Monday 20 January 2014

Femme Fatale Scene

Once having uploaded our footage, we noticed that what we had didn't quite work. This is because:

  • The lighting was inconsistent because it was darker than the rest of the footage, as we filmed this later in the evening. 
  • Furthermore, the smoke from the electric cigarette didn't show up on the camera when we watched it back, and this is an important factor as it is part of an action match.                                                                                                              

To resolve this issue, Eloise has now re-shot this scene at her house so that she was able to experiment with lighting and mise-en-scene etc. It is much better quality.

Thursday 16 January 2014

First Day(s) of Filming

Due to Eloise's work & my Grease rehearsals, it has been very difficult for us to find time for filming. Although we found time to do so last Wednesday, we didn't manage to get much done. We found some locations in the city (& took some photographs that I will post soon) & shot a small amount of footage before the batteries ran out on the camera which-as we discovered when we got to Norwich- had not been charged. We even had difficulties with transport getting into the city, as we waited at the bus stop for approximately 50 minutes waiting for a bus that never showed up & then got on the later bus only to have a disruption on the way which wasted more of our time! Our actors were not very happy as they had been waiting for us in the city for all this time but there was nothing we could do about it, & then for our cameras to die after going through all this trouble of transport was guttering for Elly & I!

The only other day we were both available to film was this Wednesday (yesterday), and so- as we had two periods of Media Studies in the afternoon- we got our teachers' permissions to leave the school at lunch time in order to allow us more filming time in the city. Luckily, our actress who plays the part of the anti-hero (Leannan) had free periods in the afternoon, however, Lydia (who was originally going to play the part of the femme fatale) couldn't join us this quickly & was quite busy so wouldn't be able to spend much time filming. Eloise then put forward the idea that she would play the femme fatale (& these would be the scenes that I would need to take on her roles of director & cinematographer as well as my role of camerawoman) so that we could ensure that she is always available when we want to film. We returned to the locations & filmed from the beginning, ending up with approximately six & a half hours spent in the city before we returned home extremely tired but glad that we got most of the filming completed! 

All that is left to film now is:

  • different camera angles revealing the dead body (which I aim to do tonight, using Connor rather than our original actor, Toby, due to Connor's availability & short distance from my house)
  • an extreme close-up of Connor slowly opening his eyes (which I also intend to do tonight)
  • Eloise walking up to a front door (which we will film as soon as the time is available)
  • a shot of Eloise framed through a letter box (which we will also film as soon as the time is available)

Time Management

Week beginning 13th January
  • finish filming footage
  • start editing to complete first cut
  • create studio & production idents/screens
Week beginning 20th January
  • finalize first cut so that it's ready for feedback
  • preparation for presentation of first cut
  • send Billie first cut for preliminary composition of music
Week beginning 27th January
  • first focus group work with peers & teachers
  • re-editing
  • planning & completion of any re-shoots
  • planning construction of sound
Week beginning 3rd February
  • construction of sound
  • finish all titles
  • final edits of film OTS
Week beginning 10th February
  • exhibition & distribution of first cut of final films shared on social networks for the purpose of focus group feedback
  • use surveys/questionnaires (surveymonkey) & allow time for feedback
  • work on blog to ensure all the above is evidenced (talking head, reflective note, production plans, slideshares etc)
Week beginning 17th February (half term)
  • complete focus group research
  • complete blog
  • plan final improvements to productions in response to the feedback
Deadline for completed Research & Planning Blogs & First Drafts of Productions is the 28th February (Friday after half term)