Preliminary Task

Planning-
For the planning our preliminary task we did a number of things to make sure we knew exactly what we were doing.
firstly we created a shooting shedual that looked like this:

Then we created a script for the characters so they know what they need to do adn say during the filming of the film, and that looked like this:

Evaluation

The task set was to create a short film showing someone walking down a corridor, using a shot-reverse shot to show them, firstly walking towards the camera, then secondly them walking away from the camera but still walking in the direction of where they’re going. Then a close-up of their hand grabbing onto and pulling down the door handle. After this there was a shot from inside the room of the person entering the room, a match on action shot showing them crossing the room and sitting at a table, then a series of over the shoulder shots of a conversation of two people, when X spoke the camera was looking over Y’s shoulder and when Y was talking the camera was over X’s shoulder. During this process we had to make sure we were observing the 180° rule to make sure the audience wouldn’t get confused at little things you wouldn’t think are noticeable, such as, what hand people are holding something in can look different depending on how it’s filmed.

For the filming of our film we used a Canon Digital Camcorder. During the filming process we went down to an empty corridor to do the filming, we took several shots of each part of the film several times, so to make sure we had as many good shots as we could get, Approximately we took about 6/7 shots of each part. The filming process was the longest part of the production of our film as we had to do numerous takes of each part of the film.

For the editing process we used adobe premier elements. In the editing process we looked through all the shots we had videoed and removed all of the ones we didn’t need, leaving us with the better shots from what we’d filmed, we then added a fade in at the start and a fade out at the end if the piece. Once the film had been put together we added a title screen and the rolling credits, we also added an extra bit of film on the end after the credits, this was of the ‘bloopers’ things that actors did during the filming, we did this to make the audience have a laugh at the end of the film.

After sorting out all of the visual editing we looked at adding sound to our film, We added a sound taken from the folder 'bedtime stories' on the school sysytem, it was a slow relaxed song to make the scene seem very relaxed and problem free. this was really difficult as we didn’t have a proper theme to our film so we couldn’t find a soundtrack to go with it easily, in the end we found one that was acceptable, we added to our film and adjusted the timing of when it starts and stops, to add extra effect to out film we added a fade in and a fade out to the music, the fade out was just before the first character spoke which gave a good effect to the film and left no silent parts, Also when we added the sound to the film, we added it to the part where she’s walking down the corridor so we took out the sound of the footsteps to add more emphasis onto the soundtrack.

During the process of producing our film I learnt a lot about film production, such as, there needs to be a minimal of 6 shots of each part so to make sure that the final piece all fits together, I also learnt how to add and take away sounds from the film during editing. Before this task I didn’t really have any experience using the adobe premier elements used for editing and I didn’t know how to use it to start with, but now I’m much more confident in using it and find it quite simple. I also learnt that even during editing it’s quite hard to make all of the filmed scenes fit together without it looking like they were filmed at different times and not all in order.

In conclusion the end product looked quite effective, however, the over the shoulder shots composition wasn’t arranged very well and were taken from a high angle, and this made it look less effective than we wanted it to. This is defiantly something I’ll remember for the production of my final short film. Also I will think more about the soundtrack to the film during the story board process to make it fit in a lot more with the sequence than what it does in out prelim because we added the sound last.

Target Audience

It's important to consider a target audience when creating any type of media text. In this case im creating three, as they're all based on my short film i only have one target audience to consider.

considering audience types in film

The target audience of a film depends on the genre/content of the film, i looked at 3 different film's and analysed them to show the target audience and why that target audience is chosen for the genre/content of the film.

DR SUESS' CAT IN THE HAT

Genre: Family

Age Rating: PG
Content: Contains slight inuendos for adult understanding

"Sally and Conrad are two bored kids whose life is turned up-side-down when a talking cat comes to visit them."-IMdB

The Target Audience for this film is Families, so suitable for all ages, it contains a number of inuendos that make the parents laugh and then funny jokes and characters that make it a child friendly film, most family targeted films contain inuendos to involve the parents as they are very well done it isnt noticable to young children that there are adult jokes within the film because they dont understand The storyline and characters have been made to keep the children entertained and wanting to watch the film over and over.

ROCK'N'ROLLA

Genre: Action
Age Rating: 15
Content: Fighting, Gun violence, crime, drugs, mild language, sex references.

"In London, a real-estate scam puts millions of pounds up for grabs, attracting some of the city's scrappiest tough guys and its more established underworld types, all of whom are looking to get rich quick."- IMdB

The target audience for this film is older teenagers and adults, it is quite a male targeted film due to the content of violence and guns which are of an interest to them. such as the violence, drugs and sex references, it wouldnt be suitable for a young child to watch and could have a bad influence upon them.


P.S I LOVE YOU

Genre: Romance, Drama
Age Rating: 12A
Content: Moderate language, brief nudity and sex, alcohol use, death references.

"A young widow discovers that her late husband has left her 10 messages intended to help ease her pain and start a new life." -IMbD

The target audience for this film is younger teens and adults, or if adult say so any aged child may see the film but in the cinema must be accompanied by an adult.Due to the content and influence the content may have on the child. The film is aimed very much toward the female gender as it is a romance.


Target Audience of my short film

As the storyline of my short film is very much like 'P.s- i love you' with having a loved one pass away and the main character still getting used to them not being there,  I'd give it same target audience of younger teens to adults.

Design Process

The start of my production proccess was to write up my own storyline and script

Storyline-

A young man is trying to do everyday things such as cooking dinner, coming home from work and even going to bed. But he just cant do anything without being reminded of the memories shared with his girlfriend who had not long passed away, it is not clear until the end of the film that she's died, it jsut seems like she isnt there at the time.

Scripting-

I wrote up a script based on the storyline i had previously written, including camera shots adn angles, setting and time of day:

CONDOLENCES

By Danielle Herbert

BLACK SCREEN

FADE IN

QUOTE: "If the people we love are taken from us, the way they live on is to never stop loving them. Buildings burn, people die, but real love is forever." – The crow- 1994

FADE OUT

BLACK SCREEN

TITLE SEQUENCE

FADE OUT

FADE IN

INT. COURTYARD TO A SMALL HOUSE WITH SEVERAL OTHER HOUSES- EARLY EVENING

(CAR ENGINE SOUNDS)

LONG SHOT showing a car driving round and parking in front of a small house.

CUT TO:

INT. INSIDE THE HOUSE/KITCHEN- EARLY EVENING

(SOUNDS OF THE DOOR OPENING)

CLOSE UP of the door handle as it’s being pulled down and the door starts to open. Camera zooms out to show a smartly dressed young man walking through the door.

CUT TO:

LONG SHOT of the young man walking toward the kettle.

CUT TO:

CLOSE-UP of his hand as he places the keys on the kitchen side.

FAST TRANSITION TO:

INT. INSIDE THE HOUSE/KITCHEN- DAYTIME

MEDIUM CLOSE-UP of the young man with a young girl playing around with the key, both characters looking really happy.

FAST TRANSISTION TO:

INT. INSIDE THE HOSUE/KITCHEN- EVENING

Back to the CLOSE-UP of the young man’s hand still holding onto the keys, he squeezes the keys and then places his hand next to them.

CUT TO:

LONG SHOT of him filling up the kettle and putting it back on the stand.

CUT TO:

CLOSE-UP of his hand flicking the kettle on. As he flicks it down…

FAST TRANSITION TO:

INT. INSIDE THE HOUSE/KITCHEN- DAYTIME

LONG SHOT of the young girl holding the young man from behind whilst he’s making two cups of tea.

FAST TRANSITION TO:

INT. INSIDE THE HOSUE/KITCHEN- EVENING

(KETTLE SQUEELS)

MEDIUM CLOSE-UP, TRACKING SHOT of the young man picking up the kettle and throwing it into the sink. After he’s thrown it into the sink he stops and throws his head into his hands

FADE OUT

FADE IN

INT. INSIDE THE HOUSE/KITCHEN. EVENING

MEDIUM CLOSE UP of the young man getting a pan out of the cupboard

CUT TO:

MEDIUM CLOSE UP TRACKING SHOT showing him walking to the sink and filling the pan with water.

CUT TO:

CLOSE UP of the hob as he places the pan of water on it.

CUT TO:

MEDIUM CLOSE-UP TRACKING SHOT of him picking up the box of rice from the side.

FAST TRANSITION TO:

LONG SHOT, OVER THE SHOULDER of the young man showing the young girl cooking his dinner and she turns to smile at him

CUT TO:

CLOSE-UP of the rice in his hand, he lets go and drops it.

CLOSE-UP, TRACKING SHOT of the rice falling and hitting the kitchen side.

FADE OUT:

FADE IN:

INT. INSIDE THE HOUSE/ KITCHEN- EVENING

LONG SHOT of him walking towards the sink with his empty bowl. He begins to wash the dishes.

CUT TO:

CLOSE UP of a tea towel on the side, his hand enters the shot, as he grabs the tea towel….

FAST TRANSITIONG TO:

LONG SHOT of the couple playing around hitting each other with tea towels (laughing)

FAST TRANSITION TO:

LONG SHOT of the the young man as he snaps out of the memory, he throws the tea towel onto the floor in distress.

CUT TO:

CLOSE-UP of the tea towel on the floor. His hand enters the shot to pick the spoon up. As he goes to get the tea towel…

FAST TRANSITION TO:

INT. OUTSIDE ON SOME GRASS- DAYTIME

CLOSE UP of his hand in some grass

CUT TO:

MEDIUM CLOSE UP of the couple lying together on the grass. The young girl turns to the young man.

GIRL

I love you

FAST TRANSITION TO:

LONG SHOT, TRACKING him walking up the stairs to his room.

CUT TO:

INT. BEDROOM- EVENING

MEDIUM CLOSE of him sat by the DVD shelf looking for a DVD to watch.

CUT TO:

CLOSE UP of his hand as he brushes it along the DVDs.

FAST TRANSITION TO:

LONG SHOT of the couple play fighting about what film to watch, they both have a film each in their hands, as he leans in to kiss her…

CUT TO:

MEDUIM CLOSE UP of him leaning like he’s about to kiss someone but there isn’t anyone there. As his hand reaches for the floor to stop him falling..

CUT TO:

CLOSE UP of the film in his hand as it hits the floor. It’s the film she was holding in the memory.

FADE OUT

FADE IN

INT. BEDROOM- EVENING

LONG SHOT from the end of the bed showing him lying alone. He rolls over to face the empty side of the bed. He bunches the duvet under his arms. Almost like he’s cuddling it.

FAST TRANSITION TO:

LONG SHOT from the end of the bed showing the couple lying together. He rolls over to face her.

YOUNG MAN

I love you

CUT TO:

LONG SHOT from the end of the bed showing him lying along with the quilt bunched up in his arms.

PANNING SHOT from the LONG SHOT of him lying in bed, to a small table in the corner of the room.

ZOOMS to show a photograph of the young girl surrounded by flowers and condolences cards.

FADE OUT

END CREDITS

Quote from: http://inner_mercy.tripod.com/Quotes.html

"when the people we love are stolen from us, the way to have them live on is to never stop loving them, buildings burn, people die, but real love is forever"

Casting-

Casting can be a tricky thing, you have to find people that can play the role exactly how you want it to be played and to connect to the other characters the way they need to.

There are only two characters in my film, a young couple.
i chose my boyfriend Lewis Warren to play the male part and therefore it would be a good idea to play the female role myself, hoping it will make it easier for Lewis to play the role of a young man who has lost the love of his life.

Setting-

I chose to use the male roles own house as the setting, again to make it easier for him to get into character and show what i intended in the scripting. i also think it portrays well what a young couple with not alot of money's house would be like, it's almost like a flat.

Costume -

Again i used the actors own clothes/uniform in my film to make their characters work well nad how i intended. it also shows the age of the couple well without having to say anything.

After designing the script and all the mise-en-scene parts of my film i designed my own production logo to go at the start of my short film.

I also created the title sequence that will appear after this in my short film, before the actual film.

Research

To start off my initial research I watched a number of short films, noting the features of them, such as, plot, does it have a twist? how does it make you as an audience feel?, camera angles and movemnents. And also how can I use/think about these features when making my own short film.

Short film analysis'

'Post it love' Aanalysis

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TsKghhQ41FM

Post it love is a short film about two people who work in the same place and do the same job, but not together. there are a number of shots showing them doing the same things and also showing that their near eachother all the time.

The film progresses to show the two, making pictures for eachother using post it notes, each time one of them makes a picture it becomes bigger and more extreme and detailed. for example, the girl starts it off by making a smiley face on a card for him on his desk, which he then makes a picture of the sun on her window, which is shown when she rolls up the blinds. it goes on, the pictures getting more and more deatailed. I have taken some screen shots from the short film and analyised them.

Overall there is a happy storyline and ending to this short film and i really liked it, i want to make a happy film like this as my short film. There isnt any dialogue in this short film but it is still clear to the audience whats happening through the different shots and aslo the music.
This made me want to have no dialogue in my short film as i think it works really well and makes the audience focus more on what's happening on screen.

Ancillary Texts

Magazine cover

Analysis of exsisting Empire film magazine covers:

I looked at three different Empire magazine coversto analyse the features used in them, and also to see what features occur on all of the Empire covers.

In conclusion, There are a number of things that 'Empire' use regulary on their covers, such as, the 'Empire' masthead is always in the iconic text that 'Empire' is recognised for. also the central image is often, in this case both covers have a close-up of the person linked to the Main article of the cover. Another thing that occurs regulary is that the featured articles are in smaller font, much like any magazine cover really. Other than the Central image there arent really alot of other supporting images on the cover. Also, 'Empire' often use a small amount of colour in their palette, using a small number of different colours to create a theme on the page, some colours are often taken from the central image itself.

The research into 'Empire' covers has given me some ideas for my own 'Empire' cover, featuring my short film.

Mock ups of 3 Empire magazines done myself

I used photo shop to mock up three potential covers of my own, using different but limited colour schemes, obviously this will change on my final cover to fit with the central image, like the real 'Empire' magazine covers. 

I really like the colour scheme of this cover, I think the colours really compliment eachother. I aslo think the layout of it looks nice and neat, simple like the professional ones by 'Empire'

This cover includes; Featured articles, a main article, puffs, a banner, barcode, price and date, flashes, and of course, the iconic 'Empire' title in the recognisable font used by them.





I dont really like the colour scheme of this mock up, but i do like the layout of it. There's one major thing that may become a problem with this layout and that's that there isnt alot of room for a central image and as 'Empire' use close-ups of a character as the central image, i intend to do the same so it dont think this layout will work properly for my final cover.






My final mock up is quite similar to the first, only the featured articles are on the opposite side, as is the flash. I like the colour scheme on this mock up, the only problem is that I dont think it really connotes to the emotion given by my short film, which i think it should.

Final cover

I am really pleased with how my cover turned out, i think i used the techniques that 'Empire' use well, such as, the small price, issue number and date, The iconic font of the 'Empire' masthead, the medium close-up central image in direct address and the simple colour pallette.

I have also challenged the way 'Empire's' covers look by adding alot more supporting imagery in the film strip at the bottom. I also added a banner at the top which i know from last year is a convention of a magazine cover, alothough on the two 'Empire' covers i looked at neither of them had one on, but this helps the cover to be more mine and not just a copy of 'Empire' covers.

I really like the colour scheme of my cover and i think it compliments the central image quite well, the colour of the masthead was actually colour picked from the tie in the central image and the title 'Condolences' colour was picked from his hair, this was how i made the image part of the rest of the cover.

Another thing i think works well is the quote "...But real love is forever" that is under the main article name, it works because once the reader watches my short film they will see that it is actually a quote taken from it, i think this was agood technique to use becuase it makes it actually about the film. After creating my final 'Empire' cover i analyised it the same way i analysed the real 'Empire' covers;

Poster

Analysis of exsisting film posters:

I analysed two posters for films that fit the genre of my short film to help me create my own poster.

My poster

I am really please with how my poster looks, it used the techniques from the posters i had previously anylised and also has a few things that are unique and new such as the two characters are in seperate images.

the image of the female character is in black and white and is also slightly faded, this shows that she could be absent from his life but still there through his memories, which are in black and white in the film to fit with the black and white image of  her.

The colours scheme of my poster is mainly light colours but quite dull,which reflects on the emotion of the film, giving the audience an idea of what the film might be like.

Analysis of my poster

Production Process

To begin the production of my short film i needed to create a story board of the shots, costume, props ect. it's important to create a storyboard so it makes the filming process much more simple and also makes sure you know what you need for what scenes and who you need/ when you need them and how long you need them for.

Here are a few examples of pages from my storyboard.

My storyboard helped alot when i first started filming, but as i was getting more into filming and realising certain things didnt work/ or look as good as i had hoped i started to change the script and didnt make more storyboards because i changed it during filming.

I also had to create a shooting schedule, to make sure i knew when i was filming, who and where i was filming and how long for, this helped me to manage my time properly in order to get the filming done in time.
however, it's not all that easy just to write out where and when you need someone to act for you, they could need to be somewhere urgently and you have to re-schedule your filming to suit them, which can be slightly annoying but it happens.

The filming process

When filming i made sure i filmed each scene a number of times to make sure i had enough good footages to create the scene the best i can when editing later on
During the filming process i ended up changing quite alot ofthe script due to things not looking as good as i wanted, not having things that i need and even weather issues, due to the short amount of time i had to do my filming compared to what real film productions get.

This is what my script ended up being like:

CONDOLENCES

BY DANIELLE HERBERT

PRODUCTION LOGO

TITLE SEQUENCE

FADE OUT

FADE IN

EXT. COURTYARD- EARLY EVENING

(CAR ENGINE SOUNDS)

LONG SHOT showing a car driving round and parking in front of a small house.

FADE TO:

LONG SHOT showing him walking from the car to the house, he starts to open the door.

CUT TO:

INT. HOUSE - EARLY EVENING

LONG SHOT showing him entering the house.

CROSS FADE TO:

(BLACK AND WHITE)

LONG SHOT showing a young girl walk over and hug him, they kiss.

CROSS FADE TO:

LONG SHOT of him standing alone. He throws his keys onto the kitchen side.

FADE OUT

FADE IN

INT. HOUSE- EARLY EVENING

MEDIUM CLOSE UP from inside wardrobe showing him taking off his jacket. He turns to take off his tie. 

CROSS FADE TO:

(BLACK AND WHITE)

MEDIUM CLOSE UP showing the young girl come over to help him take off his tie, they kiss.

FADE OUT

FADE IN

INT. KITCHEN- EVENING

MEDIUM CLOSE-UP of him getting a pan out of the cupboard.

PANNING SHOT showing him walking over to the sink with the pot and filling it with water.

PANNING SHOT showing him walking over and putting it on the hob.

CROSS FADE TO:

(BLACK AND WHITE)

OVER THE SHOULDER SHOT showing the young man watching the young girl cooking. He gets up and goes and hugs her.

CROSS FADE TO:

LONG SHOT showing him cooking alone.

FADE OUT

FADE IN

INT. KITCHEN- EVENING

LONG SHOT showing him washing the dishes. As he goes to pick up the tea towel…

CROSS FADE TO:

(BLACK AND WHITE)

LONG SHOT of the couple fighting with the tea towels.

CROSS FACE TO:

LONG SHOT of the young man looking at the tea towel. He throw it on the floor.

CUT TO:

He bends down to pick up the tea towel

CUT TO:

CLOSE UP of his hand as he see’s jenga pieces under the cupboard. he goes to pick them up.

CUT TO:

MEDUIM CLOSE UP from underneath the cupboard of him touching the jenga pieces.

CROSS FADE TO:

(BLACK AND WHITE)

MEDIUM CLOSE UP from under the cupboard of a jenga tower falling over and two piece bounce underneath the cupboard.

CROSS FADE TO:

(BLACK AND WHITE)

LONG SHOT of the couple playing jenga.

FADE OUT

FADE IN

INT.BEDROOM- EVENING

LONG SHOT showing the young man lying in bed alone, as he rolls over…

CROSS FADE TO:

(BLACK AND WHITE)

LONG SHOT showing the couple lay in bed cuddling

CROSS FADE TO:

LONG SHOT showing him sitting up and seeing the bed empty, he lies back down facing the other way.

FADE OUT

FADE IN

MEDIUM CLOSE UP showing the young man making two cups of tea. He turns to give the young girl hers only to find she’s not there, he tips one of the cups down the sink.

FADE OUT

FADE IN

Quote written out on screen, each line comes up separately.

“When the people we love are stolen from us, the way to have them live on, is to never stop loving them. Buildings burn, people die, but real love is forever”

FADE OUT

CREDITS

 After filming



After doing all the filming, i used movie plus to capture and edit my film, i'd never used a movie suit before so it was pretty time consuming learning how to do everything right in order to get my film edited, i used the cut tool to cut up each scene which helped me to delete the footage i didnt need.

After i had only the scenes i needed it put them in the right order on the timeline and then addded the different transitions that are in my final script, such a cross-fades, fade out and fade in. To cut to a scene i just put it right next to it without adding a transition.

All the memory parts are in black and white, i did this by using the FX button that then brought up a window with different ways you can colour/ edit the film. I also used this to brighten some of the darker parts of my film to make it easier to see.

After editing the visual footage i brought in the music to go with it which i got from a free non copyrighted music site. i used three different pieces of music altogether in my film.

I then watched through my film several times and got other people to watch it aswell and they all said something was missing, so i decided to write a voiceover for the male role to read that will play over the video footage and the other music track in the film.

Voiceover:

Condolences

#Voiceover-

(Car driving and parking)

Everyone should have someone they can’t go a day without thinking about, someone to love and be loved by, someone to share the happiest memories with.

(Walking into house)

I’ve been with my girlfriend for two and a half years now and I love her with all my heart, I’ve never been so happy as I am when I’m around her. She makes everyday just that little bit brighter.

(After closing the door and girl goes over to see him)

Seeing her beautiful smile is best part about coming home from work, well that and a cup of tea that usually greets me.

 (Throws keys on side)

Without that perfect smile I’d feel incomplete.

(Getting changed)

There isn’t a thing that I do that doesn’t bring back a memory of her. even the simplest things bring such happy thoughts back into my head, the memories that make me smile.

(Girl comes over)

Just like the tie she bought me for Christmas that year.

(Getting the pan out the cupboard)

She taught me to cook, mainly pasta and rice, well I say she taught me, she’s not so good at cooking herself to be honest, the food either comes out burnt to a crisp or not cooked at all (laughs)

(Girl cooking dinner)

Usually she just stands there smiling at me, that beautiful smile that never leaves my mind, she laughs at nothing she has the cutest laugh. I can’t help but hug her tight and never let go.

(Stirring on his own)

I hate it when she’s not here. It’s like there’s a part of me missing

(Washing dishes with her/tea towel fight)

She always turns everything into a game, even I’m not in a playful mood she puts me in one. She’s amazing the way she always cheers me up when I’m down, with her smile, her laugh, and her silly playful ways. (Slight laugh) She always insists on fighting over the tea towels while we did the washing up after dinner, just like in the movies, she says.

(Throwing tea towel)

Now that they’re just memories, I hate not having those movie moments

(Picking tea towel up and finding jenga pieces)

I’m forever finding things that remind me of her. She just loves to play games.

(Lying in bed)

I love having her here sleeping in my arms, making those cute little noises that she does.

(Rolls over to hug her/wakes up to see empty bed)

Sometimes I think she’s here, but then I wake up only to find her side of the bed empty, and I’m on my own

(Making two cups of tea and realising she’s not there) 67secs

Every morning we’d have a cup of tea, she’d always makes me make it even though I like her tea best. She’d never believe me when I told her though. She’d always laugh because I have more milk in my tea than she does, although she did tell me it was cute. Everything’s started to become a habit for me, every morning I get up and make two cups of tea. But when I go to give her hers she’s never there, and she wont ever be there. I keep telling myself she’s gone and there’s no way of getting her back, no amount of fighting will get her back in my arms, she’s gone to a place impossible to bring her back from. If only I had picked her up that night, she’d never have got on that bus, never have been in that crash, never have left my side.

I miss her. So much, I miss her as much as I love her, with all my heart, with all my soul, with everything that I am

After adding the voiceover i feel my short film is how i want it to be and i am pleased with it. I also added a female voiceover saying the quote at the end of the film before the credits

Quote: "when the people we love are stolen from us, the way yo have them live on is to never stop loving them, buildings butn,people die, but real love is forever"

i decided to have the female voiceover to make it seem like the young girl had said it to her boyfriend whilst alive and its something he's remembered her saying. also it makes it easier for the audience to catch the quote incase they're slow at reading.