Filming

Saturday 11th December

Today we filmed the sequence which we thought would be the most difficult whilst editing - The journey home - In this scene we have decided to add a comical element as the boys are lost in their own world and walking to a track playing as if in a music video.

In order to achieve the music video look I experimented with various types of shots such as close ups and a lot of footage was recorded so that we can use it for fast cuts in editing. During this sequence we plan to introduce the actors/credits therefore highlighting the actors onscreen was important therefore I used focus pulls to emphasis the importance and focus on characters.
Below are a few examples:  

 

  

Poster Preparation

Below are a few samples of the different types of posters I have made for our film.

 I think the best choice for the poster would be the first sketch as the other pictures showing the various shadows may give away to much of the film and the concept of unseen individuals will not be a surprise to the audience.

Film Poster Analysis

For thistask I had to analyse a film poster which was similar to my film.

Evaluation of Group Presentation

What went well?

• Were able to pitch the film idea
• Presentation was very visual
• each member of our group spoke equally
• We presented with no notes 

What would you change?

• Make presentation more brief
• Include more pictures of some of the other pre-production planning tasks e.g. focus groups & filming schedule

What were you individual contributions to the planning and research so far?

• I contributed towards making the other half of the questionnaire focusing on questions linked to our films theme - Isolation.
• I wrote the script for the film with Aidah
• I casted the actors for the film with Aidah
• I created a mood board of various characters and themes which influence our film
  
• I designed the storyboard with Ryan
• Worked on the animatics with Conor.
• I chose appropriate costumes for the actors
• I made the Shooting Schedule

Pre-Production Planning: Shooting Schedule

Another element of the pre-production planning i took responsibility of was making a shooting schedule.

 

Mood Board

Here is a mood board showing various elements and themes we will have in our short film:

Pre-Production Planning: Scripting

One of the main things which had to be done to give the group a good outline of the Narrative structure of our film was the Script. Myself and Aidah took responsibility of completing the script - whilst scripting I took into consideration various elements to make it more professional: for example the structuring and even the font (Courier)

Now that the scripts had been completed - it  helped me out with some of the other things we had to do for our pre-production plannings such as story boarding.

Pre-Production Planning: Story Boarding

I worked on the story boarding and the shot-list. For the story-boarding task I was assisted by Ryan. It was simpler to story board once we had completed the script, as it was easier to list the shots in a chronological order according to the script.

Now that the story board task had been completed we could move on to

Group Animatic Task.

Adeel's Individual Blog

Character Development

Although we went through the stage of selecting the appropriate cast who would best suit and portray the characters – it is extremely important that the characters costumes reflect their characteristics. Below are a few examples of what we have decided our characters will wear and why:

ALEX

 

The character Alex is the protagonist of the short film. We pictured Alex to be a very average looking teenager – indicating that he is coming from a working class background. Therefore, in order to illustrate this to the audience his choice of clothing will be very casual – clothes best suited for him will be things like: Jumpers, Shirts, hoodies and jeans. Choices of colours are also significant – colours such as grey would be what we will go with due to the fact it having connotations of something neutral, calm and comfortable relating to the character.

STACEY TAYLOR

Stacey is another prominent character within the narrative – she is seen as Alex’s love interest.  Stacey’s character conforms to the female stereotype of one who takes a lot of care pride in her appearance so to show this – the best choice of clothing will be smart-casual types of dresses or jumpers/cardigans.

 

TYREECE

Tyreece is one of Alex’s school friends – Tyreece’s appearance will be fairly comparable to Alex, as this indicates they both have some type of similarities and also come from the same social background, which is what sort of makes them familiar with each other.  Tyreece in comparison to Alex can be seen as slightly more well known and popular therefore his choice of colours will be more vibrant compared to Alex.

 

MAURICE 

 Maurice, is one of the 3 main friends that are always around Alex – his personality in comparison to the various friends is seen as more calm, smooth and sensitive. Clothes for such a character should be very smart and sophisticated – however seeing as it is set in a very youthful environment it would seem un-natural for him to be over dressed therefore we will give Maurice a smart-casual touch with the use of the colour white as this connotes something peaceful and happy. Clothes such as white shirts/jumpers and trousers would be best suited for this character.

EDDY

Eddy, is another one of Alex’s 3 main friends – Eddy’s personality is best described as aggressive, blunt and short tempered. This character will be best represented to the audience in a rough ‘thuggish’ manner. He will be conforming to the stereotypes of a well groomed street thug through the use of clothes which are baggy and colour choices which are very dark. Clothes such as: combats are related to army men – indicating that he is as sharp and aggressive as them. Wearing a baggy baseball jacket and cap would help link him to the thug image.

PARHAM

The character Parham is one of the final 3 friends seen around Alex. This specific character will be portrayed to the audience as extremely sexually aggressive - such an attitude on screen needs to be supported by the type of clothes he wears. What i had in mind for him was clothes such as: Shirt, loose tie and skinny jeans - showing the audience that this character takes pride in his appearance and is up to date with fashion. This also shows a diversity in comparison to the other 3 friends he is with through out the film - such clothing highlights his sexual nature in a smart yet casual manner.

IMOGEN

             

Stacey's friends, her appearance shows that she is a simple girl and to some extent quite young and immature - the way i have thought of portraying this is through the use of casual sweaters - things such as Disney characters can highlight her immaturity.  

 BIANCA

Bianca is another one of Stacey's friends. I thought of Bianca as someone who comes from an average working class background. Her characteristics conform to the pretty teen girl stereotype of being very 'girly'. In order to portray her in such a manner she will be wearing simple clothes such as: cardigans, jumpers or hoodies, however the choice of colour will be quite vibrant e.g. pink - this will help support the characteristics of this character and show the audience how girly she is. 

Pre-Production Planning: Casting

For the pre-production planning I was also responsible for the casting. Myself and Aidah took time and put some thought into what actor would fit what specific character and why. The decision on who the main 3 friends would be, wasn't as difficult as deciding who the films protagonist was. This was due to the fact that we had a specific look that we wanted - a boy who seems very ordinary looking yet has a popular looking appeal to him.

One of the problems I faced was, that i had 3 actors in mind for this role - after taking head shots of all three actors I decided to pick Alex Eagles to play the part as he had the best look for the character. Me and Aidah discussed the decision made with our group and they also approved to it.

So Alex it was!

Audience Research

For the audience research task, we were supposed to find out as much as we could about our target audience, what there views are on our short-films theme and whether or not they would be interested in a film based around this. In order to gain this information we carried out a survey asking people various questions based around the concept of our film as you can see below:

  

This Questionnaire was made by both myself and another member of my group –Conor Bunn – the work on the questions was 50-50, as he did the first 5 questions where as I worked more on the other 5 based around the theme of isolation and how we could ask the people about this issue.

Codes & Conventions of Chosen Genre

The genre that we decided to go with in my group for our short film was Drama – this is a well recognised genre, films of this genre of are quite serious and are very plot driven. It is quite difficult to pick specific codes and conventions that these films use. Some of the most evident elements within these types of films is the fact that they avoid focusing on things such as special effects and more on delivering powerful performances illustrating realistic characters. Drama films can be broken down into different categories, e.g. Historical and Crime 

An example of a recent film within this genre that had a historical/criminal based theme was, Michael Mann’s – Public Enemies. This film was based on a real American criminal. Films of this genre may sometimes subvert from Todorov’s theory of an equilibrium being resolved an example of a short film like this would include: The INSiDE or On Time.

What IS a short film?

The definition of ‘short film’ is very simple and self explanatory – it suggests that it is a feature film of short length with a condensed narrative.  Although there are no specific time limits for Films within this category, however they often range from 1 minute up to 40 minutes long. Like every other film, short films also have the same narrative structure, as they have a beginning, middle and end. Now-a-days things such as music videos as well as trailers can also be referred to as short films. An example of a short film is “The INSiDE”

What do the professionals say?

•  A short film is defined as a motion picture that is not more than 40 minutes in running time (including all credits).

• A short film is a motion picture that is shorter than the average feature film.

• Short films split into several sub-categories, mainly:

O Live action short

O Animated short (hand-drawn or CGI)

            O Documentary short subject

            O Experimental or abstract short films

Review:The Boy

'

‘The Boy’ is a short film written and directed by Steph Green- Tribeca Film Festival award winner as well as Oscar nominee. I have chosen this particular film due to its effective way of illustrating a young boy, named Joseph’s story, with very few dialogues delivered from him. This particular short film does not only contain elements of humor but also manages to portray a young boy’s struggle of being in a new environment.

The story revolves around the life of a young African child named Joseph who has recently moved into a new school in Ireland and is getting adapted to the school and its pupils. The film progresses to show us what obstacles he faces and how he overcomes them.

I personally found this film very good. What I appreciated in particular was the way the director showed clips of his past and related it to what was happening in the present time – showing us as the audience the characters background and how he is adapting to the new environment.

The protagonist Joseph as well as his other class mates managed to give a solid performance making the scenes seem very believable along side the raw cuts showing Josephs school life in Africa. What I found surprising was that the source of warmth and friendship amongst the children was created by disrespecting their elder; however Green managed to pull it off concluding the film with a positive feeling.

 I would give this film a 4 out of 5