How far have we come? preliminary task to final production

student film opening

For this task we were asked to find three student productions of our choice one to present to the class that I 

found interesting and two others to mark using the criteria below. 

Level 1 0–23 marks The work for the main task is possibly incomplete. There is minimal evidence in the work of the creative use of any relevant technical skills such as:

• Producing material appropriate for the target audience and task; 

• using titles appropriately according to institutional conventions; 

• using sound with images and editing appropriately for the task set;

• shooting material appropriate to the task set; including controlled use of the camera, attention to framing, variety of shot distance and close attention to mise-en-scene; 

• using editing so that meaning is apparent to the viewer and making selective and appropriate use of shot transitions and other effects. 

Level 2 24–35 marks There is evidence of a basic level of ability in the creative use of some of the following technical skills:

• Producing material appropriate for the target audience and task; 

• using titles appropriately according to institutional conventions; 

• using sound with images and editing appropriately for the task set;

• shooting material appropriate to the task set;, including controlled use of the camera, attention to framing, variety of shot distance and close attention to mise-en-scene; 

• using editing so that meaning is apparent to the viewer and making selective and appropriate use of shot transitions and other effects. 

Level 3 36–47 marks There is evidence of proficiency in the creative use of many of the following technical skills:

• Producing material appropriate for the target audience and task; 

• using titles appropriately according to institutional conventions; 

• using sound with images and editing appropriately for the task set;

• shooting material appropriate to the task set; including controlled use of the camera, attention to framing, variety of shot distance and close attention to mise-en-scene; 

• using editing so that meaning is apparent to the viewer and making selective and appropriate use of shot transitions and other effects.

Level 4 48–60 marksThere is evidence of excellence in the creative use of most of the following technical skills:

• material appropriate for the target audience and task;

• using titles appropriately according to institutional conventions;

• using sound with images and editing appropriately for the task set;

• shooting material appropriate to the task set;including controlled use of the camera, attention to framing, variety of shot distance and close attention to mise-en-scene;

• using editing so that meaning is apparent to the viewer and making selective and appropriate use of shot transitions and other effects.

Inner Evil AS student opening

This film opening is not your everyday 'get ready' opening, it creates enigma as it is clear something is going on and going to happen in the rest of the film. I would mark this film as a high level  3 at 47 marks or possibly a low level 4 at 48 marks. It has suitable music across opening which also adds to the enigma, it also contains non-digetic sound effects such as when the glass is put on the counter top.  The sound has also clearly been re-recorded and then added in during editing as all the sounds are clear. The editing of the film is appropriate for the genre and makes the opening look smooth. The titles appropriately go with the genre of the film, both the order and the text font.

Beneath The Trees Student Film opening 

This film opening has some  creative shots which add to the enigma, the titles are simple and plain which matches the background music. From the beginning of the film it is clear what is happening however it still does not give anything away. None of the characters faces are shown which builds up the mystery and the tension adding to the enigma. The lighting of the production is all very natural and the mise-en-scene matches well with the genre which appears to be mystery, thriller perhaps horror as the film continues. the setting of the words is foreshadowed from the title. I would give this film opening 35 marks at a high level 2. The material is appropriate for the target audience,the titles are appropriate for the film conventions and the opening is intriguing for target audience.

Location

chelmsford Museum Interior (Downstairs Interior)

 We used the museum as our main location because we thought that we could use aspects of it in a modern way but also emphasise the more historical features for the scenes set in the past. 

Chelmsford Museum (Exterior of House)

The exterior of the museum gave us a paved road to walk on and some green fields. This was perfect for all of the shots that we needed to film outside.

Student's House (Attic, Hallway and Charlotte's Bedroom)

We needed to use someone's house so that we could sit on a chair in a bedroom and use a loft. We wanted the bedroom to be more modern because we believed that a person in their twenties in the present day would not want a very old fashioned bedroom, even if their house is very old.

Classroom (Office)

We decided to use a classroom for the office because we needed a computer for Charlotte to type on and the classroom provided a desktop computer. The desk was also very plain and wooden, like you would see in an office and the room provided good lighting to film in.

Prop list/ costume

props 

Empty box
Makeup
Photography album/ photo frames
Votes for women sign
Doll
Blanket
Sash- votes for women
Mobile phone
Laptop
Train ticket
Dusting cloth 

Costume

Lorna 
A maxi skirt 
Grey blaster
Long coat 

Leah and Jess 

Long coat 
Skirt

Charlotte 

Black trousers
Shirt 
High heels 
Make up

Because of them website

This is the website that we designed for marketing our film. It includes lots of information about the film and also includes connections to our film opening and social media sites.

Our Web Address -  http://hartounnoushiansl1.wixsite.com/becauseofthem

Because of them Facebook page

We have created a Facebook page to help with the marketing of our film and to make it more accessible to our target audience. 

The link to our Facebook page is here: https://www.facebook.com/becauseofthemfilm/

On our Facebook page we have included our film poster and a link to the opening of our film on YouTube.

production diary

Monday 7th November

Today we were told who was going to be in our groups and were briefed on what our task was going to be. Our group included - Leah Harte, Lorna George, Jess Burdon and Charlotte Revell. 

Tuesday 8th November

Today we exchanged ideas on our genre and plot. We came up with several ideas and then developed our favourites. 
One idea was a woman in the 1900s, who is a suffragette, and a woman in 2016. The girl in 2016 is the great great granddaughter of the woman in the 1900s. The woman in 2016 does not appreciate the rights that she has today until she comes across a photograph of her great great grandparent and has a visions/flashbacks of what her ancestor went through in order to get her the rights that she has today.

Another idea was a family film about a teenager that goes to an arcade and ends up getting 'sucked' into an arcade game. They then have to try to get out of the machine during the rest of the film. 

We also thought of doing a crime drama where a woman finds a dead body down an alleyway and telephones the police. The film then follows the police investigation. 

Our final idea was another period drama where a teenage girl gets pregnant and is thrown out by her parents. She and her friends must travel far away to a place where they are not known by anyone to raise the baby. 

Wednesday 9th November

We decided to use the suffragette idea because it was the one that we though was the most doable and interesting. It is also the idea that we had developed the most at this point. 
We then began to get our ideas together and build a presentation on Microsoft PowerPoint that would become our film pitch to the rest of the class so that we can get their feedback on our ideas. 
We began to think of the practicalities of our idea first- where the best location would be for us to shoot the scenes and what would need to be organised in order to get everything done. Most of our time was spent working on our presentation.

Thursday 10th November

Today we worked on our presentation. We finished writing all of the slides and then proofread the slides to ensure that there were no spelling or grammatical errors. We then decided to upload our presentation from Microsoft PowerPoint onto Emaze to make it more interesting. 

Friday 11th November

We proofread our presentation again to double check that we had not previously missed any errors that were made. We then presented our film pitch to the class and received written feedback on various aspects of our film idea.

Monday 14th November

Today we uploaded our film pitch to our blog and sorted through the feedback that we received from our peers, uploading this onto our blogs also. We then discussed what we thought of the feedback we received and made changes to our ideas accordingly. We also took some time to develop our ideas further where some people said that things were not clear. 

Tuesday 15th November

Today Lorna called Chelmsford Museum to try to arrange a date for us to film in their museum. We also began to make our shot list which includes all of the different shots that we are planning to include in our film opening.

Wednesday 16th November

Today we continued to make our shot list. We also began to transfer information from our shot list onto our storyboard. We decided to make our storyboard out of post-it notes so that we can rearrange the order of our shots or remove them if we change our mind about something or have a better idea. 
We also began to make a prop and costume list so that we can begin to gather the items that we will need for our opening. We realised that this would need to be done soon because we would need to ensure that we are able to get hold of all of the props we will need so that we still have time to purchase them if we need to.

Thursday 17th November

In this lesson we finished the storyboard and shot list. This meant that we transferred our ideas from post notes to our story board. Leah then recorded a voice over to explain what happened in our storyboard. For the shot list Charlotte went through the storyboard and wrote out the shots needed at each location. This meant we had shots for Oakland Museum, Train station and Charlotte's House.

Monday 21st November

We started the risk assessment and did the character representation. This meant that we looked at the different characters and what sort of personality each character should portray. 

Tuesday 22nd November

Today we did Institution. This means that we looked into different companies that would produced our sort of film and that weren't too big. As a group we came  Film 4 as they help with a lot of smaller films however did produce films like 12 years a slave and Suffragettes. 

Wednesday 23rd November

Today we started the marketing campaign and finished it all apart from our poster. This meant that we looked at how we would advertise our film . This meant that we looked at social media and how we could use that to showcase our film. We then also looked at more traditional methods of advertising our film like buses and newspapers/ magazines. 

Thursday 24th November

 Today we went to Charlotte's house and filmed some of the 2016 women. We went in Charlotte's House and went into her attic. Lorna filmed in the attic and Leah filmed Charlotte coming down the stairs. We then went into her room and filmed Charlotte in her chair at multiple different angles to make sure we had a choice when we edited the scenes in.

Friday 25th November

Today we looked at film titles and decided font and the title because of them. To decide what film title we looked at films like Jane Eyre and the Suffragette. We decided on  Andalus we chose this because it looked like the font of old fashion film which is what we wanted.

Saturday 26th November

Today we filmed at Chelmsford train station and Oakland museum. Today Leah and Charlotte filmed at Chelmsford train station the one shot they needed. Leah's Mum then drove Leah and Charlotte to Oakland's museum where Lorna joined them. They first filmed Charlotte outside shot first. Leah then filmed the inside shots for Charlotte then Lorna. We then went back outside and Charlotte filmed Leah and Lorna outside the museum.

Monday 28th November

Today we started editing and found are film logos off you tube. Charlotte and Lorna started to decide which clips to use in the film open. Leah looked on you tube for a film 4 logo and got it off you tube and gave us the clip it import into the beginning of film opening. Lorna also gave us our film opening the solar production.

Tuesday 29th November

Today we continued to edited and added film logos and music. Today we started to look at the timings for and what order the film clips would go in and what transitions would work with our film genre.

Wednesday 30th November 

Leah and Charlotte carried on trying to order the film clips and decided film transition. Lorna worked on the production diary by adding detail to the first part of our production diary.Thursday 1st December
We continued to edited and discussed key ideas in the group to make sure it had all our influence in it.

Friday 2nd December

Today Leah and Charlotte filmed the office shot in a classroom in Great Baddow High School. We also researched what music we could use in are film opening. We had the problem of trying to find non-copied righted music.

Monday 5th December

Lorna and Charlotte added non-digetic music. Leah researched different film posters so we could make our film posters as good and close to our film genre as possible.

Tuesday 6th December

Today we watched the first drafts of the classes film openings and wrote down feedback.

Wednesday 7th December

Today Charlotte wrote up are the classes feedback about the film opening. Lorna worked on our film posters.

Thursday 8th December

We edited are titles by changing the color to black. We also changed the size of our titles. We then also created all the titles and added whole of the crew to the film opening. Lorna continued to work on the 2 film posters.

Friday 9th December

Charlotte continued to edit. Today she looked at the sound and how that could be improved. Leah also look for sounds of protesting for votes for women. This mean that she went onto you tube Lorna finished film posters

Monday 12th December

We added our sound of the women protesting for rights we also changed are titles to make them clearer.

Tuesday 13th December

In this lesson we updated are blogs. Leah also wrote the blog post about what age rating will be and she started our website. Lorna continued to edit. Charlotte updated the production diary and recorded a voice over.

Wednesday 14th December

Today Lorna and Charlotte continued to edited we move are film title from the end to into the film opening more. Leah worked on the location shots and continued to work on the website.

Thursday 15th December

Today Lorna worked on charging the titles so they are easier to see Leah continued to work on the website. Charlotte worked on the production diary so that the detail so each day was there.

Monday 19th December

Today Leah finished our website. Lorna finished editing our film opening and put it onto YouTube.
Charlotte  finished the production diary and spell checked her blog.

Wednesday 21st December

Today we all went through our blogs and ensured we had everything we needed to have we made final touches to our posts and uploaded what was left to finish. 

Group planning- photographs

Throughout the process of creating our film opening, we took photos.

Film titles

Production company-
film4 

other production companies
solar productions 

Charlotte Revell

Lorna George 

Because of them

Leah Harte

Jude pattyfer

Casting by

John ranch

Produced by

Ben Home

Music by

Gavin Luke

Edited by

Roger brown

Produced by

Emily Hall

Director of photography

John deadwood

Written by

William field

Produced by

Emily Hall

Directed by

Todd Haynes

storyboard evaluation

Our storyboard works well because we include details of what we want to happen in each shot and the angles. However, the timings on the storyboard mean that the video will overrun past our time limit. we later reconsidered timings so that our storyboard was the correct length.

The first page of our storyboard works well because we include details of what we want to include and we have also included the transitions that we want to use. However, we have not included all of the information that we could have as we have not included all of the camera angles we used. We decided to remove the part where the letter was posted through the letter box and then Charlotte put the letter in the bin. We felt that this was not a crucial part to the story and since we needed to remove some shots we decided to remove this one. 

This page of our storyboard is better because it includes much more detail and some of the various shots that we are hoping to include. We have also included the transitions that we hoped to use so that it would make the editing process easier. But, we did not have on box for each individual shot/camera angle and so some of them are grouped together. This makes the storyboard a little bit confusing. We also removed the shot where we see the suffragette painting the poster as we felt that it was not vital to the story. We therefore also did not include the transition where the camera tracks into the poster and then tracks out in the next shot. We tried to incorporate this in a separate part of the opening but found that this was too difficult to do without a tripod with wheels. We also decided to have the suffragette sit on a chair with the baby instead of walk through the house. We did this because we thought of a creative way to film this and felt that it would make the opening more interesting. 



The final page of our storyboard is good because it includes detailed descriptions of what we will have in each shot as well as various camera angles we will include. However, like before, we did not put each camera angle/shot in a box on its own which made the storyboard more difficult to read. We also did not include the shot where the suffragette was doing the washing up. We thought it would be better to include a more historical looking object and so had her cleaning a clock instead. We also showed the woman from 2016 looking in boxes in the loft rather than climbing the ladder.



BBFC certificate

Here we have discussed why we have given our film the Age Certificate of 12. 

Our film will include discrimination against women however it will be clear that this is wrong and the main character will be fighting against this discrimination. We will also include some mild violence but most of it will be implied only. There will be no gory details in regards to violence. There will  be some moderately disturbing scenes but the film as a whole will not have this tone. There will be no use of drugs or strong language; there will be moderate language only. There will be no sex scenes and sexual acts will be implied only. 

Our film would not be able to have the certificate: Parental Guidance (PG) because it includes discriminatory behavior towards women and there will be some intense threatening scenes for the characters which could be difficult for children to watch. There will also be moderate language which will not be suitable for children. 

Our film would not be a 15 certificate because it does not include the use of drugs, strong sex scenes or strong language. Dangerous scenes will not be in  a great amount of detail and very frightening and intense scenes will not be long or frequent. The violence in our film will also be moderate only and not strong.

Because of them First Draft- Group self evaluation

what we believed went well as a group.
All footage flowed well.
Footage was in correct order

What we believed should be improved
Fix the volume of the sound and music.

Add foley to the shots where there is speech because it is currently difficult to hear what is being said.
Move the titles from the centre of the screen to around the edge. Make sure that they are all visible. 
 Change the place of the film title. Move it from the start of the opening to further along- after some of the other titles.
We will remove the dissolve transitions.

We will remove the train station shot as our teacher said that it was not necessary to the opening and did not make sense with the rest of the parallels.  

'Because of them' First Draft

This is our first draft of our film opening 'Because of them'

prelim evaluation

Evaluation:

Overall our final prelim task was 'short but sweet', we encountered many errors along the way but in the end settled with a short, well edited piece of work. We received a positive reaction from the audience which clearly shows that the final edit was well produced and that it was in fact, somewhat funny. We also received positive feedback on the editing of our prelim task as well and only received a negative comment on one of our shots where the camera was at the wrong angle which made the eye contact between the two characters distorted.

 How did you manage the task between you?

 We managed the task by splitting up the roles between us based on our strengths and activities that we wanted to try. Josh was acting, making the storyboard and editing, Lorna was acting and creating the film poster, Amara was doing the camera work and the production diary and I was doing the camera work, editing and shooting schedule. Josh also wrote the script used in the video.

How did you plan your sequence? What processes did you use?
Josh wrote a script, after that we discussed ideas and other options. we looked at ways which we could film pour ideas and put them together.we then  made a storyboard which included all of the shots we would need to include in our opening sequence. 

What factors did you have to take into account when planning, shooting and editing?
We had to take into account that we would not all be present in every lesson. This meant that we might not always have actors or people to film the scenes. Therefore, we had to plan our schedule based on this. We also had to ensure that we had a place to film our scene and so had to film at a time when we had access to a free classroom with good lighting and acoustics. we also had to take into account that while comedy is a fun genre it is hard to create. 

How successful was your sequence? Please identify what worked well and with hindsight what would you improve/do differently?


What have you learnt from completing this task?
from this task i have leaned the importance of communication within a group, and also the importance of backing up our files-so that it is accessible to everyone. This task has also shown me the importance of working to everyone strengths. 

Looking ahead, how will this learning be significant when completing your final film opening?
Learning from this i will ensure that myself and my group when completing our final film opening will communicate, an take on board everyone's ideas. 

Prelim task

 Genre conventions: -Comedy 

Task idea, title and script:

Storyboard:

Shooting scheduled: 

Film Posters

These are the film posters for 'Because of them' these will be used to promote the film.

First Draft Evaluation

In this blog post we are writing up the feedback on are first draft of "Because of them".

What was good about our film:

• They was a good range of shots.
• A lot of transitions where good.
• Good shots from the bottom of the stairs.
• A lot of people thought the locations where good.
• Another good aspect was the different editing effects.
• They was also good costumes.

what people found confusing:

• Some people said the scenes jumped .
• One person didn't understand the storyline.
• Someone said it was boring.
• A lot commented on how loud the sound was.
• One person said there was too much enigma.
• Some people mentioned that the titles where in the wrong place.

 How we could improve our film opening:

• The titles needed to be a different colour.
• The sound needs to be louder
• Maybe some speech to make the storyline clearer.
• The titles need to be re-ordered.
• Maybe a suffergate voiceover to make the genre clearer.
• lighting and colouring could have been adjusted.

Mood board/ shot ideas

These are some different shot ideas and inspiration from other films and Tv series.

Music research

These are some music ideas that we had, we took into consideration copyright and eras our opening was set in.

Risk assesment

This is a risk assessment for the main  risks for places we filmed at.

 

shooting schedule

These are the shooting scheduled for when we planned to film and what, although somethings were unplanned and things changed along the way we tried to keep to this as much as we could so that the filming would be done in time. 

storyboard

After storyboarding our ideas, we talked step by step through it.

Fonts,Film Names and title research

In this we looked at different fonts, film names and title orders. we looked at different films for inspiration and what fonts other films used.  we came up with a variety of film names and did a survey among  our class. we decided on the title 'because of them' .

Marketing campagin

For this task we looked at ways we could market and promote our film .

script

we decided in our opening we didn't want much script and speech. we kept out scripmini8mal but made it clear what was going on.

Alice(Lorna): I hope were not late. I don't want to miss the march.
Mary (Leah) don't worry we have plenty of time.

(modern women on her way to work)

Charlotte (charlotte)-  mark I told you to move my meeting... well find a way to occupy them... I'm going to be half an hour. *hangs up*

Institution

For this we looked at different film production company's and talked about what company would best fit our film.

character representation

In this we had a look at what our characters will be like, their character and how they act. we also looked at how our venues will be represented.

shot list

1. film 4 logo
2. solar productions logo (own logo)
3. 1900's women (Lorna) wide shot, walking down the stairs, match on action through door. 
4. 2016 women (Charlotte) wide shot walking down the stairs
5. 2016- close up of letter box (letter to vote poster)
6. 2016 - mid shot women (Lorna) throwing letter in the bin.
7.  1900's women (Lorna) painting poster 'votes for women' mid shot through glass. 
8. 1900's- close up of poster, fade 
9. 1900's protest, long shot of women walking through fields. 
10. 2016- women (Charlotte) getting ready for work mid shot.
11. 2016- long shot of women going into train station.
12. 2016- close up office room (Charlotte) working on laptop.
13. 1900's women (Lorna) mid shot with a baby.
14. 1900's women (Lorna)  doing washing 
15. 2016 women (Charlotte) walking.
16. 2016 women (Charlotte) goes into loft. takes out box of things.
17. 2016 women carries box back to room.
18. 2016 women (Charlotte) going through old photographs.
19. 19. finds picture of great great grandmother (suffragette, Lorna) close up into photo
20. Fade out End

Audience

For this as a group we spoke about who out target audience might be but also who our secondary audience will be. We looked at who might be interested in our film, why they would be interested and who they might bring with them to watch the film.

prelim Evaluation

Production diary:
On Monday we were first put into our groups, the group included Josh, Leah , Amara and Lorna.

The next day we came up with ideas for the film and made a plan, we had an idea to begin with but we wasn't happy with it so we changed it. The next idea that we came up with was to have a boy in a classroom that couldn't read, we planned out the setting, characters and props that we needed. We also decided on what each person would do when making the film, Josh would edit and act, Lorna would act and Leah and Amara would film. Josh also made the script for this.

The next  lesson we made a story board of the film clip and the shooting schedule, we planned out the days that we would film and how long the filming would last. We also planned out which days we would edit the film.

The next two lessons we spent filming, we did the whole film a few times so that when we looked at them back we could choose the best of each shot.

We then spent 2 lessons editing and evaluating, Leah and Josh did the editing , Amara did the evaluating and Lorna made the logo.

Prelim poster

Film pitch Feedback

Clear Genre, Themes, Message?

·         Period drama, suffragettes. (Our Rights)

·         Period drama very difficult to do.

·         Period drama give insight into past. History and present

·         Why sci-fi? (Women’s Rights)

·         Period drama/new idea

·         Period drama/sci-fi

·         Yes, shows clear ideas but genre is slightly unclear.

·         Clear genre and good theme. Powerful message

·         It seems very similar to the film ‘Suffragettes’

·         Period Drama

·         Period Drama 1900s

·         It is clear that it is a period drama

·         Period Drama 1800s

What is the narrative?

·         Suffragettes – make sure it is still kept interesting

·         Split between 2016 and 1800s

·         Suffragettes

·         Feminist, could be interesting if done well

·         Interesting but predictable narrative

·         A young woman goes back in time to see her grandmother

·         Comparisons between suffragettes and modern time

·         Gets flashbacks

·         How are you going to show the modern woman doesn’t want to vote?

·         Comparisons with time periods show good insight of how present day is taken for advantage

·         Girl who gets flashbacks of grandmother fighting for right to vote

·         Women’s rights. Natural drama 

Interesting Characters?

·         Two actors, great great grandmother, 2016 woman

·         Characters not fleshed out

·         Ordinary characters give relation to real life

·         Relatives, rounded values, past is most interesting

·         Girl with flashbacks not fleshed out

·         Needs developed characters to make storyline interesting

·         Could be more developed not a lot of personality described

·         Interesting and unique characters

·         The characters have significant roles

·         One with flashbacks has interesting life/past

·         Interesting characters

·         The differ from each other

·         Flashbacks make the characters more interesting 

Does it match the target audience?

·         Sounds suitable

·         Aged 12/15 because of intensity

·         Everyone- use of social media

·         12, would have to be the more mature end

·         Undecided

·         The target audience is suitable and the plot will draw the expected audience

·         Good, suits the target audience

·         12+, perhaps a more interesting plot for younger viewers.

·         Young women

·         Older audience, quite educated

·         Target age = teens, educated in history

·         12 -  not many 12 year olds will be interested in the theme

·         12

Institution

·         Undecided

·         Film 4

·         Small production companies + flim4

·         Low budget, external locations 

·         Pathe

·         Film4 + own production. Realistic and unique

·         Undecided

·         Film4 fitting as it makes historical films

·         Flim4

Any comments about the film, would you watch it, is it doable and interesting?

·         Would you be able to achieve the correct costume for that time?

·         I would watch it

·         IS doable as it is a local location and is planned out

·         It could have a more exciting plot

·         Could involve more interesting plot line to attract more viewers

·         Good settings

·         Very original idea, dependent on mise en scene

·         Could be doable

·         Interesting, good location idea