Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
Let's face it, the preliminary task was bad. To put it bluntly. I've learnt a lot between the preliminary task to evaluating my final piece. The preliminary task was one of the first experiences I'd has of coming up with an idea and making that idea into a short film, and it probably wasn't Oscar winning. I've learnt a lot about the fundamentals of film-making and the story a film tells.
I've learnt a lot about how I work when being a director and what I can do to improve my work and my productivity and therefore other people's productivity on set. I've learnt about editing and what products to use in editing and what is best for my style, or the independent style of the film that I'm looking for.
Overall making the introduction of Four Walls has definitely been a massive learning experience for me, covering pretty much everything there is possible to learn about in film making. Four Walls was really fun shoot, I'm pretty happy with how it looks and definitely how it feels, but I think that it could look even better with more experienced people behind it. I will be sure to return to Four Walls sometime in the future.
Captain's Log, April 16th 2012.
Showing posts with label Evaluation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Evaluation. Show all posts
16/04/2012
Evaluationz; Part 4 - Thinking big
What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
I would prefer Four Walls to be made independently because I wouldn't think it would practical to have a massive crew with only two actors, so I think just the bare minimum of crew would be best suited when making this film. I started looking through independent movies that have had funding from relatively large distribution companies, I looked at films that didn't get a massive distribution and marketing campaigns, like Monsters, which did get shown in some bigger brand cinemas, but was mostly shown in cinemas showing independent and international films. Monsters is a feature film which focuses on the travels of two characters, this is much like the confined character range of Four Walls but has a big scale in the locations of their travels.
The distribution company of Monsters was Momentum Pictures Home Entertainment, for the UK DVD & Blu-ray distribution. The film didn't get any major theatrical release in the UK, but did get a DVD & Blu-ray release. I think that this film would a be a good place if the film was popular enough to get to DVD, but as merely a small theatrical release I don't think there would be much chance in it.
Lionsgate release many horror, crime and mystery films every year and pick up mostly small scale films that are popular in the aficionado audiences but also breaching into bigger audiences. A few Lionsgate films have become much bigger grossing films when getting a major release into big brand cinemas, such as The Hunger Games, Saw and Transporter 3. Lionsgate release many independent films to bigger audiences every year, and pick up films that have been made and finished, then release them to much bigger audiences than would be possible on small budgets.
I would prefer Four Walls to be made independently because I wouldn't think it would practical to have a massive crew with only two actors, so I think just the bare minimum of crew would be best suited when making this film. I started looking through independent movies that have had funding from relatively large distribution companies, I looked at films that didn't get a massive distribution and marketing campaigns, like Monsters, which did get shown in some bigger brand cinemas, but was mostly shown in cinemas showing independent and international films. Monsters is a feature film which focuses on the travels of two characters, this is much like the confined character range of Four Walls but has a big scale in the locations of their travels.
The distribution company of Monsters was Momentum Pictures Home Entertainment, for the UK DVD & Blu-ray distribution. The film didn't get any major theatrical release in the UK, but did get a DVD & Blu-ray release. I think that this film would a be a good place if the film was popular enough to get to DVD, but as merely a small theatrical release I don't think there would be much chance in it.
Lionsgate release many horror, crime and mystery films every year and pick up mostly small scale films that are popular in the aficionado audiences but also breaching into bigger audiences. A few Lionsgate films have become much bigger grossing films when getting a major release into big brand cinemas, such as The Hunger Games, Saw and Transporter 3. Lionsgate release many independent films to bigger audiences every year, and pick up films that have been made and finished, then release them to much bigger audiences than would be possible on small budgets.
09/04/2012
Evaluationz; Part 3 - Naaah
How does your media product represent particular social groups?
It doesn't. There's only two and a half characters. Never do either of the characters interact with any other characters than the other two. And well Geoffrey?... Geoffrey just gets killed and that's about it from him. Jason and Johnathan have an hour and a half long conversation, but it isn't a social occasion, it's for work.
Jason is a psychotic killer. Not really sure if that's a social group. Nothing is ever found out about Jason's life other than he does work, he has money but we don't know what from, and that he kills people on a regular basis. From this, it's hard to tell what his social group is.
Detective Spencer is a working man who sticks up for his colleagues a time of need. So you could say he is very friendly and caring. He has a family, but not much is found out about them other than he has a wife and a daughter of 4 years old.
I could ramble on about the characters, but in the end, there isn't any social interaction between them besides objectives and such.
It doesn't. There's only two and a half characters. Never do either of the characters interact with any other characters than the other two. And well Geoffrey?... Geoffrey just gets killed and that's about it from him. Jason and Johnathan have an hour and a half long conversation, but it isn't a social occasion, it's for work.
Jason is a psychotic killer. Not really sure if that's a social group. Nothing is ever found out about Jason's life other than he does work, he has money but we don't know what from, and that he kills people on a regular basis. From this, it's hard to tell what his social group is.
Detective Spencer is a working man who sticks up for his colleagues a time of need. So you could say he is very friendly and caring. He has a family, but not much is found out about them other than he has a wife and a daughter of 4 years old.
I could ramble on about the characters, but in the end, there isn't any social interaction between them besides objectives and such.
Evaluationz; Part 2 - Creatively Challenged
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
I think that Four Walls more develops and challenges current conventions such as the size of a film; major Hollywood films and even smaller independent films take place over massive distances, with a never ending amount of effects shots, story lines that include many main characters and what sometimes seems to a never ending amount of sub-plots including many smaller characters.
Four Walls takes place in just one room, few shots outside of it. I think that this is more challenging modern conventions of film in the sense of its location and characters, as using just one room is something that is rarely used in modern cinema. I don't see how this challenges it a sense of creating a character, because surely for most films the audience are wanted to have a good sense of the character, but moving location and having many different characters makes this quite difficult. Having the characters in one room with nowhere to go and to distract the audience it will make the audience have nowhere else to focus.
Four Walls also challenges the forms of modern films by having to keep the attention of the audience for a feature length film with only the characters to do so. Other films, for instance, like Transformers take the action around the globe meeting different characters, having the character change their objectives and such. This is not an option for me in Four Walls, the action will have to take place in one room and be intense enough or intriguing enough to keep the audience involved.
I think that Four Walls more develops and challenges current conventions such as the size of a film; major Hollywood films and even smaller independent films take place over massive distances, with a never ending amount of effects shots, story lines that include many main characters and what sometimes seems to a never ending amount of sub-plots including many smaller characters.
Four Walls takes place in just one room, few shots outside of it. I think that this is more challenging modern conventions of film in the sense of its location and characters, as using just one room is something that is rarely used in modern cinema. I don't see how this challenges it a sense of creating a character, because surely for most films the audience are wanted to have a good sense of the character, but moving location and having many different characters makes this quite difficult. Having the characters in one room with nowhere to go and to distract the audience it will make the audience have nowhere else to focus.
Four Walls also challenges the forms of modern films by having to keep the attention of the audience for a feature length film with only the characters to do so. Other films, for instance, like Transformers take the action around the globe meeting different characters, having the character change their objectives and such. This is not an option for me in Four Walls, the action will have to take place in one room and be intense enough or intriguing enough to keep the audience involved.
26/03/2012
From Geoffrey himself...
So I wondered if I was actually any use at all on set as a director. So I asked Andrew Heard, who plays Geoffrey in Four Walls, if he could give me his opinion on what I was like on set and what he found it like working with me. This is what he had to say;
Well, I was rather flustered when I read what Andy had to say. I didn't think that I planned it that much, in fact I thought the project wasn't planned as much as it could have been. I thank Andy for his work, and for his small, but great performance in the production.
"Working on set with Ben was really straight forward; he knew exactly what shot he needed from all the angles before we'd started and had obviously planned in advance. He told me exactly what to do, even for a very small part, which I'd perceived as insignificant, and there was very little question as what was needed to be done. He'd planned the shots, some in and out of focus for effect, he'd planned the style of how the character ran and told me the emotions the character was feeling, even if I couldn't perform them to his standard. Overall it was a very informative experience, with the man that is Ben, and a great insight into his project and the amount of effort which is put in, not only by Ben, but obviously anyone in that business. It wouldn't have been as easy without his planning."
Well, I was rather flustered when I read what Andy had to say. I didn't think that I planned it that much, in fact I thought the project wasn't planned as much as it could have been. I thank Andy for his work, and for his small, but great performance in the production.
Audience Feedback
So we showed most of people's work to the class last and here's the feedback I got from it;
"Really effective narration - good choice of varied shots. Good ident logo! :)"
"OMG- I really love it. It's amazing. Jake's acting is very convincing. Ident is very professional. Well done dear."
"Cool Ident. Really good shot selection, framing. (Steady and flowing) Love the way it flashes back. Good narration and awesome titling. Like how Jake is allways in focus and the lady opposite was out of focus. It's so good, well done! :)"
"Jake's character is scary but I like him! Love the plotline, very intriguing, keeps the audience guessing. Very effective dialogue. Love it! :)"
"The dialogue was really effective. The close up of Jake's eyes was really good, daunting."
"I didn't watch this because I have an aversion to my face and voice, but what I can say is that the script is masterfully written and assumes the voice of a real hollywood film. Titles are really slick."
"Good range of shots - the extreme close ups were especially effective. Got the audience asking lots of questions. Good use of make-up. Want to watch rest of film to find out why he's covered in blood. End was a little sudden."
"Oooh the ambience! Very enigmatic. Your protagonist is very mystic. Ok, it's really good, like the fast shots & the lighting, everything gits really well, other than some of the dubbing needs a little syncing & some noise."
"It was poo! I joke, twas very good! I think the voiceover was really effective especially over the title credits. Really want to find out what happens next! Liked the ident - looked really professional Well done!"
"Intriguing! Wants to make me watch more. Only thing is that the sound dubbing is a bit obvious. Other than that, I liked it. Well done."
"Really good. Love it :D Blood was pink!"
"I love yours. I like the eye close ups and how you didn't show everything. Is it 2 minutes? It seemed shorter but maybe because I was enjoying i! Is it you blurred in the background over the head? I liked that effect. Could you of had the title at the end after it goes black? Anyway I loved it."
I also got some feedback from a film night the Media department held at the school to show work of Yr 11 diploma students and also Yr 12 work.
"Jake has nice eyes. It was well good."
"Really good close-ups - Draws you in too with a good story."
"I was really good."
Overall I'm really happy with the feedback. Everyone seemed happy with it. The constructive comments like the dubbing being out of sync I agree with, but couldn't change them because of time constraints. People seemed to really like the idents, which I found quite surprising, as I created three different versions after the original as they were deleted off my computer all the time for some unknown reason and therefore the remakes became gradually worse and worse, but I was still happy with the final one, and especially happy that it pleased so many people.
The comments about people wanting to watch more, for me, means that I've done my work well in creating a compelling and interesting introduction to a movie. Which is what the introduction of a movie is all about, surely? All in all; I think my work is done here.
"Really effective narration - good choice of varied shots. Good ident logo! :)"
"OMG- I really love it. It's amazing. Jake's acting is very convincing. Ident is very professional. Well done dear."
"Cool Ident. Really good shot selection, framing. (Steady and flowing) Love the way it flashes back. Good narration and awesome titling. Like how Jake is allways in focus and the lady opposite was out of focus. It's so good, well done! :)"
"Jake's character is scary but I like him! Love the plotline, very intriguing, keeps the audience guessing. Very effective dialogue. Love it! :)"
"The dialogue was really effective. The close up of Jake's eyes was really good, daunting."
"I didn't watch this because I have an aversion to my face and voice, but what I can say is that the script is masterfully written and assumes the voice of a real hollywood film. Titles are really slick."
"Good range of shots - the extreme close ups were especially effective. Got the audience asking lots of questions. Good use of make-up. Want to watch rest of film to find out why he's covered in blood. End was a little sudden."
"Oooh the ambience! Very enigmatic. Your protagonist is very mystic. Ok, it's really good, like the fast shots & the lighting, everything gits really well, other than some of the dubbing needs a little syncing & some noise."
"It was poo! I joke, twas very good! I think the voiceover was really effective especially over the title credits. Really want to find out what happens next! Liked the ident - looked really professional Well done!"
"Intriguing! Wants to make me watch more. Only thing is that the sound dubbing is a bit obvious. Other than that, I liked it. Well done."
"Really good. Love it :D Blood was pink!"
"I love yours. I like the eye close ups and how you didn't show everything. Is it 2 minutes? It seemed shorter but maybe because I was enjoying i! Is it you blurred in the background over the head? I liked that effect. Could you of had the title at the end after it goes black? Anyway I loved it."
I also got some feedback from a film night the Media department held at the school to show work of Yr 11 diploma students and also Yr 12 work.
"Jake has nice eyes. It was well good."
"Really good close-ups - Draws you in too with a good story."
"I was really good."
Overall I'm really happy with the feedback. Everyone seemed happy with it. The constructive comments like the dubbing being out of sync I agree with, but couldn't change them because of time constraints. People seemed to really like the idents, which I found quite surprising, as I created three different versions after the original as they were deleted off my computer all the time for some unknown reason and therefore the remakes became gradually worse and worse, but I was still happy with the final one, and especially happy that it pleased so many people.
The comments about people wanting to watch more, for me, means that I've done my work well in creating a compelling and interesting introduction to a movie. Which is what the introduction of a movie is all about, surely? All in all; I think my work is done here.
Editazzling
I have recently discovered that technology sucks. The computer was using crashed every 5 minutes because the footage I shot in was apparently too big to render. Even though I edited it down from full 1080p down to 720p. But throughout all this shanigans I got through it and got to my eventual final cut.
The audio wasn't the best quality, so me and Jake Brownbill had a dubbing sesh where we covered the audio for both of our work. The only things that I'm not happy with are;
- The first Geoffrey shot covers some of the narration of Jason, which was because the audio messed up between us recording it and me placing it into the final project. I don't know why, but it still worked okay.
- The dubbing isn't on the right lines for the first shot of Jason's mouth, which was also to with the audio messing up.
- The chest shot is a bit wobbly, but I can live with it.
I haven't changed these because of time constraints, and would be incredibly fiddly, or add more stress in AS life.
Overall I love my intro. And it loves me too.
16/02/2012
And God said; "Let there be editing!"
Started editing a couple weeks ago after sorting through all the preposterously long shots that I took, and I started to realise that it is a fudge-load easier if you have a specific idea of what you want the film to look like and how the shots unravel. I went into shooting with a set shot-list of what shots I wanted and added a few more shots while I was there.
Sorting through the shots was tedious, to say the least. But after it was all done I could finally start on some proper editing. I think that the sorting would have been easier if I had done every shot within one take instead of resetting the shot and continuously recording. Although after all the sortingness it was easy to find a shot that wasn't an outtake and put it straight into the project.
Another problem I encountered was the computer not being able to cope with the copious amounts of resolution that I shot in. It seems that 2GB of RAM is nowhere close to enough to needed to edit 1080p footage on Premiere Pro or After Effects. I've now learnt that it's better to shoot in something like 720p when having limited computer power.
Getting to the state of a rough edit took a long time, but I'm almost there just a few more snips of footage and I'll have a rough cut to get some feedback on from ma homies. The rough cut will be a close match to what I want the final to look like, but if people suggest something that could be better or just say that it doesn't work, then I'll change it.
The other things to add in after that are the over-dubbing as some of the audio isn't of great quality, but once that is done I hope to have a finished movie-intro.
Sorting through the shots was tedious, to say the least. But after it was all done I could finally start on some proper editing. I think that the sorting would have been easier if I had done every shot within one take instead of resetting the shot and continuously recording. Although after all the sortingness it was easy to find a shot that wasn't an outtake and put it straight into the project.
Another problem I encountered was the computer not being able to cope with the copious amounts of resolution that I shot in. It seems that 2GB of RAM is nowhere close to enough to needed to edit 1080p footage on Premiere Pro or After Effects. I've now learnt that it's better to shoot in something like 720p when having limited computer power.
Getting to the state of a rough edit took a long time, but I'm almost there just a few more snips of footage and I'll have a rough cut to get some feedback on from ma homies. The rough cut will be a close match to what I want the final to look like, but if people suggest something that could be better or just say that it doesn't work, then I'll change it.
The other things to add in after that are the over-dubbing as some of the audio isn't of great quality, but once that is done I hope to have a finished movie-intro.
28/01/2012
The Andes
Today I did the final shots of the movie, quite quick and mostly done improvised. We went to the Rhettham Nature Reserve, I took Andy Heard, whom I was employing the services of to play Geoffrey; Jason's latest victim. The name isn't really important, it was more of a joke than anything. If the film was made, Andy's name would be beside Geoffrey just as a little in joke, but if anything the character is more of a device to get the audience to be more feared of Jason.
As you can see, Andy is another great addition to the crazy people in this movie. Andy didn't have that much acting experience other than primary school plays, but now? That is an entirely different blogpost. The acting required for today's shoot wasn't much more than running and looking tired, which isn't exactly hard to do at the same time. Andy's input into the shoot today was unexpected, he helped with producing more shots and additions to the shots I had planned to shoot. With the style I have tried with directing which involves not saying very much and letting the actors produce their own interpretations of what I want them to do. Even though the acting on Andy's part wasn't very much, I still felt that it was very good with what the shots are going to be in the context of the two minutes.
The shots I got were great. We did the same shot of the side of Andy's face whilst running in 4 different backgrounds at Rhettham. The first shot was a bit edgy but it was only the first one to get an idea of how everything worked and how to get the best results. I'm happy with the shots I got, and I think are going to really add to the energy of the two minutes. I plan to use the shots of Andy in a way that will give a jump.
The shots I got were great. We did the same shot of the side of Andy's face whilst running in 4 different backgrounds at Rhettham. The first shot was a bit edgy but it was only the first one to get an idea of how everything worked and how to get the best results. I'm happy with the shots I got, and I think are going to really add to the energy of the two minutes. I plan to use the shots of Andy in a way that will give a jump.
27/01/2012
Shooting Jakes
Today I finished the majority of my shooting. In the great school's conference room, which looks a lot like a large bland cupboard with a big table in it. With the paintings taken down it would look more like a bland room that could possibly harbor a murderer being interviewed by a detective.
The room was really good, we had to get rid of some paintings on the walls, but after that it looked really great. As bland as it could be, with nothing more than wall nails to disrupt the bland-ocity. The chairs in the room were a bit annoying, but we got past them without any trouble. Only having to move them to the opposite side of the room that we were shooting in. A trophy cupboard in the corner of the room was a big obstacle for shooting as it meant I couldn't shoot towards that side of the room. Although the one shot that does have the trophy cupboard in is out of focus, which I'll got into why when I've finished it and given my reasons for why I set the shots up.
This was what Jake's face looked like. The blood we made was a lot better than yesterday's batch. It actually looked red this time and didn't crystallize when it got heated up by my arm. I really liked the way that the make-up looked after it had dried up a bit. It kept it's redness, and also because of it having constant heating it gradually moved down Jake's face until it dried up. I got the kind of splattery effect by using a spoon and just splattering the fake blood at Jake's left side. I pretty much did the same thing to get the shirt a bit bloody aswell. I thought the look was quite realistic, which was pretty lucky for how little preparation I'd put in to getting the blood looking good.
The shots have turned out great, all the shots I wanted to get; I got. Plus some extra ones on top. My only worries are that the smooth panning shots that I have got, aren't as smooth as they seem to be. Even if this is the case, I have shot everything in 1080p, which will still be able to be in HD after I have stabilised the shots in After Effects.
Overall the majority shoot was brill. Got everything needed, and some extras. The make-up was great, the room was great, the acting was great (even though most of the audio will be done in overdubs.
The room was really good, we had to get rid of some paintings on the walls, but after that it looked really great. As bland as it could be, with nothing more than wall nails to disrupt the bland-ocity. The chairs in the room were a bit annoying, but we got past them without any trouble. Only having to move them to the opposite side of the room that we were shooting in. A trophy cupboard in the corner of the room was a big obstacle for shooting as it meant I couldn't shoot towards that side of the room. Although the one shot that does have the trophy cupboard in is out of focus, which I'll got into why when I've finished it and given my reasons for why I set the shots up.
The shots have turned out great, all the shots I wanted to get; I got. Plus some extra ones on top. My only worries are that the smooth panning shots that I have got, aren't as smooth as they seem to be. Even if this is the case, I have shot everything in 1080p, which will still be able to be in HD after I have stabilised the shots in After Effects.
Overall the majority shoot was brill. Got everything needed, and some extras. The make-up was great, the room was great, the acting was great (even though most of the audio will be done in overdubs.
26/01/2012
Locationings
For the location of the interview scenes, I wanted somewhere that seemed very cramp, unwelcoming and artificial. I also wanted somewhere that was authentic, both me and Jake Brownbill wanted to use somewhere like this, and seeing as we were both actors in each others' productions, it made sense that we should have just one session between us that we could both get our shots.
We got in contact with Norfolk Constabulary by first asking at the reception of the Wymondham Police Station, I gave them my details and a couple days later I got an email from the Communications Officer of Norfolk Constabulary. I called him up and he took down some basic information of who I was and why wanted to use the interview rooms. They also called up my Media teacher to confirm that I was a Media Studies student. The Communication Officer was very helpful, he sent along with some other emails a link for a short film which basically showed off the facilities they have at the police station for interviewing suspects.
This is the video here;
Around 3 minutes in, there is a short 10 second clip of the interview rooms that they have at the station. Although this does not give a great view of the room, it did immediately put me off using it as it has virtually no room to one side and behind either side of the desk. This would mean that if I wanted to use this room, I would have to completely change the shot list and therefore the interpretation of Jason. I talked with Jake and he also had the same views. We then tried to think of any other place that we could use for the location. Even though we won't end up using the official police interview room, the Communication Officer did say that we would have to wait for around a week for the Chief Inspector to come back from a trip, and until then he couldn't get any idea of whether we could use the facilities.
Both me and Jake asked our Media teacher if he had any idea of somewhere where we could use that would be suitable under being bland, artificial and still have enough room for a tripod and camera. He suggested the school's conference room, which is quite small, but if paintings and photos are removed from the walls, would provide that artificial and bland look. We have booked the use of the room for a couple hours tomorrow, and if it is too short a time for both us to shoot, we can still book it for another day in the next week.
For another location I have to shoot in, it would be a wood/forest in the near area. I've got an actor lined up who is going to play Jason's latest victim; 'Geoffrey'. The shots I wanted to get would show to the audience what Jason is capable of, without showing him doing it, which will help to provide the fear in the audience. The forest will help to provide a feeling that the character has had to run miles on end to try and get away from Jason. What I plan on doing is going to a few forests so that I can choose the best one what suits the rest of the shots, and also it can't be any harm to have the same shots in different locations.
We got in contact with Norfolk Constabulary by first asking at the reception of the Wymondham Police Station, I gave them my details and a couple days later I got an email from the Communications Officer of Norfolk Constabulary. I called him up and he took down some basic information of who I was and why wanted to use the interview rooms. They also called up my Media teacher to confirm that I was a Media Studies student. The Communication Officer was very helpful, he sent along with some other emails a link for a short film which basically showed off the facilities they have at the police station for interviewing suspects.
This is the video here;
Around 3 minutes in, there is a short 10 second clip of the interview rooms that they have at the station. Although this does not give a great view of the room, it did immediately put me off using it as it has virtually no room to one side and behind either side of the desk. This would mean that if I wanted to use this room, I would have to completely change the shot list and therefore the interpretation of Jason. I talked with Jake and he also had the same views. We then tried to think of any other place that we could use for the location. Even though we won't end up using the official police interview room, the Communication Officer did say that we would have to wait for around a week for the Chief Inspector to come back from a trip, and until then he couldn't get any idea of whether we could use the facilities.
Both me and Jake asked our Media teacher if he had any idea of somewhere where we could use that would be suitable under being bland, artificial and still have enough room for a tripod and camera. He suggested the school's conference room, which is quite small, but if paintings and photos are removed from the walls, would provide that artificial and bland look. We have booked the use of the room for a couple hours tomorrow, and if it is too short a time for both us to shoot, we can still book it for another day in the next week.
For another location I have to shoot in, it would be a wood/forest in the near area. I've got an actor lined up who is going to play Jason's latest victim; 'Geoffrey'. The shots I wanted to get would show to the audience what Jason is capable of, without showing him doing it, which will help to provide the fear in the audience. The forest will help to provide a feeling that the character has had to run miles on end to try and get away from Jason. What I plan on doing is going to a few forests so that I can choose the best one what suits the rest of the shots, and also it can't be any harm to have the same shots in different locations.
24/10/2011
Evaluation Time.
Come along children I'm going to read you an interesting story of what went good or bad with an AS Media Studies project.
So basically I'm gonna go through all of the main focus shots and say how I think it could have been better.
This shot was lined up really well, we didn't have a decent amount of people to have like in the original, but we lengthened the shot by spacing the to people out. The props were also limited, we were going to have some real flowers, but we were stressed out from the rest of the organisation, I think that the replacements of fake greenery still did well. We borrowed the van from one of Bill's Dad's Friends, who coincidentally was in Las Vegas. We haven't heard much from him. The font for the titling was a very close match, and the placement was pretty easy. A well duplicated shot.
This shot wasn't that tricky to set up, but on our first day of shooting, the camera we were using was low on battery towards the end of the day, it produced some really weird streaking black lines to appear horizontally on the shot. We couldn't get rid of them in editing, but we re shot all the other shots from that day. So it all went well. The cake was made for us by Evie and her Mum, which, for a home made cake was brilliant, it looked a bit wedding-y, but we didn't have a budget. So wedding cake was probably out of reach for us. The shots are mirrored, which isn't a big deal. Also the lighting in our shot was a lot darker, this was because we were getting towards the end of our shooting day, and 4 o'clock was about when Jake's house got too dark to avoid continuity errors. This was also another reason why we re-shot some of the other shots. We lit the cake with a desk lamp being held by me to focus the shot on the cake.
This is my favourite shot that we did, it was done on a wooden dolly system that Jake made in his youth and hasn't been used since. It made a really smooth shot. The lighting in this shot was perfect, it was bright, with some artificial light, but it isn't really noticeable in the short time of the shot. The layout on screen is twinned between the two shots. Our best work yet.
This shot was another great layout of the shots, with the people in the right place. Although more of the make-up girl can be seen. Not to mention the script and shot-by-shot guide left on the table. Soz. The lighting in the room made it more orange, which could have been dealt with in editing, but as this project wasn't part of our overall grade, I think we slacked a smidge. The actors didn't have to do much, but we wanted to get the weird hand thingy that the bride does in.
So basically I'm gonna go through all of the main focus shots and say how I think it could have been better.
This shot wasn't that tricky to set up, but on our first day of shooting, the camera we were using was low on battery towards the end of the day, it produced some really weird streaking black lines to appear horizontally on the shot. We couldn't get rid of them in editing, but we re shot all the other shots from that day. So it all went well. The cake was made for us by Evie and her Mum, which, for a home made cake was brilliant, it looked a bit wedding-y, but we didn't have a budget. So wedding cake was probably out of reach for us. The shots are mirrored, which isn't a big deal. Also the lighting in our shot was a lot darker, this was because we were getting towards the end of our shooting day, and 4 o'clock was about when Jake's house got too dark to avoid continuity errors. This was also another reason why we re-shot some of the other shots. We lit the cake with a desk lamp being held by me to focus the shot on the cake.
This is my favourite shot that we did, it was done on a wooden dolly system that Jake made in his youth and hasn't been used since. It made a really smooth shot. The lighting in this shot was perfect, it was bright, with some artificial light, but it isn't really noticeable in the short time of the shot. The layout on screen is twinned between the two shots. Our best work yet.
This shot was another great layout of the shots, with the people in the right place. Although more of the make-up girl can be seen. Not to mention the script and shot-by-shot guide left on the table. Soz. The lighting in the room made it more orange, which could have been dealt with in editing, but as this project wasn't part of our overall grade, I think we slacked a smidge. The actors didn't have to do much, but we wanted to get the weird hand thingy that the bride does in.
We were limited on the amount of room that we had, so everything was a bit more squished in, but we had to work with what we had. We got everything in frame where it should be in this shot. Including the bride in the little mirror, I thought that was a nice touch. The original shot had less zoom on, but we couldn't have made the shot perfect with the amount of room we had, this made the mirror a lot smaller and the mum a lot bigger unfortunately. Also Jake's mum in this shot is wearing my mum's scarf. Detail or what!
This shot was lined up pretty well, it wasn't particularly hard to do the second time as we'd already done this shot the weekend before and the film went all skewiff. The plant was still in roughly the right position, but because of the geography of the room, the only way we could get the flower in shot would mean that it had to be out of focus. The costume we left for the actors to decide on, so long as they wore clothes similar style to that of the original characters.
This back shot was easy to line up, but along with the area of the room again, it couldn't be matched up perfectly. We still got all the characters in frame, along with the sofa being at the same angle with the bottom of the frame.
Phil's first position shot was the first shot we did, shot in a field at the back of Tuttles Lane. We got Bill's dad to bring a very nice car to this field and we began to set up the shot. Each character was related back to the original sequence. We couldn't have someone sitting on the car, because the bonnet would most likely buckle under the weight, so we improvised. Jamie at the back did a great job of peeing in a bush for about 15 or so minutes. Luckily he wasn't method acting. Phil's costume wasn't the same, it wasn't very dirty, although we had just come straight from school. And also it wasn't a low-cut top, like the original. But in my defense it was bloody freezing.
The second position in Phil's shots was also easy, we re-aligned the shot so that something that wasn't Tuttles Lane was in the background and shot the entire conversation again. The make-up was byro, it wasn't very tasty. The alignment on this shot again was great. Although because I'm not as muscular as Bradley Cooper my feeble arms didn't stretch the same distance.
As I said the previous post, the titling wasn't perfect and could have been better, but we still did a good job on it. The original titling was small and slightly more in focus, but I still that for a AS Media project we did damn well to match it up.
My opinion of our finished work;
22/10/2011
Editing The Hangover
So this was our first try at editing something on this strange new piece of software called 'Adobe Premiere Pro'. I've been using Sony Vegas 9 for a couple years every now and then, so I found switching to Premiere quite easy. I found the new software absolutely amazing. It catered for all the needs in our post production, and I look forward to using it in the future. We were able to set edit the audio and video in the way we needed, and it also covered the little things we needed to do, like putting effects on the audio and color correction.
The use of it can vary from the really basic, with just creating a title and editing shots, but we wanted to get the best edit of our shots and used Premiere to the fullest extent. We were able to have as many video and audio tracks as we wanted, so we put either; opposite shots on alternating tracks or, with Phil and Tracy's phone conversation, we used alternating tracks for each of the characters. The audio for some of the tracks was a real hazard for us novices, sometimes the audio of another shot would overlay the video of another shot in the original hangover cut. We had to move around this and find a way to easily do this. It turned to be quite simple, but it just took a bit of brain work. Which we were lacking on a Monday morning. All we had to do on these was get the shots lined up, unlink each of them, remove the audio on the previous and extend the audio on the second shot. And the opposite for the video. This occurred a few times, but after the first time we had it laid out.
The audio effects were pretty easy, to get the sound of a mobile signal and phone we used a high pass filter and the volume control. Basics. We used color correction on the Phil shots, which was also pretty easy, after a technician had shown us a useful tri-wheel color correction effect, we were pretty confident on the look we wanted and saved it as a preset, then all we had to do on the other shots was to drag and drop the preset and BOOM! it was done.
The music was easy, all it needed was to be dragged into it's own audio track, then volume key points were logged in, and BOOM! another one bites the dust. The titles and credits were on Bill's part and were also pretty easy, just a quick Photoshop job on the font, dragged and dropped into the project on our computer, then placed on the shot at the right time, with the right additive dissolve added and BOOM-BANG-A-RANG another one's gone. The title of the hangover wasn't quite what we wanted, but it still showed that we had tried to copy the title's and got the effect that displays them done pretty well. It still matched up with the original well, even if it did look a bit cheesy.
The use of it can vary from the really basic, with just creating a title and editing shots, but we wanted to get the best edit of our shots and used Premiere to the fullest extent. We were able to have as many video and audio tracks as we wanted, so we put either; opposite shots on alternating tracks or, with Phil and Tracy's phone conversation, we used alternating tracks for each of the characters. The audio for some of the tracks was a real hazard for us novices, sometimes the audio of another shot would overlay the video of another shot in the original hangover cut. We had to move around this and find a way to easily do this. It turned to be quite simple, but it just took a bit of brain work. Which we were lacking on a Monday morning. All we had to do on these was get the shots lined up, unlink each of them, remove the audio on the previous and extend the audio on the second shot. And the opposite for the video. This occurred a few times, but after the first time we had it laid out.
The audio effects were pretty easy, to get the sound of a mobile signal and phone we used a high pass filter and the volume control. Basics. We used color correction on the Phil shots, which was also pretty easy, after a technician had shown us a useful tri-wheel color correction effect, we were pretty confident on the look we wanted and saved it as a preset, then all we had to do on the other shots was to drag and drop the preset and BOOM! it was done.
The music was easy, all it needed was to be dragged into it's own audio track, then volume key points were logged in, and BOOM! another one bites the dust. The titles and credits were on Bill's part and were also pretty easy, just a quick Photoshop job on the font, dragged and dropped into the project on our computer, then placed on the shot at the right time, with the right additive dissolve added and BOOM-BANG-A-RANG another one's gone. The title of the hangover wasn't quite what we wanted, but it still showed that we had tried to copy the title's and got the effect that displays them done pretty well. It still matched up with the original well, even if it did look a bit cheesy.
:)
20/10/2011
So that thing we did, well it's finished...
We have finished the Hangover Opening Sequence and I only have one thought.
Yes. It was very fun and really interesting to find what it's like on a 'movie set', but it also feels like a real achievement. To be able to recreate a hollywood movie introduction, with pretty close relation, only without the huge budget. I think we did an amazing job, it matches the original pretty well, even if the small details couldn't be met with a budget consisting of our own will it is still possible to tell that the finished product is definitely a remake of the Hangover.
Here's the finished product:
Here's the finished product:
Omg.
19/10/2011
WOOH!
Today we finished the production of our Hangover Introduction remake. Everything is now done besides the editing. It went pretty well, a few slip ups here and there. But, we managed to get through it.
Our main objective for today was to finish the rest of the shooting and record the audio for the overdubbing that was needed, and some of the background ambiance that we are going to put in during post-production.
So the shooting that we needed to do was all of the people shots, as the footage on the dad shot that we had already shot had some funny lines on it, that even a technician who came into help with editing didn't know anything about. So we did all the shots of the people. The set-up we used was just the basic, with a camera and a neon head tripod for the smooth movements we were looking for. This shot was of the bride, Nicole, who did a very good job at the cheesy american accent.
We had the laptop handy throughout the entire shoot to check up on the shots of the original. Along with a paper copy of the shots and a script. The usual.
We got my parents to come along again and play the dad and a bridesmaid, we asked them to keep their costume the same, even though it didn't matter as we re-shot the old shots of them. We didn't want any continuity errors! Unfortunately we couldn't find the magazine that the dad was reading, but Jake didn't have many bikini magazines lying around.
We also did all the outside shots that were of the wedding. This was only a shot of people taking flowers out of a van, and people laying out chairs, but still needs to be in there. We borrowed a van from Bill's Dad, who seems to be a dealer of vehicles for AS Media work now or something. And we just got loads of different chairs from around Jake's house and arranged them to look wedding-y.
We also did the sound recording that we needed, which somehow ended up as Jake making random noises down the microphone to sound like background animals, and also almost ended up making my bladder empty. We overdubbed Phil's side of the conversation, because the sound was muffled by wind buzz, and also every 10 seconds there was the sound of a lorry passing by. It turned out to be a lot easier than I expected and was over in under half an hour. All we had left to do was to edit everything together.
Our main objective for today was to finish the rest of the shooting and record the audio for the overdubbing that was needed, and some of the background ambiance that we are going to put in during post-production.
We had the laptop handy throughout the entire shoot to check up on the shots of the original. Along with a paper copy of the shots and a script. The usual.
We also did the sound recording that we needed, which somehow ended up as Jake making random noises down the microphone to sound like background animals, and also almost ended up making my bladder empty. We overdubbed Phil's side of the conversation, because the sound was muffled by wind buzz, and also every 10 seconds there was the sound of a lorry passing by. It turned out to be a lot easier than I expected and was over in under half an hour. All we had left to do was to edit everything together.
WHAT YOU SAYIN' BILL!
11/10/2011
Cake & Hangover
On Sunday, 9th October we were planning to shoot all of the other shots that we needed to get for the rest of the Hangover Project. In didn't really go to plan, people had broken noses, were grounded or were just stuck at work. Very frustrating for when we had everything planned out and we couldn't do anything because of these reasons. Still we did what we could, and got shots of my parents (The bride's father and one of the brides). Shots of the cake, and the shot of the bride's dress. Here are some of the shots.
This is our recreation of the living room for the shot. We used Jake's house because it was the biggest and stuff could be moved around easily to recreate the shot, however we had to change some of the object placements to fit the shots that were needed into the room. I found the setting up bit pretty easy, with a little brainstorming between us we managed to get everything together pretty easily. It didn't match perfectly but we got there.
To get the smooth shots of the cake, dress and flowers, we had a fortunate and awesome technique that we used, much like the professional dolly cart, Jake made a skateboard and a load of wooden planks into a steady car which could be used to slowly move the camera in a direction that was needed. This was really cool. It gave a very sleek shot that mimicked the pros, Jake made the dolly when he was 12 and said that he had never used it properly.
The dolly made the shots we got from Jake's Step-dad's Canon 5D perfect, it really recreated the effects that the original shot has.
This is us in awe of how awesome the dolly really was. Also, we tested the shots on our tea.
These people are my parents. My dad was playing the brides dad, although we haven't really had a chance to direct our actors properly, unless cake counts as an actor. When we next shoot I think that we'll be able to get an idea of what it's like to direct actors to get the shots we need.
Yet another beautiful shot of the amazing dolly-rack-cart thing.
Until now.
This was the cake that we had specially brought in by our caterer. Unfortunately because of Evie's work commitments, it was dark by the time we got the cake and had set up. We were very impressed with the cake. Although it wasn't an exact replica of the original, I think it still captures the fact that it is for a wedding pretty well. I was most disappointed on finding that the flower wasn't edible.
It was an awesome cake. We enjoyed eating it very much, we will also be making a short behind the scenes video, in which we will eat the cake. It was delicious.
10/10/2011
Phil
So we started shooting for our Hangover remake. We started with Phil's side of the phone conversation, not gonna lie, but for our first ever shoot, it was awesome. Got some exclusive behind the scenes snapshots, I'll just explain them as I go along.
We had the script of the intro on the set, I was actually holding while doing the shots, I think it would have been better if I didn't have it; I would've been able to use my other hand, but we had a casting change at the last moment because of the fact that it was quite windy when we did the shoot. And Bill's hair would have got in a right mess.
Nicole and Evie were behind the scenes checking with Jake, who was the cinematographer, on how the shots were matching up to the originals. They were also giving tips on how to make it look better, and there just to make us look pro.
We were fortunate enough to have Bill's Dad's car along with us, which was a real bonus as it was the same shape and colour as the car they have in the original shot. We were very grateful to Bill's Dad. And we turning a few heads on the edge of Tuttle's Lane.
We have had another day of shooting, unfortunately it wasn't very productive as people didn't show up, and Evie was being held back at work by a very ignorant boss. We are going to have another day of shooting as the daylight ran out on Sunday and so did the camera battery. We have only got the rest of the people shots to get, which shouldn't take too long and we can get on with the editing.
This was one of our preparations; make-up. I was playing Phil, we were going to use fake blood. Yeh. We forgot it, so we improvised with byro. Went pretty successfully.
Looks like I had been punched in the face. Bill's Dad did suggest we just use method acting ways, I wasn't completely enthusiastic on that. We were trying to get the closest relation to the original shots, we got the costume and make-up pretty close to the original with these shots, we didn't really get the costume as dirty and as worn as the it could have been, but it was the same clothing style that we went for.
Nicole and Evie were behind the scenes checking with Jake, who was the cinematographer, on how the shots were matching up to the originals. They were also giving tips on how to make it look better, and there just to make us look pro.
We were fortunate enough to have Bill's Dad's car along with us, which was a real bonus as it was the same shape and colour as the car they have in the original shot. We were very grateful to Bill's Dad. And we turning a few heads on the edge of Tuttle's Lane.
We have had another day of shooting, unfortunately it wasn't very productive as people didn't show up, and Evie was being held back at work by a very ignorant boss. We are going to have another day of shooting as the daylight ran out on Sunday and so did the camera battery. We have only got the rest of the people shots to get, which shouldn't take too long and we can get on with the editing.
05/10/2011
The Hangover
We've been set a task in preparation of one of our pieces of work, which will be to create the first two minutes of a film. Our preparation task is to recreate the first two minutes of 'The Hangover'. There was a group of six of us, we got straight to business and focused on what was in the opening shots, what the main things would be to overcome; the opening shots show a wedding which required a lot of chairs, wedding dresses and a tasty looking cake.
Another shot showed a sports car, but luckily on of the members' dad had a sports car which we were allowed to use. What a kind gentleman. We agreed that all of us would try out at different things in the production, but each of us would have smaller roles assigned to us.
Today we shot Phil's side of the phone call, which we did afterschool, 5 of us met up, with some extras alongside, and walked to our location. We had to settle with a baron looking field instead of a Nevada desert. We have got some behind the scenes shots, which I'll put on a reflection blog after we have finished the project. The shoot today went well, we got the shots we needed, unfortunately we had to change the location slightly, as we were close to tuttles lane, althought we can always overdub the shots if the background noise is bad, but on first review it seemed okay. We're going to shoot most of the other shots on Sunday, with Jake doing some other small shots with his family members.
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