AS Coursework Reflection

Digital Technology-
I used blogger on the internet to create a blog to write the research and planning for my work, it helped to keep up do date and access the work at home and at school. For the construction part of digital technology we used cameras, tripods and the computer software Adobe Premiere elements to complete the opening sequence of our films. For the research we used blogger to write it on and used the internet to find out more information about opening sequences to real films.

Creativity-
We looked at other action films to get inspiration for our own film. We were inspired by films like James Bond and the Bourne films. After looking at what is done in the opening sequences to action films we chose parts that we liked from other films to create our own opening sequence.

Research and Planning-


Post- Production-
From the audience feedback we have learnt that we need to think about costumes in more depth

Using conventions from real media texts-
We have used titles which are used in real media products, they are used to show the title of the film and the actors, director and producer in the film. We have used a similar location to other action films, which is more realistic. We used props and costumes which you will find in action films, like phones and smart/casual costume. We used different shots to make it seem more like a real media product, we also used quick editing to show speed as it is an action film. Most importantly the story had to seem realistic to the genre, which was action so we included explosions and a chase scene. We also had 3 main characters in the opening sequence.

Our thoughts on our Final product.

This is a quick slideshow showing our thoughts on our final product.

Evaluation For Our Final Product

View more presentations from amylewissimon1.

Audio Feedback

In our class we watched each others final films and spoke about what we liked, disliked and what could have been changed. As we did this we recorded what was said and will then put it on the blog. We found out that people liked the story of our film and they liked the way it was directed. The audience did not know at first that Lewis' character was working for a secret service as we struggled because he does not look like an adult. We tried with our costume but still were not as successful as we hoped but it was hard to make him look like he was something he is not.

In the video there are some parts about other peoples films as we compared each others and it was more like a discussion together.

Looking back at the preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the final product?

Evaluation
In our preliminary task, we used basic camerawork and basic editing skills, it was our first try at filming and editing actual footage. We used simply low angle, high angle and level shots. This task was to show continuity, we used close ups, long shots, medium shots and we used the rule of thirds, We also used the 180 degree rule for when two of the characters have there conversation.
Since the preliminary task I have learnt how to improve shots and use the editing software.
In our final product we used a range of different camera shots and angles and we also used match on action, to do this we had to improve our editing skills to make sure that it competely matched and flowed as the camera shot changed. We also for our final product still used the basic rules of filming such as the 180 degree rule. We also were more creative with our shots than our first task, by laying on the floor and filming and filming from above on a hill. We also needed a shot of a train going past, we had to be careful as we were next to the rail line and we had to be patient for the trains to come. We used basic shots like our first task for example long shots, medium shots, close up and extreme close up shots. We have improved on editing sound aswell, and fading it in and out when we needed to. We experimented with titles and transitions to make our opening sequence look like one than just a film of people running. For our match on action shot we also used a shot then reverse shot, where we looked at something, looked away and then looked back again.
Some types of shots have different meanings to show what is happening in the film.
Angle shots show which characters have power, if the shot is looking at the person from below it shows they have power and if it is from above them it shows they are weaker as it is looking down on them. Close ups show important objects and long distance/establishing shots show location.
Since the preliminary task I think I have learnt more about the camerawork and editing side to the filming, which has improved our final product.

Here are some screen shots from the preliminary task:

This is a shot of when the two characters have there conversation, it is a two shot and a medium shot.

In this shot we have used the rule of thirds as Lewis is not completely dead center, this makes the audience look around the whole frame instead of concentrate on one part of it. This is also a medium shot and another two shot.

This is a birds eye view shot of Lewis walking up the stairs, it is like he is being watched. It is a long/nearly medium shot.

Final film screenshots:

Showing Location.

Showing two characters but from a different length

Two shot,

Shows location background and also is an action shot. It is from slightly above.

Overall I think that I have learnt alot more since the preliminary task, our filming has improved by far and looking back now our first attempt at the time we thought was good and now that we have improved our final product looks much better.

How did you attract/address your audience?

Evaluation

Our video that shows the voice over for our final film also has the annotations we made on it aswell to show how we attracted/addressed the audience, YouTube would not let us duplicate our film to make our annotations on, so we did it on the voice over film.
We have made notes about what we have done and why.

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

We used different technologies and different kit to make our final media product.
This is a list of what we used:

• Camera and Tape-To film the footage for our final product.
  


• Tripod- To do steady shots and to film from above and below.



• Microphone- To record sound so that you can hear it better.



• Bag- To carry all the equipment.



• iPhone- Used as a prop in our opening sequence and to take screenshots for our evaluation



• Adobe- To edit the clips together and complete our final film.



• Freeplay Music- Where we found our music to use in the final film.



• Free Sound Effects- A website where we found our sound effects for the explosion.



• YouTube- We used for inspiration, our M.G.M clip and our explosion clip as we heard we could use only minimum footage we did not film ourselves that is non copyright.



• Blogger- To write our research, planning and evaluation.
  


• Action DVD's- We watched and evaluated Action films to show we researched our genre before we made our film.
  

I have learnt from using Adobe that the editing is a very long and hard process, the software is quite complicated to use at first and we struggled to cut clips and add sound, I have now learnt how to film footage, then edit it and then add transistions and titles to make an opening sequence. I have also learnt about file sizes and quality of the actual footage, we had to experiment with different types of save files to see what quality was the best but had the smaller file. I also learnt that recording sound so it is clearly heard is quite difficult and without a long pole to reach where the sound is coming from it is very hard. Overall, I have learnt lots of different techniques to use when constructing the film.

Here are some pictures of me and some equipment we used:

This is a picture of me and the camera we used and this is a picture of me and the tripod we used. This is a picture of my group and the equipment we used.
Here are some pictures of the software and internet sites we used.

Who would be the audience for your media product?

Evaluation
(Click on images to see them bigger)

This is our chosen audience member Gary, he is 30 years old. We chose him because he likes action films which is what the genre of our film is. He is also in the age group that we expected to see our Action film. He listens to fast music and remixes, Action films use fast modern music so the type of music he listens to suits our film. He also wears smart casual clothes and likes to dress well. He watches TV programmes where alot happens in them, he gets bored easily so the more that is happening the more he is interested.

Gary would watch our film as it is full of Action and he likes the action genre. He likes to be on the edge of his seat when watching a film. The music he likes is also quite similar to what we have in our film so it will keep him entertained.

People like Gary around his age and gender like action films, he is of a typical action audience.

He would go see this film in the cinema with his friends and would enjoy it more further into the film as there would be more action to come and that is what he prefers.

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

We have done a "directors commentary voice over" explaining the key features of our opening sequence. (This clip also has annotations on it for another evaluation task)


I spoke about the institution we used and why we chose them, I also spoke about similar films to our opening sequence. I also spoke about some facts about M.G.M production company.

How does your media represent particular social groups?

Evaluation-

Character 1
I have chosen Lewis' character from our opening sequence as he is the main character and there are quite afew similarities and differences between him and other characters in real film products.

I have chosen to look at Jason Bourne, he is similar to Lewis' character because of his costume and appearance. He is quite similar to Lewis because he is wearing casual clothes but looks quite smart, they are both wearing dark and dull colours, it is still suitable to run in, as they both do chase scenes. A difference between the two characters is that Lewis is the chaser and Jason Bourne is the on being chased. Another way they are similar is there personality and the story behind the, They are also quite similar because they are the main characters and are both avenging a loved ones death.

I have also chosen to look at James Bond. He is quite similar because they both work for someone and go out and find them. He also has afew chase scenes with his opponents but this time it is similar to Lewis' character as James Bond is the chaser. When he has his chase scenes he also wears casual clothes like Lewis, but he also wears very smart clothes which is a difference to Lewis' character. He is the main character aswell.

These two characters have some similartites and some differences to Lewis' character but they are both of the similar role type in Action Films.
Mise-en-scene and the costume is very important at showing character. This is an area that we could of improved on, but it is hard trying to play adults when we are only teenagers.

Charcter 2
I have also chosen to look at another character from our opening sequence, which is my character.

A character I have chosen to look at which is similar and different to my character is Marie Kreutz because she is Jason Bourne's love interest in the Bourne films, we both have blonde hair which makes our looks similar and she also gets killed, like in our opening sequence I do. A difference is how we get murdered, I blow up on a train and she gets shot, another difference is also that Jason Bourne was meant to get the bullet instead of her and I was killed to make Lewis character angry. A similarity is that we are both the female role and we both get killed quite early in the film.

Another character/s I have chosen to look at is the James Bond female roles.

The Bond girls are all James Bond love interests and they either are victims of the bad guys, are helping him solve missions or a member of an opposition organisation. Most of the Bond Girls are murdered by Bond's rivals which makes them similar to my character as Lewis' rival Simon murders me.

These characters I have looked at are all very similar and different to my character in our opening sequence.

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Final Film Screen Grab Evaluation
These are my nine screen grabs of our final piece that I have chosen to evaluate and write about how they are typical or not of opening sequences of the same genre.

Frame 1- Title of Film: This screen grab of our Title of the film is quite similar to other Action films I have looked at and analysed, It is quite simple but very bold as the white font on the black background compliments each other and makes the title very vibrant. Most Action films have a title that creates an impact on the audience so combining the bold title and the sound of an explosion emphasises it. It is a typical action film title so I think we have done well at showing it. The music also goes silent just before the explosion happens, we have also made the title stay on the screen over the next shot of the exploded train so the audience really focus on the title.

Frame 2- Setting/Location: This screenshot is of our two characters chasing each other, which happens in typical action films. I chose this screenshot as there is a lot of background in the image, which shows the setting and the location, you can see trees and bushes which shows the audience that the film is set in the woods and is obviously outside. Quite a lot of typical action films have chase scenes some where in the film and the chase normally happens in either some where very busy, e.g. a city, or some where un-expected. We chose un-expected to create a sense of realism. I think the setting and location we have used is quite typical for an action genre.

Frame 3- Costumes and Props: I have used this image as it has our only prop in the image, The phone is key to the film because it helps develop the story. I have also used it as you can just see one of the actor's sleeves, which shows costume. Both the characters are wearing very dull colours based around black and dark blue, they are very mysterious colours and are used commonly in action films. The main characters in action films normally wear casual/smart clothes and I think we have shown this well. The bad guy in our opening sequence also wears dull colours but he is not wearing as smart clothes as the good character, which shows he is not too fussed about his appearance and in action films the bad people normally wear quite dirty and casual clothes and are not very appealing. We have showed the contrast in our main characters quite well. The wife in our opening sequence is also wearing very casual clothes, like in action films.

Frame 4- Camera Work and Editing: I have chosen this shot from our opening sequence because in this shot we have used match on action quite well. The characters in the chase jump over an object that is in the middle of the path they are running on, we see them jump over it and then the camera changes round to see them land on the other side. We have used a variety of different shots to show them running and also the shots are quick like in typical action films to create speed and keep the audience wondering if the bad guy will get caught. We used both handheld and tripod shots to show the characters from different angles. Action films use a range of shots from handheld to up high, then from below. There is a part where Lewis receives a text, I think we could of improved this but apart from that I think we have used camera work effectively and our editing was quick.

Frame 5- Title Font and Style: I have used this screen shot because it shows the title font and the style we have used. Like the title of the film it is very bold and uses contrasting colours to make it stand out. Action films use simple but effective fonts and colours to show the titles.

Frame 6- Story and how the opening sets it up: I chose this screen grab for showing the story because it is of a train which is what the opening sequence is based on. The story you find out in the opening sequence is that Lewis is playing a good guy and is chasing Simon who is the bad guy, they reach a certain point where Lewis cant find Simon and looses him, Lewis then receives a phone call from a blocked number which happens to be Simon, he tells him that his wife is going to die and Lewis says he is not going to get away with it, Simon then replies with watch me, Lewis then panics and starts to run to try and do something to help and then receives a text from the same blocked number which reads, and yes i know she is on the train. With this Lewis starts running again and tries to get to a nearest train or train line, As he reaches a rail he can't go on anymore and puts his hands on his head, After this we see a clip of an exploded train which shows the audience that the train blew up, his wife dead and Simon the bad guy got away. This sets up the story for the whole film as we do not know what happens to Simon and the film will be based on an angry Lewis avenging his wife's death as well as another story behind it.

Frame 7- Genre and how the opening suggests it: I chose this screenshot because it shows action in the image, Lewis is climbing over a fence and Simon who is being chased is hiding behind a tree out of breath. To suggest the action genre in the opening sequence we have included a chase scene, two characters good/bad and an exploding train. The genre is suggested straight away because the music used. Typical action films use fast music to show the genre. It is also shown through the quick shots we have used, which action films use.

Frame 8- How characters are introduced: I have chosen this shot of the two characters running because this is how we have decided to introduce them in our opening sequence. We see them run past in the woods and we find out that these two are the main characters. We do not know who is the good guy and who is the bad guy until Lewis receives the phone call and finding out his wife is going to die. Having a good guy and a bad guy is one of the main parts in action films. It is quite different to typical action films as well as in some films you get to know the characters before it gets into the action, whereas we have introduced them as well as going straight to the action. The other character we have is introduced through hearing Simon saying that she is going to die, a few shots later we see her on the train and we know who she is because of the phone call. Our characters are quite similar to other action film characters.

Frame 9- Special Effects: We have a special effect in our opening sequence at the very end, if we did not have this our opening sequence would not make much sense. It is of a train after it has exploded, over the top of this we have added our own sound effects of an exploding sound. This special effect is in typical action films as many special effects are used in real films. We have also used fading titles and dip to black transitions.

Overall, I think we have used many media forms which make our opening sequence of a typical action genre.

FINAL FILM and Feedback

This is a video of our finished and final opening sequence.

This is the URL of our video, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FcFH0rGA_JI

We have finished editing, adding titles and adding the sound effects. We have also looked through to make sure there are no spelling mistakes or slight problems that can be changed. Our opening sequence is nearly 2 minutes and 1 second. So we are in a time limit. This is our final product.

Feedback:

I asked people what they thought about our final film, what they liked and disliked about it.

Chris: I thought the final film was very realistic and met the talents and ambitions of an actual film. Although i do not do media, i was still able to clearly see the different screen shots used which made the opening scene very professional. Following this the story line used was very creative and would definitely draw in the audience to watch the rest of the film. I think this was because the cliff hanger used raised a lot of questions to myself and and made me want to find out what happened. Finally the music used created a tense atmosphere and make the opening scene very up beat which are the techniques used when creating an action film. Although the story line was very intreging, it could be seen my some viewers to be slightly simplistic. However this could also be a posotive as the audience can fully understand whats happening, especially as the film is aimed at 12+, this allows the younger audience to follow on (this is also evidence that the directors have taken into considerations their target audience and made the scene suitable for the ages).

Bonnie: I liked the film because it seemed realistic and when I watched it, I wanted to know what happened next. I liked the use of music as it suited the film well as it creates a more actiony effect. I like the part when Simon is hiding behind the tree and the music fades and Lewis walks past as this creates suspense.

Jonessyy12 via YouTube: Very good.

Dan Rossell via YouTube: This is very good, I like the way that you have followed the typical action film by including a chase scene. And I like the fact you don't know who the bad person is until the phone call. I also like the canted angle shots you have used when the train goes past and the clip at the end where the train blows up and I think it's good that you kept the title up over the top of the exploding train. Well done. :)

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Evaluation

My media product uses, develops and challenges different forms and conventions of real media products, me and my group did this by using camera work, editing and mise-en-scene, to create an Action genre and make our film similar and different to other Action products. Opening sequences to action films always make an impact on the audience and build tension from the start, we started our opening sequence with a chase, which is used in typical action films. To show the chase we used different camera angles and shots of the characters running to create a who is chasing who effect. Like most action films we made our shots quick and sharp, lasting no longer than 2-3 seconds at a time, which shows speed very well. In opening sequences of films what you need to get across to the audience is who the characters are, what the genre is and what the story is. We showed and introduced our characters by seeing them run past a tree, one being chased by the other. This shows the audience that one of the characters is bad and the other good, the audience then later in our opening sequence finds out which one is which by a simple phone call. Like in other action openings the story unfolds bit by bit so the audience then stay interested in the story. The music also shows the genre because it is fast and intense. The basic outline of the story is shown by Lewis chasing Simon, who then loses him and then receives a phone call from an unknown/blocked number which is Simon, the muffled voice tells him that his wife is going to die, he then receives a text from the unknown number saying that he knows she is on a train, Lewis then tries to do the best he can and reaches a train line, A few seconds later we see an exploded train which shows he was too late, This then set sup the story to the audience ready for the whole film but it leaves the opening sequence on a cliff hanger as we know that Simon got away. In a lot of action films the opening normally has a lot going on and some which are not answered will soon be found out later on. We have used many aspects in our film, such as impacting titles with sound effects to emphasise the opening sequence. We have also used special effects such as an exploding train, this helps show our story better. At the beginning of our opening sequence we have also used an institution M.G.M, at the beginning of all opening sequences this is used to show who produced the film.
We have also developed forms of real media products by making the music of our action opening sequence start when the M.G.M lion roars, this is effective as it makes the genre of the film already recognised and gets the film going.
We have also made the titles simple but effective, some action films have moving and flashing images but we have developed our simple titles so the are bold but still have an effect. With them being simple it also helps the audience focus on the actual film and makes the footage have more of an appeal as the titles do not shadow it.
We challenged ourselves and the use of audio by fading in and out the music for when we used dialogue. Some real opening sequence media products fade the music out and then have silence while the character is speaking, we wanted to have it fade out and then be in the background quietly while the speaking is happening so the tension is still building, when the dialogue is finished the music will fade in again to create the sense of action again as Lewis starts to run.
Our opening sequence is of a typical action genre and we have used the aspects of media well to show the similarities and differences between real products and our own.

Click on image to view it bigger.

Changes Made, Final Filming and Editing

We had to make some changes as when we got to the location to do our filming, it took us ages to walk there we had less time to film. We filmed the most important parts needed, when we looked back at our last bits of footage we found that there was no sound (We had some slight problems with the microphone). As that part needed the sound because it was a key part to the story line, Me and Lewis filmed it again, as we were running out of time and travelling issues. Once we re-done that part and now we had sound. We uploaded everything we had recently filmed and started to put it together. We had some problems with parts we missed out and because of our time limit we had to cut down on the footage, we had around 2 minutes and 30 seconds off nearly final edited footage and most of it needed to go as we had the final clip to also add in.

Changes We Made:
So that we could fit all of the story we needed to give in the opening 2 minutes we had to decide what to keep and what to delete and what changes needed to be made.
We had to change the script (again) but we now know that this is the final. Instead of Simon and Lewis actually having a conversation and then Lewis killing Simon, we changed it to Lewis looses Simon and Simon gets away, Lewis then gets a phone call from a blocked number (a.k.a Simon) who tells him that his wife is going to die. Lewis then starts to panic and runs to try and help, he then receives a text from the blocked number, saying that he knows his wife is on a train. Lewis then starts heading towards the nearest thing relevant to trains he can find, so he finds the rail track. As he reaches it a train is going past, while this is happening we see shots of the wife (Me) sitting on the train acting normal being completely oblivious to what is going to happen. As the last carriage passes, we see Lewis looking stressed and helpless. The next shot is of the title RECONNAISSANCE, then the shot of an exploding train. This is where the opening 2 minutes now ends.
At first we were going to have some shots of Me texting Lewis saying I Love You and then after the train passes him, he gets the text just before it blows up. We had to delete this because of time issues.
We then found that we still had quite a lot that needed to be deleted, so we went through the shots and shortened them as much as we could, we then fit in out 2 minutes time limit quite comfortably.

Our last issue that needs to be done for the actual practical work is the sound, We are still searching for possible music and are struggling to find some suitable for what is happening. We want to have fast music for the chasing and then sad/sincere or building tension music for the train blowing up. The music at the moment is more important but if we have more time we would like to have a sound of an explosion over the top of the last title to emphasise the fact that the train is blowing up.

After many problems with weather, equipment and choosing the right story to stick to we have managed to keep up quite well.

VERY FINAL SCRIPT:
(Phone call)
Simon: Your wife's gonna die.
Lewis: Your not going to get away with this.
Simon: Watch Me





New props after the changes we made:

iPhone: We now have an iPhone in our opening sequence which is our only prop.

Time management:

We will need to finish editing and then do our evaluation.

Filming Today

Today we are filming the train scene after school, we are also going to use the cameras over the weekend.

In this scene it is me on a train, just before it blows up and I am sitting down looking out the window. I then get my phone out my pocket and text Lewis for the last time, even though I do not know its the last.

Order of Shots:

• Looking at me, sitting on the train, looking out the window, medium shot.
• Closer shot of me getting my phone out.
• OTS of me looking at the phone.
• Close up of text
• Long shot of me on train again.

We may have a shot of the actual train driving along.

Time over the next few weeks.

I have been helping Alana, Hannah and Laura's media as I am a character in there Media, so will start focusing on mine more after half term.

We will not be able to do filming over half term as other people who haven't started filming need the cameras and Lewis and Simon are away anyway.

We hope to start filming again after half term, the first week back.

During the week after half term we would like to get the conversation out the way first so we will film that and then after that is finished we will start filming the train scene, after that we will just need to edit it together properly and then evaluate.

Typical Audience Member For Our Film

We are going to make some typical audience members of our film.

Name: John Smith
Age: 22
Enjoys: Action Films and Horror.
Favourite Part in a Film: I like the chase scenes in action films.
Occupation: Police Officer.

The film we are making is suitable for John Smith because our genre is what he enjoys watching, He is in the expected age region for our film. It is also suitable for him as he enjoys chase scenes which we have included in our opening sequence.

Name: Sam Bob
Age: 40
Enjoys: Drama, Action and Science Fiction
Favourite Part in a Film: Explosions and Fighting
Occupation: Mechanic

The film we are making is suitable because he enjoys action films and also drama, which are film has a short clip in. He is also in the suitable age for our film which we expected to come to our film after our questionairre. It is also suitable because we have a train explostion in our opening sequence.

Starting to Edit

We have started editing or opening two minutes. We have not finished filming at this point but we need to start editing as we are running out of time.

So far we have edited about one minute of our opening sequence. So far we are struggling with titles and making them animated. As our film is supposed to be quick because of the action and the chase scenes we have had to make our shots quick. At the moment it looks a bit silly and is hard to tell what the actual finished product will look like, because of the jumping and fuzziness of when we are watching it on the screen. We think it is doing this because the computers are not fast enough for the software.

We have decided to make all the shots look good and the continuity as good as we can get it.
We have also looked at adding special effect titles to our opening sequence. Using a template on Adobe I cut and paste it onto paint and made it more simple, We did not use it in the end as we thought it looked very unproffessional and made our film look really bad. More Simple titles looked much better for us as our shots are very quick. This is an example of one of the made templates.

New Script after Problems

After realising we had problems with our script we decided to start fresh and think of a new one. We needed Simon to mention to Lewis that his wife is going to die and we also needed Simon ending up getting shot. This was what we came up with

Simon- Your supposed to be finding me, not losing me.
Lewis-I will get you eventually, might aswell come out now.
Simon-What, so you can shoot me...You don't want that, I have information.
Lewis- I know, thats why im here
Simon-No you dont, its about your wife...
Lewis- (Looks angry)
Simon- On a train to London I believe, what would you say if I dunno... the train blew up.
Lewis- (Looks angrier) You cant hide forever
Simon- You better go find her (Twig Snaps, Lewis notices Simon and shoots him)
(Simon falls to the floor and we see Lewis running off)

Then cuts to train scene and Lewis running.

These are the shots we may use for the conversation.

Simon- OTS shot of Lewis looking for Simon in bushes
Lewis- Point of View from Simon looking at Lewis
Simon- Looking at Lewis looking around then skip to a close up
Lewis- Looking at Simon in bushes from behind
Simon- Close up of Simon
Lewis- See's his facial expression
Simon- Point of view from Simon again, Then close up of Lewis still looking
Lewis-Distant shot of Lewis
Simon- See Simon start trying to move away, then a shot of a twig snapping, see Lewis turn around and then shoots Simon
We then see the shot of Simon falling and Lewis starting to run.

(We are having quite afew problems with script and will keep trying to improve it)

Filming 7th of February

We had another go at filming on the weekend this time we decided to film the conversation part again. The reason we wanted to film this part again was because the sound was very quiet and we needed more ideas for types of shots. When we reached our location we wasted 10 minutes trying to find the best place to film and then trying to find the hole in the camera for the microphone, another problem we soon would find is that the microphone was not long enough and we needed the pole to stick it on which we did not have, my sister had to help and try to stretch it out as far as she could to where the sound was coming from. Eventually we managed to get sorted and started filming, we re-done the end of the chase just before the conversation and then we got stuck and could not think of any ideas of shots and what the conversation could be. Simon decided that our script was rubbish and that we needed to think of a new one. After thinking of a new script and afew tantrums we decided to just film something and see what it came out like, I ended up finding myself being made to go through lots of thorn bushes to get more imaginative shots. We only had about 20 seconds of footage and we had been at the location for around 2 hours. As it was so cold we decided that was enough for today and went home.
We then discussed what we needed to improve for next time, the first thing that came to mind was preparation. When we start filming next we will need to be more prepared for what needs to be done. Other this week we will need to think about a new script and how we can make it sound better but get Simon telling Lewis that his wife is going to die.
Over half term we will not be able to do any filming as Lewis and Simon are away the whole week and I can't do it by myself. Before half term we will have to have another go at filming maybe the train scene and get that out the way and then we will also need to carry on editing what we have as we are running out of time.

Costume and Actors and Quality of Footage

This is a video of our Actors in there costume. (Sorry about laughing :) ) As you can see the quality of the film is very bad as we did not know we had to change what we were saving the video as. We have experimented with different types of save files such as Adobe, MPEG, Windows Media file. So far we have had problems with viewing the footage without it being jittery.

What we will be filming next

The next time we are filming it will be the train scene. Where I am on a train on my way to London just before the train blows up. I will be wearing casual but smart clothes. To film this part on a train we will have to buy travel cards for the day just in case it takes too long to film. We may also not be allowed to film so we will have to be quick.

After we have filmed that if we have time we will do a scene at the end where Lewis sees a news report on the TV of the train explosion.

When that is done if we have time we will be re-filming the conversation as the sound was not very good quality.

Uploading Problems

I have spoken to other groups doing media studies and have found that we are all having problems with uploading. The videos do not seem to want to upload to blogger or YouTube so at the moment we can not get our videos up. This will be a major problem later on as we need the evidence up to show we have practiced and the final film outcome. We will see what happens and keep trying to upload videos.

Sunday 31st January Filming

We had another shot at filming at the location with our new costume, script and storyline. We had a problem with Lewis' costume, his trousers ripped and we had to go to the shop and buy some safety pins to fix it. After that we reached the location and set up the camera. We started filming again from scratch at the beginning, we added some new shots to add more variety to it. We then filmed the speaking part of the film. We struggled to make it more realistic and not funny.

We may have to film the conversation part again if we have time once we have the rest of the footage.

Rough Idea of Order of shots after changes

Order of story after changes:
Lewis and Simon are chasing each other through the woods, this time we have cut this shorter so we have more time for story.
They reach the end of the woods by the lake, Lewis and Simon Conversation, Simon tells Lewis that his wife is on a train that is about to blow up. Lewis gets angry and shoots Simon. Titles appear during the chase scene shots.
We then see Amy (Wife) on a train, hear ticking noises. See ring on her finger.
We then see a shot of a train blowing up.
Then the title Reconnaissance
If we have time left we then see Lewis walking up to a newspaper, picking it up, looking at the front page then throwing it on the floor.

New and Hopefully Final Script

Simon: Well done, you got me.
Lewis: Pfffft.
Simon: How's the wife?
(Circling each other whilst speaking)
Simon: I believe she is on a train to London
Simon: Am I right?
(Lewis raises gun to Simon)
Simon: What would you say if it, i dunno blew up?
Simon: 9 minutes and counting
Simon: Time is ticking (Ticking Starts) Say goodbye
Lewis: Goodbye(Shoots Simon and starts to run.)

New Opening 2 minutes Film Treatment

We have decided to change our opening two minutes because we think our opening relies too much on the chasing and we also thought that there wasn't enough dialogue in our old idea so we have more added a longer conversation.We now have the chase scene at the start, but we have shortened it considerably from about 90 seconds to 30-40. This means we don't have to rely on the chase scene being good and if the scene isn't good then it would be difficult to see which genre it is. We also think that if the chase goes on for too long then it may become boring for the audience and they may lose interest in the film.After the chase scene the two have a conversation about a train that is planned to be blown up by the new terrorism group that has been set up recently and tells Lewis that his wife is on the certain train which is due to blow up in 9 minutes according to the terrorist. He shoots him and then you see him running towards the train tracks, and a train goes past, then Lewis falls to his knees as the train goes into the distance.It then cuts to Amy (who is playing Lewis' wife) is on the train listening to her iPod, then we have slow, consoling sort of music with the ticking starting quite slow and quiet and then speeds up to a long beep. and goes black.We then put a video of a real train that was on fire and show it as a news report, with a narration over the top explaining what has happened which gives the audience an overview of what they have seen all summarised very quickly and easily for everyone to understand.But at the moment we are unsure weather we are allowed to use a video that we have found on YouTube even if we only use it for 10 seconds, so we have asked and are waiting to find out before we doing any filming and if we aren't allowed we will have to make changes accordingly.

Practice Filming at the location

This is our practice at filming on location.

List of what we are doing when we get to Location

1. We will set up the camera and redo the begginning of the opening sequence (the chase scene) as we have changed there costume. We will walk through the paths and choos the best places to film. We will then film the chase scenes.
2. We will then film the the lake scenes, where Simon will get shot. We will also use the dead rat on the pole (microphone) so we can hear the conversation they have.
3. We will then film the train.
4. Another day we will film the part on the train.

This will give us an idea of what order to film in and help us with time management. Hopefully, we will improve on our filming techniques.

We will also use the footage we got from our first go at filming as a documentary of what the location was like, because of the weather and how we practised with the acting and using the cameras.

Development of Idea

We will be keeping our original idea of the chase scene, as we have looked at them and done some work about them.

The things we will change:

• Costume- Lewis will wear Black Trousers, black coat, black shoes. Simon will wear dark jeans black coat and trainers.
• The ending- We are changing the ending of our opening 2 minutes. We are having Simon getting shot and then going to an image of a train. This will make sense when we redo our Film Treatment of Opening two minutes.
• We will need to change the order of shots and make a new animatic.
• We will also be getting rid of the props. The paper and the bag.
• We will have to work quickly to get back on track.

Ideas for our next attempt at filming and Developing Idea

We will need new ideas to try out on our next attempt at filming, we have stopped the search for possible music at the moment and now need to focus on actually getting good footage rather than getting stuff that needs to be added after sorted now.

During the week they have forecast more bad weather. Which means more muddy paths to try and run along. We will have to see what happens and decided whether we can film this weekend.

Ideas for Sunday:

• We could be abit more creative/dangerous and take a ladder into the woods and rest it on a tree, and do a shot from above looking down on them chasing each other, Or we could find a tree that is climbable and try this that way.
• When we are doing the handheld shots of me behind filming them running, while running myself, to make the camera less shaky we could put the camera on the tripod to try and balance it abit more.

Development of our Idea

We have decided that we would like to develop our idea to make it easier for ourselves. We encountered problems with the costume choice which does not help with realism and also the filming all looking the same.

We have taken in ideas that could improve our filming and will use this in our developed idea.

First Day at Filming

On Sunday we started filming our Media. We got to my house and got the camera, props etc ready and got to our location of filming. As soon as we arrived there we noticed few problems to start with. The floor was very wet and muddy from the snow melting and we were struggling to walk on the paths. We walked backwards through where we are filming from finish to start to check that all of it will be ok to film in. The lake was still quite icy so we decided to have ago at filming just to see what happens. We arrived at the location quite late so we were panicking about it getting too dark very quickly and not being able to film much footage. Most of the paths were quite clear and we made the most out of filming on them. We reached the start of where we are filming and set the camera up and where we would of wanted to position the camera the sun was beaming onto it. We decided we could use the sun as a special effect, when they were running they were disappearing into the sun. We had to decide how fast they were going to run and how much distance they would have between them. Our first shot was next to a road so we had to be careful when filming this. We managed to get some shots of our first section of filming, with people passing by thinking we were weird. We practiced with the camera at different angles and types of shots and how we wanted to film it. We then realised that this was going to be much harder than we had first thought. We wanted to have some shots of me holding the camera running just behind them running to make it shaky and handheld, but we then found that it was too shaky and you could hardly see in a straight line of what was happening. After more struggling running through the mud and it getting darker by the second we wanted to get as much footage as we could, We had ago at filming one of the shots with the props,we chose to film the part were Simon throws his bag in a bush so he can run faster but Lewis picks it up to find out more information, we had to do 3 takes of this as Simon kept throwing the bag in places the audience could not see. At this point of filming we weren't even worrying about sound at the moment, we were just trying to film as much as possible and practice. We then reached the lake scene we had an establishing shot of the lake and Simon and then Lewis running past the camera. This was our most effective and more professional looking shot we had done. We then reached the muddiest part of our filming location. The boys had to chase each other down a muddy path that was going downhill and led to the lake. We had a few practices at this and then filmed. It was very hard for them to not fall over and try and keep it more realistic. After Simon had fallen over in the mud and it would of made the film look weird that one minute he didn't have mud on him and the next he did, we decided to call it a day and see what footage we had. We had nearly 2 minutes of footage (Mostly rubbish). After watching the footage we had, we decided to take notes on what we could improve on our next go at filming,

• Use more different types of shots
• Be more creative with how we could make the shots look even better
• Think about continuity
• Be at the location earlier so we have more time to film with.

Most of our shots we had were very similar and quite repetitive. We also thought that they looked more like teenagers causing trouble than someone who could be a threat to the country. When we go back to the location next week we should be prepared for weather conditions, think about how the weather or things around where when we filmed the week earlier. We should also be prepared with more ideas to improve our shots and maybe bring someone to help carry the equipment so we can get things done quicker so we have more time to film instead of getting the tripod out then putting it back etc.

Props Images

These are some images of the props we are using for our media. We will need a bag as this is part of our media, and a piece of paper. The piece of paper will be thrown into the lake. Look at order of shots in more detail to find out why we are using them

Other props we are using:

• Headset (Ear piece)

These may change

Actors Pictures

These are images of the actors who will be in our opening sequence. They are both in our group so it will be easy to film as we can easily arrange to film it at weekends or after school. As our film is outside of school it is our job as a group to be able to make enough time for our Media Work.
Lewis

Lewis plays the character who is chasing.

He is 6ft 4

He is going to be wearing casual clothes as he is meant to blend in and not stand out and make it obvious that he is the person who is after Simon

Simon

Simon plays the character who is being chased

He is 5ft 2

Simon is going to be wearing casual clothes but they will be slighty darker than Lewis. They will have to be able to run in the clothes they are wearing and be comfortable wearing them.

NEW CHARACTER

Amy

Read the future posts to why Amy is now in the opening sequence.

Snow and annoying problems and Starting to Film

Snow-We were going to start filming over the weekend but because of the weather we could not, the snow would be a problem as our film is a chase scene and it would be very dangerous slipping and sliding everywhere while trying to make it look realistic, also with the lake frozen that will be a problem as we need this. We will wait for the snow to go before we start filming so hopefully we will start after this weekend. Its starting to get lighter now for longer in the evenings which gives us more time to film afterschool or late on weekends.

Problems- So far I think the biggest problem we are having is finding music that will suit our genre and type of film. We would like one that is pretty simple and quite fast and is obviously non copyright, most of the music we are finding sounds very military like or too upbeat. Some also sound quite dancey and thats not how we want it to sound. Our search continues....

We would also like to start filming over the weekend!!!!

Media Work Diary

12 January 2010

Today I listened to the sound effects that we had collected for our film and put them on to Adobe so we could put them on to our blogs. We thought about why they sounded good and if we used them effectively make our opening sequence more realistic.

Sound Effects

These are the sound effects we would like to use for our opening sequence

They are of a gun clicking when reloading and the actual shot from a gun, we would like to play around with them so that we could have one or two clicks and then have Simon saying his part in between the clicks and then the shot. We will have to practice cutting down the sounds on Adobe.

Questionnaire Results

After the results from our questionnaire we found that more males would prefer to watch action films than females. Around 75% Males and 25% females. They also ranged from the ages of 11 to 50. We will make our opening sequence of our film a 12, in our opening sequence it contains slight swearing but cuts of before you hear it so he doesnt really say it,

This is an example of one of our questionnaires with the results on them.

The Matrix Analysis of Film

I have decided to write about the plot of the whole film of an action film. I have chosen the Matrix, it is based around a man who has two personalitities/ two lives. He lives like a normal man by day and goes by the name Thomas A. Anderson, his job is an computer proggrammer but when that job has finished he is a computer hacker and goes by the name Neo. The film is based around him being targeted by the police.
The genre is Science Fiction/ Action.