Our Film noir OTS is finally complete, and this is the final product. Due to some difficulties with lip syncing, some of the speech may appear out of time, this is mainly due to the actor, in order to fix this, if we were to produce this OTS all over again, we would consider another actor for the hero.
Friday 25 March 2011
OTS Presentation Pitch
Right near the start of our OTS planning, our group done a pitch to our class on our idea's and themes we'd like our OTS to have, this is that presentation:
PRESENTATION 5 from fLIX.TV on Vimeo.
Thursday 24 March 2011
Video Blog: Pre-filming planning + Script work
This was a videoblog we done a while back just before we started filming, discussing how we wanted the filming to go:
Media Evaluation
So now that our OTS is complete, that final thing to do was an evaluation.
I chose to do some of mine of Powerpoint, as it was easy to use and quite effective.
These are the slides I have done.
We also decided to do a group video evaluation, discussing the evaluation questions and covering the questions I have not done in the powerpoint.
I chose to do some of mine of Powerpoint, as it was easy to use and quite effective.
These are the slides I have done.
Thursday 17 March 2011
Preliminary Evaluation
Ok, So pretty much the final thing to do for our Film Noir OTS is the evaluation.
Whilst me and my group are planning on doing a video evaluation, discussing our project and planning, I've done some notes that will help us discussing he questions that must be answered:
Whilst me and my group are planning on doing a video evaluation, discussing our project and planning, I've done some notes that will help us discussing he questions that must be answered:
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
Use of black and white – conventional
Use of black and white – conventional
Stereotypical femme fatale, protagonist and antagonist: in suits and fedoras – conventional
Use of animation + in colour – challenge conventions
Use of bar as set + filmed at night – conventional
Lighting, dark, atmospheric + sound, jazzy, slick and slow - Conventional
How does your media product represent particular social groups?
Aimed at working class men: male hero and villain, attractive femme fatale, action, power and style – guns, suits etc.
Aimed at working class men: male hero and villain, attractive femme fatale, action, power and style – guns, suits etc.
Older generation represented as classy/slick with the dress style
Mise En Scene.
What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
Could be distributed online – cheap, fairly easy to advertise, would have a wide contemporary/internet buff audience.
Could be distributed online – cheap, fairly easy to advertise, would have a wide contemporary/internet buff audience.
Mainstream cinema: potential to attract a lot of our target audience – Guys night out, office parties, although very expensive to advertise + create a desired profit.
Smaller cinemas. Cinema city etc – not as expensive as mainstream, but would not attract as much of an audience, possibly more elderly people who like the conventional film noir, films of that era.
Who would be the audience for your media product?
Male office workers, elderly people who enjoy the genre, ages 18-64 – action and style
How did you attract/address your audience?
Questionnaires, primary research, focus groups, influential films (James Bond etc) and their audiences
Who would be the audience for your media product?
Male office workers, elderly people who enjoy the genre, ages 18-64 – action and style
How did you attract/address your audience?
Questionnaires, primary research, focus groups, influential films (James Bond etc) and their audiences
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
Camera Angles and shots, Use of blog, Social networking for research and communication, editing software and effects, lighting equipment, uploading files
Camera Angles and shots, Use of blog, Social networking for research and communication, editing software and effects, lighting equipment, uploading files
Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
Larger scale production – More to do.
Continuity
Camera angles + post filming effects (sounds, black and white)
Explore more conventions/possibilities to challenge them
Understanding of audience
Group skills and communication
Thursday 24 February 2011
Target Audience Research - Focus Group
The group decided, for some audience research, one of the best ways to gather some information would be to show our initial live action footage to a small group of people.
The people we used were a small group of media diploma students, aged about 15-16. We also gave them a questionaire, and asked for their comments on the footage, which were genrally good, with a few constructive critisims. This is the feedback we recieved from the questionaires.
Comments on Location
Once the OTS is completed, we will try and show it to the same group of people, and see what their thoughts and comments are after everything has been added.
The people we used were a small group of media diploma students, aged about 15-16. We also gave them a questionaire, and asked for their comments on the footage, which were genrally good, with a few constructive critisims. This is the feedback we recieved from the questionaires.
Comments on Location
- Works very well for the plot/genre.
- Created a good atmosphere.
- Could of been filmed with less of the public in the background.
- Contains a few continuity errors - Necklace, Extra actors etc.
- Plot was very interesting and grabbing.
- The hiding of the characters faces was very effective, as it creates the sense of mystery.
- Many of the angles used were interesting and well used.
- Some people said the camera was shaky at points, some people liked this in parts, such as the beginning of the film, whereas some did not.
- The black and white effects recieved very good comments - It added a great feel to the film.
Once the OTS is completed, we will try and show it to the same group of people, and see what their thoughts and comments are after everything has been added.
Nearing completion
Today, me, Lee and Matt, got together round Matts house to practically finish our OTS.
We added the soundtrack (Which I finally created) combined the Live action footage and animation, and managed to add the black and white effect.
The only thing left to do now is to call in our actors/actresses to do voice overs/lip syncing for thier parts, which should be done at the beginning of next week.
I managed to call in the help of some musician friends, and with a bit of editing, this is what the final piece sounds like: http://soundcloud.com/sam-high/film-noir-soundtrack-final
I'd say it's a very Jazz/blues influenced chilled track, which seems to fit our footage perfectly.
We added the soundtrack (Which I finally created) combined the Live action footage and animation, and managed to add the black and white effect.
The only thing left to do now is to call in our actors/actresses to do voice overs/lip syncing for thier parts, which should be done at the beginning of next week.
I managed to call in the help of some musician friends, and with a bit of editing, this is what the final piece sounds like: http://soundcloud.com/sam-high/film-noir-soundtrack-final
I'd say it's a very Jazz/blues influenced chilled track, which seems to fit our footage perfectly.
Thursday 17 February 2011
Lip syncing + Foleying
The group has decided that we're are going to need to use foleying to add sound to our OTS.
This is the art of recording sound, and adding it to video after it has been shot,this can be done for a number of things such as gunshots, background noise and voices.
We have also decided that I will be lip syncing the voice of one of our actors, this will be done by recording my voice while I watch the video,and then adding it to the video over the top, this is a little explanation of lip syncing:
In film production, lip synching is often part of the post-production phase. Most film today contains scenes where the dialogue has been re-recorded afterwards; lip-synching is the technique used when animated characters speak; and lip synching is essential when films are dubbed into other languages.
We have also decided that I will be lip syncing the voice of one of our actors, this will be done by recording my voice while I watch the video,and then adding it to the video over the top, this is a little explanation of lip syncing:
In film production, lip synching is often part of the post-production phase. Most film today contains scenes where the dialogue has been re-recorded afterwards; lip-synching is the technique used when animated characters speak; and lip synching is essential when films are dubbed into other languages.
Tuesday 15 February 2011
Animatic
This is the animatic we created, detailing a rough representation of what we'd like our scenes to turn out like.
Untitled from Matt Armes on Vimeo.
Untitled from Matt Armes on Vimeo.
Sound Problems
I have encountered some problems with the sound.
The way I was going to create the soundtrack was to obtain and record the different pieces of music, and then edit them together in audacity, but it turns out I cannot, as all the different tracks go out of time.
I now have a new plan, but it will have to be done in the halfterm, quite close to the deadline.
I plan to call upon a couple of musician friends, and go down to a studio to record the piece live, in one take.
This could become quite problematic as relying on the people I need to call upon could let me down, but if it works well, the piece should turn out pretty good.
The way I was going to create the soundtrack was to obtain and record the different pieces of music, and then edit them together in audacity, but it turns out I cannot, as all the different tracks go out of time.
I now have a new plan, but it will have to be done in the halfterm, quite close to the deadline.
I plan to call upon a couple of musician friends, and go down to a studio to record the piece live, in one take.
This could become quite problematic as relying on the people I need to call upon could let me down, but if it works well, the piece should turn out pretty good.
Live Action footage
We have finished filming and editing the live action piece of our OTS, and Matt has uploaded it to Vimeo.
FILMNOIRWITHOUTANIMATION from Matt Armes on Vimeo.
We are having some problems converting the animation to a different format, so that we can attach it to the live action footage, but we are working on something for that.
FILMNOIRWITHOUTANIMATION from Matt Armes on Vimeo.
We are having some problems converting the animation to a different format, so that we can attach it to the live action footage, but we are working on something for that.
Tuesday 8 February 2011
Deconstructions of The Noir Genre
Many of the conventions associated with film noir are very important to give them the effect and atmosphere the film must have. Although the original era of film noir has passed, many films take aspects of the original genre, and tweak them a bit, creating the new genre "Neo-Noir" meaning modern noir.
Some of the classic conventions include:
Today we watched three OTS's of three neo noirs, and compared them to the classic film noirs, This is what we came up with:
Red Riding 1974
A British feature length tv series, keeps quite close to the classic conventions.
Starts off very eerie, with a contrast between black and white, moves to a saturated close up of a mans face, lots of close ups.
Cuts quickly to a very dreary, rainy shot, as the protaganist is established. Music playing is an acoustic guitar, not very conventional. The location is very rural, as it is set in yorkshire, Not conventional. Later in the clip, we establish the protaginist has "Blew his chance" in london, indicating he is flawed, this is conventional.
Blade Runner
A science fiction film with neo noir elements, directed by Ridely Scott.
Starts off with a very futuristic shot of the cityscape, with a few explosions seen, not many classic film noirs would be action packed from the start. There is also an effect where the burning city is being seen and reflected in a mans eye, conventional film noir would not have had anything like this, as the editing was kept to a minimum.
Cut to a dark room, with only natural lighting, and smoke whisping, smoking was very conventional of film noir, and gave a good effective if used with correcting lighting.
The first characters that are seen are two men, but these are neither the Antagonist or Protaganist, in classic film noir, either one of them is established in the first character, showing their importance to the film.
The sound is also quite unconventional, using techno sounds and machinery. Mixed in is a heartbeat, which was used quite often for effect.
Mulholland Drive
An american neo noir, directed by David Lynch
Begins with an high energy scene of people dancing to a old fashioned swing track, as faces are faded in, we establish a blond women, There is alot of bright lights in the scene, this is unconventional, as most film noirs would start very dark.
It then cuts to a very dark shot, where car headlights are just made out, inside of the car is a heavily made up women. Assuming she is the femme fatale, she is made fairly conventional as we see the amount of makeup and lipstick she is wearing. The sound is very atmospheric and sustained, but is also a synthesised orchestra, giving a conventional contrast.
The movie is overall very chiarascuro, in the sense that alot of it is contrasted, for example, the two main character are two women (Very unconventional) and they have completely different personalities and narritives. The speed and colour of the two opening scenes are also very contrasted, as the first is bright, jumpy and energetic, the secong is very slow, atmospheric and dark.
Some of the classic conventions include:
- Traditional Narritive: crime, tragedy, dark moods, and seduction.
- Characters: Protaganist, Antagonist and a Femme Fatale
- Mise - en -Scene: : Lighting: High contrast of lighting, Chiarascuro and Monochrome
- Costumes: Male characters in suits and Fedoras, Femme Fatale in seductive clothing
- Setting: Bars, Casinos, Very urban/cityscape enviroments, Dystopian
- Sound: Very orchestral, often with elements of Jazz.
- Editing: Kept simple, with a sense of realism (Verisemilitude)
Today we watched three OTS's of three neo noirs, and compared them to the classic film noirs, This is what we came up with:
Red Riding 1974
A British feature length tv series, keeps quite close to the classic conventions.
Starts off very eerie, with a contrast between black and white, moves to a saturated close up of a mans face, lots of close ups.
Cuts quickly to a very dreary, rainy shot, as the protaganist is established. Music playing is an acoustic guitar, not very conventional. The location is very rural, as it is set in yorkshire, Not conventional. Later in the clip, we establish the protaginist has "Blew his chance" in london, indicating he is flawed, this is conventional.
Blade Runner
A science fiction film with neo noir elements, directed by Ridely Scott.
Starts off with a very futuristic shot of the cityscape, with a few explosions seen, not many classic film noirs would be action packed from the start. There is also an effect where the burning city is being seen and reflected in a mans eye, conventional film noir would not have had anything like this, as the editing was kept to a minimum.
Cut to a dark room, with only natural lighting, and smoke whisping, smoking was very conventional of film noir, and gave a good effective if used with correcting lighting.
The first characters that are seen are two men, but these are neither the Antagonist or Protaganist, in classic film noir, either one of them is established in the first character, showing their importance to the film.
The sound is also quite unconventional, using techno sounds and machinery. Mixed in is a heartbeat, which was used quite often for effect.
Mulholland Drive
Begins with an high energy scene of people dancing to a old fashioned swing track, as faces are faded in, we establish a blond women, There is alot of bright lights in the scene, this is unconventional, as most film noirs would start very dark.
It then cuts to a very dark shot, where car headlights are just made out, inside of the car is a heavily made up women. Assuming she is the femme fatale, she is made fairly conventional as we see the amount of makeup and lipstick she is wearing. The sound is very atmospheric and sustained, but is also a synthesised orchestra, giving a conventional contrast.
The movie is overall very chiarascuro, in the sense that alot of it is contrasted, for example, the two main character are two women (Very unconventional) and they have completely different personalities and narritives. The speed and colour of the two opening scenes are also very contrasted, as the first is bright, jumpy and energetic, the secong is very slow, atmospheric and dark.
Sunday 6 February 2011
Video Blog
So Matt finally edited the video blog we done a little while ago, basically commentating what we hope out OTS will turn our like.
Link : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xa3FuZiM2Fw
Link : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xa3FuZiM2Fw
Thursday 3 February 2011
Semiotics
Semiotics are the idea that everything in a film has a meaning and that it can be interpreted in many different ways, depending on the persons background views and their personality.
Some of the semiotics in our OTS are the playing cards and the gun.
It is a huge subject, and Lee has done some research into it:http://asmediastudiesleecooper.blogspot.com/
Some of the semiotics in our OTS are the playing cards and the gun.
It is a huge subject, and Lee has done some research into it:http://asmediastudiesleecooper.blogspot.com/
Two Step Flow
The two step flow theory is the theory that the viewer personal influences could be affected by other viewers of the media and vice versa, such as a film: if one person watches and likes a film, and then discusses it with another who watched the same film, who did not, they may discuss it and change each others views.
I believe that this could relate to our target audience, as if our film is based at office workers, a single man ( called the opinion leader in the theory) could watch it and enjoy it, and go back to his office the next day and tell his co-workers, who may become interested in it due to the single colleagues opinion.
Another aspect of this theory is that people opinions could influence other people's behavior, as exampled in the James Bulger case, and I think this would relate to our film classification ( Matt has done some research into this, head over there :( http://asmediastudiesmattarmes.blogspot.com/) as we are thinking as placing our film as a "15"
I believe that this could relate to our target audience, as if our film is based at office workers, a single man ( called the opinion leader in the theory) could watch it and enjoy it, and go back to his office the next day and tell his co-workers, who may become interested in it due to the single colleagues opinion.
Another aspect of this theory is that people opinions could influence other people's behavior, as exampled in the James Bulger case, and I think this would relate to our film classification ( Matt has done some research into this, head over there :( http://asmediastudiesmattarmes.blogspot.com/) as we are thinking as placing our film as a "15"
Our Target Audience
So, our group has decided that the main target audience our Film Noir is trying to reach is the stereotypical male office worker aged 18-40 who we would describe as "Needing a little more action in their life"
Seeing as our film would be quite action packed, based on idea's from James Bond e.g slick characters, glamourous women and fast paced action, we've figured that these are the type of men we wish to target.
The two most predominant audience theories we are following would be the hypodermic needle theory: the idea that our audience accept the media and it's messages, and the Obstinate audience theory, the theory that the audience select which messages to accept, and that they also influence the message itself.
The two-step theory could also come into place, where the more the viewer discusses the film with other people, the more likely his views on it are to change.
I'd believe instead of our audience would be more interactive than passive, as our film would possibly leave subtle clues and decoys that some viewers may want to follow, although it would not be necessary for the film to make sense.
In relation to the NRS social grades (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NRS_social_grade) I'd reckon our target audience would be skilled working to lower middle class. Conventional film noir usually aimed for the lower middle to working class, but have now become more classy and aimed at the older generation, closer to middle class.
Seeing as our film would be quite action packed, based on idea's from James Bond e.g slick characters, glamourous women and fast paced action, we've figured that these are the type of men we wish to target.
The two-step theory could also come into place, where the more the viewer discusses the film with other people, the more likely his views on it are to change.
I'd believe instead of our audience would be more interactive than passive, as our film would possibly leave subtle clues and decoys that some viewers may want to follow, although it would not be necessary for the film to make sense.
In relation to the NRS social grades (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NRS_social_grade) I'd reckon our target audience would be skilled working to lower middle class. Conventional film noir usually aimed for the lower middle to working class, but have now become more classy and aimed at the older generation, closer to middle class.
Tuesday 1 February 2011
Copyright Laws
For our OTS, I am producing my own song to use for the live action part, but due to limited resources, for the animation we wish to use an existing song over it, buit with copyright laws, this is difficult.
I have found out that the first 30 seconds of a song is acceptable to be used, without breaching any serious copyright laws.
PRS is the website/organisation that protects artists from people using their music, if I were to purchase a license to use music, this would probably be the one:
http://www.prsformusic.com/users/recordedmedia/corporate/Pages/Public%20Exhibitions%20%28SG4%29.aspx
Since we only need a short extract from a song, only the intro will be used, so this should not effect copyright that much, additionally we are using it for educational purposes. This is another link I found regarding using music for school projects, but unfortuatly, the actual page is being redesigned at this time:
http://www.prsformusic.com/whoareyou/edu/Pages/default.aspx
I have found out that the first 30 seconds of a song is acceptable to be used, without breaching any serious copyright laws.
PRS is the website/organisation that protects artists from people using their music, if I were to purchase a license to use music, this would probably be the one:
http://www.prsformusic.com/users/recordedmedia/corporate/Pages/Public%20Exhibitions%20%28SG4%29.aspx
Since we only need a short extract from a song, only the intro will be used, so this should not effect copyright that much, additionally we are using it for educational purposes. This is another link I found regarding using music for school projects, but unfortuatly, the actual page is being redesigned at this time:
http://www.prsformusic.com/whoareyou/edu/Pages/default.aspx
Edit: Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use.
Monday 31 January 2011
Location, Location, Location.
Personally, i think the Beehive pub was a great setting for our film noir, the lighting in there was quite dark, it was quiote old fasioned and it included pretty much the atmosphere we were looking for. Here are some pictures of what the setting looked like:
This is where our Hero and Femme fatale sat. I think the cushions on the chairs and the fireplace make it look quite old fashions.
An overview of the main area, where the camera pans through at the beginning. It was quite spacious, despite the fact we didn't need that much room, but again, it fitted our needs perfectly.
Another shot of the seating area. Most of the camerawork was done behind the banister, and that was a great way of getting the over the shoulder shots, and the window shot in the next picture.
The door which the gangsters burst though, quite a fun and effective part to film. We thought the "No smoking" signs on the doors would be a problem, but they were easily overcame. Pictures from various films, Including the Godfather lined the hallway, and we thought this was very convient, as it was too prefect to be in the backround in some of our shots.
It was quite hard to see the actors from inside, when they were outside, but the shot didn't turn out too bad.
The door which the gangsters burst though, quite a fun and effective part to film. We thought the "No smoking" signs on the doors would be a problem, but they were easily overcame. Pictures from various films, Including the Godfather lined the hallway, and we thought this was very convient, as it was too prefect to be in the backround in some of our shots.
Sunday 30 January 2011
Target Audience Poll
So Matt had the brilliant idea of creating the Questionaire via Facebook, which I believe is a much more effective way to produce results then have a piece of paper filled in, here it is.
Thursday 27 January 2011
Different Parts for Different People
I just thought I'd do a post explaning a bit more about the roles of our group.
Matt Armes: http://asmediastudiesmattarmes.blogspot.com/
He's in charge, being quite a technical wiz, at a majority of the filming and editing, although we all had imput in how we wanted the production to look. He took care of some of the lighting, doing some experiments with lighting and it's effects.
Lee Cooper: http://asmediastudiesleecooper.blogspot.com/
Being a very keen/good animator, Lee produced the animation bit of our OTS, aswell as helping out with props and organisation of the filming. Lee also took charge in the location aspect, being the once to find the Set's owner, and getting him to agree to let us film there.
It's hard to put official titles on everyone, Director, producer ect, because we all pretty much had a part in everything, and when it comes down to it, Our OTS would not have been possible with all of our input.
Matt Armes: http://asmediastudiesmattarmes.blogspot.com/
He's in charge, being quite a technical wiz, at a majority of the filming and editing, although we all had imput in how we wanted the production to look. He took care of some of the lighting, doing some experiments with lighting and it's effects.
Lee Cooper: http://asmediastudiesleecooper.blogspot.com/
Being a very keen/good animator, Lee produced the animation bit of our OTS, aswell as helping out with props and organisation of the filming. Lee also took charge in the location aspect, being the once to find the Set's owner, and getting him to agree to let us film there.
It's hard to put official titles on everyone, Director, producer ect, because we all pretty much had a part in everything, and when it comes down to it, Our OTS would not have been possible with all of our input.
Continuity Task Evaluation
So, since I started slightly late to everybody else, I was pretty much thrown into this task on my first lesson, but having done media at GCSE, I don't thihnk it went too bad.
By filming something in the style of Film Noir, having heard nothing of the genre before hand, I was able to learn a whole load by doing something hands on, examing and using aspects of the lighting and style from the time period of Film Noir.
I was also reminded of the various shot types we used, including match on action shots, Over the shoulder shots and close ups. One of the purposes of the task was to make sure our short film contained no continuity errors, these are little things that subtley change throught a piece of footage without meaning to, such as when someone opens a door with their right hand, but the camera then cuts to to the left side. We made sure in our film to not do this.
Overall, having learnt a lot from it, I think it went quite well.
By filming something in the style of Film Noir, having heard nothing of the genre before hand, I was able to learn a whole load by doing something hands on, examing and using aspects of the lighting and style from the time period of Film Noir.
I was also reminded of the various shot types we used, including match on action shots, Over the shoulder shots and close ups. One of the purposes of the task was to make sure our short film contained no continuity errors, these are little things that subtley change throught a piece of footage without meaning to, such as when someone opens a door with their right hand, but the camera then cuts to to the left side. We made sure in our film to not do this.
Overall, having learnt a lot from it, I think it went quite well.
Continueity Task
Near the beginning of the course, I done a Contiueity task with Olivia Smith, Emily Dimas and Jenni Dack.
CONTINUITY TASK JENNI SAM OLIVIA AND EMILY from fLIX.TV on Vimeo.
CONTINUITY TASK JENNI SAM OLIVIA AND EMILY from fLIX.TV on Vimeo.
Tuesday 25 January 2011
Mid term Self Assesment
I think me and my group have got quite alot done this past term;
Despite starting late, i've gotten through most of the work thrown at me, and have recieve quite positive feedback.
Targets/Tasks that need to be done in the next 3 weeks are;
- created a concept board which show our idea's evolving
- Planed, organised and finished filming our OTS
- researched target audiences
- written the soundtrack
- Produced A continuity task
- Examined the "Film Noir" genre
Despite starting late, i've gotten through most of the work thrown at me, and have recieve quite positive feedback.
Targets/Tasks that need to be done in the next 3 weeks are;
- Piece together our OTS by combining the Live footage,
- Add and finish the soundtrack
- Add titles
- Produce evaluation
- Add Continuity task + evaluation.
- Link more to each others blogs
- deconstruct a film noir
Sunday 23 January 2011
Filming Success!
Well, On Thursday, Me, my group and are actors all pulled together to get our filming done, and In my opinion it was a great success.
We got all of the footage we needed, pretty much exactly how we wanted it, and in quite a quick time aswell.
Our set was brilliant, Featuring nearly everything we imagined, including a few pictures of "The Godfather" movie in the backgroud, which we all thought was a stroke of luck.
The only downside to the night was probably the sound. There was quite a bit of music playing, and a few spurts of loud voices, making the sound we recorded fairly poor, but, we have decided to call our actors back to foley their voices in, and them, aswell as the music and a looped crowd sound, it should turn out very well.
Both Matt and Lee are editing at the moment. Matt is piecing together our footage, and Lee is putting the finishing touches to the animation. Once it is all brought together, We can start adding the sound, and I can start creating the soundtrack to fit over the Film.
To do that, I need to call upon my drummer friend to record a drumbeat for me, and that should be done by next week. If all goes to plan, the whole OTS should be done by either the comming week, or next.
P.S Head over to Lee's blog to see some photos of us finshing the script and the script itself.
We got all of the footage we needed, pretty much exactly how we wanted it, and in quite a quick time aswell.
Our set was brilliant, Featuring nearly everything we imagined, including a few pictures of "The Godfather" movie in the backgroud, which we all thought was a stroke of luck.
The only downside to the night was probably the sound. There was quite a bit of music playing, and a few spurts of loud voices, making the sound we recorded fairly poor, but, we have decided to call our actors back to foley their voices in, and them, aswell as the music and a looped crowd sound, it should turn out very well.
Both Matt and Lee are editing at the moment. Matt is piecing together our footage, and Lee is putting the finishing touches to the animation. Once it is all brought together, We can start adding the sound, and I can start creating the soundtrack to fit over the Film.
To do that, I need to call upon my drummer friend to record a drumbeat for me, and that should be done by next week. If all goes to plan, the whole OTS should be done by either the comming week, or next.
P.S Head over to Lee's blog to see some photos of us finshing the script and the script itself.
Tuesday 18 January 2011
Props Update + last minute preparations
We've finally managed to get hold of a toy gun, which is, conveniently, a replica of the James Bond gun, and this should fit what we need perfectly.
As far as we know, all costumes have been sorted, either by us, or the actors.
Me and Matt will probably go into the city on wednesday to buy last minute additions, such as the diamond necklace we still need, and a few waistcoats/trousers.
we have been able to find a couple of extras which will be able to just be in the shot.
Pretty much everything will have to be done Thursday, so until then, thats all.
As far as we know, all costumes have been sorted, either by us, or the actors.
Me and Matt will probably go into the city on wednesday to buy last minute additions, such as the diamond necklace we still need, and a few waistcoats/trousers.
we have been able to find a couple of extras which will be able to just be in the shot.
Pretty much everything will have to be done Thursday, so until then, thats all.
Wednesday 12 January 2011
Finally, a Demo!
Ok, so I've finally managed to record a semi decent quality version of the soundtrack for our OTS.
It starts out with my original piece, which I think is quite atmospheric and slick, very fitting for the mood we want our OTS to induce, the second piece (the heavier part) is a song by Autumn titled "Liquid under Film Noir" which I told Matt and Lee to listen to, and they agreed it would be perfect for when the gun is fired, and the animation kicks in.
I have uploaded the song to Soundcloud, a pretty new music streaming website, and I produced the song in the Audacity program, I understand I will have to look into Copyright laws in order to use Autumn's song, and I shall do a further post about that.
http://soundcloud.com/sam-high/media-film-noir-demo
Note; I still need feedback from Matt and Lee about this, hopefully, they will like it...
It starts out with my original piece, which I think is quite atmospheric and slick, very fitting for the mood we want our OTS to induce, the second piece (the heavier part) is a song by Autumn titled "Liquid under Film Noir" which I told Matt and Lee to listen to, and they agreed it would be perfect for when the gun is fired, and the animation kicks in.
I have uploaded the song to Soundcloud, a pretty new music streaming website, and I produced the song in the Audacity program, I understand I will have to look into Copyright laws in order to use Autumn's song, and I shall do a further post about that.
http://soundcloud.com/sam-high/media-film-noir-demo
Note; I still need feedback from Matt and Lee about this, hopefully, they will like it...
Tuesday 11 January 2011
Filming dates
I've been trying to organise a date to gather our cast down our setting and film.
I first suggested two dates on our Facebook group, Thursday 20th January and Sunday 23rd January.
The feedback we got was that the Thursday was the more convinient date and we have tried to settle on this, We also decided against the Sunday, as it the setting may be quite crowded.
We still need to organise the costumes (which we believe most of our cast member may own) and Props, Which we are pretty much done with apart from the BIG problem of guns, we are doing all we can to try and obtain these.
I first suggested two dates on our Facebook group, Thursday 20th January and Sunday 23rd January.
The feedback we got was that the Thursday was the more convinient date and we have tried to settle on this, We also decided against the Sunday, as it the setting may be quite crowded.
We still need to organise the costumes (which we believe most of our cast member may own) and Props, Which we are pretty much done with apart from the BIG problem of guns, we are doing all we can to try and obtain these.
Assessment Criteria for level 4
This is the assessment criteria for the higher level that I am hoping to get for my production
Marking Criteria for the presentation of the research and planning
Level 4 48-60 marks
*Matt was responsible for most of this, But we all had alot of input into how we wanted it too look
Marking Criteria for the presentation of the research and planning
Level 4 48-60 marks
- There is excellent research into similar products and a potential target audience.- in process
- There is excellent organisation of actors, locations, costumes or props.
- There is excellent work on shotlists, layouts, drafting, scripting or storyboarding.
- There is an excellent level of care in the presentation of the research and planning
- Time management is excellent.
*Matt was responsible for most of this, But we all had alot of input into how we wanted it too look
- holding a shot steady, where appropriate;*
- framing a shot, including and excluding elements as appropriate; *
- using a variety of shot distances as appropriate; *
- shooting material appropriate to the task set; *
- selecting mise-en-scène including colour, figure, lighting, objects and setting; *
- editing so that meaning is apparent to the viewer; - In process
- using varied shot transitions and other effects selectively and appropriately for the task set; - in process
- using sound with images and editing appropriately for the task set; - In process
- using titles appropriately. - To be done
Sunday 9 January 2011
Set, Vblogs and Times
Ok, So last Thursday me and the group done our first video blog. As well as having quite a bit of fun, we managed to write down a script for our OTS, and just discuss ALOT of general ideas relating to our project.
The video is currently in the process of being edited down (We managed to record around 1 hour of footage!) by Matt, and he should post it up soon.
We have also decided to change our setting to the Beehive pub, instead of Paolos restaurant, the main reasons being we managed to talk to the owner easily, he said there would be no problem, and it is fairly local to all our crew, more info can be found on Lee's Blog. We also intend to start filming in about a week, we have yet to sort out a date, but that shall be done very soon.
I've also done a rough edit of the soundtrack we can possible use, as of yet, I have no way to record or upload it, But I intend to show it too Matt and Lee, to see what they think.
The video is currently in the process of being edited down (We managed to record around 1 hour of footage!) by Matt, and he should post it up soon.
We have also decided to change our setting to the Beehive pub, instead of Paolos restaurant, the main reasons being we managed to talk to the owner easily, he said there would be no problem, and it is fairly local to all our crew, more info can be found on Lee's Blog. We also intend to start filming in about a week, we have yet to sort out a date, but that shall be done very soon.
I've also done a rough edit of the soundtrack we can possible use, as of yet, I have no way to record or upload it, But I intend to show it too Matt and Lee, to see what they think.
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