How we have worked

Though there is still a little refilming to do we are going to talk about the technology we have used to get our project together. We have learnt to use the camera(s) and tripod effectively, learnt to feed film into our editing package of i-movie on the Apple Macs via a firewire lead. We have worked our way through the editing process and also used garage band to create music. There was an option to add copyright free music from a site we were given www.incompetech.com but we decided creating our own music was better. We have also used the stills camera to take the photos you see below and learnt how to do a blog as we had never done one before. Se images above:

1. Using the Blog

2. Using i-movie

3. Using Garage Band

4. Tripod and equipment

5. Camera and firewire lead

on going coursework

we are still working on our films as we have identified some scenes where we need to re-film as the mise-en-scene was not right for the theme of the film. if we dont change it then we will be marked down. we have completed the music which we were creating on garage band. we have been sorting out any missing paperwork.

music and planning

This week we have made sure our blogs are updated and we have developed an action plan for what needs to be done after Christmas. Steven has worked in garage band developing the music that we would like to go with our production.

loss of marks

When evaluating other peoples film openings that were provided to our teacher in her training we learnt that marks can be lost by not having steady camera shots unless its clear the ‘shaking’ camera shot is suppose to be there for effect. Other ways marks can be lost is through bad continuity, meaning that something has suddenly appeared in the background or someone is wearing different clothing. Title sequences can also lose you marks because one example in the low L3 lost marks because of this, due to the titles being inconsistent in appearance and too small to read. Another way marks can be lost is through using copyright music, the music has to be copy right free or from the original artist. When we heard about what marks they were given we were quite surprised as we marked some them lower than they actually were but once explained it was understandable why.

FIlming

When filming began we had a few problems which were linked to the mise-en-scene because when we filmed one shot of Paul spinning around in the chair we noticed a multi-coloured girly box in the background which ruined the effect of a mafia type gang. We then decided to go back and re-film this paying more attention to mise-en-scene. We also needed to re-film to add additional shots when two of our characters get guns out of the red locker this will be fixed by filming a close up of their hand with a gun in it, but we had to be careful to wear the same clothes as we did on the day so it doesn’t ruin the continuity. The re-filming will go on until we have ‘perfected’ what we think is a good production. One thing we have been successful with is achieving steady shots throughout filming. We have all acted in the film at some point and all filmed at least some of the shots.

Planning

Our working title is ‘The Package’ and this is an action gangster about two rival gangs one of whom intercepts The Package when it’s on delivery. Throughout the opening of the film we leave it so viewers are not sure what’s in The Package just yet and keep the audience guessing and leave them wanting to watch the full film.

We planned by writing a script and storyboarding from it, gathering props and deciding on locations around the school. Here is an animatics of our storyboard. Our script is in our 'on paper' section in our folder.

marking criteria and film openings

This week we discussed the marking criteria for our coursework. In our groups we looked at the grades and noticed which features will be key to making a good and effective film opening, we all agreed that continuity is a big deal and have to get it right throughout the opening.

We watched many different genre of films these were: ‘Pleasantville’, ‘Twilight’, ‘Interview with a vampire’, ‘Bugsy Malone’, ‘Halloween’, ‘Once upon a time in the west’, ‘City of God’ and ‘Click’ we all discussed how the opening of the film suited the genre of the film and how it catches the attention of the audience watching and how it will make them want to watch more by setting up an enigma for them.

To get some ideas and help with producing our production we analysed some of the film openings these included Pleasantville, Halloween and Click. The expected conventions for these films are very different as they are all different genres.

Pleasantville is a drama for example where the man in the film wants to have a perfect life like the one on the TV. Halloween is a horror about a little boy who kills his family and continues to kill later on in the film. The expected conventions for Halloween include it being a dark mise-en-scene with Halloween setting eg, pumpkins, scary sounds/sights and violence.

Click is a romantic comedy and is about a man who has a chance with this remote to fast forward time its self but he uses it too much and realises his mistakes. The expected conventions for this romantic comedy would be for the main couple to have a break up of some sort but then resolve their differences somehow and the scene is expected to be bright and have a happy atmosphere.