My Short film

Below I have attached my short film, A quietus life.

Ansillary text: movie poster

Below you can see the movie poster which I have created.
Before I started making the poster I first carried out some research into the conventions of movie posters. The first bit of research which I identified was the uses of the title at in center towards the bottom of the poster. I did this by looking at a few posters online. Here are some examples which I looked at.

Following this I also looked up some articles online regarding the creation of a movie poster, The link is of the website which identifies the different conventions of movie posters. The following key conventions is what I read to be the case of movie posters:
- It must have the film title a little bit below center of the poster.
- There must be main actors names at the top of the poster.
- The film company name and copy right issue must be put at the bottom of the poster.
- the background must consist of picture of something regarding the film, which will attract the people walking by the poster to want to watch the film.
http://www.slideshare.net/CharlieSoutham/conventions-of-a-film-poster-12069008

Therefore following this I opened up Photoshop to begin creating the movie poster. Initially, I took a new picture of a tree and began editing it for the short film poster. This picture after a while began to not work with the story, which resulted in me changing my idea ( I have attached the picture of the tree below).

I changed my idea to a picture I had already taken in the filming process which I wasn't sure of using. This consisted of a close up of rowans face. This I put into Photoshop and began the editing process for a second time. This time it began to look better and more like what the poster should look like. I used a video tutorial to teach me how to use Photoshop for several different ideas I had. The first video (the one below) showed me how to work on the texts and the overall color correction. From this I lowered the RGB curves and increased the the blues and grey/greens. This brings out the cold, dark feel of the film.

Following this I wanted to add a camera lens flair to the picture. This I established through the video below. After trying many different tutorials, the one below showed me the best method of using the camera lens flair.

After adding this flair to the picture I went back to the previous video, which showed me how to use the text tools. After learning this I scrolled through the different fonts and found one that I thought worked best for the film. After this I chose the color of a light grey, which I thought worked well with the picture, as it enabled me to blend the text to the picture. Following this I added one more element which was the film company's copy right etc. This I found from a free online program which I downloaded called F-title. This program enabled me to create the special font-ed title. following this I added it to the poster. Following this I finished the poster. Below Is my finished product.

Ancillary text: magazine review

I created a magazine film review of my finished film. This I built upon the feedback which I received from the people who I asked post watching the film. I identified both positive and negatives of the short film, thus helping to achieve a better review. This review was also made to attract people to want to watch the film. Below is my finished review.

Question 1

Below I have attached a link to my website, which is the answer to this question.
http://joelurnera2question.weebly.com/

Question 2: How effective is the combination of your main product ancillary texts?

Below I have added a video blog of me telling you part of the answer to this question.
https://youtu.be/e3mkmmW680U

In addition to the information from the video post, I wish to add that the movie poster is primarily successful on the basis that its name is peculiar, therefore resulting in it being memorable for people. This would result in the increase of people wanting to watch the short film, as they would remember the name. So the movie poster already would be successful from the name alone.

Question 3: What have you learned from you audience feedback?

In order to fully answer this question I created a questionnaire and asked 20 different people to answer it. Below one can see the different data graphs showing the results of each question.

Following the last tabled question of 'would you have changed anything from the film' I asked one more question which was 'if yes please state why below...'

The two changes where the following:

1) ''I would change the final time lapse shot to look more in sync with the rest of the film'

2) ''I would change the actor's to ether older or younger characters, as the age range isn't as relatable''.

I believe from the research which I have carried out that a large number of people enjoyed the film from a wide range of ages and genders. Therefore, I believe that my film would be suitable for all people over the ages of 16 (as the film is a 16). I also established from the feedback that people most enjoyed the story-line. With the final two written feedback statements, I established that my hyperlapse wasn't as effective as originally planed, which means I should have re-filmed the second hyperlapse of the grass/trees. Additionally, to this a large number of people have said that my film was really good, as it could be interpreted in many different way's. 

From this process I have learn't a great deal. I think one of the major factor's which I have taken away from the feedback is that in order to improve the overall production, I would need to work in a team. With this short film production, produced, filmed, edited etc. all myself. This has meant that towards the end of the editing process I had to condense some of my creativity and detail. Therefore In the future, I plan to work in a team, which will mean that I will be able to rely on others to create high detailed work, thus allowing for an even better production. 

Question 4: How did you use media technologies in the construction and research planning and evaluation stages?

Below I have added my question four PowerPoint presentation.

Question 4

Behind the scenes of the hyperlapse part one idea

Today I created went about filming the first part to my chroma key hyperlapse idea. This started with the prep, which consisted of me getting phee the main actress, Aby the special effects make up crew and other helpers to the same place at the same time. This ended up being in a double lesson in a school class room which I had booked. This room was fundamentally important, as it enabled me to put the blinds down to make the room very dark and not allow to much natural light in. The reason I wanted this was because I needed to have a controlled environment. I primarily carried this out through the use of 10 separate desk lamps which I borrowed from the science technicians.

Following this I set up the blue screen which consisted of blue tacking some blue card to a table and the floor. At the same time as this, I had Aby carrying out the main special effect make up on phee. This was rather successfully done.

Once I set up the camera on the slider, we were ready. I started by checking the camera was set up correctly with its manual functions by taking a few pictures in auto and then moving the same reference points over. When starting we quickly moved through the picture taking. Phee had to lay very still for a large period of time, which resulted in fatigue. This meant we where under a time pressure to finish. between each picture of the hyperlapse I took, Aby added special effects make up the arm. I also added blood to the T-shirt wound.
Below you can see I have added pictures of me creating the footage.

Below is a picture of phee having the head shot wound being pre-made onto her head before filming. This picture above is mid way filming when we where moving up the arm slowly with veins.

Below is a picture of me working on my camera rig.

The picture below shows a good understanding of what the entire filming process came from.

flash back sound edit

When creating the sound edit for the flashback (going up the stairs), I

When creating the sound edit for the happy flash back of rowan (when entering the vision within his eye), I spent a large amount of time finding the best piece of music to fit the footage. Stranger on a shore by Aker Bilk was the best choice of music as it allowed to firstly give an easy establishment of happy times, which could easily become strange and distorted. It is also fantastically fitting as the clarinets ascending moves at the same time the camera into the eye, which helps to create the effect. Following this I edited this sound by adding a pitch adjuster which I key framed to slope down by a 6 semi-tones. This resulted in a slope and slow down of the music creating a creepy, distorted feel. Below I have attached a print screen of me editing the sound of the flash back.

final overall edit

I have come to a point now where I have finished the editing process. Before I come to the final render I carried out several checks of the final production. At this point I did notice some simple mistakes; for example I miss spelled the actor's names. I also had to come back regarding the flow of some of the introduction shots etc. Below is a screen shot of the final process of editing, which consisted primarily of sound levels.

inside and start of film sound edit.

At the opening of the film I created a sound scape of outdoor nice. This included the following sound effects:
- birds singing
- wind blowing
- car's driving in the distance
- white noise etc.

These layered helped to create the outside sound effect used throughout the production, but primarily at the start. I gathered these different sound effects from the website below, giving out free stock sound effects. This was really useful in the creation of the sound-scape.
Below is a screen shot of the work sound-scape.

zombie shot sound edit

In this section I created a created a sound scape of two different halves. The first half consisted of the recordings of my voice layered over 8 tracks screaming. This resulted in the deeper roar from the zombie scream. The reason why I added in a deep males voice to the scream was because this would be affected in the zombie scream due to the blood filled within the lungs of the zombie. The second part added a female 3 track layered scream. These two put together added created the full sound of the scream. In order to improve the effectiveness of the scream I slowly increased the volume of the scream and significantly increased the re-verb on the tracks. This resulted in a much better scream from the female protagonist. Below one can see a print screen of the sound edit.

preparation for film shoot day no.1

Since I have established my filming dates with my cast, camera and lighting crew, I have been preparing for the two day's. The first day Wednesday 11/12/14 consisted of the first part of my chroma key hyperlapse idea. This consisted of carrying out an accurate hyperlapse in a blue screen controlled environment. I organised my make up artist and actor to spend two hours working with, in order to achieve the blue screen hyperlapse. This went rather successfully, as one can see from the video below, which is what we filmed on Wednesday.

In hyperlapse, I found the ever growing blood and make up really helped to create the overall feel of the video. Furthermore, by having an art student for make up it really helped me to become hands free.

Problems
Well, there where some problems to begin with, I needed more lights as I only had one spotlight. I solved this early on the day (Wednesday) by asking my schools since department if I could borrow 8 lamps. the second problem was that we didn't have very much time. As partially anticipated the make up took over an hour to be ready for filming. This left 50 minuets to film the entire blue screen hyperlapse.

First filming day!

Over the holiday's I finally managed to get the cast , props (e.g. car) and camera together to do some filming for my short film. Preparing for the filming day had many significant problems throughout the day. As usual there where cancellations from many of the film crew, which meant that I had very few people to help me with the pop up reflectors and clapper board. Additionally, my make up artist wasn't available for the date, which meant I had to leave out a cresial close up of the Zombies body. Never the less, I was able to film a very large amount within the time frame.

The day began with getting the actors to the set (my house and outside my house). As both actors where not able to get to the set I had to arrange transport for them. I picked up Rowen (the husband actor) on my motorcycle and I arranged a taxi, which I payed for, to pick up Phee (the wife actress).

Before the enitial filming I opened with an ice breaker of filming the three of us, introducing Phee, and Rowan. This video can be seen below.

The filming was rather successful in regards to the amount we managed to achieve. By 12:00 We had finished all of the indoor filming. This left us plenty of time for the Jeep to arrive for the out door filming. After starting the

Task = short film!

I have chosen to create a short film. the reason why I have chosen to do a short, is because I believe I would receive the most enjoyment from creating a short in appose to a music video, which would be my second favorite choice. The other main reason I decided to do a short film was because it would enable me to demonstrate my sound editing skills. This fundamentally is important to me, as I already have most of these skills rather well tuned (due to doing A level music and being a musician). Below I have attached one of my favorite film trailers which is a partial inspiration for doing a short film. notice the special effects color correction- the bright exaggerated colors.

Ideas

I have been thinking of overall Ideas for my short film project. This has significantly developed over time. My initial idea started with a sniper action thriller. This would have consisted of a sniper and a spotter shooting a terrorist which executes a hostage. The sniper after this point would find himself having to kill both the terrorist and hostage again as they have turned into zombies.

From this initial Idea I went into the logistics of creating the short film and the location. This quickly became apparent that it would not be possible to get a realistic footage of this happening at location, which is in a desert. In an attempt of making this work I looked into creating the same idea just on a beach with Somali pirates as the kidnappers.

from this I evolved the kidnapper to be a female, which ultimately resulted in my final decision of having a husband kill his wife due to her illness of turning into a zombie. Below is a video trailer which inspired me to initially think of pirates.

Modern Gods

This short film has been a major turning point in my views and ideas of short films. It was a short film with a clear literal story, which starts and finishes the same was a film would. For example, this short film had a short title sequence and an ending. Perhaps I should integrate this idea of having it very well structured, with a quick title sequence and a closing sequence. Another interesting characteristic from this short film was the special effects work. From the research which I carried out following this I have established that the better the special effects the better a lot of the films story's where portrayed.

My journey from AS

At the start of my as media year I learnt all about film language, camera shots, folly sound, basic's of editing etc. This has lead me through many different experiences within media. Currently, I have a good basic understanding of how to use adobe after effects. This I plan in this A2 year to significantly increase my standard of special effects. In addition to this I want to overall improve my skills as a film maker. Therefore I will be adopting many more skills in sound editing, special effects work,
camera techniques and sound recording. Below I have added a motivational picture to help me along this A2 process, thus ensuring I produce the best possible work.

After effect quietus life title

When creating this title, I was inspired by many different factors. The first and main one was the star wars title. As strange as it sounds the star's I thought would add a mysterious sparkle to the title sequence.

Fundamentally, I developed this title from a previous title which I created for a different project, when learning how to use adobe premier pro. This I created with thick cluster of stars in the back ground with the title in the center. I added a edging to the text of the title, with a reflective silver. With this I animated a spot light to travel across the text, creating a smooth appearing text.
When coming back to this project to open it as the starting base for my film title, I adapted the title by adjusting the star background speed and cluster size. I significantly reduced the speed and the size of the star's. Additionally, I increased the spacing between the star's. The fundamental addition which I added to the title was the silhouette which I color corrected and created out of the distorted foam on initial black and silver background. I added a purple color correction to this and used the ellipse tool to mask out the areas.
Fundamentally the result of the title was very successful and created a cool and crisp finishing film title. Below one can see a print screen of me adding these adjustments within adobe after effects.

After effects reflection clean up

Today I was working on a shot of the front of the car in my short film. The shot showed me in the reflection of the front of the grill, as one can see in the video below. As I was unable to get the perfect shot without the reflection being a problem, I was left to figure out a way of removing the reflection from the chrome using after effects. My idea initial idea was to use color correction to the areas of chrome. This I did by animating an adjustment layer to the specific areas using the pen tool and following frame by frame, adjusting the layer to the image. After doing this I added the color correction which included human saturation and the curves. I turned the saturation very low to remove the color, which was primarily coming from the grass etc. which turned into almost black and white. In addition to this I increased the brightness which helped to remove more of the image and make it look like chrome reflection. Unfortunately at this point it still showed parts of the reflection. In order to remove this I added a camera lens blur to the adjustment layers.  Above you can see that there is a print screen of me working on the adjustment layers.

Slow motion gun editing.

Today I worked on the second shot which is taken by the main actor, Rowan. As I was shooting at the highest frame rate that the camera I was using could shoot at (30 fps) I was left to figure out a way in after effects to slow down the footage without reducing the quality. I carried out some research on YouTube. A large number of people suggested to use a plug in called Twixter. Additionally people stated that after effects is the most useful program in comparison to final cut pro when using the Twixter plug inn. Following this I downloaded a trial version of the Twixter plug inn. The video which is below showed the best results in applying the program to slowing it down. As the footage was only at 30 frames per second, it means that I could only really slow down the footage to around 55% of the original speed. This is still a significant amount, and when applying it to the footage really helped to create the action slide back of the gun. This links into the reason why I chose to have a gun which has a blow back feature. After adding the slow motion feature I started working on the muzzle flair. As I didn't have a live action muzzle flash to use, I had to create one. I did this by using several different stock muzzle flash footage and having them slowly getting bigger from the barrel. This can be seen in the screen shots below of the muzzle flash opening up from the gun. Additionally, I added a 3D layer to each of the muzzle flashes in order to bend the z and y axis to make the muzzle flashes look more like they are in the seen. To help add the effect of the muzzle flash I added another adjustment layer to the scene when the muzzle flash is at its brightest, through the use of brightness color correction.

Below is a screen shot of me working on these effects in after effects.

Asking permission for Shostakovitch recording

As Shostakovitch is dead the rights of the performance video fall under the video owner. Therefore, I have attempted to contact the owner of the video by posting a message on their video. This resulted in no reply's stating that I couldn't use the music in my film, thus meaning that I could use the music.

Below I have posted a picture of my YouTube message.

I never received a reply from the owner, thus resulting in me using the music until I have been told I am not allowed to use it.

Creating the scrolling closing credits

When creating the scrolling title credits I looked up the basic understanding of how to make the edit on YouTube. This consisted of creating a composition which 1080 at the top and 9000 at the bottom. This therefore created a very long composition space. within this I create a large dialogue box, which I essentially copy and paste the already written out text which I want to add. I did this in Microsoft word initially to get the main text over. After this I added my production logo to the bottom and the added movie rights etc. After I created this I pre-composed the composition, thus making it another piece of footage. I then created another composition within this project which I sized back to 1080 by 620p. I the added the previous long composition into the video clips edit bar. following this I moved the top of the long composition to the front top of the new composition and key-framed the position of it. I then dragged the curser 10 seconds forward and moved the long composition so the bottom is at in the composition area. Once achieving this it allowed me to have the moving text effect. This with the addition of going back and choosing the appropriate font for the titles, resulted in a finished product. below I have added a screen shot of me working on this footage in after effects.

bourne identity colour correction

Within my flash back of the gun being given to rowan, I carried out some research into flash back color correction. I did this by looking at flash back's from other popular films. Bourne Identity really jumped out at me, as one can see below. The use of the blurry blues and greens really emphases the confusion of the scene. Following this I tried to find-out how to create this effect within after effects. I did this by looking through some after effects tutorials on YouTube. The one below was the most effective one I could find to try and incorporate the color correction idea.

I adapted the color correction through the brightness. I added some definition etc. to the overall footage through the use of the sharpening. Within the actual flash back, I added a warp stabilizer to the footage to help with the floating feel. In addition to this I added a camera lens flair, which I animated to where to sun is in the window. These additions to the color correction really help to add to the overall effect.

Rowan eye zoom

Today I worked on my second happy flash back transition. I gained the inspiration to this footage to the after effects YouTube video below. The opening of this sequence consisted of me taking a close up picture of rowans face, which was done on filming day 1 inside the house. After putting this picture into after effects, I found a close up picture of a persons eye, similar to rowans eye. I put this picture into photo shop and cut everything out, leaving the iris.
I moved this picture of the iris into after effects. Following this, I reduced the scale of the iris to the equivalent size of the rowan picture and blended the iris to rowans. This I did to both eyes. In order to blend the iris's to rowans original eye's I increased the feather of the edges and I color corrected the iris to a darker effect (using RGB curves). Following this I added a zoom to the main footage to go into rowans eye, stay for a moment looking at the iris and then zooming in fully into the black ness of the iris. I added to this zoom some motion blur, to help add to this effect of a flash back. post this I added the footage of the female protagonist which I created earlier in after effects. This footage I scaled down to about the size of the iris, and moved it above rowans eye. Following this I added a mask to this footage, which one can see below below in the screen shot. This mask I followed frame by frame matching it to the circle of the black within rowan's iris. In order to improve the accuracy and ease of this I quickly lowered the opacity of the footage allowing me to see what was behind. Once I finished, I put up the opacity of the footage back to 100%. In order to blend this footage to the eye I increased the feathering of the flash back footage.

After finishing this main after effects work of the zoom in, i added some color correction work to the overall footage. I firstly continued to adjust the new iris's to fit rowan's face better. Additionally, I added a Bourne identity inspired color correction to rowans face, which I discuss the 'Bourne color correction post.

Coming back to edit some more!

Well, when I finished uploaded the first version of my short film on to YouTube I was a bit disappointed with the result. Their where very minor issues, which could be easily fixed. This therefore resulted in me going out of my way again to fix the issues. Below you can see the initial rendered version, which I was unhappy with. You can also see that I have attached the edits which I was un-happy with.

THIS IS NOT THE FINISHED FILM!

The main things I was unhappy with where the following:
- The white noise sound effect was too loud, resulting in lose of hearing to listeners.
- phoenix's name spelling was not correctly written in the title sequences.
- The blood effects where to bright and not subtle enough.
- The pace of the shots varied to much throughout the film.
- Part of the zombie story seamed to not make as much sense to the audience.

In order to fix these issues I firstly started with the blood. As you can see below Increased the initial blood splatter within the effect. Following this I added a masked adjustment layer which I attached to the null object, which was tracked to the body (I carried this out in after effects). Within this layer I lowered the redness in the curves color correction, I also increased the RGB to increase the darkness of the blood. In order to achieve the extended blood I had to add duplicate a single frame around 80 times to fill the footage. This I followed by going frame by frame moving the blood footage onto the original blood footage position.

I simply changed the text with the title sequences in after effects and rendered them adding them to premiere pro's sequence. Regarding the pace I adjusted the opening sliding shots to flow better together, by reducing the faster on's speed and shortening the sizes. In addition to this I reduced some of the sequences by 10% just to improve the overall tension of the piece.

In order to make the zombie part of the film more apparent I recorded my voice as a radio news in the flash back sequence. This I built over time with added white noise between each sound clip. This establish what disease Phee has and what is going on. Furthermore, at this point I reduced the sound of the white noise.

adding a camera lense blur

In order to help add a camera lens blur effect to this video I imported the footage into after effects and used a adjustment layer with a mask which I tracked to the footage. Below their is a print screen of me doing this.

I also added a camera lens blur to the tapping of the steering wheel. This I achieved by going through each frame with a adjustment layer, masking out every point around the wheel and hands. This can be seen below in the screen shot.

After effects- creating the blood effects

Regarding the execution shot, when Phee is laying on the ground, I had several difficulties in achieving the blood effect I wanted. I went back to the this edit 3 separate occasions. The first time I achieved a badly colored blood splatter. This I achieved by getting hold of some stock footage of some blood splatter. I added this into the footage and added the screen function to remove the black. This was how I would normally remove the black from footage. Unfortunately this resulted in the blood being really faded and almost impossible to see. Following this I tried to color correct the blood color to the ext-reams of its capabilities, by increasing the redness etc. This resulted in little progress but resulted in an OK result.

After finishing it the first time I did some research to find a better method of removing the black. I found a fantastic tutorial on YouTube showing exactly how to do so using key-light black. This removed the black from the stock footage, without affecting the footage. This resulted in the red being really emphasized, due to the earlier color correction. This time I also tracked the blood footage to the body, as the original was done by eye. This therefore meant that the blood footage was perfectly attached to the correct point.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-zJKSIbHtU

The final time resulted in me coming back to the footage, as the blood color was still too exaggerated. I achieved this by lowering the rgb and the red. I also feathered the edges as well to improve the blending of the blood to the T-shirt. This overall resulted in the blood being more subtle and effective. below I have a screen shot of me working on the blood shot.

Creating the car grill effect

When filming the car grill shot, I used my camera slider, as shown in the picture below. This enabled me to get smooth footage.

Unfortunately one can see my hand and the camera in the reflection in the chrome of the grill. This resulted in me needing to figure out a way of removing this problem. I achieved the by adding a tracked adjustment layer to the grill which had an added camera lens blur. This, with a lot of feathering, made the grill look smudged and dirty which looked more realistic. ultimately, the footage met the level which I was expecting it to be. Below I have taken a scree shot of me editing the shot in after effects.

recording the folley sound

This consisted of two different parts. I carried out most of the Foley sound recording at my house in Germany, where I had access to recording equipment. Below I have a video of me in the recording stages of the footsteps etc. and the overall set-up. I achieved the nice crisp recording by using a shot gun mic and getting the recording level and gain balanced, to reduce as much white noise as possible. Within the set up I used a 16 channel recording mixer. to create footstep's outside the car, on the gravel, I used a plastic plate which I filled with some stones and gravel (from my garden) and using my foot I timed my feet (heal toe action) to the footage, which i had playing on my laptop.

to create the movement of clothing I used two towels in each hand, creating a rubbing sound effect. I also timed this to the footage. Additionally, I recorded the car door handle opening and closing with my fathers car out side the house. This required several takes due to the outside noises. I also recorded the Foley of rowan crying and breathing. This I did by essentially crying and breathing into the microphone. The other parts I recorded was the falling of the gun which I did by dropping a book (on its corner to add the two touches with the ground). I recorded the inside of the car Foley by setting up the microphone inside  my dad's car and having me sit inside the car and moving my hand on the wheel, whilst watching the footage. This recording included the clicking of the stereo button. The final recording of the zombie scream was my voice layered over 8 tracks. I recorded this with 8 different screams which I produced. these created a nice layering sound.

In the second recording session, I asked my acting friend, Hannah to do some voice acting, which I carried out at school (in the library). This set up was with the school's shot gun mic, which I plugged directly into a 'audio in' in a mac computer. On the computer I used logic express pro, enabling my to record the audio. The first recording which I carried out was the zombie scream. What I had at that point was my layered deep male scream. I wanted to add the female part to this scream, which I achieved through Hannah's screaming. I also layered her scream's in logic pro, thus resulting in a wide vocal range scream, as one would have expected from a lung filled with blood scream. following this I recorded some breathing and groaning, from the flash back scene.

Blue screen edit of Cromma key hyper lapse.

After my first day of filming, I created the blue screen special effects makeup edit of  my final scene of the short film. This consists of two sections which are filmed individually at separate filming shoots. This section consisted of a hyperlapse which we did artificially in a blue screen (controlled environment). After filming I collaborated the filming footage (which at the beginning consisted of many different pictures) and put it into Adobe After Effects (Ae). Within Ae I created the overall blue screen edit of the hyperlapse. I didn't add any colour correction, as I would need to do that when collaborating both edits together.

Below I have attached this blue screen edit of the hyperlapse. Notice the detail of the blood and the shot in the head. 

Gun prop laws

I have spent some time researching what the laws are for firearms in filming. I established through several forums, which I have listed below, that I ultimately need to contact my local police station on the day of filming to inform them of what my intentions are for that day. Other people have stated that it is important to make it aware to the general public what the intentions of us is. For example, people have suggested to inform all general members of public, who may be walking by. Other people have suggested using signs off set stating that it is a film.

http://www.ukpoliceonline.co.uk/index.php?/topic/47008-prop-firearms-for-film-and-the-law/

http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/etis20.pdf

On my filming shoot I plan on including all of the suggestions and requirements as I have stated above. Below I created a sign (using microsoft word), which I will be displaying when filming outdoors. below I have attached a picture of the sign.

Progress Reel

Today, I learnt about progress reals. Essetialy, I had found pixar video clips which esentially explained what they are on Youtube. This I found really interesting as it gives an indepth understanding of how a full length feature, sutch as; for example, Frozen, come togeather in the creative process. Below I have attached a video of on of the progress real's which I have watched.

As you can see when watching the clip, it begins with showing the final product, than showing you what a pensil drawn out version is (with the music pre recorded), followed by a blocked out version in a 3d animation software and then finally a version with the shading, colouring, lighting and overall rendering to create the final version. I have found that progress reels can range in detail of stages.

speilburg ideas

After watching this video from film riot, I started becoming interested in speilburgs work. Ryan was mainly talking about the style etc. which I thought would really be intersting to add to my short film idea. Below is the video which started my fasination with speilburg,

From watching this video, I started researching into Spielberg's work. Below is a video which was the start of my investigation.

This video Identifies a large number of different techniques and themes which Steven Spielberg likes to use. The first technique which Steven always uses in his film is working with a fluid camera shot which incorporates far more than single shots. For example, moving with the music or the characters movements to reveal more, This primarily allows the viewer to become emerged within the film, as it is far more personal to the characters.

Secondly, the clip showed me that Steven likes to use the character's faces as the main story teller. Therefore, he focuses longer on the persons face. Often the character is looking at something, which makes the viewer want to know what they are looking at. By waiting a bit longer it keeps the viewer on edge etc. Furthermore Spielberg likes to shoot in three's, by first looking at the character, and then at what the characters looking at and then back again etc. This allows for more expression to be demonstrated across from the characters.

Finally, the clip showed me that Steven likes to use circles in his films. What I mean by this is he likes to shoot through circular objects. He prefers this because corners are far harsher and may take away the softness and queirosity of the object.

Creating a better understanding of Speilberg

After researching into Steven Spielberg's main themes and techniques, I decided to try these techniques out for my self. Below is the short clip which I created quickly in the style of Spielberg. I tryed to include the same elements of one floating shot between where a character is and what they are looking at.

Scripting

Today I began the process of getting my thoughts of a story and putting it on paper. This took many day's and hours to get to a final idea. My thinking process went through many different avenues. It started on a sniper zombie thriller. This moved to a samali pirate sniper action, to a deep intense heart felt moment between a husband and his wife turning into a zombie. The main feature I wanted to incorporate was the uses of a zombie. Below is a video I found which was a great inspiration when thinking through this process.

story boarding

Today I began to story board my ideas onto paper. My main influence when thinking about the story board involved Steven Spielberg. When I was creating the story board I made sure to incorporate the long fluid camera shots. I also incorporated the use of circles. This I thought of when creating the opening of the film. Below is a video, which I used to keep me in the correct direction when story boarding.

choosing the task

I have decided to create a short film. The reason for this is because I have a great enjoyment for creating story's. Furthermore, I enjoy being able to add foly to my projects, which there is very litle in music video's due to the music in the background.

short film development

I found a very good idea from watching the following short film, which I found on 'Short of the week'. The film is titled as 'The shift'. The film is about a man who comes home from work expecting his wife to be in the kitchen working. The film progresses by establishing more and more peices of information, which helps to intreage the audiance further. I beleive this would be a good idea for my short film, in slowly adding peices to a puzzel throughout the short film.

Below is the link for which one can find the short film. http://www.shortoftheweek.com/2014/09/22/the-shift/

short film ends

After finding another short film on 'short of the week', I discuvered an interesting trend with good shot films. The ones I really remembered all had strange twists and turns towards the end of the film. This was a great example in this shortfilm which shows elements of...  http://www.shortoftheweek.com/2014/10/01/l3-0/

My to do list

for my pre production planning, I created a 'to do list'. I created all the things, which I would need to buy, plan and organise in order to be ready to film and edit. Below is the list which I created.

To do list

- Create the story board

- Get Adobe premiere editing software

- Organise a rental camera

- Organise a character list

- Organise auditions

- Organise rental camera

- Organise boom microphone

- Organise filming locations

- Organise a Film crew

- Buy/organise props

- Buy clapper board

- Create a Takes list

 

My characters

After creating my storyboard I established my characters. Below is the list of the three characters which will be in m short film.


- Husband


- Wife


- Son/daughter


The husband needs to be aged between 30-50 and has a very interesting face, which the audience can relate and understand. This links into the Steven Spielberg theme of focusing on interesting faces in order to bring across the films emotion.


The Wife needs to be aged between 28-40 but can be actually younger, as long as it is remotely convincing to the husband.


The child can ether be female or male, but needs to be of the convincing age of 7-9. As this role is not a main character it is the least important and isn't focused on very much.

after effects flying bullet shells

After watching film riots slow motion shooting clip tutorial, I instantly wanted to integrate it into my short film. This was one of the reasons why I decided to invest in renting or borrowing a better camera from what I used in my AS year. In order to achieve this slow motion effect, one would need a camera which is able to shoot at a high shutter speed. For example 64 frames per second would be significantly useful.

My clapperboard

One of the main reasons why I chose to buy a clapper board was because it would allow me to have a clear understanding of what sections of film I want to use in the editing process. furthermore, I have recruited a clapperboard operator in my film crew, who will operate and record on a takes sheet what shots have been recorded and what shots are useable. Below is a picture of the clapperboard which I bought.

understanding Hyperlapse

Today I began my education in hyperlapse. I came across this idea after being introduced to time lapses by a friend. When researching into time lapse I found out what hyperlapse's are. They are essentially a time lapse with an added camera movement between each picture. I found out that in order to do accurate hyperlapses, one needs to move identical distances every time. Often this involves using a measuring devise (like a tape measure) to establish how far of a distance there is between each picture. Below I have added a video which I watched, which helped me to learn about hyperlapse.

Creating a hyper lapse.

Today after watching videos explaining that I need to have a few attempts at hyper lapses in order to achieve the effect I want. Therefore I made a hyper lapse using a tripod, camera, measuring tape and a stop watch. With these tools I laid the tape measure out on the floor as shown in the picture below. This allowed me to move the tripod a steady 5cm apart for each frame. I moved the tripod every 11 seconds, which I timed on my stop watch. Above I have attached the video of the final rendered video.

Creating a hyperlapse, the editing

In today's lesson, I edited the pictures I had taken from my hyperlapse. I used my editing software, Adobe After Effects CS6, which allowed me to do the following:
- Add colour correction; RGB, Blue, Green, Red, Curves etc.
- Add a warp stabiliser. this allowed me to make the footage more fluid.
- Set out the correct frame rate which I wanted. 24 frames per second etc.
- Add a vignette
- Add Crop marks.


In order to help me to learn how to use thew warp stabilisation, I used the following video.

Eye zoom/Flash forward.

I came across the video clip which I have posted below, which is a after effects tutorial explaining a technique of zooming into a persons eye and seeing what they are seeing in their minds.
I thought this was an excellent Idea for my flash backs and forwards. Until this point I have had an empty box in my story board stating that their is a flash back. This really helps to bring things into perspective.

My thought process of creating my story idea

I began my process by thinking of a character. This character came from me wanting to use a sniper gunner in  my film. Therefore I though of the main character being male and a sniper. Therefore I relised that a sniper needs to have a spotter. This spotter would be the second characater.
As my story was created, I came up with the idea of adding a group of terrorist whom would be assinated. This idea continued with a twist at the end of the film with the terrorist becoming Zombies.

After establishing this original Idea I established that I wouldn't be able to find a suitable location for the story line. e.g. A desert land. This led me to changing my idea even further, by changing the people whom would be assinated from terrorists to samalia pirots. This idea came to me from thinking of locations which would look like a desert but isn't. e.g. A beach setting. Samailia pirates would be far more apropriate at a beach. And a beach would be more feasable in terms of getting actors etc. there. However, I relised that I may want to go back to the filming location to do some more filming, which would therefore be rather complex.

So I continued to adapt and change my story idea. I thought, perhaps the use of a family location would be far more relatable. Furthermore, as the use of

Croma key hyperlapse's

I created this Idea when storyboarding the final shot. I wanted to use a hyperlapse within my film idea. I thought that a great Idea was to have the dead zombie at the end of the film decomposing in a hyperlapse.

When thinking about how to film this, I encountered immediate problems. Firstly to add the correct amount of detail in special effects make up to the actors arms, would require a large amount of time. Therefore, I needed to think of a solution. My solution was to use croma key (green/blue screen) for the actris. This would allow me to have the detailed special effects make up added on in a contolled lighted area, which I could add to  normal hyperlapse. 

The method which I though up, was to use a slider with a tape mesure taped onto it. This would allow me to create a hyperlapse in real time of 1mm camera movement to a 5 second picture interval. This would create a hyperlapse without the zombie at first, and then allow me to use the same rig in a blue screen room just without a time interval between each picture shot. 

Below is a picture of my camera set up on the slider, with a tape measure. 

Testing the chroma key hyperlapse

I wanted to test the idea before going to the film day as it would allow me to ensure that it all works.
Furthermore, It would help me to improve on the concept.

What I did first was set everything up to do the real time hyper-lapse. This turned out to be a failed attempt for a number of reasons.

Firstly, I started with only allowing a 3 second interval between each shot. This meant, as I was on my own, that I would need to accurately move the camera 1mm and check to see when I would need to move again.

Secondly, I controlled the camera through my computer using a free software called DIY photobits. This allowed me to set in how often the camera should take a picture. Unfortunately, the camera didn't store any of the pictures to the computer or memory card, so I didn't have a test run.

Therefore from doing this test I established I should leave a longer time frame between each shot and have a friend to tell me when to move the camera. I also learned how to use the software better after carrying out the first test.

Creating my short films name.

Today I tried to think of a title name as I wanted to create the final title shot in Adobe After Effects.
I began the process by thinking about the short film and looking through a thesaurus. I searched up death and found quietus. I then created the following title by considering a number of different factors. Firstly, there is an implication with 'quietus', as it implies death. This with life almost suggests that their is a final finish to a life. Which I believe resembles my short film accurately as it doesn't give away the plot of the story, other than there being death. I really don't want the audience to second guess what the story is about, as I want to avoid as much of the 'zombie' cliche as possible

'A quietus Life' 

Creating my film title

Today I decided to create my film title in Adobe After Effects. I used this video for inspiration on creating my film title. The reason I had decided to begin already thinking about my title sequence is because I had some time before my filming date.  

Main Actor change

Unfortunately, my main actor told me that he is no longer available. This was quite problematic, as my filming date is set on the 14/12/14 and everyone else was ready to go. So I had to find some one else last minuet. My first port of call was asking my back up plan, which was a family Friend. However he was also not available for the job role. My solution was to ask out to my Friends on FaceBook. This resulted with many interested candidates. I chose a good friend of mine who I thought looked quite old due to his large  beard. Below is a picture of my friend on film day.

pop up filters/reflectors

I have bought a 5 in 1 pop up reflector/filter. This will allow me to manipulate light to the places where I would like light to be. I believe this to be extremely beneficial for my short film, as most of the filming is taken place out side, which can often be difficult to capture the correct light. Thus making this product very useful. Furthermore, If the sun was to be too strong, I would be able to de-saturate the item and/or increase the shadowing. Below I have posted a picture of my new purchase.

As you can see the fold ability of the product is very useful and can be carried around the set without much issue. In order to know how to use the filters/reflectors I watched the photography video below. This showed very clearly how much of a difference the use of a reflector or filter can do. 

The gun prop

As I want to achieve a realistic hand gun for my short film, I need to ensure that its has a number of components. Firstly It needs to be the correct satin black metallic colour. Secondly, In order to achieve the slow motion shot, the gun needs to have a realistic blow back.

After doing some research into the market of BB guns and air soft guns, I managed to establish the costs. In order to get an actual metal, waited, air soft gun, which has a blow back feature, I would need to spend a minimum of £100. This is significantly over the budget of which I would be willing to spend. After having a look around I managed to find a electric plastic gun for £30 (which you can find at this address: www.justbbguns.co.uk/product/545/BB-GUNS-BLACK/451/BB-PISTOLS-BLACK/2303/UM654-BLOWBACK ). This gun had the blow back feature incorporated into the design and is the perfect black colour. Therefore allowing me to achieve the perfect slow motion shot without spending a very large amount of money.

Music

The sound element to my short film will be extremally important. Therefore, the background music which I need to choose will be very influential in the editing stages. The piece of music which I have decided to use for my short film is Shostakovitch's fifth symphony movement 3. The reason I chose this price was because it is a very powerfull movement expressing the pain and suffering of the Soviet people.

I believe, like Steven Spielberg that the use of a good piece of music can significantly affect the way a film flows. Shostakovitch uses many different motifs within the third movements, thus allowing me to edit specific sections to my piece.

I plan to seek copy right issue in the future. Below I have attached a version of the piece which I particularly enjoy. However I will need to use a different recording as this has many live features of people coaghing, mobile phones ringing etc.

learning to shoot.

Below I have attached a short video of me learning how to add shooting special effects.

I created these add on effects using adobe after effects CS6. I started by adding a mussel flash and some smoke to the gun. I followed this by adding brightened light to specific parts of the body. Following this I added some blood splatter from the actors body. Finally I added some sound effects of a gun and blood splatter.

short film- Black Hole

I have been carrying out some research into short films. Below I have added one of my favorite short films. The reason why I like it so much is because the after effects editing used to achieve the shots.

introduction to maya

Today I spent some time introducing my self to the 3D computer animation software Maya. After downloading the free student software I began to research Youtube video's in order to establish the basics of using the computer software. Below I have attached one of the Youtube video's which helped me learn the basics. This video has several following series of video tutorials explaining Maya. I also have began to watch these video's.

This video goes about explaining the navigation of maya, the creation of basic geometry, manipulation of objects and componant selection. This was really helpfull and informative when first opening maya, as I thought the software was enitially quite daunting.

Fahrenheit 9/11

Fahrenheit 9/11 is a documentary primarily focusing on George W Bush, Terrorism and the Iraqi war. Michael Moore identifies some very interesting points, which are particularly controversial now due to the current events in Iraq.

We watched and analysed the film in class and primarily identified the different persuasive elements.
Below is some of the main methods, which Michael Moore uses:

• Selective editing
• " " Cutaways
• Tuxtraposition
• Sound track
• Representation
• Emotive scenes
• Shock (moral, physical, emotional)
• Extended edit
• Statistical information (they sound informed/confident)
• 3Emotional link to characters in the film

The main significant factor of Michael Moore is his use of statements which are out of context. This often helped him to further establish his point to the audience. As the statements are out of context it means that they are less likely to be that accurate. From this, I have learnt that depending on the little information I give the audience I can significantly effect the audiences though patterns. I use this within my short film, by leading the audience to think the husband is a murder, when in fact he turns out to be a caring husband. 

The boy whose skin fell off

This documentary is about a person (Jonny Kennedy) who suffers from a Dystrophic Epidermolysis Bullosa (EB) - which means his skin literally falls off at the slightest touch. The documentary explored many different types of thought provoking topics, such as:

• Death and the preparation of death.
• euthanasia, assisted suicide
• The condition of EB
• suffering
• family and community 

The Prime topic which was often discussed by Jonny Kennedy was death and the preparation of death. He does this from the very start of the documentary by having him at the end of the story in his coffin dead. His religious beliefs also have a part into his ability to cope through knowing death is underneath him. 

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/the-boy-whose-skin-fell-off

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