roles on set

 Decided roles within our group:

editor - Olly

director - tom

producer - everyone 

art director - Jemma

camera man - lola

what is my role? /what are we doing/why/

The role in which I took on was the camera operator, which means I have to be responsible (as well as working with the rest of my group) to organize the camera equipment as well as working the camera shots itself. It means that I will be prioritizing my focus on the camera and the recording of the opening scene overall. The reason we have split the roles is so each crew member on set (our group) has something they can specifically work on and we don't have multiple people doing the same thing. The things that I will prepare for before the shoot will be the camera equipment (battery power, bubbling etc).

Within the day of the shoot there will be specific things that I need with me like the shoot list, the call sheet and the storyboard. Making sure I have all of these items will reinforce an easier shoot. One of the most important things for a camera operator would definitely be the shot list as there is different set up methods for the camera. Each shot needs a new camera movement and positioning, so having a list that tells me what I need to do at each step will automatically make the process of the shoot a lot easier and stress free.

The reason why my role is so important is because my main role is to capture the whole scene itself. I need to make sure that we capture each part of the opening in different angles, movements and compositions. Because if we have different angles, if a shot doesn't look good we have others to back it up. That is why a camera operator has a key role on set. Some of the difficulties with working on the set can be attempting to capture what we want to capture. We need to work with the time of day and lighting as our location is covered in woods. It will be darker than other outside areas, so we need to work efficiently to the time of day. Thankfully we aren't working with any children on set so we don't need as many breaks as a set would normally need (working with children). Those are the major difficulties and challenges that we may face, but if we make sure we are aware of the challenges we can work around them.

foley sound

 Foley sound

Foley is the reproduction of every day sound effects that are added to films, videos and other media post production to improve audio quality. Foley got its name after Jack Foley, the sound effects artist who developed and shaped the technique. Foley effects work both with and to replace the film sound recorded on set, which is known as the filed recording. Most scenes use a combination of field recordings and foley effects. Examples of foley sound are things like: footsteps, chewing gum, doorknobs twisting, keys jingling etc. 

Here is an example:

Here is an example of foley sound that I made myself. I looked at the Jurassic park clip and chose the section of 2:20-2:50. This was easy to do as It was based within a kitchen. Here is what I created:

Our shot list

what is it and why do we need it?

 A shot list is almost like a storyboard but it outlines every shot of each shot and scene. It helps direct the cast and crew easily and efficiently without giving too much thought to the order. This way we can use our time efficiently without the waste of it and everyone on set knows what they are doing within the day. The reason to why this is so important to our group is because we only have a day (6 hours maybe less) to film our whole opening scene. We can't waste the time we have, by having a shot list we can therefore see what shots we need to film first and the order of whats happening. And can therefore work effectively work with the time we have.

My Shot list:

 

shoot schedule

 Shooting schedule 

8:30 - meet at classroom so we are able to get equipment and anything we need together = Just crew

8:30 - 8:55 - Load props and anything we need onto the bus (getting cast and dog into the car last) = just crew

8:50 - cast meet before we leave = everyone (both cast and crew)

9:00 - leave school to set location (Holmbury Hill) = both cast and crew

9:30 - arriving on set/ location = both cast and crew

9:30 - 9:45 - shoot establishing shots of location before prop set up = both cast and crew

9:30- 10:00 - set up props and location to aim to start shooting just before/ at 10 = both cast and crew

11:30 - 15 minute break for actors and crew = cast and crew have a break

11:45 - star shooting again until lunch = both cast and crew

13:00 - 13:45 - lunch break (aim to start shooting again at 14:00) = cast and crew on break for 50 minutes

14:00 - 16:00 - aim to get the rest of the shoot done by end of the day = cast and crew

16:00 - 16:15 - clean up set and location = crew only 

16:20 - leave location (shoot finished) = everyone (cast and crew) leave location

call sheet

 Crew:

Lola Corcoran -  All day/ Hurtwood/ 

Olly Liechti - All day/ Peaslake/ 

Jemma Mapp - All day/ Euwhurst/

Tom Goss - All day/ Cornhill/

Cast:

Mike Niland - All day/ Ewhurst/

group update

 We got news that the original actor we had hoped to cast couldn't play the main role. So we had to contact our second actor Mike who had a dog. This made it easier and wasn't a huge issue or effected our project. We found out the date of our shooting which was march the 11th, so at this point in time we had less than 2 weeks to organize our final casting and set design. We talked to the school canteen and they were able to supply us with a lot of meat so that took away the organization and transportation of meat across school grounds. Mike was also happy to bring in his own clothes to the set but we also have spare clothing in case anything goes wrong and takes away time wasting. 

editing workshop

EDITING WORKSHOP

The software in which we have used and which we are going to use is Adobe premier pro. The four different video sections are: 

Bottom left: Rushes and Bin's

Bottom right: is where you can edit the sequence overall

Top right: Is where you can watch the product

Top left: Is where the clips from the Rushes and bins is displayed

When looking at the key components and what you need to make sure your doing at all points. Is saving your work (command 'S'). It is also considered the golden rule, as if you don't save the work you risk loosing parts of it. 

Footage is the clips that have been taken, while Rushes is the go footage and Daily's is the footage based on how it been modified that day. The cutting tool is a tool to cut down the footage to the duration you want it at. While the short cut for cutting arrow is (command 'C' and command 'V') which is used as a tool to select what you want to edit/ use. 

In and out points are a selected mark where you want a clip to begin and end to modify a clip which leaves you with the section you want. You can do this by selecting a point within the footage and pressing 'I' and that would be the starting point. To mark the end point you would do the same but choose where you want the sequence to finish (press 'O')

Props and set design information

Props and set design

The props in which we have decided to use are quite minimal as we want it to be realistic and we are restricted due to our location. Most of our props need to be naturally reflective of the scene. We aren’t using the studio at all so the props will need to be durable for outside use. Some of the props that we have decided on are: Crystals of some sort, spray paint, meat, nails (to pin the meat). We don’t want the props to be unreachable and unrealistic, as we want to subtly hint at things through out the opening. The more props that are slowly more prominent implicate the realization of our main character. Something else we had to consider when looking at props and the budgeting of it. Things like fake blood and guts and the gory things. We had to discuss whether we were going to make some of the stuff, things like fake blood and special effects items are expensive and that had to be considered. We decided tat we would buy some fake blood as well as make our own fake blood. We could mix the two and meaning we have a lot without spending large amounts. The reason we need these items is due to us wanting to make our opening scene realistic. We want the audience to believe that something extremely strange is going on, and the props will help reinforce this idea. Things like fake blood and spray paint will help the cult like representation that we are attempting to communicate. Looking at the possibilities of this going wrong and ways we can avoid this is buying in bulk. Buying the items multiple times means we have less of a chance of wasting our product, as well as not having to worry about it running out. 

The god thing about our location means that we don’t have to ‘build’ our set and we can actually use whats around us. Using the trees and spooky forest location will not only make it easier for us but also make the opening scene itself more realistic. We will just have to make our props more efficient and more focused on so that it is believable. Some of the major problems that we may face using an outside location is the weather which is mentioned in a previous post, but we have solutions for this. The reason we are using a location rather than building one would be because we want the audience to immerse themselves within our scene and not spend too much time focused on the practicalities of it. 

Costume information

Costume decisions
Looking at costume and what we need to organize it is quite simple for us as the opening scene is quite naturalistic. We are only using one person within this scene and he is going for a walk around the woods. He will just need to wear his normal clothes as if going to take his dog on a daily trip to the woods. We do not want him to stand out and just want him to bring an idea of realism. An example of this is the picture on the right.

What we have decided to do as a group is to go to a charity shop to buy a jumper and trousers, this removes the risk of damaging or ruining our actors personal clothes and it doesn't matter what happens to the. We have put one of our group members in charge of extra costumes, someone In charge of getting specific makeup to make the costume or make it better as well as people in charge of props and extras etc.

We thought that a possible backup would be to buy two sets of casual outfits from the charity shops. This way when dealing with fake blood we don't have to worry about the costumes being ruined as they were not expensive or personal items. And we have an extra outfit incase the blood goes anywhere apart from his hands. We only have 1 day to film, we don't ave time to mess up the outfit and not have a backup, this way we save time and its efficient.

Looking at the pricing and estimation of the costume budget, it is not super expensive as it is second hand. So will most likely cost 5-10 pounds. Which looking at the grand scheme of things, isn't a huge amount and is doable.  The mis en scene decisions we have made are important to our character as we want him to come across as 'normal'. We want him to be living a normal life, with a normal background so that the massacre has a huge effect and shocks our audience.

Groups final storyboard

1.  Lola corcoran work

2.

3.

Jemma = pages 4, 5 and 6

7. Tom Goss work

8.

9. Oliver Liechti work

10.

11.

My storyboard

My final result of my storyboard:

The making of our storyboard

 My progress of the storyboard:

After sitting with the group we started to develop the detail of what we wanted to achieve within our story. We included what happened at every point and what wanted he audience to be exposed to. After we had developed a detailed outline of the narrative we split up the 35-38 points that we had into 10ish points each. This meant that we came up with 10 points of the story with drawings and created our part of the story board. We had to include notes such as the location, shot no, movement, the placement etc. On he right is a picture of the beginning of y story board where I started to draw out the different shots and moments within our narrative. Below I have also included the note taking that we created of what part of the narrative was happening. After we had finalised the official outline I typed it up into a blog post so that we had it there for future use. We now know what is exactly happening within our opening scene, and filming and production can be more efficient and quicker now. Our group is now working on the storyboarding and will be able to put it together at the end of the week.

On the right is a draft of the outline of the opening scene. Within this it includes every movement and detail of the opening scene. This massively helps us as it gives us an outline of what shot we need to achieve, with future use it means we don't have to spend time searching for what we have to do. 

Storyboard: what is it?

 What is a storyboard?

A storyboard is something that gives a basic outline of a narrative and helps achieve what the film makers need to achieve. Things included in a story board are: shot number, location, action, shot movement, sound, lighting, transition and timing. Things to consider within your opening scenes are the camera movement/ angles and editing which can be noted in your opening scene. Within your storyboard you should try to include this information, if your drawings aren't as efficient as you want them to be. Even if the drawings are good its just a good thing to add as a note of detail of the things listed above.

A storyboard will include an outline of 30-40 different shots within your opening scene or narrative in general. It gives directors, film makers and even actors a basic outline of whats about to take place and what they need to achieve in a tight shcedule. If we think about why storyboarding is important to the process of the making of a film, there is many reasons. One being that its an important process of the pre production process conveying clearly how the story will flow. It also highlights to the film makers any problems that might of gone unnoticed and need to be fixed soon.

This is important for our group and concept idea as we only have 6 hours to get this done. If we consider the fact that we have to drive to the location, set up etc that takes away a couple of hours so we can't waste time when we are actually shooting. A storyboard will tell us what we need to film and make the process of it more efficient and a lot quicker. This can help with our concept as it highlights anything that can go wrong which is why in the process of our outline we had to change a few details to make it better and easier.

Shooting: challenges we may face

 Challenges: 

When shooting there is lots of things to think about on set. One of the major challenges is weather. It is extremely cold and there is a strong possibility that it could rain on the day we shoot. We are not able to move the shoot so we have to be prepared. Things like food, umbrellas, new batteries, warm clothes etc are all things that need thought. Things like warm clothes are massively needed for our actors in between shots. Meaning they want be affected by the cold too much through out the 6 hour day. Extra food and water to feed and keep our actors and people on set hydrated. This way we won't need people running back and fourth wasting time getting food. Things like umbrellas and extra batteries are a must, there is the possibility that we will be in wet weather. We need extra batteries incase any of the cameras die and umbrellas to protect camera equipment and people on set (as well as actors). In order to prevent these challenges from ruining the day, we will take extra clothes, food batteries and umbrellas. That way we can prevent as much as possible from going wrong and save the time we have.

Cast: response

Actors Responses:

This was the response from Doug, so progress within our project has been made. Now we can go further with attempting to organize a time and when he is free to do it.

Updated outline

 New outline:

1. 1. location and trees 

2. 2. Different angles of location and other parts of wood 

3. 3. Blank screen just diegetic sound of feet stepping in leaves 

4. 4. Low angle Shot of man's feet and dogs feet walking through woods 

5. 5. Shot of man's legs and dogs legs walking through the woods 

6. 6. Shot behind them walking through trees (being watched) 

7. 7. Shot from the side of them (side profile of whole body) 

8. 8. Shot in front of them (them walking towards camera) 

9. 9. Close up of the man's face 

10. 10. Close up of the dog's face 

11. 11. Establishing shot of location (to reveal the symbols) 

12. 12. Close up of pentagram on the tree (spray paint) 

13. 13. Shot of them walking, camera stays and focuses on meat nailed to tree 

14. 14. Pov shot from trees (high angle as if being watched again) 

15. 15. Close up of blood with leaves on it 

16. 16. Camera shot pans down tree 

17. 17. Close up to the symbol on the tree 

18. 18. Close up to a rock under the tree with blood on it 

19. 19. Camera turns towards the man (focuses in on him) 

20. 20. Dog then runs through the trees (as if finding something) 

21. 21. Dog starts sniffing round the tree 

22. 22. Man says come on boy and tries to call him out of the trees 

23. 23. Dog runs back to the man (towards camera) 

24. 24. Man, and dog start walking through the woods again and are unaware of the symbols and weird things around them 

25. 25. Dog has blood on the bottom of his chin 

26. 26. Man doesn’t notice until he scratches the dogs chin and face and has blood on his hands 

27. 27. The man realizes that there is blood on his hands (doesn’t notice that his dog has wondered off) 

28. 28. Feeling freaked out he starts to chase the dog through the woods further 

29. 29. Finds dog upon the massacre 

30. 30. He is shocked and starts to react badly 

31. 31. Man hears a sound and turns around  

32. 32. Something comes at him and he starts to scream wildly  

33. 33. Blank screen and audience only hear his screams