Day 1 (grave scene)

Today we started filming for our main task; here are some of the location and behind the scenes shots we took.

We filmed in a small graveyard in Chorlton. The weather was not ideal as it was raining, however we managed to keep the camera dry with an umbrella.

We had to deal with rain on our day of filming. Which was not really a problem as we were filming a 'flashback' scene and the weather does not have to be the same from the rest of the scenes as it is supposted to have happened at a different date from the rest of the scenes. To stop the camera getting destroyed in the rain we put up a umberella over the camera and tripod.

Here is the camera crew. from left to right; Beth (runner), Rachel (director), and Roisin (cameraperson). As you can see it was raining and the camer ais being protected with the use of the umberella.

again here is another photograph of the camera crew, at this point we were just about to start filming our very first shot ever.

Here is a costume shot of the main character (Stefan). We took this photograph so we can make sure the continuity of the scenes will be perfect, because we do not want him to be wearing different clothes in other scenes and this will make the continuity editing bad and create a sense of unrealism to the shots.




Here is a behind the scenes shot from the opposite end of the camera. In this shot the actor and camera crew were captured. This photograph shows the location of the scenes, which was a local graveyard in Chorlton.






Here is another behind the scenes shotbut this time it is from a diffenent angle. The shot that was being captured here was a over the shoulder shot of the main characters right shoulder, focusing on the writin gon the graveyard which is supposed to be one of the characters close relatives.







Here is another behind the scenes photographs, here the camera crew are about the start to film and are getting everything ready. The actor (main character) is getting ready in place beside the gravestone and the camera person is about to press record on the camera.




This is the gravestone that appeared in all our shots. It Belonged to a woman called "Grace Helen". We were unsure about weathe rto use this gave stone or not as it is very old but them we desided we would use it as the graestone belonged to a relative of the main characters and theis relative did not have to be alive the same time he was.





This is the archway that appears in the openinng scene of the film. It leads into the graveyard and the main character walks through it.






This is a photograph of the Bell tower ontop of archway. This bell tower rings every hour and looks very effective so we desided to use this in one of our shots .



Filming went well today and we got all the shots we needed plus extra shots just in case we need to extened parts of the scenes or we had the incorrect amount of shots to work with, at this point in filming we are very confindent that we have everything we need so far.

Treatment

Here is a treatment for the main task...

For our opening scene we have decided to come up with the idea of a flashback sequence and throughout the scene a letter is read out, written by the main character. The character, who is living in a deep depression, is on the verge of committing suicide. This opening sequence follows the journey of a character through an urban location to the point where he takes his own life by jumping off the top of a high building. An ideal location for our filming includes the CSI building and possibly the arndale car park. The 2-3 flashbacks would include things that lead him to becoming depressed, for example relationship troubles, death of a family member etc. We shall add just enough detail, as it is an opening scene, for the audience to gain an understanding but still have unanswered questions-who is the character? Who are the characters involved in the flashbacks? How does it all work out?. The scene ends with the character jumping at the same time the suicide note is finished (a voice over by the main character). Things in this note would lead to a series of events which would carry on the film.

Shot List

We have 27 shots altogether in the film, they consist of.

1) Long panning shot - following the main character walking to a grave. We used this as an establishing shot so that the viewer understands the setting and that the scene is a flash back.
2) Mid long shot - Main character reaching the grave. We also used this as an establishing shot.
3) Close up - Of gravestone. The purpose of this is to add detail and show that the character is focusing on the gravestone.
4) High angle shot/Bird eye view - Looking straight down the stairs.
5) Mid-long shot - Main character walking up the stairs away from the camera.
6) Mid long shot- character walking up stairs towards the camera
7) Long shot - character entering rooftop area. The long shot was used to create a sense of lonliness.
8) Sequence of jump cuts of character walking across to the point where he stops.
9) Over the shoulder shot - character opening the letter
10) Jump cut to letter unfolding.
11) Close up of letter.
12) Close up of character (Jacks) face
13) Close up of letter and character holding the bracelet
14) Long shot panning down into characters reflection from the body
15) Close up of character taking the bracelet out of his pocket
16) Close up of bracelet dropping into puddle
17) Close up going to long shot - character walking away from the camera
18) mid long shot character comes into frame and stops at rail
19) Birds eye view shot of the ground below
20) Long shot of character stepping onto rail and then up to low angle of the sky
21) Close up of match being lit
22) Close up of characters face with match
23) Mid long shot of character dropping the match into the fire, the fire then flares up.
24) POV of character putting the letter into the fire
25) Low angle shot of character looking into the fire
26) Close up low angle shot of characters face
27) Low angle long shot looking up to the character.

Analysis of films with same genre...

The genres for our project are tragic love story/drama/romance, we analysied a few different openings to films that were of these genres,

Kidulthood: (Drama)

We have carefully analysed the 2 minute opening to the film “Kidulthood”, the opening scene includes approximately 33 shots, they consist of close-ups, 2 shots, whip pans and a jump cut which is unusual in film as it isn’t used a lot. The introduction told two different stories, that of students in the playground and one of a student using a drill in a workshop, little information was given away to cause the audience to ask questions, the lighting was dark and murkier, possibly representing darkness and negativity.
It used non diagetic sound, this was pacy and gave the opening scene great interest and suspense. The titles for the film were shown at the beginning of the film before anything is shown. Also, the continuity editing of the opening scene was very impressive, it was hard to notice when the shots change and this is necessary when creating a film, even though the continuity editing was very smooth, it was interrupted by the use of the jump cut to add confusion. The costume in the opening scene consisted of school uniform, the character wore there shirts out and ties loose giving them a rough and scruffy look indicating the area they live in is lower class in the south.

The notebook: (Drama/Romance)

The first 30 seconds of the film ‘The Notebook’ shows titles, it starts off with the ‘New Line Cinema’ logo and then moves onto the production company. The first actually shot is at 0.31 seconds and is a establishing shot of the location, which is a river with either the sun setting or rising, there was a orange filter used in this shot which could represent warmth and comfort which could lead on to the rest of the plot. In this shot there are titles being show in the bottom left hand corner.

The next shot is a long shot of the same location with the same colour filter, only it has zoomed in considerably on the sun and underneath the sun there is someone sat in a rowing boat, they are place directly underneath the sun and you can see a silhouette of them. This was probably a choice made by the director so you cannot see the person’s identity and it makes you want to carry on watching the film to find out who the person is. It captures the audience’s attention. In the shot this is when you first see the title of the film and it shows up in the bottom left hand corner in the same font and size as the other titles.

When the shot changes again, it zooms in again but this time onto the person, who is sat in the boa, like the previous shots there is an orange filter to this shot and you still cannot see the character as they are still silhouetted by the sun. This was an ELS of the character on the boat. The camera is slowly following behind the boat and this gives the audience a sense of peacefulness to the scene. The transition to the next show was a fade to black as this is a simple transition yet it’s very effective.

The next shot is another location shot and again shows an overview of the environment, it is very similar to the first shot shown, only this time there is no sunrise/set. You can see the character in the boat in the distance, therefore this is an ELS of the character and again the character has a siluhette by the orange filter used. The next clip is a long shot long shot of the character in the boat, and you can see the reflection of the boat and character in the river below them. The camera is slowly moving in on the character and they are rowing backwards on the boat, throughout the clip more titles are being shown only this time they are in the bottom right hand corner instead. The next clip slowly fades to black without the viewer really noticing it, which demonstrates that the clip had good continuity editing.

Again the next shot is another location shot and just shows the river from a different angle than before, it also contains more titles, and this time they moved back to the left of the screen. The orange filter is still being used. The next shot contained no transition, it was another ELS of the character in the boat from the distance, and in the foreground you saw overgrown grass. Therefore this shot used the rule of thirds as it was split into three sections, the first section was in the foreground of the overgrown grass, the second section was in the middle of the character in a boat and the third section was at the top of the sky, the sky in this shot was very dark and this was due to the orange filter that was being used. Another fade to black transition was used in the next shot; this shot contained the birds flying from the right hand side of the screen to the left. This shot was much darker than the previous shots as the orange filter was starting to disappear and was being replaced by a darker filter.

The music throughout the opening scene was played with a piano; it was very peaceful, relaxing and therapeutic. This particular piece of music was written by Frederic Chopin and was performed by Robert Thies. The piece of music was called “Prelude for piano, Op.28. No4”. There was no voiceover used or no diagetic sound either. The opening 2 minutes consisted of only 8 different shots.

Photos

Evaluation of preliminary task

Here are the things we learnt about the cameras and editing software during the preliminary task:

180 rule:
We crossed the line, as the position of actors changed-left of screen to centre screen. The camera was over the right shoulder whereas it should have been over the left.

We learnt how to use Final Cut Pro to edit our film, such as marking in and marking out, and using the razor tool on the timeline (which isn’t as effective as using the mark in and mark out tool).

We learnt how to use the tripod-extending the height, attaching the shoe and removing the camera. We also learnt how to use the Canon Camcorder (such as inserting tapes)-the LCD screen needs to remain closed to extend battery life.

We experimented with lighting and found that brighter lights worked best as they illuminated the shot.

What worked well and what could have been improved in the filming and editing of our project:

We could have improved the shot angles as the over the shoulder shot we used crossed the 180degree line. We became aware of this during editing, and know now how to not make the same mistake again.
Also, we made a mistake with direction of walking as action is supposed to move the same way, whereas we used two different directions. To get past this we had to remove the first scene from the preliminary task and this improved the overall project.

The panning shots of walking up the stairs worked well as it looked effective and followed the actor accurately. The idea of an interview worked well as it gave the project dialogue and followed the criteria of the task.

Our example of how we have used a shot/ reverse shot combination in our film:

In the interview scene, the camera is focused on one person, and then in the next shot it is focused on the other person who is replying (with the use of over the shoulder shots). Once the person replying has spoken, the shot cuts back to the original speaker.

We enjoyed this task and we all found we can work well as a group. We're looking forward to doing the main task together :).

Preliminary task