Fifth Day of Filming on Location

    Day 5: Thursday 13th February 2014: 4:30pm-6:30pm

For this session we filmed the beginning of our film; scene 1-17. We used the following equipment:

- Camera 3

- Tripod 3

- External Sound Recorder 1

- Large Reflector

The location of this filming time was the outside of the science block and its corridor.

What went well:
    Certain shots that we filmed had great effects; some happened by pure chance, like the shot 2 when Cameron hesitated with the camera before peeking around the bush; which created a great effect for the point of view shot and the character of the Antagonist because it added to the fact the Antagonist is hiding and secretly watching the Protagonist.
    We came in with good moods, BOTH our actors seemed willing to listen and act so we achieved some good footage for our film.
   
What could of been improved:
    There is a big mess up in a couple of our shots where continuity errors have occurred. You can see us in the reflection on the window caused by the lights being on in the corridor and it being dark outside. We only noticed when we imported our footage onto the Mac, so we are going to address it shortly.
    The lighting problem was a huge pain because obviously it gets darker and with us talking and discussing what to do, between each shot it was ever so slightly, but mega noticeable, became even darker. In shots 1-3 the sky is incredibly bright while once inside i's incredibly dark. We may need to address this if it looks terrible in our film; hopefully it will look natural been as we started filming in dusk through to night.

Fourth Day of Filming on Location

    Day 4: Wednesday 12th February 2014: 5:00pm-6:30pm

For this session we filmed scene 33 up till scene 42 (the end of our film). We used the following equipment:

- Camera 3
- Tripod 3
- Tracking Dolly
- External Sound Recorder 1

We filmed inside the new science block corridor.

Today we did pretty amazingly.  We got our heads down, assigned each member of our filming crew with a job: Cameron took control of the camera, Daniel took control of the sound  while myself took control of making sure everything was in order before filming, deciding what films to film and the lightning.
We were still unable to film the external section of our film due to stormy weather outside - seriously doors were opening all by themselves 0_0

What went well:
    Team worked well this session, hardly any disagreements or tantrums thrown this time.

What could of been improved:
    Some time's Alex appears too stiff and unnatural when he's acting, occasionally looking at the camera or hesitating before acting. Perhaps we could of practised even more before we did final take; although we did do like 5 practises and 7 takes because of errors occurring.
 

Third Day of Filming on Location

    Day 3: Tuesday 11th February 2014: 5:30pm - 6:15pm

    For this session we filmed 30-32 of our storyboard. We used the following equipment:

- Camera 4 

- Tripod 4

- External Sound Recorder 3
- Mini Reflector 2

We shot in new science block corridor.

Due to certain lighting problems, we were unable to get the correct atmosphere/lightning in the corridor for our filming - limiting us to which scenes we were able to do. The scenes we have filmed however have turned out fine. Next session we will be filming 33 - 42. That would be the end of our film.
We attempted the first scenes of our film outside but the weather took a turn for the worst and begun to rain and snow and the wind caused some problems with the sound. *Brrrr*

What went well:
    The shots that we filmed did go rather well however when we finally shot them; the end results ended up with some good match-on-actions, although we thought dome may need tweaking in the next session.

What could of been improved:
    We got so little done due to arguments in the group caused by our actor once again. Instructions were't followed correctly and tensions were high due to everybody being rather fed up.
    The weather was not exactly in our favour today; the wind and rain etc putting a complete hold on the filming, limiting us to certain scenes.
    Lighting was also a problem, it happened to end up too dark for us to film.

Second Day of Filming on Location

    Day 2: Monday 10th February 2014: 4:30pm-6:00pm

    For this session we filmed 24-29 of our storyboard. We used the following equipment:

- Camera 3

- External Sound Recorder 1

- Tripod 3

We shot in the science lab S4 and the new science block corridor.

The scenes we thought needed reshooting we have redone and created better shots, however once again there are a few to tweak due to minor errors such as people not moving out of the way of the camera when filming or standing in the wrong position.

What went well:
    This session was much better than yesterdays. We came in with a clear idea of what to do, when to do it and how and went straight into filming as soon as the lighting was right.
    The Match-on-Actions we filmed are smooth and flow together together. The box scene where the protagonist finds the gun were our best shots of the session and the selection of match-on-ations were the best because we made sure Alex's hands were in the correct place before we started to film and it was actually one of the times Alex was in the mood to listen and do as he was told.
   

What could of been improved:
    Again, our protagonist actor didn't exactly try his best; which caused arguments to occur throughout the group.
    

First Day of Filming On Location

    Day 1: Friday 7th February 2014: 5:00pm-6:30pm 

    For this session we filmed the frames 18-23 of our storyboard. We used the following equipment:

- Tracking Dolly
- Camera 3
- Tripod 3
- External Sound Recorder 1

    We shot in the science room S4 and science corridor.

Most things went well however after reviewing what we filmed certain scenes we think must be reshot at a later date to make them perfect.

What went well:
    One thing that went well during this filming session is the tracking shot we used in the scene where our protagonist first sees the box containing the gun. It was one of the only shots we filmed in this session that took only one take to film and it allowed a pretty good match-on-action to follow.
    The actor who acted out our Antagonist helped us out a lot by listening and getting on with the job, while matching our intended look for our Antagonist perfectly.
    The group worked well as a team, each person focusing on their assigned job and helping each other with very few arguments or mood-swings.

What could of been improved:
    There was constant hindrance throughout today's session caused by one of actors, which prevented us from getting some distant shooting done, however near the end he did attempt to redeem himself and pick up the pace.
    The first shot of our session was a failure. It took us 8 takes to get the perfect one; mainly through instructions not being followed properly. The first attempt was faulty due Alex (Protagonist) walking to fast for the camera. This continued till roughly the fifth take where it switched to the camera being moved around him to quickly. The eighth take was successful :).

       

Actor's Release Forms

Actor's Release Forms

  It is important in any film making process to have the actors sign an Actor's release form. This is because the film producers need the actors' signatures for proof of permission that they can do whatever they like with their films; be that post it on YouTube, Blogger (for people in school studies) or actually publishing and distributing the film else where.

The actor's release form stops the Actors from kicking up a fuss about what the companies do with the film once it has been completed and is proof to say that the actors have all given their consent for their face to be put on the internet or big screen.

Below is the Actor Release forms of our own Actors:

This is the Actor Release form of our Protagonist

This is the Actor Release form of our Antagonist

Terms and Conditions:

    Each actor must read the terms and conditions page before signing the document so that they know exactly what they are giving their consent to. Here is the document:

Jarlinc's Shooting Schedule

What is a Shooting Schedule

A shooting schedule is a plan of each day on which filming is happening. It's normally created by the assistant director, who reports to the production manager managing the production schedule. The idea behind a shooting schedule is that it stops any confusion from happening and presents a timeline that states when and where production is happening and what scenes will be shot.

Jarlinc's own shooting schedule:

JARLINC's Shooting Schedule

'Shadowed' Risk Assessment

    Before we could start filming, myself and my group had to come together and decide upon the possible risks that could take place while we were filming and put them into a table: the one below.

    The importance of creating a Risk Assessment Sheet is so that everybody in the production company and the cast are aware of the risks/dangers and be on the look out for them. The Control measures are put on the table so that people on the set/filming know what to do to prevent the risks from happening in the first place.


Risk Assessment

JARLINC's Film Animatic

Animatic Research

    As I said in the last post, this week we've been focusing fully on our film animatic. This is basically the storyboard I posted last week in motion with a soundtrack, foley noises (on Soundtrack Pro) over the top and camera movements (using key edits on Final Cut) added in to create a glimpse of what our final and completed film will look like once we've finished. 

    Animatic production originally started out in a very low-tech manner; produced by simply taping or filming the storyboards from which an editor would come into play and edit the footage to an audio track. Well over time people began to do some good work with paper. Many companies have shifted onto using paper drawn animatics whereas some still cling onto the old techniques instead of the new generation of production.

Animatics can be tested using photographs or video that may not or may have been shot for something else orginially. An animatic that's based on photography is called a Photomatic and yes, you've probably guessed it, an animatic based upon a video is called a Videomatic or a Rip-o-Matic.

However, as time passes on so does the generation of production. Today some companies have evolved their own 2D and 3D computer-generated art to use in amongst their animatics. A 3D figure can look rather realistic that now, photographing models for the testing process is not used very often.

This is an example of an animated storyboard for The World's End!

Animatic process:

In a real film company they wouldn't always just leave the animatic as basic drawings like my production team have had to (through not enough time); they often colour and computerise their images to make them look more understandable. Here is the process of producing an animatic from the start to the finish (the way we did it):

Step 1: To start with the production of simple artwork is created to illustrate the composition of a scene and to figure out what requirements will be needed:

 

Step 2: The artwork then needs to be re-drawn onto a storyboard so that you are able to figure out which scene goes where, which shot is where and decide what looks best and what needs to be altered or gotten rid of entirely.

 

Step 3: Once done the storyboard images would be put onto some sort of computer programme (such as Final Cut) to enable the editing of the shots; such as lengthen some or shorten and to add such things like camera movements - Close ups, pannings, etc.

 

Step 4: After this is completed the next step would be the soundtrack to put over the animatic. This would consist of literally anything diegetic or non diegetic that you will be hearing in your film; such as doors shutting, footsteps, heat beat, dialogue. The backing music also if you use one. 

Step 5: Once the soundtrack is created you need to make sure it all works well alongside the animatic. A good way to test this out is to get it assessed by somebody and receive feedback on what to do better or what works well.

Jarlinc's Completed Film Animatic and class feedback

For a whole week myself and my team have been working hard to get to this stage of the course - our animatics and today was the day it was to be exhibited and shown to the class. After doing so we received feedback on how to improve our animatic and what worked best - these I will be adding on further down my post :) 

Meanwhile - here is our completed Animatic however after our feedback we will be adding in parts when we either film or we may actually alter this slightly:

Feedback:

In order to get the required feedback that we needed, we had to ask the right questions. Here are the questions we had to ask:

1) Is the narrative clear?

2) Have group framed images appropriately?

3) Have group chosen most effective shot types?

4) Is the film opening around 2 minutes in length?

5) Have the group included appropriate ident & titles?

6) Does the soundtrack effectively support/go with the images?

7) Does the animatic suggest that the group is ready for shooting pase of production?

8) Anything need to be changed or reconsidered?

Here are the responses we got back:

1) Most of the feedback suggests that the narrative is clear in our animatic; only a few stated they got a little confused a the beginning of the animatic due to fast paced editing.

2+3) There were both positives and negatives to this question: Positives: The quick editing and frames built tension and fitted the story. Negatives: The pace of the editing is a little too quick - some of the key framing being a little jumpy also. 

4) The animatic is only 1:26mins long, however we will be adding on our production company ident which will add on 10-15 seconds more and we hope to throw in some extra scenes or lengthen some scenes later on to bring our length to the 2minutes.

5) We received feedback to say that we had good titles however it would be better to add in the person's job (director etc...) and we need to work out the order of which they come into the opening credits.

6) The feedback for a soundtrack was pretty good. They liked how it built tension up and got you right into the animatic - we even got a jump scare as one of our audience members jumped :D

7) Most people said yes we are ready for the shooting phase; we just need to work on the length of the film.

8) Things to improve would be the length & to add in the job titles of the people in our film. 

JARLINC'S Storyboard and research

The last time I posted anything my group was researching Props, Costumes and Location and posting about what locations etc we will be using in our films. Well this time we have been working hard on our storyboards; drawing and annotating images for each cut of our film so that the story of our film is portrayed and displays what the film will look like, even before its been filmed. We have come to a total of 40+, let's hope everything goes to plan :)

Storyboard research

    It was originally developed at the famous Walt Disney Studio after similar processes were being used at Walt Disney & other animation studios. 

    The idea of a storyboard is to form a sequence of still images for the purpose of a film or animation of some kind. It's a long time-consuming process; most films having hundreds or thousand film cut images to represent each cut in a full film. It is used to help film directors, cinematographers etc visualize the scenes and find potential problems which could occur before they film actually gets shot.

   A storyboard provides people with a visual layout of the scenes/events as they would occur through the camera lens. Later they would be put into an animatic which I will be moving onto next in my course.

An example of a storyboard layout

What Storyboards consist of (Conventions of a storyboard)

Convention 1: Shot numbers: The shot number is vital to stop any later confusion at the time when the aninatic is created using the storyboard. In a film theres loads of shots used - so numbering them is important.

Convention 2: Shot selection: The type of shot being used is mainly displayed through the image portrayed in the scene box but sometime is put in the boxes/lines below. (Close ups, establing shot, POV shot)

Convention 3: Sketches of the scenes: Seeing the images on paper allows the producer to see the film in action - it makes your ideas come alive and with it a film is either `born` or new ideas are formed - depending on whether the scenes you have drawn work well or not. Basically; they are a still version of the finished film.

Convention 4: Scene numbers: A scene number is again used to prevent any confusion from occuring; such as scenes or shots may end up being mixed up - resulting in an `ever-so-slightly` messed up storyboard, and if not noticed, a rubbish film.

Convention 5: Dialogue: Any dialoge used in the shots is written underneath the imaage so you have a rough idea of the length of the shot and as to how long the shot must last.

Convention 6: Camera Movement: Camera movements are shown on the storyboard through arrows and the positioning of the images on the storyboard.

Convention 7: SFX: Such things as lightnings, explosions, gun shots are all special effects - these need to be added into the storyboard.

Convention 8: The Location: Where ever the location of a scene is - it must be included into the storyboard in some way and whether or not the film is indoors (INT) or outside (EXT). 

Real film storyboard examples:

A scene from Peter Jackson's LORD OF THE RINGS; the fellowship of the ring

From 1:32 - To 2:13 of Video

My Group's Storyboard:

1st image = meant to be SHADOWED