Release Form

Practical Session 6: Editing – Audio/titles/animation

Filming with audio then editing 

In the lesson we had today with Matt, he left us in our groups to make a short clip on anything, but it had to involve two characters having a conversation and then one leaving the room. We just has a simple idea of a struggling relationship and the women confronting her partner about another women to which she storms out of the room after a brief conversation. 

When filming this we had to remember the 180 rule to make sure the sequence made sense and also to keep continuity by making sure the characters were wearing the same items each different shot and to make sure every small detail was the same to make the clip run smoothly. We got lots of different shots which allowed us many different variations of the clip and a different way of emphasising the clip. We also managed to do a follow cam, which was very effective.  We did however film on the outside settings for the camera which drained the imagine and made it look like a retro photo.

When editing the footage it was slightly different to before as we now had to edit audio as well as footage. The audio and video were attached together but we could unclip them, if we wanted to use the audio in one clip but put the audio over another clip.

Meeting with our main character

I have talked to our actor who we feel fits the role perfectly.   He is a very good actor so he will take the filming professionally.  He's very happy to act in the opening sequence and he understands what we are asking from him. With the correct costume on, he will be a perfect fit for our sequence.

 He is an experienced actor and we are confident that filming will go well.

Update costume

As we only have one actor in our cast we now only need one costume, I have a pair of Air max 97's which will be perfect and I'm asking my friend tonight if i can borrow his back nike tracksuit which will be perfect. I think we will also scruff up the actors hair, changing his appearance slightly to fit the role.

Updated locations

After visiting the filming locations at my house we have come to the conclusion that the shed in the middle of the woods is to dangerous to film inside off but will be very good for establishing shots as its in a good location and from the outside it looks very beaten up, very close to the shed in the woods we have a garden shed seen on the left picture which has a similar exterior to the abandoned shed. We will clear a few items out of the garden shed and film the shed in a way to make it seem as if we are filming in the abandoned shed. The abandoned shed has glass everywhere inside and nails sticking out which would be very unsafe to film inside. The woodland surrounding the abandoned shed will be very good for setting up the traps as the woodland is relatively dense but still enough room to film through it.

Cast update

We have now chosen our main character, Sean. After auditioning 3 others we came to the conclusion that Sean fit the role and is also a good actor. We have been unable to use anyone who does drama as an A level, because our date clashes with other commitments for their course, so we have been lucky to secure Sean. He is an actor but is not studying drama.  If for reasons out of our control Sean is not able to act in our video, we do have a backup which is Finn.

Story board and shot list

Change of Plot

After talking with Katie, we have made the decision that using one person for the cast would be more practical.  We have decided to focus on the boy who is on the run and to start with him texting his location to a friend.  We will then move on to a montage of him setting up traps and a recording on a recording device.  The end scene will be a shot of the shed empty and voices shouting outside for the boy.

We felt this will simplify the video and also bring our full attention to the character. As this is a short clip and we have limited time, we feel that it would complicate the video if there were too many characters which could confuse the viewers about the storyline.  Introducing too many characters in such a short video would have been confusing for the viewers.

Test shoot

Before we began filming we made a test shoot to get an initial idea of filming a very basic sequence.  This was based on a similar storyline to our opening sequence but we used iPhones to film it.  

iPhones have such good cameras that we were able to film the test shoot on our phones.  The quality was sufficient for a test shoot because the technology on iPhones is so advanced. We then used iMovie which is a very basic Apple software and served the job off editing the test shoot. We could edit the shoot on Apple phones or computers.   iMovie is very simple to use and allows you to quickly edit and produce a relatively high quality video.

Props

For the sequence we will need several props to make the story detailed and to enable the audience to understand the sequence in further detail. Firstly a recording device will be needed as this is for the actor to talk into and then his audio to be played over a montage.

Secondly fake money is important as the actor will have a large amount of cash. We will need a large duffle bag to hold the money and also a towel to go into the duffle bag to make it seem like it has a larger amount of money than it actually does. Fake drugs which we will make ourselves using baking powder.

A shovel to dig a hole and also fishing wire for the actor to set up traps around the woodland.

All these props will work perfectly in our sequence and they are very easy to buy, we are going to get all of the props from amazon. It is also likely that a friend or one of us in our group will have fishing wire or a shovel.

Practical Session 5: Filming a sequence with Dialogue.

In the lesson we had today with Matt, he left us in our groups to make a short clip on any subject, but it had to involve two characters having a conversation and then one leaving the room. We had a simple idea of a struggling relationship and the women confronting her partner about another women to which she storms out of the room after a brief conversation. 

When filming this we had to remember the 180 rule to make sure the sequence made sense and also to keep continuity by making sure the characters were wearing the same items each different shot and to make sure every small detail was the same to make the clip run smoothly. We got lots of different shots which allowed us many different variations of the clip and a different way of emphasising the clip. We also managed to do a follow cam, which was very effective.  We did however film on the outside settings for the camera which drained the imagine and made it look like a retro photo.



Before this idea we had another idea:

Our idea for our dialogue sequence is going to based on our opening title sequence.  Two guys, who are relatively big, enter a room to try and find the suspect.  The first guy "what is this place, where is he?", the second guy "he should be here, he should be here, I swear this is location he sent".

Recording starts playing "I'm here, come get me"
First person "where's that coming from, he's here!"

They look around the room trying to find where the dialogue is coming from.
Second guy finds a recording device in the corner of the room and immediately looks up and runs out of the door - realising what has happened.

We changed this idea when we went to film, as on reflection, we felt we wanted something a little different.