Week 2 - Filming - Thursday 20th October 2011

 

It's our second lesson of filming today and seeing as we have film half of our media product already; we debated over wether or not to film the other half or begin doing the stop motion credits. If we did do the stop motion credits it wouldn't leave enough time to film the other half of our media product, but it would add to the effect of our film. However because we needed to film the other half, as it was the opening part of our film, we decided to film today and if we had time time left over, quickly do some stop motion credits.

After this we gathered our equipment, so the camera and tripod and went to find a classroom preferably in the G block, which is where our media classroom is; as well as we didn't want to go all over campus looking for a classroom to film in.

We found a room to film in on the top floor at the back. It was ideal as it was empty and had a horseshoe table layout facing the whiteboard at the front. We set up the camera and then positioned Fleur (our main character) on a table in the middle of the horseshoe it also was directly opposite the board which helped with the Gaussian Blur effect we included when editing the film as it helped with the effect of making the character seem tired and portrayed that she wasn't focusing on what was around her. This would effect the viewer as it would make them focus on what was going to happen to the main character after she fell asleep.  A screen grab of the Gaussian effect taken from our media product is shown:

Deciding what shots to film when we got to the classroom was tricky as we needed to show what chloe was doodling. This brought an over the shoulder shot to play so we experimented with different angles shot from different sides of the main character. An example of these are shown below:

We also wanted to show she was in a classroom so we needed to include so mid shots of the main character. These shots would establish where she is at that point in time and what she is doing, this would help the viewer understand what the voice over is talking about. However, we didnt have any extras to help film the entire classroom and so we had to make the classroom seem like there was by only shooting at a certain angle; to do this we had to improvise by spreading notebooks, pencil cases and anything school like we could find/ had on hand, to make it seem she was working with people around her. An example of this is below:

We kept the camera at this angle to help to make the transition from this scene to the next smooth when editing; However we needed to shoot an extreme close up of 'Fleur'. We did this by zooming into her face as she pretended to sleep:

As you can see we needed to insert the fade because in the next scene she's laying down, as shown below:

The fade we inserted when editing helped distort the picture so that it made it look as though she had actually been transported which helped alot in the finished product. 

We managed to finish the filming with a wide range of camera angles that we uploaded onto the Apple Mac's once we had finished in the classroom. When we had uploaded them we watched them back to make sure we hadn't missed any shots out or whether we needed to go back to include somemore. I thought the shots where good and varied and when we begin to edit them next week they should fit the storyline well as well as match the voice over.

Week 2 - Filming - Tuesday 18th October 2011

Today we started filming our two minute seuence. Each group was given a Samsung camera to use to film our media products. We enjoyed using the camera because it allowed us to watch back our clips and see what needed redoing and what didn't. We also liked the fact it was a tounch screen because we didn't have to keep pressing buttons to find out what they did, it gave us directions on the screen. The camera itself was pretty easy to use in my opinion. We also used the tripod that was supplied to us to help keep the shots steady however some shots where hand held for more effect.

Before we started filming we had to decide what part of our film we would shoot. We discussed the fact the weather was good enough to shoot our 'other world scene' as well as the the fact we had all our props on hand; such as the dresses, crown and make-up. We thougth this would be the better option, compared to filming our 'classroom scene'  which needs to be indoors. As we can do that in any weather, as well as we reqiured specific props such as extra people (extras) and the right dress, which needs to be posh/casual, for Chloe who is the main character. This portrays to the viewers that she is fairly 'well of'f' and that she also 'stands-out-from-the-crowd'.

After our discussion we went to our 'pond' location and began filming. Me and Sarah shared the filming we used various shots such as, extreme close up, of the main characters face.

We did this because it was our link to her world and the new one. It also kept the viewer wanting to watch more because they didn't no what was happening. We included mid shots, and long distance shots that where included in our shots plan, however we did not stick to the plan. We tried to use it as a guideline rather than a set rule to follow. We found by doing this it gave us more freedom to film different angles,  such as over the shoulder and POV shots, that may not have been included into the plan. We tried to use shots that the enchanted film had used for instance the mid shot which was used in the opening and the rest of the film as shown below:

To make the shots interesting we used props such as bubbles and glitter that I supplied to make the new world seem more mystical. I though the bubbles worked well with the overall camera shots however I felt the glitter didn't work as well because it didnt show up that well on the camera and in the scenes. However the overall mise-en-scene worked well because of the way the sun was shining it gave a nice glow to the location, which helped alot.



This is also an example of one of our long shots that we took.

Week 1 Planning & Research - Tuesday 11th October 2011

The story for our Children’s Film Project is called Fleur. It is about a 16 year old, secondary school girl; and how she is transported to another world to find out that she is the Princess of the Flowers, hence the film name being Fleur. We generated this idea through looking at various Walt Disney film trailers such as: 

‘Princess and the frog’,  

This film is U rated and produced by Walt Disney Animation studios, made for a family audience. It's a continuation of the story about the princess who kisses the frog and how it's not all a happy ending at first so a mild adventure occurs with her in frog form, then there is a happy resolution. We took from this the way they presented the difference between the two worlds. We found this trailer very useful.  

‘Cinderella’, 

We watched the credits to cinderella however we didn't find it very useful because they weren't interesting, because of the way they didn't make them special or incorporate them into the cartoon. 

‘Bridge to Terabithia’ 

We found this film very useful, the two minute sequence is however quite interesting but further on in the film it gets to be more like the type of initial idea our film is based on. 

and ‘Alice in Wonderland’. 

We also looked at other films such as ‘Ink heart’:

 
We looked at the way they presented their credits as well as what they presented in the first two minutes. We tried to look at films that had a similar story line to ours, such as well known children films such as 'Monsters Inc.', or films where a person went from their world to another as well as having looked at how they presented this.





I found the above video on YouTube and showed Chloe and Sarah. They both thought the credits where good and we all thought they represented the film they where for well, however because our film is a cartoon we decided not to take anything from them; except the fact we have to make our credits interesting and relevant to our film. 

After watching these trailers and openings, we thought about what way would be best to put the credits and deliberated on putting the title first or having it shown last at the end of the two minutes. We decided it would be easier to put the title first and spring the credits from that. We would do this by, showing the title credit ‘FLUER’ on a pink background then, use the ‘Fade in from black’ effect, when editing, to begin the credits. Following having looked at the ‘Napoleon Dynamite’ opening credit sequence, which is written in food presented in the mise-en-scene, we thought it would make our credits more interesting to make them apart of our mise-en-scene also. So we came to the conclusion that we could incorporate the credit into the doodles the actress will be doing for the opening shot.   

Week 1 - Planning & Research - Soundtrack Ideas

As part of our research and planning we took some time to look at music videos for our soundtrack as we have to develop our own. We discussed as a group what type of music we would prefer as well as looked at films such as Shrek and Enchanted which opened with voice overs to sample the type of music they use. Examples of these can be found in earlier blog posts such as; the shrek video can be found in Week 1- Planning and Research credit sequence. We discussed the option of piano, but thought it may be a bit too boring by itself; so we then looked at making an acoustic piece of music. We then sampled some acoustic music on the GarageBand software we would be using (we did this for the piano aswell) and decided that we liked what we heard.

We then went to the YouTube website and searched for some acoustic music that we already had knowledge of. Here is a youtube playlist that is full of soundtrack ideas, references and inspiration in relation to our children's film opening soundtrack:

Above is a video from the maccabees called toothpaste kisses it has a similar atmospheric feel to what we are aiming for.

Above is another video called gregory and the Hawk Boats and Birds which is again similiar to what we feel our soundtrack should be like however, as a group we felt the music was too gloomy and for a childrens fairytale film we need something up beat. Sarah and Chloe then suggested we look at Mumford & Son's Little Lion Man as it is upbeat and has a good acoustic guitar solo opening:

Overall, we would like our soundtrack to have an acoustic, melodic feel, as well as music that works in an everyday scenario as well as in more fantastical scenes.

Week 1 Planning & Research - Friday 14th October 2011

We needed to plan our storyboard, shot list, as well as do location, props and ideas research. To help us do this we looked at films openings such as Shrek, as shown below: 

We examined the credits sequence and how the 'Dreamworks' company went about presenting them.


We found they put their trademark first, then introduced the basic story of a princess, then the main character. We took from this, how to present our story book idea.

However we wanted more on the credits so we then looked at Napoleon Dynamite. Unfortunately we couldn't find the actual footage but found work done by another student from a different school, which has the same fundamental idea as we do for our title credits:


Storyboard:


Sarah designed the storyboard as we worked together as a group to discuss the story and produce initial ideas on a piece of paper, then put them into the story board.

We decided to do the credits first and incorporate them into our film, so they are physically part of the mise-en-scene. We think this will engage the audience more and draw them in. We also decided to then move on to an establishing shot of the class room, which will show the audience that she is an ordinary school girl; which will then be contrasted against the fact she's gone to another world and has changed, in appearance.
We have inserted effects such as Fade in from black and Fade out to white to introduce the film, and to show that she has gone from her world to another.

Props:

We arranged to bring props to the first filming lesson, in which we aim to film the first sequence of credits; we hope to do this by being organised and efficient with our time limit.

We split up the props by who is doing what, for instance, since Chloe is playing the main character, she will have to bring her own costumes, so a flowy, flowery dress and shoes, along with make-up. Sarah will be bringing the jewellery, flowers for the background to make it look more like a different world, as long with a few dresses to use for the first scene. Hannah is bringing the make-up, notebook so we can film the doodles, the crown (possibly made from flowers) as the story is about a princess.

The location is easy to do as we will be using the 'pond space' behind the school, which is quite secluded and looks like a dream world, which we will be using to film the other scenes in, when she gets transported. We discussed how we would go from the credits to the other world; ideas such as having her be a normal secondary school girl being taught in class and closing her eyes and waking up in the other world. However Hannah said this didn't include the credits so Sarah showed us an opening sequence from a film called 'Napoleon Dynamite' where the credits are actual part of the mise-en-scene (look at the video of the note pad above). So we all agreed on having the initial idea of the main character in the class room but she would be doodling the credits and we would have a voice over of her, explaining the beginning of the story and then she would close her eyes and be in the other world.
We thought this was the most effective way of incorporating the credits in to our mise-en-scene. Here is an example of the doodled 'Fleur' title:

Preliminary Task Video

As a group, we feel our concept of the video is clearly shown and as a collective we feel this is a good piece of work. We incorporated a variety of shots into the preliminary task, such as the close up of the feet and the pan shot of the main characters walking.

However, we thought that we could have improved if we had filmed more shots and included more angles within the video. The ending close up of the phone could have been improved if we had shot it in one continuous shot rather than two, so that we could have avoided the jump.

Now, for next time we know that we need to explore more with our camera shots and edit the sound and effects more. We feel that we have learned alot from this preliminary task and will apply this knowledge to our future tasks. 

Hannah Bicknell - What is your understanding of a U & PG classification?

My understanding of a U certificated film is that its contains positive moral framework and the viewers are offered reassuring counterbalnces to any violence, so the good guy always wins. I undertsand the film needs to contain no bad language, no drug, sex, or extreme violence or any discrimative references; as taken from the information given by the BBFC  ( British Board of Film Classification). There are many studios that produce U certificated films, this includes, Pixar studios & Walt Disney. Below is a trailer for Cars wich is U rated and produced by Pixar Animation Studios.

Another example of a U rated film is Monsters Inc. This is a familly film and contains light humour as well as tense but not prolonged violent scenes, nessacary for a U classification.

However, my understanding of a PG rated film is slightly different because of the content you see in PG films rather than in U films. For instance, PG flms are aimed at children who are 8 years of age or older, you are allowed to imply sexual references, to use mildely bad language, to include moderate violence and certain themes. I feel you have alot more freedom to explore ideas within a PG rated film rather than you do in a U rated one.
Here is an example. This is a Harry Potter and The Philosophers Stone trailer:



I showed this trailer because it is a good example of how they use magical themes and incorperate moderate violence yet keep it within the BBFC guidelines.
Another good example of this would be, National Treasure:



I also showed this video because the people who made the film used historical context and turned it into an action. This film could be considered a family film because of the way they have used indirect humour, such as sarcasm or cynicism, to appeal to an older audience. This allows the film to have a wider target audience which would result in more cinema tickets being sold.