Wednesday, 28 December 2016

Filming diary day 6 - Bitch

Date: 26th December 
Location: My house
What happened: I called Andrea round my house to play the part of my Bitch character. I showed the scenes of my kind part she knew when it was edited, it would be shown them having the conversation from both perspectives. For the kind part she had already actually had the conversation with Lucy so redoing it was easy for her. She then watched with me Edmonds part already filmed for her character intro scene. We practised lines but some were too uncomfortable for hr, so I allowed her to edit them which would make her feel more comfortable, the ending results had a sense of humour but kept in line with the character.
Rushes: 
What went well: Andrea had already done her lines previously for her convo with kind and edited her own lines for her convo with Edmond very well.
What still needs to be done: I need to make sure I can cut down and correctly edit the kind, fool and bitch parts so they all fall together in a correct order.

Saturday, 17 December 2016

Shooting diary day 5 - Nerd

Date: 10th December 2016 
Location: Morden Park Edwards house
What happened: I went to film the nerd scene at my Edward's house at night. I got the shots I wanted and had planned to get however with he first few, unfortunately Edwards room was too dimly lit that they were blurry. I couldn't use these but the others were perfect.
Rushes: 
What went well: I got mostly good shots, with a perfect one of a conversation between me and Edward.
What still needs to be done: Editing around with what I can use or trying to reshoot the blurry shots.


Saturday, 3 December 2016

Ancillary task 1 photography

Date taken: 2nd December
After finally managing to get a date where I could get every character present for the photoshoot, I borrowed a tripod from media so that the shots could be better and done more professionally.
I had several photos taken with characters remaining in the same places while changing their actions slightly, such as Bitch looking off moody in the distance and Unstable is drinking.
The problem is that the photos are unfortunately and annoyingly have some things out of focus and so cannot be used. I must either redo this photoshoot or go with another idea I have.

Second idea:

For this I will need to have a shot of each characters face close up, then I can edit them all together using photoshop, and cover their eyes with labels of their character like Kind, Fool etc.

Friday, 2 December 2016

ancillary task 1 poster rough sketch



Introducing all the characters in the poster, I want them all to try represent what their character is like by what they are doing, or holding in the shot. My bitch character I want to be smoking and potentially looking in a different direction to her friends, for example perhaps she looks off in the corner and the rest of my characters face the camera head on. My unstable character was simple, I will have him drinking from some sort of alcohol bottle. I wanted to show that my nerd character was interested in my lesbian one by having him put his arm around her, however even with this she isn't leaning on him. He also will be holding something such as a pen or folder. My kind and fool character are more difficult in this shot, I can only think to have them both smiling and looking at the camera but perhaps I can have my fool character have a thumbs up. 
Attires in this shot also are stricter for some characters, for my bitch and unstable character, they will be wearing darker colours, and my bitch character will have darker makeup/lipstick than the other girls. My nerd character I will be making wear a shirt and a blazer, he will look the smartest out of all of them. Finally my lesbian character I want to be dressed in brighter colours like white and pink. All of these are extra ways to try represent their characters via their choice of clothing. 

Thursday, 1 December 2016

Ancillary task 2 photography

Date taken: 30th December
I managed to book the graphics/photography room out for Wednesday at 5pm and asked several of my actors if they could make it. Due to the location of their schools and the times they end many were unavailable however Andrea playing Bella who's character represents the Bitch managed to make it. I used a tripod and set up the lighting and background to help make the photos appear more professional.

The photoshoot was successful and I have several good options I have considered using for the actual magazine cover.

Wednesday, 30 November 2016

ancillary task 2 Magazine cover rough sketch



I have drawn 4 different main poses I think will best represent the character types of the characters I have planned to use in my ancillary task 2. Using my Bitch and Unstable characters, I want to try and make my unstable one seem down, unhappy, perhaps hungover or on a comedown and holding his head, something to show he is in some kind of pain. My bitch character I want to play off this, being distant and ignoring my unstable characters pain, so I have had her in poses such as crossing her arms, and turning away from him.

TV TRAILER - Opening scene shot list




Monday, 28 November 2016

Shooting diary day 3-4 - Kind

Date: 20th November, 27th November 
Location: Raynes Park Lucy's house, Fulham My house
What happened: On the 20th I went to Lucy's house in Raynes Park and filmed her scene with her mother, I later got her to come round to my house to finish filming her phone call scene. However the shots were too dark making them blurry and so I had to get her to come over again the following week. We retried it but the lighting in the room wasn't working so we tried another room and finally got the shot I needed.
Rushes: 
What went well: I got a very wide variety of different shots to choice from 
What still needs to be done: I need to get my bitches scene with he phone call so I can edit them together.

Monday, 14 November 2016

Shooting diary day 2 - Unstable


Date: 2nd November 
Location: Wimbledon Station 
What happened: This time I got the final shots I required for my unstable part. I filmed in Wimbledon outside which means that there was quite a lot of extra sound making some dialogue difficult to hear. But I can fix this by using a voice over.
Rushes:


What went well: I got the final shots I needed for my unstable scene in the trailer.
What still needs to be done: I need to have voice overs for the dialogue and maybe some foley sound added.



Ancillary task 2 Magazine cover



Location: Mr Murray's studio

Costume:
  • John: Dark clothing, dirty hoodie - Emphasises that he is a mess, and his life is bleak and dark
  • Bella: Sporty jacket, skirt, hair tied back - Emphasise her more confrontational confident attitude 

Characters:

  • John
  • Bella
Lighting:

  • Bright
Pose options:
On the day I plan to take a large number of pictures, however some of the options I have already considered for how they should pose are:

  • John looking dazed and not looking directly at the camera. Bella looking at him with a disappointed look. 
  • Bella looking directly at the camera with arms on her hips. John holding arm across body looking at the camera slouching
  • John looking at camera with hand on face and Bella crossed arms looking to the side
  • John standing normally, Bella has her arm on her shoulder looking stern
  • John and Bella standing next to each over looking in opposite directions 


Ancillary task 1 POSTER

Props:

  • Vodka bottle - unstable 

  • work folder - nerd

  • Cigarette - bitch

  • Pen - kind

Location:

  • Back of Lucy Walkers garden house
  • Street

Costume:

  • Nerd - shirt, blazer
  • Unstable - hoodie, tracksuits or dirty jeans
  • Lesbian - bright colours
  • Bitch - dark clothing, dark lipstick, possibly overdone makeup
  • Kind - neat clean clothes
  • Fool - flowery shirt 

Characters:

  • All characters: Nerd, bitch, fool, unstable, kind, lesbian 

Lighting:

  • Back lighting
  • Afternoon grey




Wednesday, 9 November 2016

Shooting diary day 1 - Unstable

Date: 30th October
Location: Fulham - Eel brook common
What happened: I had my character filmed saying saying to his parents he is taking the dog for a walk, walking the dog into eel brook, sitting on a bench calling a drug dealer and then drinking vodka.
Rushes:

What went well: The weather was what I wanted, cloudy and also the dog was not a hassle. I also managed to get more footage than I actually needed.
What still needs to be done: Shots of unstable and kind having lunch.

Wednesday, 2 November 2016

Tv trailer - narrative outline

1.    Opening: – start with group having fun – party/gathering. John slips away from the group to take drugs. As John gets up to go Katie looks over worried. Bella tells Katie to ignore John. Ted looks after at Lola(Only Ted and Bella are unaware Lola is gay). From body language can see that Ted likes Lola. Finn gets attention by doing something dramatic (burst ins room wearing dress) Whole group laughs except Lola who tells off Finn and walks off with him tells him to change – cut to John doing lines in bathroom where Finn is sent to change. John looks shocked and Finn slaps him on the back. Finn leaves and John laughs and goes back to finishing his line.

2.     Unstable – John: Dog walking/day drinking/dealer calling – Him and Katie having lunch, Katie asking if he thinks he’s alright and John shrugging it off. Katie talks about work and uni, John berates her for always thinking about work and to just have fun

3.     Kind - Katie: shot of mother hugging Katie dialogue like “Very proud, If your dad could see you now” Shows tiredness from staying up so late working. Katie while working gets phone call from Bella who says “coming to the party or what?” denies because too much work. Bella kindly accepts Katie 's denial then hangs up and bitches about Katie.

4.     Bitch –  Bella: Fool and Bella and Lesbian hanging out, Bella bitches about Kind. Lesbian says “at least we know Unstable will be there” and then Bella says. “Spending all night in the bathroom” rolls eyes. Says okay lets go get some men, Lesbian looks confused Fool says “Ladies I’m right here” Bella insults him.

5.     Fool – Finn: Teacher berates “Class clown, Lazy, Fool” Finn for his grades fool sad. Teacher says do something about this. Finn looks to Nerd for help, Ted gets more and more annoyed trying to help Finn. “Come on man I'm trying to help, call me when you’re ready to work”

6.     Nerd – Ted: Doing work at home, alarm goes off “pub time” cuts to him and unstable at pub. Having a laugh, Ted asks about Lola talking about any guys she likes,John laughs not realising what Ted is really asking, Ted fake laughs

7.     Lesbian – Lola: screen record of travelsites and Lola looking at it. Shopping with girls saying she'll miss them when gone. With group says “hope there are some fit girls” Ted and Bella look surprised while the others laugh. Bella startled “Wait what” Lola “what?”

8.     Montage examples:

·      John's parents find drugs confront him
·      Katie confronts Bella
·      Bella tells off John
·      Lola gets accepted
·      John and Finn shout at Ted “How could you not know”
·      Ted compliments Finns progress.
·      Sitting on tube

·      Being friendly and having a good time
    etc

tv trailer plan


  • song about 4 minutes = 240 seconds
  • 6 main characters
  • 20 seconds dedicated to individual characters showing activities and dialogue to represent their character and give some plot details = 120 seconds adding on titles 2 seconds each x 6 = 132 seconds long
  • Leaves 108 seconds for montage shots of all characters together or seperate These will be shown at the start of the trailer and then again at the very end after all the individual character montages 
  • In individual character parts I want them in at least 3 different clothing and it to be shots from 3 different days
  • In the montage at the beginning and the end I would rather it often featured 2 or more of the group in quick cuts of them doing group activities

Member possible individual stories:
  1. Unstable - John is on a path of self destructive behaviour and needs help as he is in denial and just out for what he considers a good time. He needs to accept and turn it around (Finn "I need some help" Kind"yeah you're not the only one ill tell you that"
  2. Fool - Fearing he needs to turn his work around but also just enjoys lazing around and having fun seeks aiding from Kind and Nerd
  3. Kind - worrying for Unstable and trying to help fool out with work also wanting to make it into her chosen UNI she challenges her friend Bitch for her harsher words about the group, lives with one parent
  4. Lesbian/gay - Leaving the country for a UNI over seas having a hard time knowing she will be leaving her friends
  5. Bitch - Colder towards Unstable feels he should be cut off before he drags members or the group down 
  6. Nerd - Studying hard and supporting Fool while also poking some fun at him he likes going out  with John has a crush on Gay/lesbian 
Individual character shots:
All need some close ups showing dramatic or emotional facial expressions
  1. Unstable - drinking, smoking, drug use, laughing, hanging out with Nerd. Dialogue asking for drugs, what the group are gonna do later suggesting plans
  2. Fool - saying some stupid things, trying to work but procrastinating, calling Kind for help, letting unstable distract him
  3. Kind - Walking, talking with mother, watching unstable with worry and doing homework with nerd and fool. dialogue discussing her worry about unstable needing to calm down,
  4. Lesbian/gay - shopping with bitch/kind, looking at uni's in america on a laptop, hanging with the group. Dialogue saying how much she's going to miss the group 
  5. Bitch - sitting bitching with kind, being aggressive/cruel, getting ready with lesbian and kind. Dialogue about letting unstable go, cruel comments about fool and sassy 
  6. Nerd - revising hard, helping fool, pub with unstable and kind, hanging out with lesbian
Montage group shots:
  • Getting ready
  • Shopping
  • Walking
  • Eating 
  • Drinking 
  • working
  • Fighting
  • Running
  • Hanging out 

Wednesday, 26 October 2016

Synopsis

Last year of school, coming of age storyline involving several different characters representing different choices and journeys into their adult life. The characters it follows are John representing the unstable, Finn representing the fool, Katie representing the kind, Bella representing the bitch, Ted representing the nerd and Lola representing the lesbian. It follows their united group story as well as their own individual journeys. John worries his friends with his excessive drug and alcohol abuse, yet he doesn't think anything wrong. Finn comes to the realisation he must turn his school work around before it's too late, and so comes to Ted for assistance. Ted on-top of all his work, has a secret crush on Lola, unaware she is actually gay. Lola struggles with the knowledge she is applying for a foreign UNI, and so is upset about leaving her friends. Katie lives with her single mother after her father passed away, she worries most about John and like to work hard. Bella likes to feel as if she is the leader of the group, feels that they should ditch John before he drags the group down with him.

Conventional storylines:
  • Bullying
  • Alcohol/drugs
  • Love interest 
Unconventional storylines:
  • Nerd: confident and attracted to Lesbian but doesn't know she's gay. Only romance storyline in the series
  • Bitch: Likeable/aspirational, follows convention of involving a bully/bitch character, but breaks conventions of how she is likeable.
  • Unstable: There are several other characters more suited to being the one who is an alcoholic/drug addict. 

Locations


Interior: 

Fulham - 2 cambria street sw6 see - my house: This serves for my house and also the location all the characters are at during the opening. Due to participant difficulties parts of my house where also used as the location of Katies scene.

Wimbledon - 47 cambridge rd W20 0QB - Lucy's house: This was used simply for the location of Katies home, it is also here that I attempted the photoshoot for my first ancillary task but due to the shots being too blurry they couldn't be used.

Lower Morden: 27 Sandbourne Ave, w619 3EN - Edward's house: Used as the scene for Ted's house, Finn's scene is also filmed here as he comes to Ted for help with revision.

Exterior:

Wimbledon Station- Pret: An exterior shot of Katie, John and Bella is used here as they hang out and complain about John's addictive problems.

Fulham - 2 cambria street sw6 2ee - my house garden is also used in the opening montage of the trailer.


The locations used are all set in South London which keeps to my synopsis of involving them from South London 


Characters


  • Fool - Edmond Taubi - Finn 


  1. Age - 17
  2. Gender  - male
  3. Race/ethnicity - Zimbabwean 
  4. Sexuality - heterosexual 
  5. Regional identity
  6. Ability disability - none

Lighthearted and friendly although a bit impaired, he isn't doing well in his last year of school and requires assistance from Ted. He is the joker of the group often trying to make them laugh and have a fun time.

  • Nasty/bitch - Andrea Allayne - Bella

  1. Age - 17
  2. Gender  - female
  3. Race/ethnicity - 
  4. Sexuality - heterosexual 
  5. Regional identity
  6. Ability disability - none
Sometimes coming off as cold and cruel, makes harsher comments about all the members of the group and considers John to be too far and so should cut him off or it may hurt the group but more out for herself.
  • Nerd - Edward Thomas - Ted


  1. Age  - 17
  2. Gender  - male
  3. Race/ethnicity  - Welsh 
  4. Sexuality - heterosexual 
  5. Regional identity
  6. Ability disability - none
Confident and more on top of school work than his other friends, sometimes the victim to much of Bella's harsher jokes, assists Finn with work and has a crush on Lola unaware she is gay.
  • Unstable - Max Cochrane - John

  1. Age - 18
  2. Gender - male
  3. Race/ethnicity - Irish
  4. Sexuality - heterosexual 
  5. Regional identity
  6. Ability disability - none
Often drinking and consuming illegal substances in denial that he is sometimes seeming off the rails, he hangs out most of the time with Ted. Katie often tries to carefully ask him if he thinks he should slow down, but he shrugs it off. 
  • Gay/Lesbian - Isobel Gordmon Buckley - Lola

  1. Age - 18
  2. Gender - female
  3. Race/ethnicity - Irish
  4. Sexuality - homosexual 
  5. Regional identity
  6. Ability disability - none
Easygoing carefree attitude and excitable often, speaks very openly about her activities and expresses herself freely. Planning to go to a UNI outside the country struggling with the fact she will be leaving her friends. Unaware that Bella and Ted don't know she's gay. She however is very fond of Ted unaware of his intentions.
  • Kind - Lucy Walker - Katie

  1. Age - 18
  2. Gender - female
  3. Race/ethnicity - English 
  4. Sexuality - heterosexual 
  5. Regional identity
  6. Ability disability - none
More caring character often challenging Bella about her harsh comments. Worries about John and is very hard working, lives with single mother. She is shown to often contradict the actions and words of Bella.

Carol Walker, Lucy's mum also plays her mum in the series. We will be shown a strong bond between her and Katie and reveal that Katie's father passed away.

Ancillary tasks


Wednesday, 5 October 2016

titles video diary


opening titles draft 1

For my opening titles I wanted this time to have a more unique look, so experimented with creating a 'wiggle' effect to have them stand out more, as well as look more advanced. I had never done this before so it was an interesting process. I liked doing it and would definitely use them again.

Tuesday, 4 October 2016

Weather conditions

The ideal weather that I wanted for this my tv trailer varied, I was happy with it being cloudy or sunny during outside shots as long as it was still light. For example with my opening montage and beginning of my Unstable intro:

However rain was something that would've been a big issue. If the weather was too dark or rainy, it would prevent me from doing exterior shots except for one exception being in Nerds intro:

This was an exception due to the shot also involving the well lit interior which can be seen through the windows. During interior shots however, as long as the interior was well lit and you could see clearly and the shot wasn't blurry, it did not matter what the outside was like, unless there were windows in the shot. If there were this could be solved by using rooms without any windows. For example the shots used in Bitch's and Lesbian's shots:

Monday, 3 October 2016

Equipment

From past projects I feel I am going to need more to prepare and expect to use more equipment for this project. I feel I am going to need:
  • A camera -  of course to film all my shots, it actually cannot be done without this.

  • A tripod - In past projects, there have been shots were I have tried to keep it without moving, this is often difficult and the camera will annoyingly shake a bit, causing me to very often stabilise the shot on final cut. so I will be needing a tripod for more still shots.
  • Halo light - I have noticed that very often if the shot is too dark, it becomes  more out of focus and blurry. Using a halo light could be very beneficial and prevent this.


Wednesday, 21 September 2016

Pitch presentation


codec

A codec is a program that is used for encoding or decoding a signal. It encodes a data stream for storage, possibly in encrypted form, and the decoder function reverses the encoding for playback or editing. They are used in streaming media, and video editing applications.

Forms of audio codecs:
  • GSM – 13 Kbps (full rate), 20ms frame size
  • iLBC – 15Kbps,20ms frame size: 13.3 Kbps, 30ms frame size
  • ITU G.711 – 64 Kbps, sample-based. Also known as A-law/μ-law
  • ITU G719 – 32/48/64/128 Kbps, 28 ms Frame Size
  • ITU G.722 – 48/56/64 Kbps
  • ITU G.723.1 – 5.3/6.3 Kbps, 30ms frame size
  • ITU G.726 – 16/24/32/40 Kbps
  • ITU G.728 – 16 Kbps
  • ITU G.729 – 8 Kbps, 10ms frame size
  • Speex – 2.15 to 44.2 Kbps
  • LPC10 – 2.5 Kbps
  • DoD CELP – 4.8 Kbps


Forms of video codecs:
  • VP8 is codec used for the encoding and decoding of high definition video as a either a file or a bit-stream for viewing. The VP8 codec is – in contrast to the H.264 codec – free for use.
  • H.264/MPEG-4 Part 10 or AVC (Advanced Video Coding) is currently one of the most commonly used formats for the recording, compression, playback of high definition video. In contrast to VP8, H.264 is not free.

Thursday, 15 September 2016

small scale practical


This is my small scale practical task, I was inspired by Quentin Tarantino's style of filmmaking. I included old music, and bloody violence. Were I too create a full film of this, I would include a complex non linear storyline following another of Tarantino conventions.

Props:

  • Fake blood
  • Knife
  • Rucksack
I gained inspiration for the unknown contents of the bag from Tarantino's film 'Pulp Fiction'. The two songs used are also songs from Tarantino films 'Reservoir Dogs' and 'Jackie Brown'. 

Tuesday, 13 September 2016

3 point lighting

  • Key light - the most important light, it is faced towards your subject, with the others turned off it can give a serious look from the shadows the key light creates on the subject. The other lights are really there to support the key light, it should be apron 45 degrees from the subject and 45 degrees to either side of the camera.
  • Fill light- It is used to fill in the shadows on the subject created by the key light, it is helpful if the shadows are too dark, the strength of the light is changed by bringing the light closer or further away from the subject. 
  • Back light - Used to separate the subject from the background, it makes the subject pop out more and gives them more focus, it manages to create a glow around the head and shoulders helping them stand out. The back light should be aimed at the subject above their head and behind them at a 45 degree angel towards their back