Lighting Research

Media Theory: Realism

Google Mock-Ups - Double-Page Spread

Digital Drafts - Double-Page Spread

Hand Drawn Drafts - Double Page Spread

Google Mock Ups - Poster

Digital Drafts - Poster

Hand Drawn Drafts - Poster

Final Script

Developing Scenes 6, 7, 8 and 10

I made changes to some of my scenes. 



I wrote scenes 7 and 8

Equipment for Filming

Even though my storyboard shows that I have planned out each shot for each scene, I am going to take all of the equipment below to each filming day incase I changed my mind for any of the shots. These changes could be due to a certain framing not look right or not working, or just wanting to try something different and experiment more. for example, I had originally planned to have the slider however because I have it booked out for all three filming days I am going to make sure I make good use of it to get some really cinematic shots. As all my filming is taking place at one location and the house belongs to a relative, I am able to leave props and equipment there and don't have to transport it to and from location on all three days which is fortunate. 

Costume List

Costume is very important in my film for distinguishing between the past and the present of the narrative. If the costume changes are not well thought out, planned and obvious, then it will just look like really bad continuity and the narrative therefore won't make sense.

This is the document I sent to the cast outlining my ideas. 

Scene	Gen (Angela)	Emily (Melissa)	Henry (John)
1 OUTSIDE	Casual - jeans and winter coat, winter accessories (scarf, gloves)	Casual - jeans and winter coat, winter accessories
2 KITCHEN	same as previous	same as previous TAKE COAT OFF??
3 KITCHEN  FLASHBACK	t shirt and cardigan, jeans (can be the same jeans as before if you don’t want to change) Make hair different in some way SUNGLASSES	START OF FLASHBACK - same clothes as previous DURING FLASHBACK (younger Emily) - SUMMER - dress/pink top (more younger looking style) END OF FLASHBACK - same clothes as previous
4 LIVING ROOM		same clothes as previous
5 LIVING ROOM FLASHBACK		FLASHBACK – different top, jeans, cardigan/hoodie AFTER FLASHACK – same as scene 4	Trousers/jeans, shirt, jumper, glasses
6 BATHROOM		Same as previous	Pyjamas/dressing gown
7 BEDROOM		Same as previous
8 BEDROOM FLASHBACK		FLASHBACK – Jumper/long sleeved top, jeans, different hairstyle AFTER FLASHBACK – same as scene 7	Different jumper
9 CONSERVATORY	Different top (unless coat is zipped up in scene 1 and 2 and the top isn’t visible)	Different jumper/cardigan combination (it’s Autumn now)	Different jumper Watch
10 CONSERVATORY	Same as previous	Same as previous	Same as previous
11 OUTSIDE		Different winter coat (if possible) Hat, gloves, scarf Phone, earphones
12 THROUGHOUT HOUSE		Same as previous
13
14
15

I then separated the costume list into sections for each day to make it easier for the cast so they can look at it and know what they need each day straight away without having to refer back to the shooting schedule to see what scenes they are filming on the day. 

Prop List

Music For My Short Film

A convention of short films is to have a non-diegetic soundtrack which is separate from the dialogue and ambient sound. This creates atmosphere and adds to the scene e.g. music in a horror film would build tension, in my case, music in a drama compliments what is happening on screen, for example if there is a sad scene then the music will reflect this. (However, most of the time in drama the only noise there is is diegetic to create realism, non-diegetic sound is only used at certain points in the drama).

I have decided that for my short film I want to use classical music as this genre tends to have no singing and therefore this will not interfere with the dialogue from the characters. I think this will be quite professional and cinematic. 

Dementia is a taboo subject and one that is quite sad and hard to talk about. The narrative of my short film depicts a family's struggle through this and coming to terms with it. Therefore the music in my film will create quite a sad atmosphere. 

Here are some of the ideas I have had so far. When it comes to editing my film, I will see which works best.









'I Am' by Carly Paradis: https://open.spotify.com/track/738MQEj6IKYRPYCdc136Zr







There are some good royalty free tracks on https://www.bensound.com/

 

Revised Shooting Schedule

I made a few minor changes to my shooting schedule ahead of filming. On my previous schedule I had not included timings and breaks. 

I found it is hard to put a time to how long it will take to film a scene because they all vary in length and the number of shots.

Also, because of the time of year I have to take into account that it starts getting dark early, around 4pm, this is why the filming days start quite early and are not very long because if I carried on filming when it was dark, even the shots inside would be low quality because there would be no natural light coming in from outside.

Research and Planning - November Assessment, Question 1A

Creativity - November Assessment, Question 1A

WHAT WERE YOUR INFLUENCES?

I like how in this shot from 'Liar' (ITV), the transition from past to present is a jump cut and almost seamless. I wanted to incorporate these 'blink or you'll miss it' type editing techniques into my short film as I think they reinforce the idea that the narrative is from Emily's perspective as she walks around the house seeing the memories, because they show a quick transition between different time periods which are dramatic and could disorientate the audience slightly, putting them in the position of Emily. 

This opening shot from 'The Bill' (BBC) is all done in one shot. This is done by having the camera in front of the characters and it tracks backwards and moves around the characters following their movements and making sure they are always still in the frame. This, along with the 'Casualty' (BBC) one shot episode inspired what I wanted to do in the ending scene of my film with Emily running back through the house because these kinds of camera movements make the audience feel as if they are immersed in the narrative, which creates realism and keeps the audience engaged. 

Digital Technology - November Assessment, Question 1A

WHAT TECHNOLOGY HAVE YOU USED?

• Camera, 
• SD Card
• Card reader
• Blogger
• Computer
• Photoshop
• Microsoft Publisher
• Prezi
• Microsoft PowerPoint
• Emaze
• Canva
• Social media
• Google Drive
• Google Survey
• Slideshare
• YouTube
• Premier Pro
• Windows Movie Maker

HOW HAVE YOU USED DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY?

• To take photos/videos
• To store footage
• To transfer footage
• To upload my work
• To manipulate images
• To edit footage
• To present my work in unique ways
• To ask for audience feedback
• To upload good quality video footage to go on my blog

Lighting

In my test shots I encountered a few lighting issues with my footage. 

In this shot, you can see that the footage is quite dark and grainy. Originally, I thought in order to correct this I would have to use artificial light (e.g. studio lights). However, these are big and therefore not very practical to transport from college to location. After speaking to Liam, the media technician, he suggested that I try changing the shutter speed, ISO and frames per second which I am shooting in to see if that makes a difference. In this initial attempt, I was shooting at 25fps and I didn't even know it was possible to change the shutter speed when recording moving image, so this is something I am going to try out. 

Also I filmed this around three o'clock and due to the time of year it is starting to get dark and therefore there isn't a huge amount of light coming in from outside. This is why in my shooting schedule I have decided this will be one of the shots I do earliest in the day. 

One issue with shooting inside a house is that the lights are not the best, and footage often comes out yellow on camera. One of my media teachers suggested that to achieve a more professional look for my film I should try using filters on the lights to balance out the colours and make it feel real. 

UPDATE (27/11/2017)

However, these filters had to be ordered in especially for me and this meant that my filming was delayed and I didn't make the deadline set by my teacher for all footage to be filmed (Monday 20th November). As you can see from my earlier shooting schedule this wasn't a deadline I wasn't sure I would meet in the first place due to cast not being available, however now it is confirmed and this means I will not have as long to edit my first draft (due 18/12/2017).

The conversation I had with my media teacher about the light filters

After seeing the results from my test shots, I thought it would best to wait until the light filters arrived before I started filming. This is because if I start filming without the filters and then after they have arrived use them in some of my other scenes, there will be a noticeable difference in the quality of my footage and I want the quality of my work to be consistent to give it a more professional feel. 

Discussing the light filters with my other media teacher

As you can see from the above screenshot, the filters should hopefully arrive before I film this weekend. If they do not arrive in time I am still going to film because I have already made arrangements with my cast and these next two weekends will probably be the only time they are all available together before the deadline for my first draft. If I do not like the quality of the footage then I will try and correct this is post-production through colour grading (I have found some useful tutorials on how to do this), or I will have to re-shoot the footage in January if it is not good enough.

Colour grading tutorials on YouTube

Shooting Schedule