Post 16: Production Report

Wednesday 7th March

The first scene we shot was scene 6 which features Billy's class and form tutor. The scene follows Billy arriving late to school, mid way through the register.  We decided in terms of mise-en-scene, for Billy to remain in his school uniform, but slightly 'scruff' it up by loosening his tie.  We did this in order for it to appear as though he has rushed to get ready for school and by himself without any help from parents.

The opening shot is from over Billy's teachers sholder, which worked well as the view was then focused upon the door whereby Billy walked through. We then conducted a shot reverse shot so that the emphasis was upon the teacher when she is shouting at Billy for being late. The camera then returns to it's initial position and pans to the left to see Billy go to his seat and sit down in the corner. We choose this camera movement so we could emphasis the struggle Billy faces carrying his large school bag and folder in comparison to his size, and then to reinforce his loneliness by positioning himself sitting alone in the corner of the room, around a large class of people sitting together in friendship groups while he is not apart of any of those.

Overall the first shot went well, we had a few lighting problems that we failed to notice until editing.  When filming the teachers response to Billy arriving late, we filmed towards the window which was letting in natural light.

After School

After school we filmed the character of Billy under the stairs for scenes 1, 5 and 8. They were all slightly different shots but very similar in order to create the repetitive nature of Billy's life. We decided to film these scenes outside of school hours so that it was quiet without the crowds of school students. Prior to shooting, we as a group made decisions regarding how Billy's uniform should look and the character movement.  It was then Lauren Phillip's job as a director to transfer these directions to the actor.

Under the stairs where we filmed is very dark, and although we wanted to create a dark, natural lit short film which reflected the mental state of the character of Billy, it was an issue as the fire doors have small windows at the side which was letting in a large source of sunlight which caused issues with shaddows when it came to filming Billy sitting under the stairs.  We dealt with this however, by using a reflector to reflect the natural light slightly back onto the characters face so the camera could notice him more in the dark location we filmed in.  We successfully made the initial issue a positive by using the reflector and over all the shoot went well.

Friday 9th March
Prior to filming, we wrote a letter to our actor, Rowen's parents to not only recieve permission to film Rowen, but also to film during a lesson and after school.  Luckily, both the actor's parents and the teacher granted us permission to do so.  However, when we arrived at the location of filming (scene 2, when Billy walks out of his road and up the alleyway to school), we was disapointed to hear the loud noise of the primary school which is directly next door to the alleyway which we was filming.  It soon became clear that the primary school was on their lunch break and that we should have checked this prior to filming. 

The lighting was also very bright, and we made another mistake of not putting a MD filter on to tone down the brightness.

Monday 12th March
We filmed on Monday morning in the back carpark of school as the building infront and the busy car park looks more like an office than a school, which fits with the character of Billy's mum's lifestyle. Again, there was an issue with the brightness so we used the same filter to discreately tone it down to appear more natural.  There was four different shots used in this scene, so Becky on the camera did a few different takes of each in order to ensure that they matched up correctly regarding the characters speech. One of the shots was inside a car which meant that Becky, the camera, Chloe and the mic was in the back of the small car filming this shot.  Due to the amount of planning we did for this scene such as having equipment and actors organised, the shoot was able to be succesful and quick.

After School
To ensure that there was no students around to cause interference with filming this scene, we decided to film outside of school hours.  This scene followed the character of Billy running down the corridor, and to capture this at it's best, we used a Dolly and ensured the location was clear of people and obticles which could of caused accidents.  The tracking shot looked great and we were very pleased with it.

Tuesday 20th March
Today, we filmed two different scenes for 'Dumped', the first being when Billy is walking and is called over by teacher to ask if everything is okay.  This scene consists of a variety of camera angles and shot sizes, so it was very important that we all remained focused throughout in order for continuity to remain. The opening shot of this scene was a high angle shot, we decided to film from the top of the three storey block in school, as the view is over the quad which is the center to many classrooms and the staff room which works execptionally well with the narrative. Due to the variation in camera angles, we did encounter a few issues, again regarding lighting. The indecisive sun was disturbing the visuals.  This was easily reduced by repositioning the camera slightly so we was against the sun and placing a filtre ontop of the lense.

The scene inspired by French New Wave's '400 Blows' was filmed on the school field.  We filmed this outside of school hours as there was many potential risks that could occur due to the nature of filming in this particular scene.  Following the character of Billy's act of 'breaking out' the camera follows him running to the end of the field.  To do this, we filmed outside of a car window, while another memeber of the team drove.  We decided this would be the best way to capture the long tracking shot due to a lack of financial backing. Despite a few struggles with trying to get the car slightly infront of Billy in attempt to capture his entire siloete, as well as holding the camera as steady as possible, the car also needed to drive as smoothly as attainable, which was difficult on the unsmooth surface of the school field.  After a few takes though, we was satisfied that we would have the perfect shot that we wanted, and was grateful to have such a willing and able actor.

Wednesday 21st March
Once it came to capturing the footage, we became aware how abstructive the lighting was in the scene which we filmed on the 9th of March and decided that we should refilm.  After putting an MD filtre on the lense, the visuals were much clearer and matched the same level of natural light in the other scenes of the film.  We are all much happier with this after refilming and glad that we decided to do so.

Post 15: Ancillary Task 2 - Film Reviews

Film review research

I have examined reviews conducted by the likes of 'Screen Daily', 'Sight & Sound', 'Total Film', 'The Independent' and 'Empire'.  I decided to analyse the above reviews in order to understand the main conventions used in order to produce my own film review for short film, 'Dumped'.

Below I have inserted anotated drafts of film reviews inside of Total Film and Screen Daily magazines:

It is clear that these reviews follow a strict format and are layed out in a particular way.  I found the most common conventions:

• Typography on the titles are large and bold in dark black. Screen Daily uses upper case.
• The titles are positioned at the top
• A slogan is given and positioned just underneath the title
• A star rating is used
• The reviews are layed out using columns
• The names of the stars are stated throughout the review
• A 'Verdict'  which is either a small paragraph or sentance is positioned at the end of the review.
• They all include information such as release date, director, producer, distributor, the running time and certificate in small text either at the beggining or end of the review.

http://www.independent.co.uk/ reviews films online in a different format. Below is a screen shot of a review conducted on 'The Cabin in the Woods'.

While the review remains to include the same features, such as a star rating, running time, certificate and synopsis, it is layed out slightly different being it an online article rather than a printed.  

I Have decided to create a film review page for Sight & Sound, which do not usually review short films, but I aim to create a 'one off' special focusing primarily on new emerging talent from young short film producers. Sight & Sound layout is much more formal than those above, and uses sophysticated language rather than comic. Sight & Sound is a respected magazine with a niche clientle of film fanatics, whose of whom belong within our target audience.

This is a scanned article of short film 'Frozen' in Sight & Sound.  I used this article to guide me when creating my own short film review.



This is the layout plan of my film review which reflects the layout of films featured within Sight & Sound.



Post 14: Ancillary Task 1 - Postcards

Conventions of a film poster

Below I have analysed four different film posters from the huge hit film, Twilight. The twilight saga has produced a selection of on going films adapted from Stephenie Meyer's novels.  The paranormal romance was originally optioned by Paramount Pictures MTV Films in 2004, however they were unsucessful in their screenplay as it was argued that they was substantially different from what was originally wanted.  It was when Summit Entertainment reinvented a studio in 2007 that the development began. Paramount then gave the rights to produce to Summit and has been a huge success since then.  Being a predominatley Hollywood produced movie, the conventions used on the film poster are evidently similar to other Hollywood films.

Following this, I have analysed British Film Posters in the same way in order to realise if there are any set conventions that they all withold. British Film Posters are considerably set out in comparison to Hollywood.  However, they remain highly edited and with a large budget to fund this.  They also feature well known actors which can instantly target an audience.  

With a significantly smaller budget, short films often struggle to produce an expensive film poster to be advertised on billboards and bustops.  Therefore, they find alternative means to promote their film such as the use of the internet and the emergance of post cards. Post cards are used to directly distribute to the public and can be easily passed around in order to gain an audience; making it easier for short film producers to promote their film.

Below I have inserted a Postcard to show as an example of how useful they are for short films:

After realising the benefits a short film producer can gain out of creating a post card, and their inability to create a successful poster campaign without a large financial backing, I have decided to produce a post card for our short film, 'Dumped'. Below is the drafts of my design ideas.

Post 13: Pre- Production Documentation

Pre- production documents

Documents such as the Shot List, Treatment, Story Board, Location Recce's, Risk Assesment, Technical Recce's, Props & Costume Lists and Shooting Schedual must be produced prior to filming in order for the shoot to be conducted accuratley and successfully.  Discussion and decisions were made between all memebers of the group on each piece of documentation; so despite their being contribution from all on each piece, we split the tasks equally between us to type or create on Microsoft.

This is the shot list which we all worked on together.



The treatment was constructed by Chloe Taylor so that we are able to remind ourselves when filming which visual is paired with what audio.

 Lauren Phillips produced a page of costume which each character will wear so that we know in advance to filming for the actors to be in the correct clothes for their character.

This will be main character Billy's costume of school uniform.

This is the selected style of clothing that we plan for the teacher of Billy to wear as it is conventional to her role.

This is the style of clothing that mother of Billy will wear; smart and professional.

I produced the Location Recce's which show an accurate view of the areas which we will be filming in.  I have also included when each location can be accessed, the changes which will have to be made, the sources of lighting and the power points that are available for us to use. The location recces' are very useful when we begin filming as we can remind ourselves where each scene is located.  They will also help when it comes to knowing what equipment will be needed in regards to lighting and battery powered equipment when power points are unavailable.

This Location will be used in Scenes 1, 8 and 16.

This location is used in scene 3 and 4.

This classroom location is used in scene 6.

The location situated outside of the school canteen is featured in scenes 7, 12 and 13.

This location of the top of a three storey building is used in scenes 9 and 12.

Below is the Script documentation, which is a vitual piece of pre production documentation as it allows us to decide what audio is going to be in each scene and allows actors to prepare prior to filming which speeds along the process.

The Techncical Recces' were produced so that we could plan where the camera will be positioned in each shot.  We drew each location from an aerial view in preparation to acknowledge the objects within the room.  This allowed ease when it came to the day of filming as decisions were already made prior to this. Within the group, we all equally divided the Technical Recce's between us:

Below are the storyboards which allowed us to decide on the shot sizes and enabled us to visualise what they will look like by drawing them.

This is the equipment list which will remind us what is needed when it comes to production.

This is the Risk Assesment which outlines the potential risks that could occur in each scence and location.  Actions which will minimise the risks are also included. I produced the risk assesment.