One Shot Film: Final Edit

http://www.youtube.com/v/ngi0YgwhLrU&hl=en&fs=1

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What have I changed?

<!–[if !supportLists]–>1. <!–[endif]–>I have integrated the girl’s thoughts into the subtitles and made it flash between the two adding a feeling of panic. I feel this works well and compared to the boy’s calm subtitles that stay up for a longer period of time, it really emphasises how different the girl’s feelings to the situation are.

<!–[if !supportLists]–>2. <!–[endif]–>I have used music in the background and edited it in time with some of the more important subtitles to give it more structure and more interesting to watch as it’s no longer just sentences between the two characters but there’s a slight rhythm to it.

3. I have taken the emphasis of the conversation away by having the music to distract the viewer and having the girl’s subtitles flashing quickly before you have time to read it properly. This makes the main focus of the film the feelings of the characters and overall mood, being represented through the music, subtitles and body language.

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One Shot Film: First Edit

http://www.youtube.com/v/99MheeH-zwY&hl=en&fs=1
Originally, I thought I would end up using the second take because it was better rehearsed, the overall timing was better and the beginning section managed to get the wave in view during the camera pan. However, the body language in the first take was a lot better and more over-the-top; I discovered when adding subtitles the bad timing in the first take worked better and gave the viewer more time to read them; and the fact the wave wasn’t in shot didn’t really matter.
My main reason for choosing the first take was because the lighting was so much better. As we were just using daylight as our only source of light it was hard to plan and as the second take was filmed a bit too late the sun had already started going in making the shot look very flat and dull. The first take has really effective light coming from the right hand side creating slight shadows to the left hand side which end up giving the characters a lot more definition around their body and more depth to their faces. Using Premier Pro, I tried to emphasise the light by adding in some lighting effects to right top corner which I think works well and draws attention to that general area which is where the girl is trying to leave to. By emphasising the right, it made the left hand side look a bit duller which also emphasises how little the girl wants to be trapped in that corner.
The body language in the first take was a lot more convincing than the second take and emphasised how the characters felt. The girl was constantly moving about to show how uncomfortable she was and her desperation to leave. Whereas, the boy was a lot calmer and liked the fact he had bumped into her. This was slightly less apparent in the second take and both characters ended up being a lot static and not showing their feelings too much.
When editing in the subtitles I used red for the girl and blue for the boy to separate what they were saying and had them aligned to their side of the shot. I purposefully wrote all the boys subtitles in one and at most two lines so that his words would run over into her side of the shot to show how comfortable he was and he liked the situation. Whereas, with the girl’s subtitles I put them on as many lines as were necessary to keep them just over her side of the shot and really emphasise how much she didn’t want to be talking to the boy. I only had one line up at a time so there was no confusion with the order of the conversation and I could then easily put the girl’s thoughts playing over the top of exactly the right sentence. I added background noise to try and make it less quiet while the girl was talking as it had a slight echo and sounded quite empty.
I quite liked my edit of the film and my reasoning behind each thing I did but found when I watched it, I thought it was boring and didn’t reflect the mood I was going for. I decided to use this as a basis but I would need to play around with other ideas to get it exactly right.

One Shot Film: Deciding Which Shot To Use

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http://www.youtube.com/v/hZn3ku_UQtE&hl=en&fs=1http://www.youtube.com/v/UsIzQwt1ExM

This is the film without sound before I have started to edit it and it contains two runs of the story both slightly different to each other and I have been trying to decide which one to use as my final film. I watched the whole thing through a few times and have made some notes and comparing the two.

I think I will start to edit both and see which one works best with the subtitles and sound.

One Shot Film: The Script

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Once we had finalised the basic plot and knew where we were going to shoot the footage we could complete the script and put in stage direction so that when it came to filming we all knew what was happening. Matt wanted to write the script so he made up a draft before we knew the location and we all helped edit and finalise the story. We decided it would work best to shoot the film but take out the sound so that we could have the girl’s thoughts playing over the top of it. Using subtitles we would then be able to let the viewers know exactly what the two people said to each so they can compare between the thoughts and speech. We wanted to make these very different so it seemed the girl was being a lot more polite to the boy than she was in her head. By doing this we realised when filming, we didn’t need to make sure the microphone was in the correct place to be able to hear people; it didn’t matter about cars passing or background noise; and the people not being in the film could comment over the top and decide how it looked and how to make it better. Also, even though we had a script laid out it was still only a draft and any of us could change parts to suit our own films, as long as the timing was correct. Me and Matt still had to learn our lines from the script so that the timing would work when were editing and so it looked like we were having a conversation rather than just standing awkwardly. So we learnt our lines and came back the next day to shoot the film.

 

 

Draft of Script

B- Boy G-Girl

Meeting between B and G after they have had a one night stand. B is not as fit as G remembers, she was very drunk. Upon seeing B again, she regrets it happening, is glad he left early and hopes none of her flatmates saw him. B wants to ask her out again…

Scene begins with a pan following G as she’s walking. B comes into shot and she sees him waving at her.

 

Why the hell is he waving at me?!Oh crap I remember!

B: You alright there, Hayley right?

G: Hi…yeah, how you doing?

Fuck I don’t remember his name, did we?

B: I’m great, did you have fun last weekend? [Cheesy/sleazy grin]

G: It was ok but I was a bit of a mess.

B: I think we both were. [Reveals huge teeth]

G: Yeah [Flinches]

OMG the teeth! How did I miss them?!

B: Well sneeze away, don’t stop on my account.

G: Oh don’t worry, I won’t.

I hope no one’s looking.

G: So umm…what are you doing around here?

B: I’m going to work, I live just up there. [Points in direction G is walking]

Shit he lives round here!

B: Where are you going?

Lie! Lie!

G: Oh I’m just…going to see a friend.

B: Really? It’s just I remember walking back from around here.

Lie again!

G: Can’t be I live quite far from here.

B: Oh ok, well I was a state in the morning. [Cheesy grin]

That was close.

B: Sorry I left so early.

G: Don’t worry, it’s not a problem.

Really, not a problem at all.

B: Yeah I had to go home that morning for my mum’s birthday, we went to church.

G: Aw that’s sweet.

Praise the Lord!

B: Thanks, I don’t normally go but she likes me to go with her sometimes.

G: Hmm

Shit, here it comes! Don’t ask…please just don’t!

B: Look, do you want to go for a drink sometime?

G: Maybe…but I’m really busy at the moment. How about I call you when I have more free time?

Like in the very distant future.

B: Yeah that would be good

G: Cool, but I’ve got to go and I’m sure you need to get to work.

Please go to work!

B: True, I’ll see you around?

G: Sure you will. See you. [Walks off]

B: See you. [Watches her leave]

Never again! Good job he didn’t stay for breakfast, I’d never live it down.

One Shot Film: Development

Using what we learnt from our last seminar lesson when we had time to test different lighting positions we had to decide upon a setting for our film. As ours was to be an unexpected meeting we decided to shoot the footage outside on a street corner. This way we would not be able to use lighting equipment but would have to rely on natural light on that day so I will have to write about the outcome as we couldn’t plan it. We decided to use the corner from the photo above which was one from a crossroad junction. The junction we used was from a residential area which I think works well and suggests that this is where the two people in the film live as it would be unusual for them to walking through there anyway. Therefore this could set the scene and give the viewers an idea about the story before the dialogue even starts. The area was quite secluded and not many people or cars going past there to make it really ironic that these two people would randomly bump into each other when the girl clearly didn’t want to see the boy again. There were two no entry signs either side of the corner which I really wanted to get in the shot to act as edges and almost keep the two people trapped talking to each other. The red would also symbolise a sense of danger which isn’t relevant until the girl realises who the boy is and wants to get away. However, to get these signs in we would’ve needed to set up the camera in the road which didn’t seem plausable so we used a slightly different and more zoomed in shot of the same corner.

However, I do like the shot we ended up using because it suggests a feeling of tension as all the lines of the houses and walls are straight and rigid. Perspective in this shot plays a good role because the corner at the bottom which joins the house and the wall gives direction to the still objects and makes it seem like there could be somewhere to escape.

Also, to the right of the shot is a clear street where the girl is hoping to walk to and including this in our film will still suggest hope that the girl will be able to leave and escape her unwanted meeting. However, if we have the boy standing in that general direction it will explain why she had to stop and talk for so long as she couldn’t get past as easily. If when we’re shooting our film we can get a glimspe of a few people walking down this street it will emphasise how much she wants to leave and be free to walk like the other people are.

Lighting

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Before the health and safety induction and then our seminar last week, I had never used lighting before so I found it quite interesting to learn about different methods of lighting and then be able to visually see what affect they have. We practised with someone sitting on a chair in the centre of the room and we lit around them using the basic 3 Point Lighting Technique.

This technique uses a key light which is the main source of light throughout the room/shot. Once this light was in place lighting the side of our subject we could turn the lights in the room off and just use that for light. It was quite bright so when we looked through our camera it made our shot look quite flat so we changed the focus and the angle of it slightly so it wasn’t too overpowering.

We were then able to add in another light on the other side of our subject at a similar angle to soften the shadows on his face. This light was less bright and created a nice contrast with the key light giving us shadow which we could use at our advantage to make our shot more interesting and give it more depth.

My group weren’t given the back light to use but a reflector instead. This provides definition around the shape of the person’s body in attempt to make them stand apart from the background.

There are a lot of safety precautions which come from using lights.

<!–[if !supportLists]–>· <!–[endif]–>Using gloves after they have been turned on as they get very hot.

<!–[if !supportLists]–>· <!–[endif]–>Saying “lights” when they are turned on so that people are warned and it doesn’t damage their eyes.

<!–[if !supportLists]–>· <!–[endif]–>Wires need to be placed carefully so they aren’t trip hazards around the room; if they are they need to be taped down so it’s safe to go over them.

<!–[if !supportLists]–>· <!–[endif]–>When they are put away they need to be left to cool down so that people unaware that they’ve been used don’t burn themselves.

One Shot Film: Ideas

The Meeting.

We were divided into groups to produce a one shot film and given the opportunity to practise during the seminar. My group used this time to learn a bit more about how the camera functioned and filmed a small example of a one shot film. Using the basic idea of people being jealous of each other’s personal possessions, we developed upon that to show how shallow some people become about it and are even jealous of the most insignificant object. We used a muffin as the possession and by having it as a centre piece on a table and 2 sofas either side our shot was quite enclosed. This helped to show how the tension and anger was growing as people wanted the muffin more. We then had people moving from the 2 different sofas, forming alliances and then an outside person stealing the muffin from under peoples noses while they were too busy arguing. Our film finished with a pan showing them all chasing after the guy who had stolen the muffin.

When deciding upon what idea to pursue in our actual one shot film we discussed many different topics all being acquired from the title “The Meeting”. We thought about using the film from when we practised as a basis and developing upon that. As we’d been speaking about people being shallow and jealous of possessions we discussed different emotions and feelings that people have. Our final basic idea was to have a guy and girl meeting. By using this idea we could explore various feelings, emotions and there were many angles to take to the situation…
• Guy and girl meeting in street? Forest?
• Bumping into each other – unexpected
• Arguing, bitter, maybe ex’s
• Have conversation use subtitles – silent movie
• Sound track playing thoughts over the top
• Both guy and girl having different attitude towards situation