2. Week 1-3
My initial thoughts and feelings towards writing my proposal was initially one of nervousness. The reason I think this was the case is because the scope of this project is so
much bigger and will be so much more challenging then what I have taken on before. At this point all of my ideas are not completely fleshed out so I'm unsure of how it will
look once it is written down on paper. However the thought has also occurred to me that it might actually help me as I could look at things from a different perspective and
see what works and what doesn't then change things accordingly. Doing this will also give me time to thing of new ideas that I could incorporate into my project improving it
until I get a final idea of the exact plot details of my film and how I want to execute these ideas and bring them to life on screen. At this stage of the project I don't believe I
can proceed without a substantial amount of research into various elements. In this project I will be pulling together all of the various skills and knowledge that I have
learned throughout nearly two years on this course however I want to take it a step further and attempt things such as new techniques and skills that I have never used
before. These techniques and skills are things that I need to research. Another thing I need to research is the genre. I have never really worked in the Science Fiction genre
before so It will be entirely new experience for me. One genre I have worked in before is horror and I will be pulling elements of this genre and mixing it with the newer Sci-
Fi elements. Despite this it is these newer elements I don't have any experience with so it requires research.
I need to look at conventions of the Sci-Fi genre as well as specific filming techniques and cliché's that are used. One thing that would be useful would be to look at certain
characteristics and information about the market of Sci –Fi films as well as the type of person that would be likely to watch a film like mine. This would help me to tailor
certain elements of my production towards these people which would help increase my films appeal to a potential audience. At this stage I think the work I have done on
my proposal is sufficient however the document is still incomplete. The reason I have left it this way is because I am still uncertain about some elements of my film that I
should be more specific about. For example I am still unable to decide whether I want to produce a TV miniseries or a short film. I need to wait until I've done sufficient
research into what format is best until I decide for certain. Once I have done this I will go back and edit my proposal. As previously stated I am aware of certain changes I
need to make to my proposal in order to be more specific on the format and direction this project will take. I also need to locate more potential sources of information that I
could use for research so that I can complete my proposal bibliography. One final improvement I need to make is that whilst I have provided an early plot summary on my
proposal I should perhaps remove it and be less specific since the plot could change slightly as I do more research. I will provide a basic outline in my proposal saving the
full summary for my research or Production planning documents.
So far from my research I have learned about my potential target audience and there thoughts and opinions on different plot elements and themes that I will be
incorporating into my film. I did this through the use of a survey that I had random people answer. I then collected and summarized these results. I found this extremely
helpful as the overall response to the ideas I've had for my project was overwhelmingly positive. This gives me much more confidence to progress with this project now that
I'm not worried about having to make any severe changes. I can now go back and be more specific with my proposal document. One thing I did look at is similar existing
products in the genre I am working with as well as ones that use the theme of Artificial Intelligence like mine does. This was helpful as I am able to take inspiration for
certain elements while learning about things such as cliché's that I should avoid. I will need to do more research into certain production techniques that I will need to know
for this production. This includes things like professional cinematography skills, editing, pholey and other sound techniques etc...
3. The majority of this research has been into the styles, themes and conventions of the genre I will be working in. The rest of it has
been for me to learn about new skills that I haven't used before in order for me to make this project as higher quality as I can make it
so that It stands out my my previous ones. Specifically I will be taking into acount peoples opinions and thoughts on the topic of my
film as well as the majority of the technical research as well. Especially the stuff I have done on cinematography as that is something
I will be focusing a lot on in this production. My research has definitely changed how I will approach my project as through my survey
I now have a better idea of who my audience is and what appeals to them I can now tailor my project accordingly. This also links in
with my market research as I looked at how people like to consume content which will directly effect the format of my film. It has also
changed my aproach towards the basic plot. After doing this research I have come to believe that the plot is two complex and needs
to be simplified to make it more understandable as well as manageable in the timeframe that I have to work with. It has highlighted
many problems that I will need to solve. One of the main issues is casting. Choosing the right cast to play these characters
convincingly is going to be a challenge as the way the plot and the situations that these characters are in is constructed makes it no
easy task. Other issues I need to find solutions to are things like logistical problems in moving and operating equipment I havn't used
before. Other issues are methods of creating certain types of visual effects that I have no experience in making.
I think the most successful part of my research so far is definitely my market research and my research into different production techniques. The
reason I say this is because it is the most detailed part of my research. With the audience survey and interviews I was limited by the amount of
people that actually answered it. Annoyingly despite me chasing numerous people up only one person actually bothered to answer my target
audience interview segment which was extremely frustrating as I wanted more personal answers from like minded peers on the themes and plot
elements of my project. With my market and technical research I had access to a vast amount of sources of which to collect information from
which helped me build up a very comprehensive list of things that will help me and the core elements of my production a lot. Specifically this
was information on the current market for films of this genre and these themes and the most popular ways these films were distributed to the
world. As previously stated I was also able to learn a lot on different production techniques that I have not used before so that I will be able to
produce a high quality piece that stands out from the stuff I have done before.
4. Week 4
To start off with I have made good progress on my problem solving. I have identified several issues that I may encounter and have begun to list down how I
might go about solving these issues. I split them into two categories, the first was technical and practical the second was theoretical and creative. This is
not intended to be in place of a contingency plan this is just intended to address specific issues that are relevant to my project. Some of the problems I
looked at were the issue of outdoor filming, transport for actors, finance as well as crew and cast dynamic/ human factor. These problems fell into the
theoretical and creative category. For technical and practical issues, I attempted to solve the issue of things like data storage, actor logistics, filming
locations, software cost, audio effects and the demands that filming in 4K at 60 fps require. I was able to propose immediate solutions for 3 of these issues.
These issue's being software cost, data storage and the demands of filming in 4k at 60. To solve the issue of data storage I own numerous SD cards, USB pen
drives and large capacity external hard drives. The issue of software cost is solved by my ability to get it at a student discount or should I need to use the
college computers that have most of the software I need pre installed. The demands of 4k at 60 filming will be somewhat more complicated to solve as it
directly effects the other issue of software cost. I may be forced to pay for the software so that I can edit on my own laptop which is capable of handling the
4k at 60 video whilst the college iMacs may not be.
I wouldn't say that the initial problem solving has influenced my project in a way that would require me to make any big changes. I say this because the
issues that came to light during my research phase I have largly been able to solve so that they won't be much of a problem. The other ones that I didn’t
have solutions for were production time and schedule and finance. The reason I couldn’t work out solutions for these is because they are very specific
elements of production that can be very unpredictable. Because of this I will come back to this at a later stage of production once I have a better idea of
what the effects of these things will be. This will allow me to propose a better solution for when I need it. In the event I cannot find a better solution then
that may mean that it will be neccasary to make some changes however the feasability of that during that stage remains to be seen. One thing that will
help me to solve potential problems are production experiments. If I can take time to attempt tasks that require solutions before those tasks need to be
done in the production then the solution may present itself in the moment. I would then be able to apply it at a later date should I need to.
I am nearly ready to start planning as my research is up to date however, I will be continuously be improving my research and adding to it throughout my
project. I will do the same to my problem solving once solutions to certain issues present themselves. I will make sure to log these in my weekly reflections.
My website is up to date and as for my to do list I need to check through my existing practitioners work and make sure it is ready to upload to my website. I
feel that so far I have been good at solving predicable problems that have come up for this production. One thing I pride myself on is my ability to use my
own intitative to solve problems in the moment they present themselves. This has happened before on past projects. Despite this I try not to rely on this
two much as it is always best to plan ahead first so that things go smoothly.
5. Week 5
So far this week we have begun our planning and pre-production documents as well as finishing of our problem-solving work. To start off with I began work on some concept art for my
film. I experimented with different effects on photoshop in order to achieve the effect that I want to use on a future poster for my film. From doing this I was able to easily define the
visual style of my production. This visual style will also be reflected when I am designing things like the title sequence to my film. For my problem-solving task I have begun to put in
place several contingencies and backup options should I need them. Specifically, I have proposed solutions to certain issues that I may encounter such as location issues like weather,
members of the public and local permission. Another example of issues I may encounter are things like logistical problems with either carrying equipment to certain locations or in
terms of transport and organization for other people. I still need to organize some elements that are more specific to production such as filming locations, cast members, script as well
as specific equipment needs.
When it comes to planning, I think I’m relatively good at it. I know from my previous projects that I can plan something and successfully execute it as well as relying on my contingency's
when I need to. I think the most difficult part of the planning will be working out a schedule and making sure I stick to it as does everyone else the reason I say this is because on this
project I will be working with a much bigger cast and crew then I have ever done before. This means it will be a lot more difficult in terms of organization and logistics as if other people
are unable to stick to the schedule than that could significantly delay my production. I also began work on the initial documentation for my film such as my script as well as my
storyboards. Scriptwriting can be slow and difficult at the best of times due to things like writers block. Unfortunatly mid way through the week I suffered a dead external hard drive
which my script was located on. Annoyingly I neglected to back it up and that meant I was set back by at least a week having to re write what I had lost. Needless to say I have learned
from the experience and I now make sure that I back up my work so that something like this doesn’t happen again. One of the major planning issues I need to work on is my casting. This
is extremly important and must be done within the next 2 weeks as I need to give my actors time to learn their lines and get to know their characters. I would like to give them a
minimum of a week if possible. Therefore my main priority is to finish of my script and start looking for who to cast. A secondry priority is for me to figure out the logistics of the
production such as were we are going to film, when and how we will get the equipment there.
I would say I am ok at planning. An example were I would say I have been the best in that regard has to be for my year one FMP or my client project. The reason I say this is because
during the time of my year one FMP I had almost an entire academic year of 4 projects and the experience that comes along with it behind me. Therefore (like I am doing this year) I was
able to pull all my knowledge together so that the work I did there was probably the best of that year and that includes the planning as everything went smoothly during the run of that
project. The project we did coming back after the summer was in my opinion of a lesser standard to the one I did in september because after having 2 month of I was very rusty and it
took a while to get back into the swing of things. It definatly did pick up again for the following project as we had to work with a client and that involved me reaching out to them and
involving myself in a real working enviroment in a public place. This required maticulous planning on my part so that I didn’t disrupt the client during their normal working day and to
make sure all the legalities were correct. I would say the hardest part of planning for me is definatly when it comes to doing things like shot lists and health and safety risk assessments.
Whilst they are very important I just find them very tedious especially since it involves a lot of typing for a very long time. Therefore I often find myself either of task or getting
sidetracked with other things.
My website is relatively up to date. Currently it is only missing my problem-solving document as I am still working on it however it should be uploaded soon. My research document is
already uploaded however it will be further updated as the project progresses. On my to do list I have to finish of my problem-solving document, make sure all my weekly diaries are up
to date and finished, finish writing my script and continue the work on my pre-production planning document.
6. Week 6-7-8
At this stage I am now finishing my planning document. This means that I have organized the majority of the crucial parts of my production so that If we were to start filming next week I
could conceivably do that without any problems. This doesn't mean I don't expect any problems to arise however and that is were my problem solving document will come in handy. One
thing that I would say has definitely worked well in my planning has been my production experiments as I have used them to try techniques and equipment that I have no previous
experience in. This means that when I begin filming this week or next I will know how to successfully operate the camera and the other equipment I've never used before. This could save a
lot of time during the actual filming day as I won't be wasting time trying to figure out how everything works when instead we should be filming. There is also another aspect to that in that
some of the more expensive equipment such as the Cannon C100 requires assembly once unpacked. The way it goes together is very specific and if it is attempted in an incorrect way or if
too much force is used the camera could brake. Therefore knowing how to do it properly is very crucial. I have managed to mostly find a suitable cast for my film. The only issue I have with
that is the voice actress that will play C.A.L.L.I as I don't feel she is the right person for the job. I say this because when we were doing the production experiments and I was recording
some early dialogue then adding audio effects to it she didn't really have the right intonation or voice acting ability to correctly portray the character. This is extremely frustrating as I in my
view this will make or brake the production. At this point I am running out of options fast. If I cannot find a solution for this In the next two weeks then I may ask my mother who has
experience with voice acting and has a drama degree if she could portray the character. I also still need to work on my contingency planning, health and safety information and my shot list
before I start shooting.
One thing I think will help a lot is my production schedule. The reason I say this is because on previous projects this has been something that has helped me immensely before when it
comes to staying on task and on schedule over the weeks of the production. I think this is because If I have a set goal each week it really brings home the amount of work I have to do in
order to complete the project. If I can see it laid out like this then it is really motivational as I know that If I don’t achieve these goals it is going to be extremely difficult to catch up again in
the amount of time I have left. I think it would be helpful if I were to review my planning every week during production. Therefore I will be able to remind myself of certain ways of doing
things or other plans that I have laid out for myself to use during this project. It will also be good if I could go back each week and improve my planning as well so that I can add bits to it
that I may have overlooked and have come to light during production. This will be helpful to also log during my weekly reflections and my evaluation as I can talk about why I think I
neglected this? How it affected production? And what I can do to improve? I've defiantly had things go wrong because of poor planning before. These would usually be simple things that
whilst not serious enough to severely effect the production became extremely annoying and frustrating to deal with. Mainly because I was frustrated at myself for allowing it to happen.
These include things like forgetting to book the studio or equipment when I needed it so that when I it was unavailable. One time during a media project in high school I had asked
someone to help me film something on a specific day however I neglected to press them into checking there timetable to see if they were available. They weren't and I was left without help
when I needed it. This could Have been avoided if I had asked them to check because then I would have known they weren't and I would have been able to organize something else.
I don't think anything could go wrong just yet because of poor planning simply because I am not yet at that crucial production phase. I think once I am I may start to see gaps in my
planning that could cause problems. I think the most likely thing that could go wrong is organisational and logistical things. The reason I say this is because in my experience whilst you can
plan for these things you can never truly predict what events will transpire on the day and how people will react. This is why it is extremyl important to have a contingency plan that you can
add to when something new crops up. That way in future project you can take alook at your plan from last time and use it as a base model to improve upon each time making it more and
more foolproof. The thing I would say I have learned the most during this planning stage is how to manage other people. This is because whilst I have had to manage other people in
prevous projects it has only usually been one person that is playing a character. I then have to manage myself as I am usually playing the leading role. This time I am not playing any
characters other then a narrator which just requires a voice recording session. This means that I am relying mostly on others to play the characters and this project has the largest cast I
have ever worked with so it requires maticulous micromanagement in order to make sure that people will be were they need to be and on time. At the same time I've also learned to take a
step back and let other use there own intuition which can sometimes have a positive effect as I have before fallen into the trap of being too controlling and pestering people too much. This
knowledge will be very applicable when it comes to actually directing my film as that involves utalising many of the same interpersonal and organisation skills that I have learned.
7. Week 9 -Production Diary
This was the first week that I was able to start filming. On the Tuesday I filmed all of act 1 and 2 that I could using a Go Pro and the Cannon C100. One of the big things about this project for me was using the
C100 over one of the standard DSLR Cameras that the college has. My reasoning for this was because I wanted the video footage to be very high quality in order to demonstrate that throughout my time at
college the videos, I have produced have continuously got better. I also wanted the challenge of using a more complex camera and the subsequent learning that comes with it. My reasoning for using a Go
Pro was because I needed a way to get some POV shots in my film. A Go Pro with a head mount on my actors seemed like the natural way of doing this. Initially I was worried about how different the
footage on the Go Pro would be from the footage on the C100 and whether it would clash badly. Fortunately, this turned out not to be the case due to how the footage is incorporated in the script and the
visual effects that are also applied over it. Whilst it does look a bit different and the Go Pro is obviously lower quality then the C100 I think it works in the context of the film. The actualy filming day went
smoothly with no major problems affecting us. This may have been helped by the fact that there was only two of us that day, me and Andreas. I think my choice to film mid day to early afternoon on a
tuesday was the right one as the streets were very quiet since most people were at school or work. This meant that we could film outside with minimal interuption. It also meant it was easier to keep
continuity throughout different scenes as there was a minimal change in the environment as we were filming.
I was initially worried that we would have a major problem with filming outside as the weather was initially rainy. If we had tried to film outside in the rain it would have damaged the equipment. So we
decided to film the indoor scenes first. Because it was raining the natural light was very poor. To solve this I used a floor lamp from the living room and found a white LED bulb which I put into it effectively
turning it into a softbox. This worked in some scenes and didn't work in others however If I hadn't of come up with this solution then some of the scenes would have definatly been to dark for me to use.
Fortunatly the rain cleared up and the sun came out so we were able to go film outside. This I was extremly glad for as some of the most important scenes are set outside and had I not been able to film that
day we would have had to come back another day which would have been difficult for Andreas to manage as he was extremly busy. On the subject of Andreas I think my choice to cast him as the lead
character was definatly the right one as he did a fantastic job of dealing with the challenges that come with the role. His acting ability did fall short in some places as he is struggling not to smile in some
areas and some of his lines could have been delivered with a bit more colour. Despite this I still think he did a very good job. One thing we made sure to do was to note down what he was wearing so that he
could put on the same clothes on the following thursday to film the rest of the scenes. It was extremly important that he did this as it maintains continuity.
Using a floor lamp with a white LED bulb as a
softbox.
The following thursday was probably the most complicated of the filming dates. The reason for this was because I was filming with the full cast and so I had to
organise them as well as direct. This is were I struggled and I think I could definatly have been better organised. An example of this was when we were filming
a scene downstairs with the Cannon there was a following scene we needed to film with the Go Pro but I had acidently left it upstairs in the classroom and I
had to send someone to get it. This slowed things down a lot and likely frustrated some of the other cast members as we were essentially stuck waiting whilst
the other person went to retrieve the Go Pro. This was definatly an example of my poor planning and is something I definatly don’t want a repeat of in the
future. I think next time I will need to look at what went wrong here and rethink my planning and organisational methods to avoid such issue's happening
again. One thing I think was probably a factor was time pressure. This probably caused me to get stressed and forget about things. Next time I will be taking
this into consideration when I do a project like this in the future. One unexpected solution to a problem I had did present itself. The problem of who to cast as
the voice of C.A.L.L.I was solved when a friend of Andreas, Sydney Read-Measures sat in completely by chance on one of our shoots with Andreas's character
by himself in the classroom. Andreas was having trouble getting the tone of the scene correct as he had no one to play of with the dialogue. So Sydney (of her
own accord) picked up the script and started reading the lines of the script to help him. I was amazed at how quickly she embodied the character instinctivly.
Her delivery of the lines was perfect and was exactly what I had been looking for and at that point I had resigned my self to the possible fact that I may not find
that person. I asked her if she would take on the role properly. She agreed and I sent her the full script so she could practice and I began to go about getting a
sound studio booked so we could record the lines.
Looking back I realize now how important the casting of C.A.L.L.I was as the voice actresses ability to convincingly portray the character would make or brake
the project as it was such a crucial role. I regret now being so resigned to the fact that I may not find the right person to play the character and It will definatly
be something I try harder on in the future. Perhaps In any future projects I should actually hold auditions for roles as that could significantly increase my
chances of finding the right person. I do think had I have thought to do that much earlier on in this project I would have struggled to organize it because of the
limited time available and the logistics of it. However it is an endeavor I am willing to attempt on any future projects I embark on.
8. Week 10
The previous week I had finally found a suitable voice actor to play C.A.L.L.I. This meant that I was able to book a recording studio and necessary equipment and record the lines. Once we
had done that, I was able to make significant progression in editing my film as not having those lines was becoming a major holdup. The main reason for this is because my main character
must have conversations with C.A.L.L.I and because the lines for that character weren't recorded the scenes didn’t make much sense as it appeared the character was just talking to
themselves. Simultaneously I also recorded some voice over lines for my main character Fin as due to my lack of experience using the audio systems on the C100 some audio from the clips I
recorded didn’t turn out very well. This also gives me the ability to change some dialogue if I need to provide it is in a scene where you can’t see the characters mouth moving. When I was
doing some production experiments due to logistical reasons, I was unable to use the cannon C100 for these. If I had then I might have had a better idea of how to operate the camera
which wouldn’t have caused me these issues. This is something I have learned from and will certainly take into account in future productions.
This is turning out to be a very complex project due to all the different elements in Premier and effects layers I am working with. This is something I have talked about in previous projects
and in my evaluations, I have said that I want my next projects to hopefully be simpler to work on whilst being an improvement on the last one. By this point I have learned that if I want my
latest project to exceed the scope of my last one then naturally it will be more complex. This is leading to a lot of stress with this project as I am worried about being able to finish it in the
time I have remaining. This has meant I have also purchased Premier for use on my pc at home so that if I need to, I can work on it in my own time then combine the two sequences
together later to create the final project. Last week we also had a chance to view our early draft edits on a big projector screen in the lecture theatre. This proved to be a necessary eye
opener as I have discovered several issues with the production that I wouldn’t have noticed otherwise or at least not until it was too late to fix it. The most notable of these issues was the
aspect ratio. In this project I have been working with a 2:39:1 anamorphic setup in Premier as I wanted my film to be as cinematic as I could possibly make it. For some reason this aspect
ratio when viewed on a projector made the image appear slightly stretched. This effect is either not prevalent or noticeable when viewed on the Mac display both in the editing timeline or
in a desktop video player. I’m not sure if this is an issue with the projector or not. In order to find this out I will view the draft edit on other displays of different sizes such as the TV’s/
computer monitors at home and see if the issue is still there, If it is then I know it is a problem with the sequence setup in Premier and then I can change it. If it isn’t then I know that is a
fault with the projector and can work out how to solve that if necessary.
The first sequence of my film that I started to edit was the part during the 2nd act were C.A.L.L.I activates and the HUD appears on the
screen. The reason for this is because it was these elements of the project I was the most worried about as they appeared to be the most
complicated. Sourcing the effects was extremely difficult as I originally wanted to try and make something myself in photoshop however
everything I tried ended up looking very cartoonish, fake and I didn't have the ability to correctly animate it. I then knew that If I wanted it
to look realistic and professional then I would be forced to search for existing VFX templates on YouTube that I could overlay onto my
footage. I think If I had more time I would have been able to eventually produce the VFX myself from scratch however that would mean
spending hours of class time brushing up on my After Effects skills when I really needed to be editing my film. Finding the correct style and
type of graphics that would realistically suit the scene and production was difficult and I spent a lot of my own spare time scouring YouTube
or other video making websites for the correct type of effects. Eventually I was able to find some effects that were suitable for the scene.
Some of them were already animated. The next issue was finding futuristic U.I. sound effects that would accompany the HUD graphics on
screen. I eventually found a very useful website called Premium beat which were offering a sound pack of 29 futuristic interface sound
effects for free. I downloaded it and I found that some of these sound effects fit perfectly. One sound effect I did use that wasn't included in
the sound pack was the Steam software Notification sound effect. The reason I used this sound is because I had heard it when using steam
and I found it a really satisfying noise so I decided so use it in my production. The same sound effect has also been used for the same
purpose in various other films most notably Iron Man (2008) from which came my main inspiration for the character of C.A.L.L.I.
9. Week 11-12
The following two weeks consisted of me beginning to work on the opening titles of my film. These titles were one of the first things I devised for my film. They consist of an opening
narration accompanied by text on screen and footage to represent what is being said. I had always intended for the footage to be stock footage in order to show real life objects and events.
An example of this would be when the narration goes on to talk about how we have fought wars and innovated, you see clips of the 1st world war then shots of Afghanistan. It then cuts to
the space shuttle launching and then a clip of Steve Jobs unvailing the original iPhone to represent innovation. My rationale for doing this is because I wanted the opening sequance to be
really profound and talk about human evolution. This is because the brain chip me character has implanted is advertised within the film as being the next step in human evolution.
This also links into some of the deeper meanings I want to include in my film. The film is set 10 years in the future. This was done deliberatly so that things would seem familier but not two
different and yet enough time has realistically passed for the technology shown to be developed. I want my audience to question what it means to be human especially since that within the
context of my film we have bridged the gap between technology and biology. One thing that this scene needed in order to complete it was a suitable soundtrack. Since it was supposed to
be very profound It needed to be calm and mysterious. After looking around I found the perfect track online that was royalty/copyright free making it perfect for me to use. Once I had the
soundtrack imported I could begin to edit certain elements of my film around it such as having the text appear on screen in time to the music.
Originally this whole first scene was a lot longer and included a backstory as to why my character ended up getting the brain chip implaneted. I decided that in actual fact it didn't matter
and that not only to simplify the plot but also remove some scenes that wearn't very good I would have to cut this material out and introduce the character as having already had the chip
implanted. I then decided to have the openign narration continue as if it was adressing the character directly as it congradulated him on his purchase of the implant. However I deliberatly
made sure that the narrator never said his name making it sound like he could have been adressing the audience as well. I thought this was an extremly good way of making the audience
feel like they were the character which hopefully allowed them to connect with his emotions more. Looking back I think this was a really clever move and that the film is definatly better of
for it. One other benefit is that it increases the pace of the film and also shortens to runtime which will definatly help me keep peoples attention spans for longer. That being said doing this
does make me wish I'd have utalised the Go Pro abit more as this would've allowed me to put the audience in the characters shoes more. It would be interesting to see how this project
would turn out if the entire thing was filmed POV style.
10. Week 13
This week I began to edit the final act of my film. This was probably one of the most challenging parts of editing as this was the climax of the film and so the buildup and tension had to build
up in a big way. One method of creating tension throughout these scenes that I attempted to utilize was the rule of thirds. You can see this in two of the screenshots below as the subject of
the shot is always slightly of centered. I also attempted to create tension through the use of sounds. One thing I have researched before but never used is the idea of fear frequancies. That
is the theory that certain sound frequancies generate feelings of panic and discomfort due to the unatural vibrations in the ear. Apparently some horror films have utilised it in an attempt to
evoke that reaction in the audience. I found this so called fear frequancy sound on YouTube and added into my project however I'm not sure that it really makes a difference other then
making the music sound a bit choppy.
One problem I had with this scene was the character Fins reaction to getting pushed over by the character of Dan. Originally there was going to be more of a backstory which showed the
history of those two characters with Dan having been bullying Fin for a while. Unfortunatly those scenes ended up being deleted when I cut out most of the 1st act. Since there is now no
backstory to those characters it makes Fins reaction of "I hate him! I wish he was dead." Seem like an overreaction. Eventually I decided that since he later says on "that he didn't really
mean it" could be perhaps understood by the audience as him acknowledging his overreaction and so it would be ok to leave it in. If I had known that I was going to cut out most of the 1st
act before I started filming then I would have probably re worked certain parts of the script so that most of Dans scenes could have stayed in which would perhaps give the audience a
better understanding of both characters.
One thing I did have to do which is hopefully not very noticable is re use a shot, the reason for this is because I had a gap of a few seconds and not enough footage to fill. I was extremly
annoyed at myself for this as usually I am pretty good at making sure I have enough footage to play around with but in this perticular scene I ended up with a gap of just a few seconds. The
shot I re used was a simple one that had the camera opposite looking directly on to my actors face. The only way you can really tell that it is a re used shot is because of the laptop in the
background that is flicking through different screensaver images. The fact it flicks onto the same image in the two clips is really the only way of telling the shot is re used and it is barely two
seconds long. The section of the clip that was reused is slightly different from the original in terms of timing and were it is cut meaning that it does appear to be slightly different. I think you
would only realize it was a reused shot if you knew beforehand. Other then that It likely would not be much of an issue. Soundwise I was able to find a really good soundtrack that fit in with
the tone of the scene perfectly as it built up tension by getting faster and faster. Finding this track was one of the first tasks I handled when editing this part of my film as I think the music
should always come first because once you've got the music you can then edit the video around it making it line up perfectly so that It looks natural.
11. Week 14-15
These past two weeks have consisted of me editing the last part of the final act of my film. This was very difficult to do as a number of issues presented themselves during filming which we
had to work around. This then gave me the opportunity to go back and add to my problem solving document. Thie biggest issue was my lack of organisation when it came to some of the
equipment. After forgetting the Go Pro and having to send someone back to the classroom to get it which caused a delay we realised the battery wasn't charged. Therefore we were forced
to do without it when I would have really liked to get some pov shots. I found away around this by shooting with the C100 as if it were from a POV shot. This was difficult as the C100 is an
extremly heavy and bulky camera to use so it made getting the hight of the shots extremly difficult. Despite these challenges I think I pulled it of ok. The only other problem I had with this is
that it still doesn't feel exactly like the rest of the POV shots especially during the strangling scene as you can tell that it is being filmed with a different camera. The main thing I have taken
from this experience is that in future projects I need to create a more detailed plan for how I will be moving equipment between various locations. I should make sure things are less rushed
and that everything is charged beforehand.
One thing that I wasn't sure of how I was going to do is the scene were C.A.L.L.I takes control of Fins body. With this scene it all depended on my actor Andreas's ability to successfully
portray someone that was being controlled against there own will. It took a few false starts and many takes but eventually he managed to pull it of in a way that seemed realistic enough
and not too laughable. Considering how the audience might react with humour to this scene I decided to deliberatly make it visually jarring so as to increase viewer discomfort when
watching. I achieved this through multiple quick jump cuts in the scene. I also added a high pitch whine sound effect as well as a red hue and distortion warp effect to the video to show that
the character was feeling pain. I think this high pitch whine effect worked really well especially when listening with headphones on as it becomes uncomfortably loud in real life. This
completely changes how the audience perceives the scene as they too are in discomfort just like the character and therefore won't be finding this scene amusing. Looking back one thing I
didn't consider when doing this is the health and safety aspect to it. Different people have different sensitivity's to high pitched sound effects like that and if this were being shown in a
cinema with something like a Dolby Atmos sound system with the volume up high could cause people serious issues. I have been told that the sound system at the place at the place were
we are doing our class premier is fairly basic so I'm hopeful that it won't be much of a problem. Even so I still wouldn't remove it as it is a vital aspect to connecting the audience with the
character and in my view is very important to setting the tone and atmosphere of the scene.
Something that came to light during the filming of this scene was the casting of some of the
characters. Some didn't feel quite right. This links back to what I said previously that maybe it
might be a good idea to organize some kind of auditioning and casting proccess in future
projects. Perhaps it would have been a good idea to approach drama students about these
roles as I now realise that they would probably be very eager to appear in a film like this one.
I've definatly learn't a lot of lessons when it comes to planning in this project perhaps more so
then others. This was likely due to the fact that this project was bigger in scope then my
previous ones and required managing and planning for a bigger cast then I have ever worked
with before. I definatly sometimes found myself a bit overwhelmed by everything and it
definatly shows in some places. However this is all a learning experience that I will draw from
in the future.
12. Week 16
Week 16 was the final week of production for me. It consisted on me putting some final touch ups on my film such as adding a flanger effect to C.A.L.L.I's dialogue which gave it the synthetic
tone and feel that I wanted. One other big thing that took me a while to fix was the audio levels in some of the clips which were wonky in some places meaning that dialogue was too quiet in
one shot then in the next it was too loud. Fixing this took me a full two hours because it had to done individually to each clip. I could do it by changing the master audio levels as that would
effect other things like sound effects that were already at a perfect level. This has tought me a lot about my editing technique when it comes to working. I think in future projects I could
definatly be a lot tidier when it comes to my timeline. This would no doubt help organisation and probably speed things up. I could organise the types of clips into specific layers rather then just
having them all jumbled up. Once I had put the finishing touches on the rest of my project I started to create the end credits. One thing I didn't want is just to have text scrolling upwards on a
blackbackground as to me that is just to ordinary and slightly boring. I wanted to have something unique. So what I did was I still had the white text scrolling upwards but I added a dust particle
overlay as well as a light ray effect with a blue hue. This gave it a suitable Sci-Fi look and in my opinion just made the credits feel more visually appealing then they otherwise might have been.
Once I had done this I could finally export a finished product. I did so but with the realisation that there may still be some tweaks that I need to do. One big thing on my mind was how the film
would look when viewed on different displays. I was right to be wary of this as I found that different display technologies produced different results. For example the projector in the lecture
theatre made the image appear slightly stretched. This was likely due to the aspect ratio however that might have been a fault with the projector or the laptop it was plugged into as I haven't
had this issue on any other screen. The color grading during the opening scene with the stock footage looked fine on the LCD iMac display in college and on my laptop screen at home but when
viewed on a 40inch Samsung OLED 4K TV at home the colours appeared overly saturated which made the text hard to read. I'm unsure if this is just a product of OLED screens or the way
Samsung calibrates there displays as they have a reputation for over saturating colours. Unfortunatly I've no other OLED TV's to compare it to. One thing I didn't try is changing the colour
settings on the TV as it might just be how mine is set up. I also tried it on a regular Panasonic 1080p LED TV which we have downstairs. That display is 10 inches bigger then the Samsung TV so I
was eager to see if it made a difference and if it would start to look stretched like the large projector sceen in the lecture theatre. Fortunatly this wasn't the case and the text was actually
easier to read on the regular LED display. It was the same when viewed in my iPhone which has an LCD display. Therefore I have come to the conclusion that viewing my film is better done on
an LED or LCD screen so that the colors aren’t being oversaturated and the text washed out by an OLED panel. It would be interesting to see if this was still the case when viewed on OLED
panels made by other manufacturers rather then just Samsung as it may just be the color calibration however for now, LED and LCD are the safe options.
13. Week 17-18 –Evaluation and Improvements
Over the half term I focused on my existing work and trying to improve and add to my research and planning with a different perspective. This different
perspective comes after having finished the actual project I can then look at what I think I did well and what I can do to improve. This process is actually really
helpful when it comes to writing my evaluation the following week as I already have a broad idea of my strengths and weaknesses. It also provides chance for
individual reflection on each section of the project. Despite the fact I was working from home and I usually find it easier to do that then working in a classroom, I
found that at times it was difficult to concentrate for various reasons. I think this was because it was half term my younger sister was in the house so there were
more loud noises and distractions then normal. It also might have had something to do with the quantity of work that I had to do. For that whole week I had
work that needed to be done everyday otherwise I would end up reaching the deadline with work that was either incomplete or not as good as it could have
been. The monotony of it started to get difficult and even though I took regular breaks the fact that I couldn't have just one day of was difficult especially since
the weather was so nice. The fact that I was in this position is defiantly my fault and links to what I said in my evaluation about how I think my organization
could have been better in some places.
The evaluation itself is something I have increasingly got better at throughout my time on this course. I think no one can be truly happy with their product as
there are always things that could be done better and often when viewing the final product these issues become glaringly obvious and people often find
themselves getting frustrated as it just highlights the negative. This can often be emotionally tiring especially when you put so much work into the project. It can
also effect peoples self confidence especially when publishing work online as you are constantly worried about the reaction you will get. This is something that I
have had to overcome throughout this course. Initially my projects were all set to unlisted on YouTube so people could only view them if they had the link as I
wasn't confident enough to publish them. This is different now I think because the overall quality of my projects have improved with the more skills I've learned
and I have my confidence level has risen as a result.
My weekly reflections are something that has definitely helped a lot during my evaluative phase as they have provided me with a summary of what I've done
each week and the events that have transpired. That means that when it comes to talking about things like technical, management and emotional problems I
already have these logged down. Having done that the evaluation is then just about me bringing it all together and talking about how I dealt with these issues
and what I could have done better in a summative way. Doing that is exactly what this week has consisted of. The deadline for all our work up to our evaluation
is 4:30pm on the Friday of this week. This means the pressure is on to now get my evaluation finished for then. I have approximately two class lessons to do this
plus all of Friday until 4:30. I plan on getting up early in the morning Friday and getting on with it straight away so meeting the deadline should not be an issue. I
have also redone my FMP page on my website, bettering the layout and re uploading the finished version of all my documents aside from my evaluation and the
weekly reflections as they are still on going until 4:30 on Friday.
