About the Prelim

Cast                                                                  

Girls -  Holly, Charlotte, Katie, Anneka
Boys - Jordan, Harry, Adam, Sam

Costume - Sports wear

Music - Here come the girls

Evaluation:

1. Who did you work with and how did you manage the task between you?

My group members included Anneka Williamson, Charlotte Revell and Jordan Carter. We began by sharing ideas how to structure the plot of the film for example what sport would the project be centred around.  I feel the three of us worked well as a team.  We did this by imparting a variety of jobs which would fit to our individual strength, this includes Charlotte doing most of the filming because she was the best at it, we all worked equally hard to attain the finished project.  We additionally did make a group chat on our phones to plan ahead for the upcoming lessons so that we would know exactly what to bring and when to bring it. This made the creation process smooth and a lot less stressful.

2. How did you plan your sequence? What processes did you use?

We planned our sequence using the storyboard provided. We chose the shots that we thought were the best and that would showcase our ideas in the best light.


3. What theorists do you think you could apply to your task?

In our production we used Aristotle theory as the film has a beginning, (the boys playing basket ball and being confident that they would win) a middle (the match between the boys and girls) and end (where the girl beat the boys and Jordan pays his fine). In addition we started to use Todorov theory we began to show signs of the 5 stages.

4. What factors did you have to take into account when planning, shooting and editing?

In the planning stage, we obviously had to take into account that we would have to book the area of the school that we wanted when we wanted it so that we could film without ant disruptions. Also, we had to know when everyone was free to film so that we could choose the most suitable time to film. Additionally, one person in my group was on a school trip during filming week which meant we had to take that into account whilst planning. As we filmed outdoors, we had to try to film whilst the wind was as still as possible. Whilst editing, we realised the wind was still loud so we had to try and balance the noise.


 5. How successful was your sequence? Please identify what worked well and with hindsight what would you improve/do differently?

All members of our group were pleased with final product, but it could have been improved. We could have filmed the video and the audio separately due to the wind being too loud over the characters dialogue. We could have also made the story line slightly more gripping and interesting. With hindsight we should have watched our clips once we filmed them when we still had filming time so we could have seen if we wanted to re film any whilst we still had time.  Also we could have improve the film by wearing the same clothes in all the shots, we did not achieve this as when we continued to film the day after we obviously wore different clothes and even though its not that obvious it could have improved the effect.


6. What did others say about your production?

Others said that are production was good however the audio could have been better as it was hard to make out what the characters were saying. Also that some of the shots could have been improved as they all looked quite similar.  One of the shots that some said that could have been better was the tracking shot. However most people liked the 'here come the girls' scene due to it being funny however to improve it we could have made it slightly longer as it was short but the most liked scene in the film.


7. What have you learnt from completing this task?

I learnt group working skills and I improved my editing skills as well. I learnt to take into consideration everyone in the group's feelings about the work and what they were and were not comfortable with. With editing, I learnt how to edit as a group instead of by myself (like the Juno production).


 8. Looking ahead, how will this learning be significant when completing your final film opening?

It will be significant to my final film opening because of the skills I have learnt from this will create a better overall finished product, due to mostly learning from my mistakes.

Juno

Recreating this film sequence was hard at times as we needed to get the timings right and when editing some parts, I had to speed up or slow down the clip. Also, finding the right locations to film it to make it as accurate as possible was quite challenging as there are many different shots.
I believe that our storyboard was accurate to our filming and we got all of the footage that we needed. I learned that when filming I have to use a variety of different shots such as pan to effectively recreate the sequence.
Here is the story board that myself and my group made in the first lesson.

In this lesson, we were given the task to recreate the opening sequence for the film 'Juno'. We were put into groups and given camera equipment such as a camera and tripod. We included the key props in the sequence such as the red hoodie and milk carton filled with orange juice which the main character carries and used an effect on the film to make it seem more surreal. This helped in making our film closer to the original which we were attempting to recreate.

Film Prelim (Story boards)

Film Prelim

 In this lesson we were put into groups, our genre of short film was sport.
 

Production diary

11/10/16 We got given are genre and came up with are idea and started to think of the plot and characters.
12/10/16 We wrote the storyboard and started to add camera angles to the plot we also came up with the characters.
13/10/16 We finished the storyboard  and started to write the script and wrote the shooting schedule.
17/10/16 Started to film.
18/10/16 Carried on filming.
19/10/16 Finished filming and started to edit.
20/10/16 Carried on editing.
21/10/16 Finished the editing and filmed a shot we could not find. We also updated the shooting schedule.

Film language

Film language

Camera - FAM

Frame - size of shots
Angels - high level, low - worms eye, birds eye
Movement - Pan right and left, tracking (camera and tripod) camera + tripod moving


Mise En Scene - CLAMPS
Costume
Lighting - high key (bright), low key (dark), natural light
Actors
Makeup - blood
Props
Setting - time, temperature, place, date, weather


Sound - MCDOVED

Music
Contrapuntal  (music is opposite: does not match the scene)

Diegetic/non diegetic (actors you can hear)(non-diegetic - e.g. voiceover)

Off screen/on screen (you can hear something but it is not on screen)

Voiceover

Emotion(Emotion from sound - Eg you can hear from the way someone speaks if they are angry)

Dialogue (age, tone, accent)

Editing - STOPS

Screen time (How long the character is on screen)
Transitions (Going from scene to scene)
Order of narrative (Flashback? Is it in order)
Pace
Special effects

Boyz in the Hood

We had to analyse the film language used in the first six minutes of the 1991 film, Boyz n the hood. 






During the opening scene, there are many symbols revealed to the audience. The film starts with the production company's logo, in the background, we can hear non-diegetic off-screen voiceovers of men talking.  After we see a black screen and the people speaking in sound like they are in a gang as they are about to perform a drive-by, one of them clarifies who it is to shoot, then a screech from a car wheel followed by multiple shots being fired.  You can also hear, a young boy screaming 'He shot my brother!'  It then transfers to a different scene where we hear more gun shots and a red stop sign is abruptly shown and the camera zooms in.  I believe they chose a stop sign as the red could signify the bloodshed in the fights and the 'STOP' could be a way to try to convince the audience to prevent gang fights.  However, it could also symbolise a lack of security and safety in the predominately black neighbourhood as the film shows that children hearing gunshots are an everyday occurrence.

We then see a landscape shot of four young black children walking down a pavement in daylight, the camera stays in the landscape shot and tracks them as they continue on walking along the street there are rubbish bags and stray dogs. One of the children appears to be well dressed in smart clothes, which could already convey that he is the intelligent one out the four. They are having a casual conversation about a shooting which happened last night suggesting that it's quite a normal occurrence, also suggesting that their neighbourhood is unsafe and full of crime. The camera angle then changes and pans the children from a birds-eye view this shows the vulnerability of the children and gives an effect that they are being watched. The lighting is a mixture of natural daylight and high key light. The children also walk past a sign that says 'wrong way' this could be seen as another hidden meaning, and perhaps foreshadowing their future and that they are going to make the wrong choices in life which could have fatal consequences.

The children are walking towards the crime scene when the camera then focuses upon some posters of the president which has been vandalised with gunshots this could indicate that there are political problems within this part of the country. As the posters are shown gunshot sound effects are edited into the background. The camera then shows the yellow crime scene tape up close with the children standing behind it, the music then becomes slow and dramatic which contrasts with the gunshot sounds as they notice blood. Every now and then the camera focuses close up on the children faces to portray their youth and innocence. 
The camera then focuses on the pictures drawn by the children the first one is a doodle of a dead black man in his grave, the next is another black man surrendering to a police car and last is a nL.A.P.D helicopter in the sky. This just highlights the type of crime that these children see every day, I think these were used purposely to juxtapose to another school which would have the more pure drawings. The whole classroom is shown in the next shot, which shows young black children seated, and a white teacher standing at the front of the class.  

The room is shown to be dusty and the teacher is wearing old fashion clothes also there is a chalkboard in the background these could all verify the teaching ways are possibly outdated. The smartly dressed boy is shown in an extreme close-up, as he comes to the front of the class with the teacher the camera angle changes from him to her and backs him as they talk to one another. The boy gets into an altercation with another student in the class, the other boy gets out of his chair and stands to confront him, he says that he will get his brother to shoot him.  This shows how violence is started and how it can escalate, also showing how young boys are influenced by others and how they are exposed to violence. The camera then shows a wide shot angle from the back of the class with the two children hitting one another.

The shot transfers to the child walking home from school straight towards the camera, there is a group of older boys blocking the pavement fighting about gambling this shows how when a crime is shown it does not discriminate as before and after school, these children are being a victim of crime.  As the boy walks around them this could indicate even though it would be very easy for him to become a criminal he still manoeuvres around it.  These boys are supposed to be role models but instead, they portray a message to younger boys that this type of violent behaviour is normal and acceptable.  In a mid-shot, his mother is shown to be on the phone to the teacher.  The teacher labels the mother as being the fault in her child's behaviour by asking 'Are you employed?' is quite a demeaning question to the mother as if she did not have a job she would be a bad influence on him.