This week I have continued to make changes to both this blog and my trailer. I also asked my focus group for feedback for my ancillary text. I plan to alter these according to the feedback given. I am now focusing on my trailer and improving based on the feedback given from my focus group, however, I am struggling to cut down my film. This is because I am still trying to convey the plot cohesively whilst meeting the conventions of trailers to fulfil their purposes.
I will continue working on this and my ancillary texts, improving the visual quality of my blog and finally evaluating the whole production journey and final media products I have produced.
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I managed to finish my first draft of my trailer for last week as well as the first draft for my film magazine. I got my focus group to fill out a survey based on the first draft of my trailer addressing the plot, genre conventions and trailer conventions. after reading over the responses and analysing and reflecting on them, I have found a few specific areas that need focus on. Interestingly these were predominantly things I was already aware of and had only not already perfected due to time constraints. I was very happy with how my magazine front cover turned out as a combination of various front cover conventions that I had noticed during my deconstructions as well as following some of my rough sketches. I am now focusing on applying the constructive criticism to my trailer, updating and finalising my blog and beginning my evaluation.
I have filmed and recorded the voiceovers. The footage we filmed was mainly to fill in gaps in the narrative and I found that despite not being raining, which is what I was hoping for in order to create mood and atmosphere by pathetic fallacy, it turned out quite promising and seemed to be in-keeping with the mise-en-scene. I plan to finish editing by inserting these into the final cut tonight for the deadline tomorrow. I did start doing this on Monday night however I had other deadlines to meet so it was put aside. Tonight I will focus on the sound (voiceovers and non-diegetic backing track), post-production effects and tweaking the clips and clip length.
On Saturday 4th February 2017 I also took the final photography for my magazine front cover. This time we had longer to plan, professional lighting and were better prepared. Following advice from my focus group based on my first draft, I decided to have Flynn appearing more masculine achieved by having him wearing a leather jacket which has connotations of masculinity, motorbiking and strength. I was also made aware that the dress used in the first draft revealed a little too much skin on the arms as it was shoulderless, therefore, I used a similar dress but this time bodycon and with the shoulders covered. I still wanted to maintain the use of the colour red as it is conventional and carries connotations of desire as well as danger, relating to my film. Will be filming the final footage on Saturday 4th February 2017. I have produced my first draft where I used a mixture of mock shots and titles in place of footage which is yet to be filmed. I experimented with the titles and credits and am planning on asking for my focus group's opinions on which font they liked. I also found some non-copyrighted music for the beginning section and have used the song "Wake Me Up When September Ends" for the middle and am experimenting with "How To Save A Life" by the Frays.
Planning to film rest of footage on location Saturday 4th February 2017, as well as in the car. On Wednesday 1st February 2017, will be refilming 4 shots that are not currently working in the film. This is due to the lighting and therefore the quality of the original footage. The voiceovers will also be recorded on this day and finally, the magazine front cover photos will be retaken with better planning than before. I will then edit from the 4th February 2017, 6th February 2017, including the addition of voiceovers, rough titles and possibly sound in terms of a backing track and effects.
On Monday evening after school, I filmed the shots inside the house with my actors. I experimented with camera angles, trying to get a shot panning round of the actress, however this was not very successful due to a mix up with equipment which was beyond my control. I found myself experimenting with makeshift cranes made from dressing gown ties and a bag strap, however, the shots were mainly to shaky and seemed to feature my feet in most of them. I did get a nice crane in and down towards the male protagonist. I think that I may have to re-film these scenes or omit them from my trailer as the mise-en-scene does not really seem to fit into the rest of the trailer to make it cohesive. I am yet to the voiceovers and plan to use that as a character building/ warm-up exercise before filming on the final shooting day.
Again, the products of have not physically progressed yet, however I have a clearer plan of when I am going to have my 3rd shooting day, and have finished writing out the shot llist.
having taken a break to focus on mocks and Christmas, there has not been much physical progression in any of the media products, however, I have had a chance to brief the actors for the types of things I need from them in the rest of the filming. I explained that we will be bringing the story together and will be expanding further from the shot list when filming in- case during editing I find that there is not the correct balance between understanding the plot and speculation to engage the audience.
I have finished my genre specific deconstructions which then fed into some inspiration that it gave me for my product including some editing styles, such as a jump cut which I want to use as Flynn is running, this would give it a more edgy atmosphere and connote to the fact that the character is falling apart. I took on board the responses from my focus group and applied them to my poster, finding that I was able to improve it to a stage where the colours are of better standard. Although I was unable to finish this draft to the standard that I wanted, it gives the general idea of where the poster is heading and I am planning to ask my focus group for feedback tomorrow.
With my trailer, I began experimenting with sound, despite being copyrighted, I wanted to see what types of instruments, at what pitch and tone would create the correct mood and atmosphere at the time of the action. For my piece I found that the sound could be broken down into 3 sections: the beginning before the crash, the middle where the protagonists are getting to know each other and finally the end when Flynn progressively slips further into his depression. I am currently in the process of finding songs that will work which I can then replace with non-copyrighted music once I am confident in the other aspects of the trailer. This week I focused predominantly on my poster. I took the photos at my location (Hatfield Forest) with help from my Dad. I followed my design and captured photography using the flash as well as experimenting without, as I was unsure which would cooperate better in editing, given the low light at the planned time of day. The sky during the photo-shoot was grey, however it was impractical for us to shoot at any other time, therefore, we went ahead with the shoot and I planned to capture alternative photography of a sunset on a different day. Another problem was that my male actor was not able to make the shoot, therefore, I will make the decision in editing whether or not edit him in using a photo from the beach location, or to leave them out.
I have still been unable to film the rest of the footage, however, having put the shots I have filmed in a sensible order, I now have a much clearer idea of what I still need to film and am in the process of drawing up a second shot list for the remaining footage. |
my production diary
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February 2017
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