Breakdown Sheet

Breakdown Sheet

Short Film Final Cut

Quantitative Research Collation Presentation

Quantitative Research

Quantitative Responses

Quantitative Responses

Panasonic Camera Presentation

Panasonic AG HMC41E Presentation

Poster Draft 6

Film Poster - Draft 5 Filter examples without titles

Filter used: Conte

Filter used: Grain

Filter used: Photocopy

Filter used: Plastic wrap

Plastic wrap: Poster edges

Film Poster Draft 5 (Filter Examples)

Filter used: Conte Crayon

Filter used: Grain

Filter used: Palette Knife filter

Filter used: Photocopy

Filter used: Plastic Wrap

Filter used: Poster Edges

Film Review Draft 3

SOLITUDE Film Review Draft 3

Film Poster Draft 5

Storyboard Drafting

Storyboard Brainstorm Draft

Evaluation Question 4

Short Film - First Rough Cut

Short Film - Assembly Edit

Film Poster Draft 4

Question 3 - Script Draft 3

Question 3 - Radio Interview 3

Film Poster Draft 4 (photo with action buttons)

Film Poster Draft 4 Photo

Film Review Draft 2 Questions and Responses

Film Poster Draft 4 Sketch

Evaluation Questions 2 & 3 Notes to improve

Evaluation Question 3 Notes -

Describe what is being referred to in more context (too vague)
Make a point of what you learned from your audience feedback
GO INTO MORE DETAIL ON EACH POINT YOU MAKE (specifically reference the feedback you were given)
Take quotes from the research (direct reference)
Not enough concrete responses referenced from the audience themselves
Quote directly from what people say, over and over
What the audience told me (in their own words)


Evaluation Question 2 Notes -

Use more graphics (anything, like Sight & Sound logo)

Audience Research - Film Review/Poster

Questions for the review:

Does the photo chosen work?
Which photos from these four would work best in the review?
Should I alter style of fonts in titles in review? (E.g. different shades of grey)
Do you think it is a balanced review?
What issues and themes do you pick up from the review?
What level of reader do you think it is targeted at?
How much literacy experience etc would the reader need?
Does it referecne to the wider film context, and how? (e.g. references to filmmaker, etc.)
Ask open question on how top "Films" in red could be developed

Evaluation Question 4 - Structure

Evaluation Question 4 Structure

Evaluation Question 2

Evaluation Question 2

Evaluation Question 1 - Evaluative Notes to improve

Feedback

• Use a variety of images within your Prezi presentation.
• Define "Forms" and "Conventions".

Evaluation Question 4 - Preparation

How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

Examples of technology used:

- Prezi (Research/Evaluation)
- Celtx (Planning)
- Online Desktop Publishing Software (Construction)
- Slides (Evaluation)
- Survey Monkey (possibly)
- PowerPoint (Research)
- Avid (Construction)
- Photoshop
- Audio Technology - Voice Memos/Podcasts (Evaluation)

What did you use to/how did you overcome certain challenges?

Challenge: how to present acquired knowledge about technologies - how they help solve problems (How To Video is a good disciplined well-formatted response) -


Function: how the tool operates when you're meeting the challenge

Example: How does trimming on the Avid actually operate? You have two windows - you can slide -trim one clip, the beginning clip/end clip etc. Left = preceding clip / Right = succeeding clip


Effect: a very refined manipulation of the duration of the clip in question. Very important editorial tool, it allows you to be very precise where the cut-off of the movement is. Because the trimming windows are juxtaposed, it is precise in the sense that you have a live visual comparison of those alterations so you can actually see the clip on one side altering, and you can see how it compares with the clip in the other window.
You have a playback on loop, allowing you to trim


Significance: you have to match on action - make sure that as you move from one clip to the next, that the action matches - the movement of the body has to be fluent from clip to clip/continuous/ matching, to preserve continuity and good editorial rhythm.



Key words: PROBLEM!!! CHALLENGE!!!

How do you move up in editorial quality? - Achieve much higher quality - Avid trim helps you move more precisely than IMovie - you can see how the clip will look, rather than just using a yellow bracket to guess, like in IMovie.

Evaluation Question 2 - Preparation

Evaluation Question 2 - Review Questions and Answers (Draft)

Film Review - Draft 2

Assembly Edit versus First Rough Cut

An assembly edit is the assembling of the material in story order, in a very unedited state. Once the material has been digitised onto the computer, and the material has been logged (allowing particular shots to be found more easily later), the selected shots are moved from the order they are filmed in into the approximate order they will appear in the final cut. Separate sound/dialogue is not imputed into the edit at this stage, this is just a very quick and simple process of organising all your shots following on from your storyboard/shot order.

A rough cut includes more shot selection and appropriate trimming. The sound and dialogue is unfinished and untreated, and will require some editing. Place-markers for titles, special effects, composites and graphics are placed in their appropriate slots, Colours are untreated, unmatched, and generally unpleasant.

Film Review Draft 2 Feedback - Key aspects to improve upon

·        Use conventional dotted lines to separate different sections of the review

·         Add a picture/snapshot of film

·         Reposition synopsis

·         Alter credits font size; make smaller (so they do not clash with font size of the actual review)

·         Make film heading largest title

·         Use more open critical language

·         Alter conclusion; replace it with final criticism of improvement points for myself

·         Reposition image (once placed)

Evaluation Question 1

Evaluation Question 1 - Structure

Evaluation Question 1 - Structure (Finished)

Evaluation Question 3 - Radio Interview Script Draft 2

Evaluation Question Three - Radio Interview Draft 2

Evaluation Question 3 - What have you learnt from your audience feedback?

Evaluation Question 3/Ancillary Tasks Notes

Position of title

Pictures/images on poster - can you identify any themes or issues, do they symbolise/suggest anything about the story?
Get audience to read review/look at poster - do you think poster translates aspects of translation/psychology/thematic elements?

Tone/mood of the film - can you tell anything about the tone/mood of the film?

Having read review/synopsis what do you think would be a good tagline? Use or develop your own

What does a polaroid connote for you? (polaroid = particular format represented on a camera (take picture, comes out of camera instantly))

The colours/lighting in photograph must represent aspects of the story, can you think of what they are?

They might say it represents ambiguity

Why has the lighting ratio has been used in the image? What do you think this represents? The use of darkness, light, etc...

Talk about posture of subject - reinforces what you're trying to communicate

E.g. for mine - have character hunched over, on knees, hands hiding face (crying posture)


Total Film, Daily Mail, Sight & Sound, Guardian, Empire - challenge conventions - trying to reach a more mainstream audience

Educational angle - my film would do well in education


Challenging form:

- sound (post-production) - go into music department, play instruments - recorded on camera - for character walking into water - have fun with sound!
- lighting
- the way the end credits move (style) - colour certain letters - gives your film more identity/engagingness

Titles - maybe design titles as plates

Titles are simple in social realism films


Challenge conventions

- of simple titles - use music and text together in an imaginative way
- roll into credits at start of the film instead of the end
- use of colour - most social realist films are "monochrome" in their titles

Evaluation Question 3 - Radio Interview Script Draft 1

Evaluation Question Three - Radio Interview (1)

Evaluation Question 1 - Prepration

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?


Use - where you take a convention and you use it in the same way as it is used in the same way as the practitioner of the genre, e.g. using untrained actors (people with little/no dramatic experience), as some used untrained actors (like Fish Tank)

Develop - using low-key lighting - going for a more thriller-esque lighting effect (just an example)

Challenge - Going against the conventions of naturalism challenge naturalistic performances altogether - using untrained actors to gain a level of naturalism, unlike using more theatrical trained actors - makes a point.
E.g. having my lighting evenly lit throughout the film in the outside setting - what genre is this representing? Does it challenge your genre of social realism?



Forms - Structure of the film (beginning - middle - end), shape of the film (wide shots - cramped shots, long takes - short takes), style (the elements that present its style to the audience - e.g. what the lighting represents) - what does Nil by Mouth represent by lighting (example)?
Example from my film: Shape of my film (wide shots - cramped shots): wide shots of setting, suddenly leads to cramped shots of my character's face)
How does the element of form manifests itself? ^
How it links to a professional equivalent: "Stripes" (wide shots of apartment and man - suddenly leads to cramped shots (close-ups) of two men, one being threatened) - does this use, develop or challenge this form? -
In my opinion, I am developing this practice, as the action in my film is at a slower pace, with less action/violence - mine is more peaceful (a man filming a woman (my film), compared to a man threatening another man (Stripes))

Conventions - anything the audience expects in the way of narrative, story, character, events, all connected to the genre.

Use images to support your writing

Film Poster Draft 3 Feedback

Image is tenouis/vague
Image must connect with the story
Prehaps use character in frame
What do we see in the LCD screen? The girl? Put her somewhere interesting - have her crouched near the waterfall area - something visually intriguing
Mimick play/pause buttons in photoshop

New draft - no titles - recreate the image


Bribe your actor if need be!!

Evaluation Question 2 - Structure

(Side note: use “Slide software” for this evaluation question)

How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

How/why do my three products SYNERGISE and what is the effect/significance of this synergy?

 (Come up with two/three more of your own – how each differs from the other, etc.)

Poster

From looking at the poster what do we learn/understand about the style of/genre of/audience for the film?

How effectively does the poster reflect/represent the themes and issues of the film?

How far and how effectively does the poster reflect the style of the film?

How does my poster inform my audience about my film?

How effectively does my poster promote my short film?

What preconceptions does the poster develop in the mind of the viewer about the film?



Short Film

What key thematic elements are common to both the main and ancillary tasks? How are these explored/represented differently in each?

Do the review and poster convey/communicate the same message/meaning as the film or do they mediate narrative/characterisation elements?

How do my ancillary tasks impact on my main product?

Are my ancillary tasks a clear reflection of my main product?

How do the review and poster reference one another to promote/deepen our understanding/introduce extra layers of meaning into the film?

What stylistic elements are common to both the main and ancillary tasks?

What narrative elements are common to both the main and ancillary tasks?

Review

How does my review inform my audience about my film?

How does the way that the review attracts an audience to my film differ from the way that my poster does? (Different functions and purposes)

Is my review in any way biased and what might the impact of this be?

From reading the review what do we learn/understand about the genre of/audience for/director’s rationale behind the film?

How effectively does my Film Review break down the themes and issues that are the chief concern of my film?

Evaluation Question 3 - Structure

Question 3 - Structure

Film Review - Follow-up Questions, Responses, and Analysis

Film Review – Follow-up Questions and Analysis

Film Review: Follow-up questions

Follow-up questions for my Magazine Review:

1. How effectively do you think the review uses traditional Sight and Sound layout conventions? Where do you think they have been used most effectively? So they’ve been used well, is there any way you feel they could be developed? Example, or how doesn’t it?

2. What could be done, in your view that would make it challenge industry conventions? And how might you develop them?

3. How do you think font has been used effectively? Where do you think it could be developed? Where do you think it is similar to Sight and Sound, and where do you think it challenges it?

4. What about text size, do you think it’s been used effectively? Where do you think it’s been used best? How do you think it either challenges or develops from Sight and Sound?

5. Do you think language has been used well? Where do you think the criticism is most effective? Where/how do you think it could be developed to engage and inform, as well as critique better?

6. Do you think the register suits the magazine context for the review? Where do you think it is especially appropriate? How do you think its developed Sight and Sound conventions, or how do you think it could?

7. Do you think there was an appropriate use of ICT? Why? How do you think it could be developed or challenged to be more innovative and effective?

8. How do you think image could be integrated with text in an effective way? How do you think it could be done in a way that challenges Sight and Sound conventions?

9. How do you think the image could be framed well? Why? How do you think it could challenge, or conform to industry conventions? What makes you think this?

10. Do you think this works well from a mise-en-scene perspective? Where do you think mise-en-scene is used well?

Film Poster Draft 3

Brief notes for how my actor should approach/interact with water

Things my actor could wear whilst in the water: sundridge fishing boots possibly?

Buy fishing/fisherman shoes/boots?

Let the actor wear a dress (billowing over boots - audience won't see the boots)

Have hot water standing by for actor

Wear high boots - this means you can go further in)

Do it all in one space of time (less time in the water)

Wear Wellington Boots - add it in as part of the storyline

Film Production Risk Assessment

Risk Assessment Form

Location Recce Checklist

Location Release Form

Recce Form

Actor Release Form

Minor Actor Release Form

Shot List

Avid Media Composer Notes

• Log on to the avid
• Open 'Avid Media Composer' on the home screen
• Create a New Project on the dialog box that pops up
• Write a project name
• 1080/25p
• Open footage, select files, drag them into the box labelled "[Your Project Name] Bin"
• Raw Footage Window (left) - footage from camera
• Production Footage Window (right) - footage being created
• Yellow Arrow = Splice-in button
• Red Arrow = Overwrite button
• If the insertion point is at the beginning, and you press the overwrite button,
• Trim Mode - pink video window to the left represents end of first shot, pink video window to the right represents beginning of second shot
• Click left video window - pink window turns yellow
• Single arrows represent 1 frame
• Double arrows represents 10 frames
• Pink bar on both sides grows first clip, cuts frames of second clip
• Add Edit button puts cut right in the middle of the clip, to create a pause in the clip so you can put another clip in between
• An "Assembly Edit" is putting the clips down in a rough form, in storyboard order (before you refine them/change them)

Bins are where we store footage
Have separate bins for separate days for filming
Bins enable us to differentiate footage in numerous ways

Preparing to Shoot

Directing actors - How to get the performance in your imagination

• avoid telling actors to "be more this please..."
• give actors a back story/background - biographical
• answer actor questions honestly and properly
• feel fear

Choreography - use of space. How and where to move subjects

• Less dialogue -> more space


Coverage - Long shots to closer shots

Script Draft 4 - Final Draft

Short Film Script 4th Draft

Script Draft 3 Evaluation

Refer to the characters in higher case context. For example, instead of "woman", type "WOMAN". This identifies the character's actions/roles/movements clearly on the pages of the script.

Expand upon your ending; create a more meaningful climax.

Possible idea for a new ending:

• Have the WOMAN record him on her phone, and signal for the MAN to enter the stream. Have him obey her, whilst his camera is still recording; he is unaware of this! He enters, and they exchange wording, leading to her expressing an emotive action towards him; a kiss, hug, etc. She does so whilst acknowledging the camera, before leaving. The MAN realizes everything that happened was filmed, and feels pride at connecting with the WOMAN, and also successfully creating a film (he was making a film himself! This interlinks with him filming the streams/trees earlier).

As the director, you are now filming a film within a film.

Sound

Quality Criteria

Clarity – being able to hear what is said between the characters/sound essential to the frame

Cleanness – Has it been clearly recorded?

Selection – a clear idea whether what sound you recorded is what you intended - appropriate/inappropriate

Reduction of unwanted elements – sound of the wind

Continuity – have a constant sound movement

Any sound that isn't dialogue should be recorded separately after the main action in the scene has been recorded. This is known as "Wildtrek"

Room Sound/Tone - at the end of each scene, record one/two minutes of "Room Tone"

• "We're going to record one minute of room tone"
• This will create better cutting continuity.

Side Notes:

• XLR cables provide better quality sound than stereojack cables
• Avoid being "unidirectional" - it will only pick up the sound in a lined direction - make sure the microphone is facing directly at the actor's lips!
• The recording level should be three quarters of the way across for good dialogue
• Get all the cable behind the mic, and wrap it around the boom hole, giving it some slack nearer the microphone; this keeps the cable clean.
• The microphone is very delicate

White Balance Test

Screen Shutter Test

Panasonic AG-HMC41E Sound Notes

"External Microphone"


The microphone is "counter-intuitive"

"Male connections"
"Female connections"

Forks = male
Hole = female

Input/output

Boom pole
Mic-mount

Inserting the battery to the microphone

• Insert battery into microphone...
• The microphone is "counter-intuitive".
• Flick the switch on the microphone to "BATT. ON". If a red light flashes once, the battery has been connected.
• The "female" connection on the battery connects to the "male" connection on the microphone.
• Connect the "Female" XLR cable to the "Male"

Film Review - Draft 1

Film Review Draft 1

Film Poster - Draft 2

Annotations of Tyrannosaur Sight&Sound Review

Annotations of Fish Tank Sight&Sound Review