Any use of music in any films and or film trailers complies with 'Fair Dealing' under the 1988 Copyright Designs and Patents Act (UK), Sections 6(i) and 6(ii); Fair dealing is a term used to describe some limited activities that are allowed without infringing copyright. Briefly these are as follows:
Section 6
i. Research and private study
Copying parts of a literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work or of a typographical arrangement of a published edition for the purpose of research or private study is allowed under the following conditions:
· The copy is made for the purposes of research or private study.
· The copy is made for non-commercial purposes.
· The source of the material is acknowledged.
· The person making the copy does not make copies of the material available for a number of people.
ii Instruction or examination
Copying parts of a literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work or a sound recording, film or broadcast for the purpose of instruction or examination is allowed under the following conditions:
· The copying is done by the student or the person giving instruction.
· The copying is not done via a reprographic process.
· The source of the material is acknowledged.
· The instruction is for a non-commercial purpose.
Thursday 29 April 2010
Links to Google Documents for the Main Exercise Paperwork.
These are the links to all of the paper work for the Main Exercise coursework.
Summary Of Production Paper
Script
Codes And Conventions
Age Certificate - 15
Prop List
Main Exercise: “Opening Sequence from a new fiction film”
Initial Ideas
Group Roles
Location Ideas
Draft Script, Page 1
Draft Script, Page 2
Call Sheet, Page 1
Call Sheet, Page 2
S.W.O.T
Risk Assessment 1, Page 1
Risk Assessment 1, Page 2
Risk Assessment 2, Page 2
Summary Of Production Paper
Script
Codes And Conventions
Age Certificate - 15
Prop List
Main Exercise: “Opening Sequence from a new fiction film”
Initial Ideas
Group Roles
Location Ideas
Draft Script, Page 1
Draft Script, Page 2
Call Sheet, Page 1
Call Sheet, Page 2
S.W.O.T
Risk Assessment 1, Page 1
Risk Assessment 1, Page 2
Risk Assessment 2, Page 2
Main Exercise Evaluation
The filming of our main excursive was scheduled for the 17th of March 2010 on Grove Field at about 2:00pm. Prior to filming I met up with some of the people who were to be involved and pointed them towards the bus stop at Debenhams to meet with the rest of the production group and actors whilst I went to collect my brother from school as he was also to be involved.
We re-grouped with a couple of the others at Grove field and waited for Ash and Phil to arrive from Weymouth with the people they were bringing, lead by Deanna as the others weren’t familiar with Portland. Our initial reaction when seeing the weather conditions was of surprise as the whole field was covered in fog which really aided us in the filming of the main exercise. The fog allowed us to create more of an eerie atmosphere within the film and contrasted the Mise-en-Scene of the area. It also correlated with the conventions of a Zombie movie, which was really helpful. The fog also acted as a screen against people walking their dogs or crossing the field, so it seemed more deserted and we didn’t have to worry so much about continuity errors such as these.
Prior to the filming, myself and Deanna had gone into Weymouth town centre to get props, such as pale foundation and applicators for the zombies’ make up – so we could make them look as realistic as possible, red food colouring for the fake blood and ‘guts’ - again to add realism to our props.
Also before we began filming, Ash had created a tub of quite realistic ‘guts’ to be used in the short ‘gore’ scene we had intended to do using mince meat, syrup, water and the red food colouring that me and Deanna had bought. Following the BBFC Classifications we learned that for an audience of aged 15, the scene had to be quite short and there was to be no prolonged emphasis on the pain the character was in, as this is classed as torture and would have bumped our film up to an 18.
This is what the ‘guts' looked like in the end:
We encountered a couple of issues with this prop, as the mince was not completely cooked, so we ensured all of the people who would be handling it were aware of this and explicitly warned them not to get it in their mouths. This however did happen, but we had previously risk assessed this issue as a precaution and plenty of water was on site so they could wash their mouths out straight away to prevent anything going wrong. The other issue was that because we used food colouring, skin and clothes were stained. However, this wasn’t a particularly bad issue as the actors were told to wear old clothes and warned about the food colouring. I also researched effective ways to remove food colouring from skin, such as Fairy liquid and hot water, so this information was passed on and luckily it worked.
After all of the preparation work on the field, such as applying the zombies’ make up/fake blood etc, we began filming. We started with a test shot of the first frame on our storyboard, but when we went to watch it back the camera wouldn’t allow us to and the screen was just blank. We were confused by this as when the ‘record’ button was pressed the numbers on the screen ran as normal, which represents that the camera is filming. However, as we were unsure we decided to carry on recording because we felt it would have been a waste of the weather and people that were involved.
After attempting to upload the film from the camera and finding the tape completely blank, we rearranged filming for the 24th of March. Although we were very disappointed by the blank tape, we decided to look at the positives; we now knew the camera positions, shots, movement etc so filming would be quicker and more efficient and we could make it better than our previous attempt. (Filming however had to commence later than the previous session as I had to collect my brother from school, but had to wait until he had finished as oppose to taking him out at lunch like I had for the last time.)
The second attempt of filming went quite well, although I personally thought our first attempt was better. This was partly down to the weather conditions. As I mentioned before the weather was foggy and perfect for a zombie themed film, whereas this time the field was clear so we had to be extra careful of the public getting in the frames and have extra consideration of continuity errors. As the day went on, the weather also became quite dark and wet, so we had to also consider the equipment getting damaged so I ended up wrapping my scarf around the camera for the duration of the filming to prevent it getting wet. Also, where it was getting wetter the ground became slippier so hazards increased and we had to pre-warn people on each shot about the ground being uneven and potentially dangerous.
This said, the wet weather having an effect of the actors added to the pathetic fallacy theory of zombie films – bad weather = something bad is happening.
We also lost a couple of the original actors as they were unavailable for this date, so we had to quickly find replacements, who, as a side note were very good and co-operative.
Below are a few production stills from the filming day.
We re-grouped with a couple of the others at Grove field and waited for Ash and Phil to arrive from Weymouth with the people they were bringing, lead by Deanna as the others weren’t familiar with Portland. Our initial reaction when seeing the weather conditions was of surprise as the whole field was covered in fog which really aided us in the filming of the main exercise. The fog allowed us to create more of an eerie atmosphere within the film and contrasted the Mise-en-Scene of the area. It also correlated with the conventions of a Zombie movie, which was really helpful. The fog also acted as a screen against people walking their dogs or crossing the field, so it seemed more deserted and we didn’t have to worry so much about continuity errors such as these.
Prior to the filming, myself and Deanna had gone into Weymouth town centre to get props, such as pale foundation and applicators for the zombies’ make up – so we could make them look as realistic as possible, red food colouring for the fake blood and ‘guts’ - again to add realism to our props.
Also before we began filming, Ash had created a tub of quite realistic ‘guts’ to be used in the short ‘gore’ scene we had intended to do using mince meat, syrup, water and the red food colouring that me and Deanna had bought. Following the BBFC Classifications we learned that for an audience of aged 15, the scene had to be quite short and there was to be no prolonged emphasis on the pain the character was in, as this is classed as torture and would have bumped our film up to an 18.
This is what the ‘guts' looked like in the end:
We encountered a couple of issues with this prop, as the mince was not completely cooked, so we ensured all of the people who would be handling it were aware of this and explicitly warned them not to get it in their mouths. This however did happen, but we had previously risk assessed this issue as a precaution and plenty of water was on site so they could wash their mouths out straight away to prevent anything going wrong. The other issue was that because we used food colouring, skin and clothes were stained. However, this wasn’t a particularly bad issue as the actors were told to wear old clothes and warned about the food colouring. I also researched effective ways to remove food colouring from skin, such as Fairy liquid and hot water, so this information was passed on and luckily it worked.
After all of the preparation work on the field, such as applying the zombies’ make up/fake blood etc, we began filming. We started with a test shot of the first frame on our storyboard, but when we went to watch it back the camera wouldn’t allow us to and the screen was just blank. We were confused by this as when the ‘record’ button was pressed the numbers on the screen ran as normal, which represents that the camera is filming. However, as we were unsure we decided to carry on recording because we felt it would have been a waste of the weather and people that were involved.
After attempting to upload the film from the camera and finding the tape completely blank, we rearranged filming for the 24th of March. Although we were very disappointed by the blank tape, we decided to look at the positives; we now knew the camera positions, shots, movement etc so filming would be quicker and more efficient and we could make it better than our previous attempt. (Filming however had to commence later than the previous session as I had to collect my brother from school, but had to wait until he had finished as oppose to taking him out at lunch like I had for the last time.)
The second attempt of filming went quite well, although I personally thought our first attempt was better. This was partly down to the weather conditions. As I mentioned before the weather was foggy and perfect for a zombie themed film, whereas this time the field was clear so we had to be extra careful of the public getting in the frames and have extra consideration of continuity errors. As the day went on, the weather also became quite dark and wet, so we had to also consider the equipment getting damaged so I ended up wrapping my scarf around the camera for the duration of the filming to prevent it getting wet. Also, where it was getting wetter the ground became slippier so hazards increased and we had to pre-warn people on each shot about the ground being uneven and potentially dangerous.
This said, the wet weather having an effect of the actors added to the pathetic fallacy theory of zombie films – bad weather = something bad is happening.
We also lost a couple of the original actors as they were unavailable for this date, so we had to quickly find replacements, who, as a side note were very good and co-operative.
Below are a few production stills from the filming day.
1.
7.
8.
1. Preparing the camera for the second shot in the wooded area. People and zombies would be running past and through a gate onto the field.
2. Preparing for opening shot. In front, people who would run on first command. Behind, zombies who would run after the people on a second command, about 3 second gap between.
3. Third Shot, zombies running onto the field after the people. This shot was repeated a couple of times because of the slippy ground and people falling over.
4. Fourth Shot, zombies chasing humans across the field, with myself using hand held to film this.
5. Kayliegh Jarvis preparing for 'Gore' scene. To her left is the pot of ‘guts’ that the zombies will be ‘ripping out’ of her and ‘eating’. This shot had to go well because we could only have one take of it, so before hand we had a couple of run throughs.
6. Zombies have caught up with Kayliegh Jarvis who has fallen. She is then ‘ripped to pieces’. I film this at a canted angle to represent she has fallen.
7. This scene went as planned, the actors had fun doing this, and we ensured any meat or food colouring was washed off with water afterwards.
8. This is me preparing the camera for the ‘Low Shot Reverse Shot’ where the actors run past the camera. The scarf on the floor was wrapped around the camera when filming to prevent water damage.
All in all I thought this time round the filming went very well. Everyone worked well together even though spirits were dampened by the bad weather and coldness. The actors co-operated very well and were an extremely big help. We met all of the deadlines and the production team kept their roles well. I think it has been very successful and will be very good after we have edited it.
Thursday 22 April 2010
'The First Reflective Main Exercise Blog Entry Thing!'
The main exercise has started and already we are beginning to see just how different it is from the Preliminary exercise. Firstly this is because of the setting; a lot more risk assessment is needed as it is outdoors and things like the weather need to be taken into account. We also require more actors, so timing and availability needs to be considered. The Preliminary exercise was also a lot easier because we had a guideline for what we had to do, whereas with this exercise we have had to completely use our own imaginations to find something to do.
We have all been assigned roles already, quite similar to the roles we had in the previous project, Ash being the Director, Deanna assisting with producing and props, Phil helping with directing and editing and myself operating the camera and editing the final film. We can see already that we will have to put in a lot more work, effort and preparation for this exercise.
The specification states that we are to produce “the titles and opening of a new fiction film, to last a maximum of two minutes”, which already is proving quite difficult as many of our ideas for the clip reflected the aspects of a trailer for a film. We have realised just how close the line is between filming a trailer and opening sequence, and will have to thoroughly look at all the angles we will be going with this clip. All things considered, (i.e audiences, genres, our preferences etc) we have brainstormed our ideas and come to the conclusion that we are doing a ‘Zombie film’. This is original, new and fictional, which the brief states our film should be.
As a group we have researched into the codes and conventions of zombie films and checked that our ideas would be appropriate for a ‘15’ film audience. We used websites such as www.bbfc.co.uk to check what we were and were not allowed to include in our film, such as strong language and/or violence as the theme is horror and these things will generally be included within films of this genre. We have also spoken to a few friends who are willing to participate in the production of the film.
We used the following clips as inspiration for our ideas:
- 'Zombie Land'
- 'Land of the Dead'
- '28 Days later'
- 'Dawn of the dead'
- 'Shaun of the dead'
Although our ideas are moving along fast, the paperwork for this exercise is taking a lot longer that that of the Preliminary exercise. I think this is because we didn’t realise at the start just how much there was to consider, like risk assessment, which I mentioned earlier.
I think the main ‘stumbling points’ on the SWOT analysis will be as follows:
· Although Deanna and I live on Portland and know the areas quite well, Ash and Phil do not, and neither do some of our actors. Therefore travel and navigation of the area we are meeting in and the areas we will be filming in will be down to me and Deanna. Hopefully this will not affect our filming/meeting times.
· As we are filming outside, extensive risk assessment will need to be done on the area of filming. We will be using Grove field itself and the wooded/rocky areas surrounding it, so we will have to ensure everyone is aware of their surroundings and behaves appropriately.
· We are using an open area that the public use frequently throughout the day. So, we will have to be aware of people walking across the field and as we are including a ‘gory’ bit in the film, make sure it is done when there are no people around. In case people are concerned about this section of our film, I have informed a police officer of what we will be doing as a precaution to reports from the public, should any be made.
· Finally, we have to consider the weather, as it is unpredictable. We will check weather forecasts and take precautions should the weather be bad (i.e raincoats, unberellas to cover the equipment etc).
We intend to commence filming on the 17th March.
We have all been assigned roles already, quite similar to the roles we had in the previous project, Ash being the Director, Deanna assisting with producing and props, Phil helping with directing and editing and myself operating the camera and editing the final film. We can see already that we will have to put in a lot more work, effort and preparation for this exercise.
The specification states that we are to produce “the titles and opening of a new fiction film, to last a maximum of two minutes”, which already is proving quite difficult as many of our ideas for the clip reflected the aspects of a trailer for a film. We have realised just how close the line is between filming a trailer and opening sequence, and will have to thoroughly look at all the angles we will be going with this clip. All things considered, (i.e audiences, genres, our preferences etc) we have brainstormed our ideas and come to the conclusion that we are doing a ‘Zombie film’. This is original, new and fictional, which the brief states our film should be.
As a group we have researched into the codes and conventions of zombie films and checked that our ideas would be appropriate for a ‘15’ film audience. We used websites such as www.bbfc.co.uk to check what we were and were not allowed to include in our film, such as strong language and/or violence as the theme is horror and these things will generally be included within films of this genre. We have also spoken to a few friends who are willing to participate in the production of the film.
We used the following clips as inspiration for our ideas:
- 'Zombie Land'
- 'Land of the Dead'
- '28 Days later'
- 'Dawn of the dead'
- 'Shaun of the dead'
Although our ideas are moving along fast, the paperwork for this exercise is taking a lot longer that that of the Preliminary exercise. I think this is because we didn’t realise at the start just how much there was to consider, like risk assessment, which I mentioned earlier.
I think the main ‘stumbling points’ on the SWOT analysis will be as follows:
· Although Deanna and I live on Portland and know the areas quite well, Ash and Phil do not, and neither do some of our actors. Therefore travel and navigation of the area we are meeting in and the areas we will be filming in will be down to me and Deanna. Hopefully this will not affect our filming/meeting times.
· As we are filming outside, extensive risk assessment will need to be done on the area of filming. We will be using Grove field itself and the wooded/rocky areas surrounding it, so we will have to ensure everyone is aware of their surroundings and behaves appropriately.
· We are using an open area that the public use frequently throughout the day. So, we will have to be aware of people walking across the field and as we are including a ‘gory’ bit in the film, make sure it is done when there are no people around. In case people are concerned about this section of our film, I have informed a police officer of what we will be doing as a precaution to reports from the public, should any be made.
· Finally, we have to consider the weather, as it is unpredictable. We will check weather forecasts and take precautions should the weather be bad (i.e raincoats, unberellas to cover the equipment etc).
We intend to commence filming on the 17th March.
"Filming and Editing the Preliminary Exercise"
The filming of our preliminary exercise ran smoothly; the actors/actresses arrived on time, the rooms were risk assessed and ready for use and the props were also available. The only problem we had on that front was a communication error which prevented us from getting in contact with a group member, resulting in her not taking part in the filming. We decided to continue with the filming as planned as we had everything we needed ready for use, including people who had given up their spare time to help us out.
Everyone in the group stuck to their roles; Ash Stewart was director and kept everything organised, exampling the shots and scenes to the actors/actresses and ensuring the film would be successful. I operated the camera, making sure the angles and lighting were correct for the shots and also the genre of the clip. If the lighting were too bright, it wouldn’t have fit as well as an atmosphere of suspense was what we were looking for.
The mistakes we made were avoidable, i.e Deanna not being present and also a technical error with the camera (our camera was set differently so the sections we filmed ran as one whole clip as oppose to the different sections cut apart from each other) but our tutor reassured us by reminding us that the preliminary exercise is more of a learning curve, which we can use as a basis for improvement on our main exercise.
We are also aware that the acting standard was not essential to the examiner, so greater attention was paid to the camera work. We stuck to our storyboard and script, which didn’t contain much dialogue, to make sure we would obtain the best marks possible.
Before filming I went onto Youtube and researched clips from hospital based programmes such as ‘Holby City’ and ‘Casualty’ and we found this clip: Research Link which shows a man entering a room, crossing it, sitting down and exchanging dialogue with another character. The clip links directly to our task; “Continuity task involving filming and editing a character opening a door, crossing a room and sitting down in a chair opposite another character, with whom she/he then exchanges a couple of lines of dialogue".
Although we stuck to our storyboard as closely as possible, there were a couple of instances when we felt the need to alter either the shot type or the actions made by the actors/actresses for a more realistic, continuous look. For example, we changed a Mid-shot to a Close up between shots 11 and 12 for a Pan between the two characters so that we could also see the ‘Mental patient’ in the background. This Pan also gave us a sense of authority as the Doctor asked the questions, making her more important, and the Man answered them, showing that he was lower down in status. The Mental patient in the background was at a lower eye level than the Doctor and the Man, again suggesting that he is lower down in status.
Linking to part A of the exam, we took all aspects into account, such as Mise-en-scene. In Tv Drama, props are important. So, we obtained lab coats and clip boards for the Doctor and the Man and a straight jacket for the Mental Patient to add some realism to the clip. We also added a ‘heartbeat monitor’ t the rooom where the Doctor was sat, by finding a clip on youtube that showed a heartbeat monitor and having running on a computer screen when we were filming.
The biggest flaw we came across when editing was the actual clip itself, which was meant to be cut into separate frames when we were filming so we could name the clips individually and link them closer to the storyboard. However, when we uploaded the film it was as one continuous clip so we had to copy and paste the whole clip over and over, and cut it up from there to find the right parts and link them up correctly so it was continuous. We will consider this in the main exercise and ensure that the camera is set to cut the separate frames up so we don’t have this problem again.
The music we used was non-copyrighted and we found it in the library. We sifted through the albums that we thought would most fit our piece and as a group decided on the track we used.
Everyone in the group stuck to their roles; Ash Stewart was director and kept everything organised, exampling the shots and scenes to the actors/actresses and ensuring the film would be successful. I operated the camera, making sure the angles and lighting were correct for the shots and also the genre of the clip. If the lighting were too bright, it wouldn’t have fit as well as an atmosphere of suspense was what we were looking for.
The mistakes we made were avoidable, i.e Deanna not being present and also a technical error with the camera (our camera was set differently so the sections we filmed ran as one whole clip as oppose to the different sections cut apart from each other) but our tutor reassured us by reminding us that the preliminary exercise is more of a learning curve, which we can use as a basis for improvement on our main exercise.
We are also aware that the acting standard was not essential to the examiner, so greater attention was paid to the camera work. We stuck to our storyboard and script, which didn’t contain much dialogue, to make sure we would obtain the best marks possible.
Before filming I went onto Youtube and researched clips from hospital based programmes such as ‘Holby City’ and ‘Casualty’ and we found this clip: Research Link which shows a man entering a room, crossing it, sitting down and exchanging dialogue with another character. The clip links directly to our task; “Continuity task involving filming and editing a character opening a door, crossing a room and sitting down in a chair opposite another character, with whom she/he then exchanges a couple of lines of dialogue".
Although we stuck to our storyboard as closely as possible, there were a couple of instances when we felt the need to alter either the shot type or the actions made by the actors/actresses for a more realistic, continuous look. For example, we changed a Mid-shot to a Close up between shots 11 and 12 for a Pan between the two characters so that we could also see the ‘Mental patient’ in the background. This Pan also gave us a sense of authority as the Doctor asked the questions, making her more important, and the Man answered them, showing that he was lower down in status. The Mental patient in the background was at a lower eye level than the Doctor and the Man, again suggesting that he is lower down in status.
Linking to part A of the exam, we took all aspects into account, such as Mise-en-scene. In Tv Drama, props are important. So, we obtained lab coats and clip boards for the Doctor and the Man and a straight jacket for the Mental Patient to add some realism to the clip. We also added a ‘heartbeat monitor’ t the rooom where the Doctor was sat, by finding a clip on youtube that showed a heartbeat monitor and having running on a computer screen when we were filming.
The biggest flaw we came across when editing was the actual clip itself, which was meant to be cut into separate frames when we were filming so we could name the clips individually and link them closer to the storyboard. However, when we uploaded the film it was as one continuous clip so we had to copy and paste the whole clip over and over, and cut it up from there to find the right parts and link them up correctly so it was continuous. We will consider this in the main exercise and ensure that the camera is set to cut the separate frames up so we don’t have this problem again.
The music we used was non-copyrighted and we found it in the library. We sifted through the albums that we thought would most fit our piece and as a group decided on the track we used.
Monday 25 January 2010
First skills audit for the G321 Foundation Production.
My role withtin the group was to operate the camera and then edit the film when it was done. I also contributed to the script, both spoken and technical, and found us an actor to play the 'mental patient'.
My first impressions of facing the coursework were good. I thought it sounded very fun and was excited to put the things we'd learnt into practice. I liked how we could be very creative with our ideas and that the specification/outline wasn't too closed so we could play around with our ideas.
I was a bit concerned about the timeframe, as within our group we had to work out when we would all be available to actually film the piece.
At the moment my skills are at a good level. I have researched dramas similar to our own piece by watching scenes and finding shots/camera angles that resemble what we will be using in our piece. On the practical side, I will be operating the camera and editing the final peice. We have risk assessed all of the rooms and the corridor and have actors/actresses to play our doctors and mental patient. I also got a straight jacket for the mental patient to wear.
To improve my skills i could have re-read all of my notes to confirm the shots and angles i'd be using.
My first impressions of facing the coursework were good. I thought it sounded very fun and was excited to put the things we'd learnt into practice. I liked how we could be very creative with our ideas and that the specification/outline wasn't too closed so we could play around with our ideas.
I was a bit concerned about the timeframe, as within our group we had to work out when we would all be available to actually film the piece.
At the moment my skills are at a good level. I have researched dramas similar to our own piece by watching scenes and finding shots/camera angles that resemble what we will be using in our piece. On the practical side, I will be operating the camera and editing the final peice. We have risk assessed all of the rooms and the corridor and have actors/actresses to play our doctors and mental patient. I also got a straight jacket for the mental patient to wear.
To improve my skills i could have re-read all of my notes to confirm the shots and angles i'd be using.
Monday 23 November 2009
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