Tuesday 27 April 2010

Copyright Information

ALL need to put the following next to all of their videos to comply with OCR's copyright policy.

Any use of music in this film complies with 'Fair Dealing' under the 1988 Copyright Designs and Patents Act (UK), Sections 6(i) and 6
(ii); Fair dealing is a term used to describe some limited activities that are allowed without infringing copyright. Briefly these are as follows:

Section 6i.

Research and private study

Copying parts of a literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work or of a typographical arrangement of a published edition for the purpose of research or private study is allowed under the following conditions:

· The copy is made for the purposes of research or private study.
· The copy is made for non-commercial purposes.
· The source of the material is acknowledged.
· The person making the copy does not make copies of the material available for a number of people.

ii Instruction or examination

Copying parts of a literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work or a sound recording, film or broadcast for the purpose of instruction or examination is allowed under the following conditions:

· The copying is done by the student or the person giving instruction.
· The copying is not done via a reprographic process.
· The source of the material is acknowledged.
· The instruction is for a non-commercial purpose.

Links to pre-production Main Task

Log Book: http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0AQKtUCB4v9mLZGN0ZjhqZ3ZfN2ZiOTZia2d6&hl=en_GB

Initial Ideas: http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0AdgdSy4wVO_NZGN0Mm1zZ3ZfMmQ3ODlnenZ4&hl=en_GB

Script for main: http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0AQKtUCB4v9mLZGN0ZjhqZ3ZfMTByZ3JocWZo&hl=en_GB

Schedule: http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0AdRXjqe2VDnEZGM3MjhnM2tfNWR3ZDI0ZGRq&hl=en_GB

Storyboard: http://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0BwKtUCB4v9mLYmFmYWJmY2UtODg1OC00NzA2LThiOGEtZGE2NmU3YzVjMWVh&hl=en_GB

Risk assessment page 1: http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0AQKtUCB4v9mLZGN0ZjhqZ3ZfOWhxM3RrdGN2&hl=en_GB

Risk assessment page 2: http://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0BwKtUCB4v9mLMzBmNmI3MmYtN2FkZS00Njc3LWI1MmQtNmQ2ZGJlMGVhZWMy&hl=en_GB

Research: http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0AQKtUCB4v9mLZGN0ZjhqZ3ZfOGRtN25xNWZ6&hl=en_GB

Thursday 15 April 2010

Evaluation

With the coursework process finished and completed I am now able to give an evaluation of the whole thing comparing the main and preliminary exercise on the pre-production process, filming and editing.
With both of the tasks as a group we wanted it to look as professional as we could with the skills we had. I think the preliminary task came out a lot more successful and professional with all the main aspects; camera angles, mise-en-scene and editing. With many problems occurring with the main task it has effected the outcome of the final product. The main problems being the weather and the actors. By filming outside the weather had to be right for mise en scene, pathetic falice and so the equipment wasn't damaged by the rain or damp.




The actors also were hard to arrange to our schedule which had to change a numerous amount of times for them. With the preliminary exercise being filmed inside the college it was a lot more easier to find a replacement and the weather didn't effect filming at all which when looking back makes us as a group regret filming outside for the main.
The audience for the opening sequence is directing mainly to girls between the ages of 15 - 23 where relationships and love has a high importance compared to younger girls and older women. Also everything in the clip comes from the girls perspective, what she wants and lusts for, allowing the audience to relate to how she feels.
In both of our clips the ideology of the girls are seen throughout to be more dependant on the man. In the main clip she looks lost and scared without him and when he runs back to her she is comfortable again and looks safe. This is showing the dependence of the girl for him, which relates to real life situations, traditionally the man is the more dominant one giving a sense of protection. In the preliminary clip we tried to go against the typical gangster films by having the worker for the main Gangster a women, however we showed that by him choosing her he spoke a lot more stern, frightening her to do the jobs rather then her just wanting to. Also the costume she wore was a short dress showing a lot of her body, which suggests its what the gangster wants to see and making her wear it for his pleasure, demeaning the girl even more.
I think Optimum releasing would be our choice of company to distribute our film as they distribute a high amount of British films, as well as other foreign countries. Although a lot of their films are of the more horror kind, they also seem to be not ones which have well known directors showing they help independent directors with a low budget. As a group we researched optimum releasing so we have a better knowledge of the company, such as we know they are a successful distributing company meaning we would get a profit from the film we created with their help.
Before i started the coursework I had never operated a video camera before so it was completely new to me. And i think with my lack of experience I found it hard to know for certain if everything was correct, which was part of the reason our first try of the main exercise came out so poor. However from having that mistake it made me more aware of what needed to be done when we filmed again, making sure it was straight and not shaking or any movement what so ever when not required. I also didn't use windows movie maker before and i didn't realise how simple and good it was to cut and edit the film well. It was also a lot quicker to be done which when writing the schedule for the preliminary we put a few days for editing when it only really took 1 lesson.
Overall with the preliminary exercise we wanted the main to be a lot different to show versatility, however with this it seemed to give us more problems in the main exercise which should of happened in the preliminary so we could of learnt from it. We worked to our best ability in both of the exercises but due to the weather constantly changing in Weymouth it gave us a very big problem of when we could film, which meant time was running out until the deadline. As well as the actors letting us down or not being free the days we needed them, when the weather report said sunny. I believe that if we could do it all again we would of changed the idea to being inside so that whole problem was overcome and have better communication with the actors. Without those problems I think we worked well as a group all trying to get a good final outcome. The only other problem was that with one of the members in the group they didn't quite know what was required in the role they took for the main exercise which effected the final outcome.
Apart from the problems creating a huge amount of stress and panic I have enjoyed the coursework, creating the ideas and putting them all together was good fun. I didnt realise it would have been quite as hard as it has been which added to the stress I think. But as a group I think we are as happy as we can be with both the main and preliminary exercise.










Tuesday 30 March 2010

Filming - successful one!

>



After Friday having to be stopped due to the weather we rescheduled for Sunday afternoon. Again we had to change the day to Monday as our actors were unable to do it and the weather wasnt great.
On Monday the 29th we actually filmed and it went well. I made sure before hand the everything was right with the tripod doing many test shots and checking the framing on the camera with the story boards and Sadie the director.
I made sure we had either 2 or 3 shots of each to make sure the Nina as the editor had many options to pick from which would allow the clip to look as good as possible. Luckly the actors were very co-operative to do the scene over and over to make sure it was perfect with mise-en-scene and the camera angles.
I think compared to the other film we had alot more motivation to make sure this one was perfect to correct our many mistakes which happened last time. Me and Sadie worked alot better together checking every angle was right from the framing and the straightness of the film. Also with the use of the tripod their was no problem of it being shaky as it kept the camera steady throughout.
The main problem we had was making sure it was straight as we were filming on the sandy part of the beach leading to it in some cases being on a slope. But we made sure everything was straight before filming by moving the tripod or if necessary moving where the beach is alot flatter. Compared to the last actors which we had although they were good the chemistry wasnt enough to make the film believeable the actors in this clip worked well with eachother which added to the conventions required. It was also alot easier to direct and work with.
To make sure the risk of sand damaging the camera i made sure the tape was in the camera at my house so no sand could get in. Also the weather wasnt too windy so there was no risk of that problem happening.
As a group we decided to have no dialect throughout the whole clip so we used music from a copyright free cd in the libary. To make sure it didn't look like a music video we added the atmospheric noises of the sea as a mix with the track.






















We used 54 seconds of track 7 - Crimson Joy by Jim Dooley. We mixed the atmospheric sound of the sea by unlinking it from the clips and lowering the volume so its only a slight addition to the music, which made the clip more realistic and natural.

Main Task - Filming first attempts

We decided to film on Sunday 21st as the weather report said sunny. After a huge panic to find the actors in time as the ones we planned before hand we unable we finally had Allie and Nina's friend Jenny who agreed to help us out.
We all met on the beach and it took a while to be able to actually start filming due to trying to find a spot where there weren't lots of people but enough room for the whole clip.
Once we located where it was best to film we began and realised that the connector for the camera and tripod wasn't in the camera case or on the tripod so had to do the whole thing hand held.
As I have the role of the camera women I decided to do it anyway as we planned everything and thought as long as I keep it steady as possible the clip should look okay. Sadly the outcome of the film wasn't to the best of my ability with it being out of focus and in some cases on a slant, as well as it being too shaky from me not having a steady hand and the weather being very sandy. With this being a huge problem as the rest of the group and myself wasn't happy with the outcome we decided to re - film the clip with the use of the tripod making sure the framing was correct and overcome the shakiness.
We decided to re film on the date on Friday 26th and began filming. After 20 minutes into the filming process the weather turned bad and started raining very heavy stopping us from continuing due to the risk of the camera being damaged.

Tuesday 9 March 2010

Main Task - Planning

When given the main exercise and that I was in the same group as the preliminary task we went straight into the initial idea blast. We began with the idea of having a psychological horror and found it difficult to find location for filming and the research to get the conventions and ideology correct for that certain genre and idea we had. So while we still had time we decided to change to do a film with the genre of romance like the notebook and P.S I love you.
Once our ideas were clear we decided on the roles within the group and thought that this time it would be good to change from what our roles were in the preliminary task and decided on, me as the camera women, Sadie as the director and Nina as the editor, with us all happy with the roles allocated we started on the rest of the planning needed before filming.
For our opening sequence we decided on having no dialogue just music playing to add to the emotion we are trying to portray to the audience. So prevent from having a problem we went to the Libary and got the non copy right music to find an appropriate song. We ended up with 3 songs and thought once filmed would add to the final production deciding on a certain one so its the right tempo.
To get the correct conventions and ideoly we have researched 3 clips in particular which all have a clip based on a beach with a similar romantic features in some way; The Notebook, Grease opening sequence and My sisters keeper. We researched how each one used and changed within the mise en scene, editing, sound and camera work to have the right ideology.



After we watched the clips and researched them we created story board and detailed script dual form.













Compared to the preliminary task I have found this one a lot more harder to get the correct conventions right as it is such an open task where as the preliminary task had a certain points that had to be contained in the clip. Its also hard to be able to do a good piece in the amount of time we have and not be too under or above 2 minutes. With the preliminary task we filmed inside which was less overall planning needed as we didn't have as many required points, for the main task we decided have had a lot more planning to consider such as the date of filming due to the weather.
Before filming we had to complete risk assessments so we are covered if anything happens to one of the actors, group or equipment (camera and tripod). Compared to the preliminary task we have had a lot more higher risks which we have overcome; filming on the beach, sand damage in the camera which was overcome by putting the tape in away from the beach so there is no risk it being damaged, as well as wrapping clingfilm around the loose parts protecting it.















With the main task i personally intend my performance by having better detailed research into the tasks by looking at a wide range of videos and writing about the conventions which we can develop into our clip. Arrange actors and make sure they are able to attend the date we decide to film as well as spending the amount of time we need them to. I also want to be able to film well including the Pacific camera angles which needs to be included so the right conventions are shown and used.

Friday 19 February 2010

Preliminary task - filming blog

Before we filmed we had an lesson allowing us finish the essential parts needed. Firstly we had to make sure we had permission from the lecturer who owns the room and in our case it was Angela. Once given permission we made sure we had our risk assessment done so we were covered if any injuries or damage to the equipment happened, which once filled correctly was signed by Lee Hodgkinson. Once all this was finished we booked the equipment getting a quick run through on how the camera works, what buttons to press and how to put the tape in, as well as how to use the tripod successfully.
When arranging who to have in the film as actors we originally had Sadie Lynham‘s, one of the group members boyfriend, Jack Stanely as the Gangster and her friend Jaz D’avola as the young women doing the “job” but through work difficulties Jack couldn’t make it to college. Sadie however overcame this problem by asking Jaz to ask another person on her performing arts course to take his place. We arranged to meet at the smoking shelter at 4:30 to all go over to the photography room and once met we found out that Jaz’s friend couldn’t play the part on that day. It was a big rush to find someone as we wanted the filming to be done so we had enough to edit and complete it. After a panic we luckily found a friend; Ali who was more than happy to play the part and we went straight to the photography room to get the filming done.
Another problem that occurred was me forgetting the gun which was the main prop of the whole film as it finishes the last shot. Luckily me and Sadie was able to borrow one from the drama department so that problem was quickly overcome.
Once in the photography room I moved the chairs and tables to the outside of the room putting the props of a table and two chairs in the centre where most of the shots were going to be filmed by Nina Wheeler the camera women. As the director it was my place to hand the script out the actors while we set the room up, with the back drop and lights being right. Once everything was correct we began to film.
As the director I had the story board and script on me while being behind Nina to see if the camera angle and framing was right. And also looking for myself making sure everything is in the right place and the continuity of the all the shots worked well.
Overall I think the filming went successfully, we all worked well together knowing what we had to do. We also had all the shots twice or 3 times giving when editing a better outcome as there was more choice.