Shooting schedule

This is the shooting schedule which in combination with the health and safety form enabled us to begin filming. Archie completed the shooting schedule after he was allocated it from the task sheet. I checked the weather forecast for the upcoming week. The forecast is generally quite good for us. On days which it is raining we will need to ensure that we do no exterior shots to protect the equipment.

Audience research

Who are you targeting? 

Primarily we are targeting people aged between 15 to 25, there will be some exceptions but this will be our main target audience. This is because people of that age will be able to relate to our film the most. Also as a group we feel that as we are in this age gap it will be easiest to target people within our age group.

Who is most likely to see our film? 

I think that people who enjoy drama and zombie films would like to see our film. I think our film could attract quite a broad range of people as it combines aspects from different genres. However I think that the age range will be quite small.

Who is your primary and secondary audience? 

Primary audience: People who enjoy the Zombie genre

Secondary audience: People who regularly watch party films

Music research

The music that we use in our opening is very important as it can make our genre evident and set the mood for the film. Issak researched various tracks we could use in our opening some of which can be seen below:

'Dancin' by Aaron Smith was worth considering as it suited our party genre but it lacked a distinguished change in sound halfway through which we needed for when our character walked through a door into a party.  

We decided that 'Thugz Drowning' was the best to use in our opening. This is because it has a slow opening and then builds up as the track goes on. This will match the events in our opening sequence well. The start is also significant as it instantly draws attention.

eZ Life storyboard

After watching the interview with Richard Morrison from Art Of The Title it became obvious that the storyboard was an integral part of our film opening. Also from my Juno task evaluation I noted that I needed to spend more time on the storyboard in the future. This is why it took us as a group a while to produce it. I was responsible for listing the actions on it and Issak drew the images to compliment the text. Archie then filmed Issak doing a voice over of the storyboard, which can be seen above.

Props resarch and list

Aspirin pill: This is needed to represent the pill eZ which our film is based on.

Black hoodie: This will be used in the scene where the drug deal takes place, it will be worn by the dealer.

iPhone: Needed to show texts between drug dealer and Zack

Mirror (in bathroom): For scene where Zack looks into mirror after taking eZ pill.

Lamppost (outside): Needed for drug deal scene for light.

Green screen: To edit party scenes on Adobe Premiere.

Fonts for titles research

Today I researched fonts that we could use in our title sequence. I used a website called DaFont to search for both zombie and drug inspired titles. When editing we can use a combination of both text types to make our genre evident.



Zombie titles

Drug titles



Recce shots

Today we discussed as a group where we could find a wall which we could film and project our titles onto. Archie suggested the wall outside our class room and took some shots of what it would like if we were to film it both in the light and dark.

The wall in daylight

This is what the wall would like in the dark with no flash

The shot of the wall in the dark could be ideal to edit our titles onto after filming. Especially if we use a bright colour to make a contrast such as: yellow or red.

Road we shot Issak exiting the car on 

Driveway we shot Issak walking forward on

Whilst filming our final shots of Issak walking into a house Archie saw this location which turned out to be a great place to not only film Issak walking but also to take images to use as our poster to be edited later on.

Health & Safety Assessment

Before we could start filming we had to produce a health and safety assessment. In which we identified the dangers and how we could prevent them. This was made by Archie Edmonds after we agreed, as a group, what the key dangers are. 

Script for eZ Life opening sequence

This is the script for our film opening The eZ Life which I produced. As there is no dialogue throughout our opening it was important that the events and how they should be acted out were written down in a script before we begun to film.

Marketing campaign

This is the PowerPoint I made to explain our marketing campaign for The eZ Life. This was very helpful to do as it clarified our ideas of how we should market our film. Many of the judgements I made were based on research we did in previous tasks. The mood board helped a lot whilst thinking about our poster as we had researched posters of films with similar genres. 

Using Adobe Photoshop I edited a screen shot of a Twitter profile to show how we could use Twitter to market our film. Social media is a huge part of marketing campaigns for films. Especially low-budget films which cannot spend as much on marketing. However even low budget films with things such as celebrity endorsements and viral videos can creatively attract their audiences.

An example of what our Twitter account could look like.

Blog reflection

Have you learned new online programmes for showing off work?

I have used Prezi as an alternative to PowerPoint to complete some of the tasks given to me. At first I didn't like using it as it was different to anything  have used before but I became more comfortable with the features after using it a couple of times. I have also used SlideShare on many occasions to upload PowerPoints that I have made onto my blog.

What mark out of 20 is it so far?

I think my blog would get 16/20 at the moment. I think it is well organised and up to date but to improve it and gain maximum marks I need to improve the level of detail on some tasks, especially analysis tasks.

Where could you be more thorough or a little less complacent? 

In some of the evaluation tasks such as the film opening evaluation I need to go into more detail and explain why I have made my judgments. Also my film language analysis lacks depth and needs more images and technical terms to improve my analysis.

Is it fun to look at?

I try to use images and either PowerPoint or Prezi presentations when possible to make the blog less text heavy and fun to look at. To make it more visually appealing I could change the theme to a better colour than a dark black one.

Three targets to improve my blog:

• Add more detail to evaluation posts 
• Use every part of D.I.S.T.I.N.C.T in my Genre task
• Use more technical terms in my posts

Art of the title

Art of The Title

24 Hour Party People title sequence

In class we were told to look at a website named 'Art of The Title' the website contained title sequences from all kinds of films which was hugely useful to see. 

One title sequence which stood out to me was 24 Hour Party People as it was a film based around drugs which is similar to our opening. The title sequence clearly shows the theme of drugs and makes the genre of the film evident. This is what we need to do when producing our title sequence.

Richard Morrison interview

Richard Morrison interview 

In lesson we were shown an interview with Richard Morrison who is famous for his title sequences. Some of what he said I thought could be applied to the making of our title sequence.

'Simple is good' 

This is particularly relevant as many of the best film openings we watched were very simple.

'Starting with a storyboard is best'

This is important as it gives you a chance to add or remove parts from the sequence.

Synopsis planning

From our planning task sheet I was allocated the task of making the synopsis planning. Above is what  produced after a conversation with my group. 

Target audience research



Today Archie researched Zombieland to find out vital information about our target audience. As our film is unique hybrid genre of Zombies and Drugs there was no film which was very similar. However after researching films it became obvious to us that we would have to combine ideas from films from both genres. The Prezi Archie made on Zombieland can be seen above.

Moodboard

Moodboard 

In today's lesson we assigned tasks to each other and started to complete them. Above is our mood board, made by Archie, this contains many film posters and inspirations which relate to our film in some way. This task was helped us identify genre conventions and produce ides for The eZ Life.

Opening title sequences

Zombeavers

Zombeavers is a film which has a similar genre to our film so I looked at the titles for inspiration and produced a timeline of the events in the timeline.

Timeline:

0-6 seconds: A 1st person view of someone sitting in a car looking with the window wipers displaying names as they cross the screen. 

7-15 seconds: Scenery of a lake with items floating in and out of shot with names displayed on them.

16-22 seconds: A lake in the background with animated runners running on a tree branch being followed by beavers

Ending: More forest scenery and an animated gunman with runners going through the scope (pictured above)

Title tasks

As homework we were assigned the task of watching the title sequences of films and analyzing them. I researched the title sequence of 'The Krays'. This research will be very useful when we compose the titles in our film as I now know how they are shown and the standard required.

Title inspiration

Whilst watching a film, called Spike Island, produced by Bankside Films. I saw a way of incorporating titles into an opening sequence. I think that our film should start with the camera panning across, going up and down, a dark wall. Then during the editing process we could project names on the wall. This would be a good way to start as if we find the right wall we could finish it by having the drug dealer character standing under a lamp post.

Screenshot of the title inspiration 

Film certificate

As our film idea revolves around drugs and is a teen drama it is important that it could get a 15 certificate. After doing some research I found this: 'Drug taking may be shown but the film as a whole must not promote or encourage drug misuse.'

This means that fortunately our film would be accepted as the main message of the film is not to take drugs. This was important as if it was an 18 rated film and a teen drama it would have a very limited audience.

Class film pitch

Today we presented our chosen film pitch 'eZ Life' to our class and received feedback on it. Overall the response was that the idea was good. It was also said that the ending would create interest and had a good Enigma code. The main criticism we received was that there could be to many events to fit into an opening. To make sure this doesn't happen we will review the events as a group when producing the storyboard.

Production Diary

Day 1: Monday 10th November
Today we pitched our own individual film ideas. We then discussed each other's ideas and contributed to what we felt would improve or what we could do slightly differently. During this discussion we then choose the film idea which we felt would be different and something that has not been done before. We choose this film then gave our own ideas to try and improve and develop the idea. We used this as we felt some ideas would have been to hard to do. We felt as though if we contributed our own ideas and discussed them this would benefit the film itself. We choose Issak's film pitch idea, The eZ Life

Day 2: Tuesday 11th November

Today we Pitched our film, The eZ life to our fellow peers and teachers. We received mixed feedback with some really taking to the idea however some people found it as though to be too hard and that the party scene will need lots of shots in order to select and pick the best ones. However the actual idea was overall accepted and that this could work. The fact that it is something that is different and has never been done before was something that would be exciting. It is an unusual but clever film pitch. We did have one criticism which was later resolved. We classified the film as a 15 certificate however this was questioned by many of our peers as our film involves drugs however we resolved this issue and we were correct in thinking that our film arrived inside the 15.

Day 3: Thursday 13th November
Today we researched certain films which we felt as though would help us and give us some inspiration. I choose the film 21 and over. I choose this film as it is an age group at which our film is targeted at. Our actors are of similar age. Issak researched the film Zombieland. James researched the film, Zombeavers. We all picked different films and we collectively decided that this would see a wider range of film openings.

Day 4: Friday 14th November
Today we had to research different titles. We did this to try and get some inspiration and some thought as to be what our film title could look like. We also done this to see the timing of the titles and the fonts. This would overall help us in picking our title. We each done this separately and together we came back into a group to discuss various titles that we felt were good or what we could do for our own titles in our film opening.

Day 5: Monday 17th November
Today we had a group meeting and we allocated roles for the tasks that we had to do e.g. Storyboard, audience research, etc. We felt as though if we allocated this now that this would save us time as we know who is doing what. We allocated these tasks to what everyone felt comfortable with and what we felt as thought would work well the best. We also created a mood board of which gave us inspiration. We did this to give us an overall idea of the shots and the posters which we felt would help us. We choose similar genres and types of films so this would help us look at the shots for our particular film.

Day 6: Tuesday 18th November
Today I researched a similar genre film in which i researched various stats and information about the film which I thought would best suit our particular film. This film was Zombieland. This is similar to our film, with both including zombies. Issak researched different types of music for our film opening. Issak had to make sure that it was copyright free so therefore he researched and played different music's at which he felt would work best. James created a PowerPoint which was synopsis planning. James did this as a brief plan for the overall plan. We then had a group meeting at the end to make sure that we was all on track and we then spoke about what we had researched.

Day 7: Thursday 20th November
Today I created our production diary as we realised that we had to post this constantly up to date. James started the script for our film opening, whilst Issak started the storyboard.

Day 8: Friday 21st November
Today I researched film institutions in which we felt would distribute our film. James continued producing and making the script. Issak continued to create the storyboard. We discussed our various ideas for the script and storyboard so we all felt as thought the storyboard would be as close as it could towards out final shots that we want to take.

Day 9: Monday 24th November
Today I researched certain locations and got some recce shots in which our locations could be. Me and Issak also started to create the storyboard video. Once we completed this however we received some feedback and we realised that we had to introduce titles into the video. James started the marketing campaign presentation.

Day 10: Tuesday 25th November
Today Archie created our risk assessment for health and safety. I created  the marketing campaign PowerPoint whilst Issak continued to work on the storyboard.

Day 11: Thursday 27th November 
Today Archie planned the shooting schedule and together in a group meeting we decided what we would film. I finished the script by adding more detail to it and researched different font titles for the subjects dressed in our film. Issak continued to work on the storyboard by editing it.


Day 12: Friday 28th November 
Today we continued filming shots for our opening  and begun to edit on Adobe Premiere. Every shot that we wanted we did twice to make sure that we could focus on editing.

Day 13: Monday 1st December 
Today we continued to film various shots for the opening in the evening. Archie researched film institutions and chose one for us to use. I thought about the props we will need and made a checklist for the props we need.

Group film pitch

Today we pitched our own individual film ideas. We spent a long time discussing ideas and saying what we thought could be improved. After we had given feedback we decided that Issak's eZ Life would be the best idea to develop.

Archie Edmonds film pitch:

Issak's film pitch:



Individual film pitch

Today we created our indiviudal film pitch. All three of us in a group presented them to eachother and we chose the best one to use for our opening sequence. By doing it this way we shared our ideas efficiently.

Timeline of The eZ Life

Timeline for the first cut

Film opening evaluation

In class we were given a copy of the mark scheme for the opening sequence task and watched many opening sequences from our school and other schools. After watching them we had to decide what level that we thought they would achieve.



The Edge was the best film opening which I saw. A kid is walking around in a building being chased by two suited men. It works very well as an opening as it creates an interest without giving away a lot of the story. The best features of this film opening that I want to take inspiration from are:

•  Mise en scene (Specifically the costumes)

• The editing of names into the background

•  The acting

I think that The Edge deserves a high Level 4. This is because the idea was very simple but interesting to watch. The editing and the way that the titles were incorporated into the opening sequence was exceptional. I think The Edge deserves 55/60 the only thing preventing it from being 60 was that the the words used for titles were more suited to a TV show than a film.

A Schools Nightmare was an example of a more average opening sequence. A man is driving and hits a child. He decides to drive off with the image of the child still lingering in his mind. The opening took too long to get to the action and the scenes of walking were boring to watch. However having an adult as an actor made it more impressive and leaving such a momentous part to the end would create interest.

I think that A Schools Nightmare would be top Level 3 this is because the titles were added well and the editing was quite good. However the film idea was very poor and unoriginal. An opening sequence should be full of action to entice the audience and this didn't do that.

The Blitz was a historical drama set in WW2. The school hired out an old train station so the setting was outstanding for the film idea. Also the use of sound in The Blitz was exceptional an example being using one of Winston Churchill's speeches which instantly makes the audience aware of when the film was set. I think that the editing and use of sound are both things that we could learn from and try to use in our film.

Blitz could easily make it into level 4 because it is eye catching throughout and the use of props and setting is exceptional. I think that 57 marks would be fair for Blitz as there are very few ways it could be improved. 

Prezi

Self evaluation of prelim task

Self evaluation

I was put into a group with Issak Cook and Connor Healey. We had to choose a genre at random and we were assigned Romantic Comedy. Initially I thought we would struggle to think of a storyline and genre conventions as none of us actively watch films of that genre. However once we got together as a group and did some research we developed a storyline and characters. Issak and Connor were the two main characters featured and I filmed.

 As a group we produced a basic storyboard after deciding on an idea and then wrote the script from the storyboard. We also at various points reminded ourselves about the list of shots we had to include to make sure we didn't forget them. We wanted the story to be as funny as possible as we thought that was where our strengths were. We also tried hard to portray a romantic aspect to make the audience aware of the genre.

We used the school cameras to film our footage with the tripods for some of the clips. We also used Adobe Premiere Pro to edit all of our footage and sound and create effects to complete our final project.

 As a group we had to think very carefully about planning where to shoot the clips to ensure it fitted in with the genre within the school and under a short period of time. We wanted to use high key lighting to match the genre which didn't take much effort due to the conditions. It also took us a few shots to get used to being on camera and talking in an American accent. Editing was the area which I should have taken more consideration when planning the project as I underestimated both how long it would take and how hard it would be.

As a group I thought that our sequence went extremely well. The sequence told a story which was hard to do within two minutes. We filmed all of the clips we needed within the time period and the footage was of a high quality due to our choice of location. I thought the overall idea and acting was extremely funny and endearing. Whilst I think our genre was identifiable with hindsight I think we could have gone further in trying to make it more romantic to match the genre. Also in hindsight using a book as a prop and placing the script behind the book showed in the sequence and looked unprofessional.

The completion of this task has taught me two fundamental lessons one being to make huge considerations about the timing when completing tasks. As I did not complete my version in time which lead to it being rushed and substandard. Fortunately my mistake did not ruin it for the whole group as Connor produced an exceptionally edited sequence which was chosen as the one to represent the group. However in future projects this will not happen so I need to ensure my timing is more accurate.

The other huge mistake I made in this task was a lack of organisation especially when storing the footage on the computer. This lead to my sequence lasting for half of as long as it should have been and missing the conversation at the start which was imperative to tell the story. In future I will ensure that I take note of the cameras that we use and copy the files over straight away.