Evaluation

Max and aimee evaluation

View more presentations from craigwinch.

More Youtube Feedback

Here is more audience feedback from the final films post on Youtube.

Youtube audience feedback

Audience feedback

As I have shown the film to more people I have received more feedback. So far I have shown mainly family or friends and the feedback I have received is mainly positive. This is probably because they don't want to offend me. The only constructive criticism I have received is that fact that they can't fully hear the girl when she is speaking, I then explained this was to help create enigma and they understood and agreed that it would ruin it. The film since been posted on Youtube has also received a like and a comment.

Copyright

After trying to upload our video onto Youtube so that we could share it online (etc), we received a message from Youtube as a German company (Constantine) were under the impression we had infringed copyright as we made the title of our film 'Deadbeatz' a similar title to theirs, about a DJ who makes a song that somehow creates a virus killing everyone who listened to it except himself. We tried to call the German company but none with any relevance to the matter (lawyers) were able to speak to us. We composed an email to them and to Youtube explaining that we did not intend to release an actual film and that it was purely a result of a project given to us by our college but if they needed us to change it we would be prepared to do so. Eventually it was decided we did not need to change the name of our film. 

Final Film, 'Dead Beatz'

This is the our final edit and version of Dead Beatz. It has taken a while to make and endless hours of editing however I am happy with the final result. In future I would do a few things different such as; make more use of time and manage time more appropriately, have a larger range of shot angles so that I have a larger selection to chose from when it comes to editing and taking more time to find a location that suited my films theme better. However, I am contempt with the amount of filming that took place, we co-operated well with our actors so that we were able to film on time and meet our deadlines set. I also found the actual quality of filming to a standard I was satisfied with. I feel my expectations of the film when we originally started were high and looking back they were quite unrealistic but there was a high quality of film as we filmed everything in HD. Light was also an issue and I think if I am to film at night next year I would have to think ahead about how to manage the appropriate lighting conditions. The process of making the film was stressful and fun. Stressful because making a film (even a 2 minute one) seems to take up quite a lot of time and you have a window of time in which to do certain things. Meeting the deadlines also proved to be challenging at times. There were also copyright issues I never imagined would present themselves but with help they were sorted. It is not a task that can be completed in school time you have to give a lot more of your'e own time in order to finish the film. In conclusion I have enjoyed the process and can't wait to start shooting again next year.

Voiceover and Final Sound Edit

As the sound for the scenes of dialogue were disrupted with traffic noises, I considered recording a voice over and adding it to the footage. I recorded two voice overs with 2 different actors and attempted to dub them over the footage in the film. I decided not to use the voiceover I recorded with the 2 girls from my class because it was not clear enough and did not synchronise with the footage on screen. They were either too slow or out of time.

Final Editing Process

Today I spent a very long time going through my film to polish it. After burning a disk and showing my family and friends, the feedback I received was positive, however 1 or 2 people commented on the blunt ending. To prevent this blunt ending I have placed the titles that were previously at the end and put them in various shots to spread them out. I have also extended one of the first clips as the girls sentence was only half said, so we extended how long the clip was and left the music the same. We also went through and made sure all the text and titles were in the same font, same size and had a similar colour pattern.

Comparing boys

I this image we see the boys from Attack the Block looking intimidating as they are in a group, staring towards the camera, wearing dark clothes and obviously not from a wealthy background. We have tried to create a similar effect in our film.

This is a screen shot of the boys we used in our film. We have stereotyped the average teenage 'hoodie' and created them in a normal, realistic, day to day scene, hanging out in an alley. We have tried to use a similar image to the boys in 'Attack the Block' as the boys are wearing dark closed in a dark environment.

Comparing Titles

This is the title for Attack the Block. As you can see we have used a similar technique in terms of the colours used in the title. The only difference is that we have used red to hint danger instead of orange they have used. We have also put this title over our film whilst paying so it would be located over a pavement. This one is just simply on a plain background.

This is another example of the titles we show at the beginning of our film. It is similar to the Attack the Block title as it uses colour to emphasise maybe part of the sentence, we have used it to create enigma. The red hint danger pushing the viewer in the direction of summing a negative outcome will happen at the end of our 2 minute film. 

This is an example of the titles we have at the beginning of our film. As you can see it is similar to the 'Attack the block' titles as it is black on white and uses a similar font. It is also not very large. The reason we used this is because it does not make our movie look cheap and because we wanted the audience to approach the film seriously at the beginning as they don't know what is going to happen, happy and coloured titles would just ruin the tension and enigma we had created. 

This is an example of the titles shown at the beginning of  'Attack the Block'. Very plain, black on white giving a serious impression to the audience.

Compare Main Character

This is the medium shot of the woman from 'Attack the Block' showing her appearance and clothing, therefore giving us an immediate impression of her wealth and how she choses to present herself. As this is the beginning of the film this is our biggest insight into the character other than the conversation she is having on the phone. 

This is an image of our main character on the phone. Much like the phone form Attack The Block she is not wearing identical clothing but it gives the same message of a rich middle-class girl. We have used a similar camera shot aswell, form an angle and a medium close up so that we can see her facial expressions whilst on the phone.

This is an image of the main woman from Attack the Block. We have tried to create a similar profile for our main character by making her middle class, well dressed ect. 

This is another screen shot from out film. Maybe giving away more of the character as we see more of her clothing as opposed to the medium close up, this is just a medium shot.

So far..

So far this image shows the progress we have made in editing our film and adding a sound track to fit with it.

We changed the track by changing the volume of the track which accented the dialogue and emphasised particular parts of the track for example heavy bass parts. 

Our Folder

This is the file in which we kept everything to do with our film including titles, shots, clips, photos...everything. We then kept this file on a hard drive to make it easy accessible to use on different computers incase we couldn't use the same one twice.

Blue Stamp 2

We tried using different colours with relevance to the words for greater emphasis.
We made the letters on screen move by using key framing to give more motion to out title. 

Blue Stamp (logo)

We experimented with many different fonts to find which was the best to use for our logo. We tried to find a font that would give off a serious impression and relate somewhat to an image we will ahem to create for our logo.

Livetype

This is a screenshot of 'Livetype'. On this programme we created and edited our titles.

For our 'Dead Beats' logo we added a flashing effect so that it could further relate to the genre of our film. We chosen to have a simple white text on black background with nothing around, it to emphasise the title of our film.

(Screen shot of Dead Beats logo)

On Final Cut

This is Final Cut Pro. This shows the film (which are the blue  bars) and the soundtrack (which are the green bars). This is where we edited the order things came in and applied fade ins, ect. The selected clip would appear and play in the centre screen and the whole film would be shown in the screen furthest to the right. 

Final Cut screen shot

When we began to edit our film we put all of our clips onto Final Cut Pro so that it would be clearer which ones we wanted to use and which ones didn't come out as we wanted them too. The clips we didn't use we placed in a folder called, 'throw aways', but did not delete them incase we later relied on them. From here we dragged each clip one at a time into a rough order of where they would be and then began to cut them together.

Tracking shot

This Worms Eye tracking shot has been used briefly to escalate the fact she is in a rush and going somewhere. It also gives us some direction and makes it more obvious she is walking down the hill. Finally the heels give us a small inside into our character and show she is confidence and takes pride in the way she dresses even if it is for a casual occasion.

Second Worms eye shot of Olivia

Here is another worms eye view of Olivia walking down the road. This time we see both the actress name and the actress. The use of the colour red to write her name suggests danger and creates anxiousness.

Over the Shoulder Shot

This Over the Shoulder Shot has been used here as it creates a vulnerability to our character.  Here the camera is moving at the same time as the actress is walking so that we see things from here point of view, yet we also have the feeling someone is following her creating a tension. The camera does not follow her smoothly and this places us in the film as it is naturally what would be seen from someone walking behind her, placing the viewer in the film.

Worms eye shot & title

This is a Worms Eye View shot that our actress walks into. On the pavement floor and still we show London as it naturally is, aspects of this are emphasised by the leaves on the ground. As she is walking down a hill we are able to see what lies ahead. We decided to put the directors into this still shot. A fade in/out has been used to subtly bring in the titles here.

Shot of London

Here is another still shot of London we have used in our opening. This time there is emphasis on the metal cage around us. This amplifies the 'trapped' or 'encaged' feel we are trying to give London and the viewer. It also makes London feel grotty and suggests crime. The contrast with the wire and our of focus view of London behind almost creates enigma and we don't know what is happening in the distance as the wire cage is in focus. However the sun on the left hints hopefulness. We have used black as the colour of the title to broaden a variety of colours used in our titles, it also looks better against the sky then white would.

Opening shots

This shot of London was taken from Monument in central London and ended up being perfect for our opening scene. This fitted perfectly with creating a quiet yet grotty shot of London. The sunset also gives it a calm feel and emphasises the smoke and landmarks such as the London Eye. I chose to put a white title over this as it stands out and is more interesting to look at, opposed to a black background. In this shot we show the production companies used.

THE TITLE

I had always thought choosing the title was going to be the easiest part of the movie, but I was wrong. After a variety of different names this was the one I chose to represent the film. The language works well with the theme of our film and the font has been used as it looks as if it has been written in blood, again following the theme of the film.

Voiceover

I considered a voiceover in our film, however I decided it may ruin what we have already created. The enigma would suffer and our track would have to be re-edited to fit around the voice over. At the moment the use of non diegetic music works in our favour to create suspense and to let the viewer know something is about to happen. A voice over would take that away and they could become too concentrated on the conversation happening other then where the girl is walking.

I originally wanted a voiceover to help introduce the girl and show her character but that almost takes away the 'crime' effect within the film and would make it more about the girl.

This is conventional as it is a typical technique used in films such as 'Sket', 'Adulthood', 'Kidulthood' and 'Attack the block'. Music creates a much more powerful effect then I had originally imagined it could have. As it speeds up we know what we have been waiting to see what is about to happen and this is one of the reasons I do not now want to use a voiceover.

Re-shoot

When we reshoot we will change how we planned our first shoot of the boys due to over complications.

We are going to film on a small road in Highate rather than the alley way in Golders Green however the audience will not be aware of the change in location as we will edit it creating continuity 'cheating' so it appears to be the alley way.

The main reason we have decided to change location is due to lighting within the alley way. It is not bright enough and we don't get enough light purely from the street lights and from the reflection off the cars so hopefully in the alleyway there will be brighter lights and clearer skies above so there should be more natural light aswell as light from the street lamps.

At the moment I am not sure if our cast will remain the same as some of the original cast may not be able to come to the filming because of rugby and school activities. This means I may have to compromise and use a different three boys. The benefit with our previous shots are that they are so dark you cannot see the boys properly so I will be able to cut clips together. Props and costumes will remain the same however there may not be a bike as it was one of the issues previously and filming it was too hard because it moved to fast for the camera to keep up with steadily and doesn't look very good when moving slowly. We hope to achieve the same stereotypical view of the hoodies as we originally wanted to, hopefully this time the lighting will allow us to see them.

Lastly there is a noise issue. Although we don't use much dialogue at all in the film and only one line of dialogue would be used with the hoodies there is too much street noise to give the audience a feel of where they are. It is also in a quieter location so we will have less trouble with people walking in the way of our shots or getting angry as we had previously been preventing them from parking.

Soundtrack

The red lines show the volume of the track and how I have changed it to better suit the film.

Due to technical problems and time constraints, I was unable to create the soundtrack myself in a studio as I had originally planned. To compromise I used Free Music Archive and found a track that would work well in our film with aspects (such as bass) that would draw in our audience at the same time as building enigma. I created a new soundtrack and looked through 15 of different basic beats and carefully selected the chosen one. I was then able to edit this on Final Cut Pro to help it fit better with our film. The parts we made predominantly loud are where there is no dialogue and we are creating a dramatic entrance (such as the first appearance of the hoodies or as the titles are on screen).


Obviously we would have been able to apply the notes to any form of music (classical, rock, pop) and give the same effect. The reason we decided to use this particular one is because we wanted our audience at the time of release to be able to connect with the music and recognise it as something they would enjoy listening to. This along with the fact the music emphasises certain parts of the film would hopefully get our audience fully focused on what is happening and show an interest. The upbeat basis of our chosen song also creates enigma and as it is always changing the audience can't sit still for long before the beat it forcing them to think something is about to happen.

Post-Production

Editing is almost complete for our film and I feel it has gone well. Some scenes are still too dark so I have organised a re-shoot on Friday.

Now that there is continuity and everything is flowing smoothly I have began to add in certain extra things such as titles and transitions between titles. We have also had a chance to fit in a sound track that not only creates suspension as our character is walking down the road but also will attract the audience we are aiming to please (16-24 year olds)as the beat revolves around the bass line.

We have used software such as 'Final Cut Pro' for the editing of the film along with 'Soundtrack Pro' to help control the diegetic sounds within the film. we have used this software as it is simple and can support all the effects we wanted to use for the titles, the transitions between cuts and the lighting. We used, 'Livetype' for the main title and for many of the credits as it has a larger range of fonts and effects.

We have edited some of the contrast involving the light in our film to create better light continuity. We have also used 'fade in/out' at the end of some of our shots to maintain the flow from shot to shot. With fade in we have also customised the speed in which the shot fades in and out to either create a smooth flow within the film or to create suspense as the girl moves closer towards the alley.

The music in the film is also used to enhance the effects and emphasise there use. The same effect is used as cars pass the camera in the scene and so on.

Sound

When I first started to think about my film I knew a good track at the beginning would be a good way to start. Not only does it create tension and draw in the audience, but as my film is based on a younger audience (16-24) I also knew a beat or track that they could relate to would be something to spark an interest in the film.

My original idea was to have music (non-diagetic) playing over everything and eventually it would change to a diegetic level playing off one of the characters phones so we would also to be able to hear the dialogue in the scene. This would have been simple and an easy way to draw the audience in an link my opening titles to my first scene.

However it is not so simple. To put a song I like in the film I would have to write to the artist or their manager for conformation that I am allowed to use the song in my film. They get so much mail they probably wouldn't read it, let alone reply. So I have to use my friends studio to make the beat myself (with help from friend).

I then have to make it perfectly in time with the final edited film so that there is continuity and a connection between the film and the song. Say that all goes to plan and I have made a successful song that works to my advantage with the film I would have to download that song onto one of my friends film and get them to play it in a re-shoot so that the beat can become diegetic. I would then have to time the junction between the diegetic and non-diagetic music perfectly or it will not flow smoothly.

The music is essential though and can also be used to create a creepy effect with the titles if the editing flows smoothly.

The idea to link diegetic and non-diegetic is shown working well in Pinapple Express.

The Music begins around 05.22 and the music becomes diegetic at 07.03.

Camera Shots and Editing Final Film

After my first attempt to edit my film and cut all my shot scenes together I have realised the effect of close up shots and that by using them you can play on time and facial expression to portray a moment, emotion or reaction the character feels. Medium shots are also good for displaying emotion and reaction, however this is more through body language.

I was also disappointed whilst looking through the second half of my filming. The first half was all good in terms of colour and camera focus. However towards the end whilst filming in the alley I realise that it's a lot darker on the computer screen then it was on the camera screen. Even with the exposure turned up and contrast edited the shots are still fuzzy and dark. This means I will have to re-shoot certain parts and shots shortly. This will be challenging as continuity in the light will be hard to maintain as we shot such a long time ago and it now gets darker later.

After Filming 2 min opening sequence

After filming the first half of my opening sequence I have learnt a few issues that could be adressed in future filming. One of which is lighting. As I am using pathetic fallacy in my final film to create a tension and scarier feel I have learnt how to play the light. As my character is walking down a road I have tried to film her in the lighter parts of the walk to highlight her walk and capture detail on her yet still create a dark sensation. Another way is to film under street lights. This yellow (rather than natural) light captures the character but leaves the scenery dark around her. However the natural light changed whilst filming and as the character walkes down the road the light dramatically changes and quickly becomes darker. This could be seen as a fault in the filming but as the character was only availible for that day we could not shoot on a different day. None the less the drastic change in light helps our film as it emphasizes the change in day and her walk becoming gradually more dangerous. The road our character was walking down would have been too long to shoot fully as it would have taken more than 2 minutes so we selected parts of the road that would work to our advantage in terms of light and background scenery for our shots and will cut them together to give the illusion to the audience that our character has walked down the full road. Another part that was hard was syncing what our character is saying with different parts of the road to create a flow in conversation. Towards the end of the shoot many cars and civilians crossed the line of the camera so we could not use the footage. If not this than they would act awkward infront of the camera to be considerate to us. It was hard to tell them to act normal whilst the camera was filming and those who didn't want to be on camera waited and out us under pressure to finish quickly.

We filmed the 2 sets of characters on different days yet continuity prevailed and it seemes as if it's a flowing sequence of events. We remembered the timing of the end of our first shoot so when it came to the second we filmed at the same time to create light continuity. As one of our male characters has a darker skin tone it was difficult to shoot him with a hood up in the dark and maintain the detail we aimed to film. Other than that it was hard to capture their voices on film with all the background so a voiceover will be necessary. Yet again it was hard to shoot them in the dark so we had to film wide shots with our characters in one spot, and then worm shots of them in a different spot but try to connect the two to make it seem as if they are in one location.

Overall I was very pleased with our filming and actors efforts towards our feature film. There is not much I would change at the moment with what we shot but im sure a few faults will unfold whilst editing.

Equipment List:

Skateboard (For Tracking shot of feet)
Yoga Mat (For tracking shot of feet)
Video Camera - Sony HDV
Trip pod - Velbon
Laptop
Microphone

Planning:


To plan this film we monitored the lighting in the local area for a week or so to make sure it was as we wanted it. We printed a script for each character and explained to them the idea of the film and what they should do for best performance. We also went through it with them in daylight hours so they would feel comfortable in the small margin we had to film where the lighting was right. We also figured out how we would film certain shots such as the tracking shot on the feet. We had to use a yoga mat and skateboard in order to create a smooth track. It would have been too hard to try and bend down and follow our character without jolting the camera and as we did not have the necessary equipment we made use of what we had.

Storyboard Anamatic for 'Dead Beats'

Mugged (working title) draft 2

Mugged (working title) draft 2

View more documents from mediastudiesf1n34rts

Film Idea

After looking at 'Kidulthood', 'Adulthood', 'Harry Brown', 'Anuvahood' and 'Attack the Block' Aimee and myself have had a few ideas about what we want our film to be about.

So far we want to shoot a girl walking home from work or school whilst on the phone to a friend to give the audience a small insight into her life. Then shell receive a text from her boyfriend or a boy she likes and have to take a shortcut to his house.

Whilst all this is going on there will be cross cutting with a group/ gang of boys in an alley, bored, causing trouble and smoking drugs.

The girl will take a shortcut down the alley they are in and they will mug her.

This is just an idea and a lot will have to be done to it if we want to persue the idea but so far it looks like our strongest options.

Harry Brown Analysis

In this opening scene to Harry Brown, the main character is implied whilst the character are in the alley way is taking drugs and obviously most dominant in the group. Another main character could be implied by the boy everyone is focused around. The two boys on the motorbike are also suggested to be characters of a certain relevance as they have stolen the attention of the audience and we see from the characters point of view. It seems as if a teenager is trying to become accepted into a gang by doing what they tell him to, including the taking of drugs. This shows to the gang and to the viewer how much the boy wants this. The gang members have been stereo typed to be intimidating images as the clothing and props suggest so.

Props

Paraphinalia 

Gun

Motorbike

Mobile phone recorder

Clothing

Dark clothing

Tracksuits

Black jackets

Bandanas

Hoods

A grotty atmosphere is created as it is all shot on a mobile phone so the viewer feels comfortable yet on edge watching. The mobile phone viewing not only gives us the point of view of the other gang members but also gives the viewer a feeling of being in the gang witnessing the event. Dark colours are used to emphasize this grotty feeling along with the dense and suffocating location used in a tunnel. The daylight in the next scene slightly lifts our spirits until we see we are still in a grotty part of London by council estates. The next event involves two of the gang members messing around on a motorbike trying to intimidate a woman by shooting at her as a joke. Accidently the women is shot and the boys stop in shock before speeding off on their motorbike in panic, only to be hit by a truck a few seconds later. This hits the viewer with the harsh reality of death that has fallen upon the youth to give and have taken possibly due to boredom. This reality is further emphasised with the last camera shot still at a sidewards angle on the floor. 

Check List for Shooting

Check List.

Actors

Vincent - head boy (Boy)

Reggie (Boy)

Gabriel (Boy)

Olivia - main character (Girl)

Props

Moe-ped

Cigarettes

Fake weed

Lighter

Mobile phone

Costumes

Boys:

Hoodies

Caps

Trackies

Trainers (high-tops)

Bandannas

Girl:

Heels

Leather jacket
Black top

Jeans

Handbag

Mobile Phone

Locations

Golders green high street

Alley way

London - tower bridge

Camera Equipment

Camera

Charger

Tape

Tripod

Fish eye lens

Dolly