as the actor is not here, if there were no backups we wouldn't be able to act therefore were wasting time in our filming time.
By Amira Duale
Hazard involved
Extremely hazardous to the filming crew, The public are indanger of tripping over the cables whilst film crew are filming the shoot. If filming outside, we need to be careful of the partially sighted because it could be extremely dangerous.
Prevention
To organise all the wiring and where its going to be placed before the shooting the flim starts. Placing all the wiring/dolphins away from public. We could also use mats to cover the wires.
Activity - Heavy equipment
Hazard involved
Can be too heavy to carry around, could be hazardous to public aswell as crew.
Prevention
Making sure the equipment are in their cases and not removed could be broken/damaged. Making sure the person carries the equipment carefully or two people carrying in case of injury.
Weather-
Hazard involved
As the weather has been very snowy we need to check if theres no ice as this could be a big hazard to the crew who are acting aswell the public, we need to be careful of the icy streets as this could injure a person. We need to make sure that we have some grit at hand as this could be very useful to help get rid of the icyness.
Risks and prevention of the filming process
Absence's of some of the team members in our groups, If some of the team members were absent in the filming process (such as the actors) we could get some back up's as this could help us in the acting process because of the absences. Backups's are very well needed as the actor is not here, if there were no backups we wouldn't be able to act therefore were wasting time in our filming time.
By Amira Duale
Evaluation Question 4
Who would be the audience for your media product?
Our media products genre is on social realism and the audience that we have chosen are 15+ mainly for teenagers the reason behind this choice was that having a firsthand experience as being teenagers ourselves gave us the idea that creating a media product which attracted the teenage audience would be a great idea and would be something that the younger audience would take heed of and like and therefore would watch something that happened from day to day life. Our type of audience would be interested in our movie because it would be a reflection of their lives and the audience would like to see different approaches to different situations that happen in real-life and this is what our genre does, it reaches out to the youth with the same difficulties as Ozzy and they would find there common grounds and would be able to enjoy it. The genre for our movie is social realism and this choice was mainly to attract our audience base which is youths and older generation to view this real life, everyday happening situations.
Our film would reach out to the 15+ because it is the reflection of some of the teenagers out there who struggle to find the means to cope with education, romance and living in general and finding the means to cope with financial problems and providing for the people who they care about by doing this film our audience would get the idea of our media product and would be able to relate with the character Ozzy.
The main audience for our media product would attract those who mainly watch Social Realism film such as Adulthood , Kiddulthood and many more film to do with real life situation. These were the main movies that had similar stories to ours and mainly had similar target audiences for. These movies also had meaning to them and tried to reach out to the youth out there and this is exactly what we have aspired to do in our media product.
The reason behind choosing 15+ is because there was also drug dealing involved and we didn't want small children to be involved in watching this happen as it could be influencing them to do so. We also think that this would be the perfect age to inform younger kids the wrong and the good which we have included such as education and drug dealings, Unfortunately we see Ozzy taking the harder lifestyle such as 'Drugs' but later on the in the movie we see him being challenged and all bad comes with consequences such as 'Prison' and we see him through the struggles in his life.
The research and the planning of our opening sequence was a big part in helping to come up with our audience so it would help with our decision in choosing our target audience this was done by mainly asking people in interviews to what age the media product should be and what age the audience should be this really helped us in finalising our decision for who the audience should be and what would appeal to them and what they would enjoy watching as far as what would be the best age group for the opening sequence.
By Amira duale
Our media products genre is on social realism and the audience that we have chosen are 15+ mainly for teenagers the reason behind this choice was that having a firsthand experience as being teenagers ourselves gave us the idea that creating a media product which attracted the teenage audience would be a great idea and would be something that the younger audience would take heed of and like and therefore would watch something that happened from day to day life. Our type of audience would be interested in our movie because it would be a reflection of their lives and the audience would like to see different approaches to different situations that happen in real-life and this is what our genre does, it reaches out to the youth with the same difficulties as Ozzy and they would find there common grounds and would be able to enjoy it. The genre for our movie is social realism and this choice was mainly to attract our audience base which is youths and older generation to view this real life, everyday happening situations.
Our film would reach out to the 15+ because it is the reflection of some of the teenagers out there who struggle to find the means to cope with education, romance and living in general and finding the means to cope with financial problems and providing for the people who they care about by doing this film our audience would get the idea of our media product and would be able to relate with the character Ozzy.
The main audience for our media product would attract those who mainly watch Social Realism film such as Adulthood , Kiddulthood and many more film to do with real life situation. These were the main movies that had similar stories to ours and mainly had similar target audiences for. These movies also had meaning to them and tried to reach out to the youth out there and this is exactly what we have aspired to do in our media product.
The reason behind choosing 15+ is because there was also drug dealing involved and we didn't want small children to be involved in watching this happen as it could be influencing them to do so. We also think that this would be the perfect age to inform younger kids the wrong and the good which we have included such as education and drug dealings, Unfortunately we see Ozzy taking the harder lifestyle such as 'Drugs' but later on the in the movie we see him being challenged and all bad comes with consequences such as 'Prison' and we see him through the struggles in his life.
The research and the planning of our opening sequence was a big part in helping to come up with our audience so it would help with our decision in choosing our target audience this was done by mainly asking people in interviews to what age the media product should be and what age the audience should be this really helped us in finalising our decision for who the audience should be and what would appeal to them and what they would enjoy watching as far as what would be the best age group for the opening sequence.
By Amira duale
Tuesday 26 April 2011
Monday 11 April 2011
Sunday 10 April 2011
check list
( this is just so i know what need to be done)
1 Prelim task:
2 Planning:
Locations
- booking classroom
Costume
-Scan story board <mac
-Do animatic < mac
Write about props.
Painting of Simona
Organising Extras
- Dara ,ahmed
- The croud of girls
- The girl in the hall way
Test shooting
-Make a short vid and do a voice over. Finish of the one we have. <mac
Research
- Add photos to every post.
Development
-Problems with ahmed not turning up
- problems with classroom . filmin time running out
- problem with the painting.
Problem with making the class look more full than it was
-
Editing
- stringing the shots together
- trying to make It make sense
- trying to cut it down from 4 mins to 2.20
- adding music, downloading it
PROMOTION
Do the trailer < mac
< talk about its distribution,
A freak production logo
A freak production logo
Evaluation
_ film and edit the questions < mac
IN the end, state people roles and explain how to use the site.
Simona & Amira Prelim task
Preparations
Use of settings
In order to set the right atmosphere, the setting needs to match the narrative of the script. The location we filmed in was the school property (CLC), which wasn't exactly the setting we were hoping for, but we had to make it work somehow. We used props such as the black curtains in order to get the right feel for what was going on, as bright colours wouldn't be suitable for the genre we were hoping to create. Other props we used were tables, chairs, lighting, as well as the piece of paper, which was a very important prop in order to create the sense of mystery we wanted to create, such as not seeing the characters face until the end of the video. The reason behind this was to draw people in and make them question the mysterious feel behind our filming. The shots were filmed in a way that showed the superiority of the opposite character of Simona which indicated her status as well as her power and how she had an affect on Simona. We used a large variety of shots in order to interest the audience and keep them on their toes and get a fresh, new feel of the different characters, narrative and the mise-en-scene.
180 degree rule, Angles
In order to give the right idea of the conversation and to make it clear and understandable for the viewers, we had to use the right angles and methods which were suitable for our sequence. which in this case was the 180 degree rule, camera angles and camera placing. If this is all done the correct way, it creates the right atmosphere and creates the right story, which made it flow. The rule of 180 degree involves placing the camera in the right position, which is in our case only placing the camera only on one side of the table. This makes it easier to edit and put together the shots that are needed and are useful.
Lights
The lighting that was used in our sequence, was mostly natural lightning from the windows. We found it much easier, as it was sunny outside. It would take more time to set up the lights, as we had experience with it before, we just decided that it would be much easier to use natural lighting. Mainly the corridor lights were used in the first shot. Once the main character entered the room, natural lighting for the windows were used. whilst the interrogation was occurring we used the lights from the windows as well, so we had no problems with the process of filming involving lighting.
Sound
Not only is the visual side of the video very important to express the narrative, but the sound and verbal side could be even more affective at moments. This is why we used a script to direct the audience onto the right path in understanding what is going on in the scene. This however was a success as the script was mysterious enough to draw in different types of audiences into wanting to find out what will be happening next which will in turn, make them interested into watching the rest of the sequence.
***
We were five people who took part in creating the short sequence. We all had very important roles to play in order to make the sequence a success. This is how we divided our roles in order to complete it on time:
Amira: Cameraperson, directing
Simona: Actress, taking care of the props needed.
Aneta: Actress, helped with planning
Loren: Camera, director
Chandni: Camera, helping with storyboard
Everybody did a very good job, as we were very happy with the outcome of the product we produced, as a group. We did use the 180 degree rule, which made it very understandable and easy to watched. The verbal side of the clip also helped to direct the viewers in to the right path in understanding the clip.
By Simona and Amira
Hazards Health and safety checks
Hazard | Who/what could be harmed? | What are you doing to stop it? | Checked by whom and completed by when? |
Food and drinks near the equipment.  | Eating and drinking while filming could harm the equipment as well as the quality of focusing on filming. | We had few breaks to have some time to eat or drink. Also we let the crew know that they are not allowed to eat or drink while filming, as it could distract others, and get spilled all over the equipment. | This was done by the producer and right before filming. |
Cold weather  | If the weather is very bad on the day of filming, the crew could get cold. If it starts to rain and if there is no extra equipment to protect the cameras, they could be damaged. | Umbrellas should always be taken with, as you can never be too sure about the unpredictable weather. Also the crew should be given hot coffee or tea, if they are cold. Also the crew should be dressed comfortably and so they are warm. | There should be information sheet sent to every crew member, with warnings like this, so they are prepared. |
By: Simona Larka 9575
My Group and I.. (ASH'S GROUP)
My Preliminary task group consisted of Kyle, Amanda, Latasha and myself.
How did I contribute?
My particular contribution was firstly to create the story board for the script. I did this by using Paint tool on a computer. This allowed the group to visualise what we will be filming.
Secondly, i contributed to the filming of the task. I placed the camera in the appropriate positions.
And lastly, i contributed by being vocal and organising the characters and shots.
What did I find from doing the preliminary task?
Firstly i found that even a very simple scene takes up many seconds. Prior to filming I believed the film would be less than 30 seconds long but in fact it turned out to be just under a minute. I found this surprising as the there is not much to the narrative of the film.
Secondly, I found that when filming different shots you really have to think about if it would make sense to the viewer. We had to focus hard on creating a flow to the film. We strung shots together and cut them precisely to make it as clear as possible.
Lastly, the preliminary tasks allowed me to practice overall filming skills. It allowed me to further my knowledge of the 360 degree rule. Also, it allowed me to futrther familiarise my self with the camera and its functions.
By Ash Khan
How did I contribute?
My particular contribution was firstly to create the story board for the script. I did this by using Paint tool on a computer. This allowed the group to visualise what we will be filming.
Secondly, i contributed to the filming of the task. I placed the camera in the appropriate positions.
And lastly, i contributed by being vocal and organising the characters and shots.
What did I find from doing the preliminary task?
Firstly i found that even a very simple scene takes up many seconds. Prior to filming I believed the film would be less than 30 seconds long but in fact it turned out to be just under a minute. I found this surprising as the there is not much to the narrative of the film.
Secondly, I found that when filming different shots you really have to think about if it would make sense to the viewer. We had to focus hard on creating a flow to the film. We strung shots together and cut them precisely to make it as clear as possible.
Lastly, the preliminary tasks allowed me to practice overall filming skills. It allowed me to further my knowledge of the 360 degree rule. Also, it allowed me to futrther familiarise my self with the camera and its functions.
By Ash Khan
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