Audience feedback

Feedback Source 1 
1- What genre of film are you watching? How do you know?
       Mystery/action because of the song

2- Can you relate to any of the characters? Who and why? 
       Not really but some can

3. What do you think happens next? How do you know? 
                -----

4. Would you go and see this film? Why? 
       No because it's boring


Feedback Source 2 
1- What genre of film are you watching? How do you know?
       The genre could be clearer

2- Can you relate to any of the characters? Who and why? 
       Yes I can relate to this because this is what you go through everyday. This is a very relatable experience for some people and they bought it alike well.

3. What do you think happens next? How do you know? 
        Maybe...the girl turns to drugs?

4. Would you go and see this film? Why? 
       Maybe... (I want to see the characters outcomes) 

I Think We're Done...

Official Opening two minutes

...

Unspoken
(sorry! For some odd reason the clip would not embed)

And the Evaluation

...

Unspoken Evaluation
(Part 1)

Unspoken Evaluation
(Part 2)
Please excuse the informality and the rambling

Post-Production Journal

I think it's fair to say, we all found it extremely annoying working with a tape during our Prelim task, and having it cut off random parts of our footage. This time round, we had to convert the files from their raw canon format so that we could work with them in Final cut without having to render all the time. This definitely saved us time and effort compared to if we would've worked with the old non professional cameras.

Editing Session 1
This session mainly consisted of getting a skeleton draft of our opening and importing footage. First we  imported all the shots we had available so we had a variety to work with and renamed them also. Before we made any big decisions it was important to us to get everything in the correct order according to what we had planned in the story board. I think we felt confident with the footage we had, for the reason that we took as much as possible to ensure we wouldn't have to return. Whilst this was an option,financially it would be difficult considering we'd already paid a significant sum of money to get as far as we had done. By the end of this session we pretty much had everything in order. I think we started considering the role of sound at this stage, realising we would have to download and insert the appropriate diagetic train sounds later. After we got everything in order we then started to edit the sequence so it would fit in the time frame and think about the pace.

Editing Session 2
During this session we really started to think about the flow of shots in general and spent a little time cutting the sequence down even more. We all started to discuss the role of sound in our movie a little more in depth this time round. Playing through the sequence constantly we thought about what diagetic sounds we wanted and what kind of music we heard. I made a separate post on this previously, discussing how we came upon the artist "Moby" who produces music for non-profit film makers. We complied a list of possible songs that we thought would fit the mood of our film and I applied for a permit to download the songs the next day. Our group also downloaded some background underground sounds to apply to our film which we felt were needed. Listening it through the contrast of the sound we managed to capture to the lack of sound was just too drastic  and we decided we'd need to download some diagetic sound to add in. In addition to this we started to think about credits and production companies. Our group created a VKLC Productions logo which we used in the initial seconds of our film.

Editing Session 3
I think we managed to get a lot done during this session in terms of decision making. We debated a little bit on where the music should begin and what to do with it, but I thought it would maybe be a good idea to insert all the sound tracks we had and then figure out what sounded out of place and what should be taken out, so we decided on keeping the track running throughout for the time being. The titles are another thing we decided upon. From the very initial meetings, we had a vision of incorporating titles into the scenery of our shots, this is called the "Fringe effect". However when we looked up the tutorial that showed us the end result, I think we all agreed is was a little too much for our film opening. In our heads, we probably had something that drew less attention to itself, and we wanted the audience to be focused on what was occurring in the scene rather than be distracted by the overly flamboyant titles. Most people in our group also agreed is looked slightly too cliché for our film, which was something we were desperately trying to avoid. We inserted the official title at the very end of our sequence also. Just as the rest of the credits, the title served the purpose of communicating and setting the mood of the film as well as establishing the title through the choice of font, size and positioning. Due to the fact that we were going for something more dramatic, we opted to have it centre screen in a generic temporary font, before we decided officially. Keeley had also created a voice over draft which we cut up line by line and inserted to fit our sequence. She helpfully recorded the track with breaks in between each line so that we had the choice of cutting up the track and reordering things if necessary. In the end we took out the line "Is that even possible? I ask myself everyday" because we thought it was simply not needed or vital to the script. We had planned to rerecord this track to tweak certain emphasis on words and the pace, but in the end decided this was also not necessary.

Editing Session 4 + Session 5 
We mostly perfected the sound during these two sessions as we were still having problems with a couple things. A sound build up was added as we initially planned, which we had to tweak slightly in terms of positioning this track to correspond with the music which we had to cut back a bit. We also adjusted the sound levels to make the voice over heard over the two layers of diagetic and non-diagetic sound, and heightened some of the diagetic sound we had in our sequence. The typography was also decided upon. I have made a separate post on this previously also explaining our decision process and the representation behind the choice of font. Towards the end of the sessions we discovered how to animate our titles. As this was something that we didn't plan on incorporating in our story board we kept the effect fairly simple but effective. I didn't think it looked visually appealing enough having the plain fade-in fade-out effect applied which is what we had before. We quickly discovered the tracking and leading controls on each slug that allowed simple effects to be applied. The credits still faded in and out but this time spreading out as they faded away. This provided the equilibrium we were looking for: something simple enough not to draw attention away from the events occurring but interesting enough that manages to uphold the attention of the audience watching.

Editing Session 6
This was the session where we all began to feel the pressure with the deadline just around the corner. A vital decision we made was moving the title to an earlier point in our sequence to reduce it's trailer appearance. We picked a shot which wasn't too "busy" and kept the title central to make it obvious to the viewers this was the title of the film. Additionally the font was increased in size and spaces were added between the letters for layout and emphasis purposes. We also agreed on keeping the soundtrack running through the entire film only starting a little later than originally. Our diagetic sounds start with the production logo to enhance the verisimilitude. When discussing this we all thought that a movie felt so much more real and you became quickly absorbed when the diagetic sounds started with the production company titles rather than having the leitmotif. Also we added an aspect ratio and colour graded our film to enhance its cinematic appearance and as a result increase is visual appeal to our audience. Firstly came the aspect ratio which was the common use of 2:35:1. This created a wide screen effect, however altered some of the framing of some of our shots which we couldn't figure out how to alter due to the small amount of time available to us- we did however change the framing of some of the credits. Once we moved on to the colour grading aspect we experimented a little to get the hang of where everything was and how it works. In the end we opted for a bluey-yellow filter. This brought out the best in the natural lighting, enriching the colour and evoking a cinematic feel. Despite the fact that a convention of colour in action films was a sepia/yellow tone we wanted to combine the coldness of the blur hue supporting our theme of isolation yet again.

Editing Session 7
...we exported our film and uploaded it to youtube. Fin.

Production Journal

30th March 2013
London Paddington Underground 

The first day was a very long, long day. So much planning had gone into this the day before- we had written up a schedule, planned our financial expenses, organized the equipment as well as called the Police to notify them of our arrival and checked the weather forecast.
We had agreed to meet up early at Maidenhead train station to then take the train to London and meet up with our friend Cameron who would play the character of Isaac. However, when we were told about there being Reading train works on the day, we were also told that there would still be trains running to London Paddington. When we arrived at Maidenhead station we were given two options out of which we chose the variant involving travelling to Slough by train and then taking a coach to Hayes & Harlington from which we took the direct train to London Paddington. We calculated that we might loose valuable filming time but luckily we arrived at the initial scheduled time.

After getting our cast and crew assembled we had to notify the "train supervisor" which we were worried about considering we had no idea where to start looking, but we were directed by the overground train supervisors, so it didn't take more than fifteen minutes. After having signed in all of our five crew members and having had our lunch break we headed towards our filming location of Platforms 1+2. The shots we planned to do initially were the shot reverse shots with the character Isaac so for practical reasons, our actor wasn't forced to stay with us the entire day and also because they were  fairly straight forward to do, so it made sense to capture the simple shots initially.

After the shot reverse shot, we scheduled to capture the series of shots of Ariadne reading the map on the platform. I think we felt fairly confident in terms of the composition of these shots, which made a difference as we could get the filming done quickly. It was a little bit awkward at first with all the people looking at us, but we did our best to ignore our surroundings and get our shots completed. We also used much of the equipment such as the gorilla pod and the steady cam, but the problem was it took so long to put on we eventually ended up shooting most of our footage free hand later on in the day. This however I see as an advantage, as "shaky cam" is an aspect used in some action films that we came across in our research of our genre. It also adds a sense of realism, bringing the audience into the film more and maintaining their attention. We did however employ the use of the steady cam when doing the tracking shot of Ariadne and the shot from the balcony to provide stability. At the moment when we were filming it felt a lot longer than it actually took us, which was two hours in total. I was shocked at this considering it took us nearly one hour to achieve a single shot in our Preliminary task. I think this shows what a long way we've come and how much time simply being prepared can buy you.  

This concludes the first half of the filming day. The following are the shots we managed to capture:

• Shot reverse shot of Isaac and Ariadne 
• Tracking shot of Ariadne walking to platform
• Close up of Ariadne reading the map (long continuous shot) 
• Shot of Ari walking from balcony
• Shot of map on the floor 
• Close up of Isaac

After this our "Isaac" actor left and we stopped for a break as we were moving through the shots a lot quicker than planned.  This was an advantage not only providing us with another break, but it gave us time for problem solving. Due to the fact that we hadn't done a reccy we didn't know exactly where to go. However- baring this in mind the day before, I looked up the surroundings and entrances of London Paddington Underground station the day before. I had seen an entrance to the underground and was certain I knew where it was from the map. After checking out the location with Cary I suggested we go to this location to start filming. Upon arriving we encountered a huge crowd problem for our establishing shots, which Ariadne was going to be in to depict her place in society. The problem was there were none. When we were planning, we got more involved in what we were going to be doing that we didn't consider "crowd control" and assumed there would be crowds. Of course, this meant that we had to think on our feet at which point we had to find a different area to film in quickly. So we went back to our original location (taking an establishing shot of the exteriors along the way) and thought about the other areas available to us to film in. We managed (in almost no time) to find yet another descending entrance to the Underground within the station, but once again there was a lack of crowds. Although I was uncomfortable with the fact that we would have to deviate from our original story boards, I was reminded by the rest of the crew that given the amount of time we had there was no other option. Keeley also spotted that our mic had been turned off for the first two hours of filming, however this wasn't as big an issue as we were planning on having a diagetic voice over track on top anyway.

When considering how we would represent Ariadne with what we had available to us, Keeley mentioned how we could represent the theme isolation through the lack of people we had available; so in the end we took the rest of the shots of Ariadne's journey before she reaches the platform with less people. There were of course more crowds starting to build up after a while, but by this time we had everything we needed, and later agreed it was an advantage as it would've been extremely hard to film Ari amongst crowds whilst not getting in people's right of way. Because we hadn't originally planned to film here, it took us slightly longer to get everything done, but to the same high standard we set for ourselves just the same.

The shots we completed in the second half were:

• Ariadne walking down the stairs
• Establishing shot of the sign for the underground
• Numerous takes of Ariadne walking down the corridor
• Shots of Ariadne being bumped into 
• Still of Ari's face - the first time the audience would see her up close. 

Originally we were going to go back to the platform and do the close up shots and "the drop sequence", but from previous experience with our prelim task, we decided to call it a day and do them on another location in Maidenhead. This meant that we wouldn't rush the shots and also wouldn't get in the right of way of other passengers- also it was cold and the rest of the crew were exhausted after an already really long day. 

The Drop Sequence
7th April 2013
The Director's House (me)

I think looking back on it now, it was a good decision we made not to film this on the underground. Because this was probably the hardest sequence of shots to get right, it required patience and concentration- which wouldn't be as easy to achieve in an environment where we had to consider the right of way of the public. We shot this is my back garden, taking into account sources of light and concentration of light so we could match the shots closely to the ones shot on the Underground. It took a couple tries to get the drop to travel down the map the way we envisioned it, but we got a fair amount to pick and choose from in the end which we were happy with. Unfortunately Lorna and Cary couldn't make this day, nevertheless we managed to get all the shots successfully captured in under an hour.

These shots were:

• Various shots of Ari looking at the map
• Shots of the drop travelling down the map
• Shots of Ari's gaze travelling up to see Isaac on the opposite platform 
• Close up's of map
• Drop falling from above- with the use of a pipet 

Audience Research

Gender ... Because of the complexity of our narrative and the interlacing of both action/drama, thriller/romance themes the gender of our target audience is both male and female. I think because nowadays the theme of action can appeal to both genders it's hard to allocate the theme of action/thriller mainly to male audiences. Our use of a female protagonist (as in the Hunger Games) also expands our audience to female viewers along with the aspects of drama and romance. Yet again, due to the individuality and complexity of audiences of the modern day, it's not always the case that all girls will be attracted to the "drama" and "romance" side of things. The contents of the quote below proves that the combination of targeting both genders is in fact possible and the versatility of today's audience.

"According to a recent tracking report, 73% of young women surveyed had definite interest in seeing the movie, a "staggering" figure on its own, according to a former studio executive. But male interest could boost the box office for "The Hunger Games" exponentially, with 48% of young men saying they're definitely interested in seeing the movie."

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204603004577267832212316716.html

Age ... Due to our main protagonist being a teenager, our target audience is estimated to be of a similar age for relatability reasons.  However the themes explored in this film aren't exactly "light", therefore a more mature audience would relate/understand perhaps better than a younger audience might. Saying this- we have maintained a general theme and even if an audience outside of the target audeince range views the film, I believe there will still be the general understanding of this theme of Isolation. The feelings Ariadne is portrayed to have can link to anyone depending on their experiences.

Overall we gave this movie a rating of 12A. We believe that this film may deal with mature issues, these can also be understood and interpreted by a younger audience, even though they may not appreciate it fully. Also in terms of distribution, it leaves the door open as to who can watch it, gaining as wide an audience as possible. We want the film, much like Inception, to be open to any age, but not rate it as a PG so that teenagers are prevented from seeing it because they think it's too general or even aimed at a younger audience, and not aimed at teenagers. This is another example of how Inception influenced our decisions in the making of this film opening.

Characteristics ... Verisimilitude plays a large part in the audience that will view it ultimately, the more relatable, the more likely the audience will see it. Ariadne is isolated and cut off, which is a trait that many people experience at one point or another, and this will help the audience to instantly identify with Ari, because they know what she has gone through.

Exploring Genre

Personally I find the best films are the ones that consider the narrative over the genre. I find I like the films that you can't really pin point the genre of but that have an extremely strong narrative. We took the same approach, although maybe some would say we pushed the genre aside too much. We developed our narrative letting the genre help shape the way in which we presented this narrative to the audience rather than it being the other way round. Over the course of making unspoken we had many influences, some rather vague from general things we'd remembered form films in the past but others using concrete examples... 

Inception (2010)

Inception is a movie we watched initially for our exam preparation case studies. However- as well as employing the use of a McGuffin, Inception shows use of interesting time structure. Note how the movie does not begin at the beginning of the narrative but rather before the ending. This is an excellent way to stimulate enigma forcing the audience to pose questions as to the significance of what they're seeing and how it will fit in with what has already happened. 

The Hunger Games (2012)

The lead protagonist in the film "The Hunger Games" is evidently of a female gender. Some may regard this as unusual due to the lack of female leads in a practically male dominated genre, something Unspoken has in common. In this way our film opening challenges the conventions of one of the genre's we've taken on. I think not only would this broaden the audience a film of this genre would appeal to, it also adds an aspect of uniqueness to our film, simply through the lack of action films with female leads. 

The Bourne Ultimatum (2007)

The Bourne Ultimatum is generally known for it's effective (although some disagree) use of shaky cam. This among other things brings the film a greater sense of realism, drawing the audience into the location on screen and maintaining their attention through the use of short cuts. I think we very much captured this same sense of realism i our opening- we used shaky cam, made use of natural lighting to help this effect and used tracking shots to move with the character rather than admire them from a distance. Furthermore Bourne was similarly shot in a popular London location- something we took into account in the early stages of production- a popular yet in this case non-cliché convention. 

                                                                                 Good Will Hunting (1997)  

In the early stages of story boarding, I wanted to make sure that we've maintained the attention of the audience and not simply stuck to simple and expected long, mid and close up shots. I remembered Gus Van Sant at this point because he always captures things differently and is a great source of inspiration I remembered from my Director's Study. There'll never be something normal about his shots, and I particularly like the one in the movie Good Will Hunting displayed to the right. We all thought it would be interesting to incorporate a similar over the head shot into our sequence- and I must say I think it worked effectively in terms of composition.

Love Actually

Both Love Actually and Forrest Gump introduced us to the possibility of using voice over in our final two minutes. There is no one definition for a successful voice over I would say due to the variety of ways you can be creative and produce a great VO using non-traditional methods. I think the main thing is what you reveal through your voice over- how much information. I've been told quite often and read about bad VO's that have been used as an exit to try an explain everything to the audience and they perhaps make the experience tedious and not thought-provoking, through an "information-overdose". I think we were very cautious of this before writing our script, and luckily we avoided it. 

Opening Credits

After researching typography for films a little bit more in depth. I'm beginning to realize just how important each detail of the opening sequence is. The slightest change in detail can mean depicting a whole different meaning, and although the audience may not notice every little detail you've constructed at once, it's vital that those details exist so they become a part of constructing the filmic world you're presenting to you audience.

The opening credits sequence roughly goes in the following order:

1. (Name of the studio) - for example Universal Studios or in our case VKLC productions that owns and distributes the film, however may not have necessarily been involved with the production of it.

2. (Name of the production company) - this is the company that produced and/or financed most of the film. For example "A Media House Production" or "In Association with Media House productions"

3. Director and/or the Producer's name- this usually comes up as e.g. "A Gus Van Sant film" or "A film by Gus Van Sant"

4. Starring - Lead actors names start coming up at this point of sequence

5. Title

6. Featuring - featured actors

7. Casting (By) - Casting Director's name comes up

8. Music (Composed by) or Original Score by - Music composer's name e.g. "Music composed by Antonio Pinto"

9. Production Design (by) or Production Designer 

10. A Combination of the following may come up at this stage
      - Set Design (by)
      - Costumes (by) or Costume Design by 
      - Hairdresser
      - Make-up Artist 
      - Visual Effects Director 

11. Editor or Edited by

12. Director of Photography

13. Producer/Produced by/Executive Producer

14. Based on ... - If the film was based on a particular book or characters, this is the place at which the necessary "Based on..." credit begins

15. Story By - This is the person who wrote the story upon which the script is based

16. Written or Written by - The Screenplay writers are credited here

(research from Wikipedia)
Of course not all films follow this format. Sometimes names will appear before others, depending on the desires of the film maker. However it is the way in which these titles are presented which is really essential. Although the opening titles serve to credit the film makers, they are nonetheless a tool used to hint to an audience about a particular mood of a film and engage them further. When I was researching typography in films, one name kept coming up called "Se7en". I had only seen a couple stills from it in an article, however just from the colouring and composition of the shots, it already looked captivating and intrigued me enough to watch it.





  Editing our Titles

For our opening sequence we wanted (just as any other film) to depict our genre through the font we decide on in the end. Whilst we considered the possibilities for titles, we came across a term called "the fringe effect". Looking back on our rough draft of the edited sequence, we liked the initial shots we had into which we thought of incorporating titles. We planned to do this initially, as we thought it would put focus on the busy environment and become a part of the filmic world we were creating. However when we were shown the effect in Final Cut the result looked a bit too cliché and time consuming to achieve. Additionally most of our shots were quite shaky and would therefore take away from the titles becoming a part of the filmic world created-the Fringe effect wouldn't be as effective. In the end we decided to choose a simplistic approach in the way we presented our opening credits-a way in which they wouldn't draw too much attention to themselves but would depict genre and fit with the mood of our film effectively. We chose to have a simple fade in and fade out effect. First we put in templates to get a rough idea as to where the credits would go, which is something we kept in mind when storyboarding and considering our camera composition. After we decided upon this we started to look through the fonts available on Final Cut. I saw in my head something simple and evoking a "serious" tone. We eventually chose a font called "American Typewrtiter". It connoted to our McGuffin in my opinion, and maps in general as it evokes a sense of practicality and functionality rather than being overly decorated or over the top. Simultaneously though, the font evoked an action sequence as it was more modern than another typewriter font we tried. Primarily we had planned the entire way for the title to appear at the end of our sequence, with the build up of sound at the end to evoke tension and emphasize the silent appearance of the title. When we were re-watching what we had edited so far, our group member Lorna pointed out that it seemed quite "trailer-y". We re-watched the clip, meddled with sound and rearranged the titles- did everything we could to eliminate this problem. Later, Keeley pointed out that the problem wasn't the music and everything else as it was having the title appear at the end. Usually in trailers after the compilation of clips from the film, the title is eventually revealed towards the end as it will be the last thing the audience remembers. We were very hesitant about removing this title as it was the one thing we were all sure about and agreed upon would definitely be at the end of the sequence, but once we moved it's place I think we all felt happy with our choice. I also thought it fit better with our ordering of opening as we didn't have this large awkward gap between our smaller credits and the reveal of the title. I think looking back on it, to improve I would've probably researched more fonts for this project before we shot our sequence so we had plenty of time to come to a decision, not that I'm not happy with what we chose- but I think we could've achieved something closer to what we imagined if we would've begun looking for it early on. During our final hours of editing, I still wasn't sure that the simple fade-in, fade-out dissolve effect was fitting enough, so we decided to look up how to animate opening credits.This is how we managed to achieve the slow zoom on our opening titles, for added emphasis as well as it being aesthetically suited to our movie. We lengthened the effect of this zoom on the title to differentiate it from the rest, as well as enlarging its size and moving it to centre screen. With the other titles, as we initially intended, we kept them "fitting into" our surroundings, so not too much focus is taken off what is occurring on screen.

Acting Research

After various meetings discussing who we would cast in our film we came to the conclusion that Ariadne is a role that would be best played by Keeley Burridge. We thought that as well as portraying the character well physically, her knowledge and understanding of the Ariadne would result in a convincing performance.

As I have already mentioned in a previous post, Meryl Streep's method acting approach to the character of Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady (2011) is a method we also tried to incorporate into our film. We placed items we believed Ari would carry with her at this point and time explored in the narrative.

In terms of Ariadne's behaviour and appearance on camera, we knew before hand that she's a character who's invisible to most people. She has so much to say yet she's frustrated at her inability to say things she can't express. We were going to communicate this through her shoving the papers back into her back when she's bumped into in the tunnel. The camera also has to keep up with her and we're not immediately shown her full appearance;  it's only when we have the single close up of her lifting her head that the audience really sees what she looks like for the first time. This also reflects how she doesn't trust people easily and she won't let just anyone in- how her trust must be earned.

Our friend Cameron was cast in the role for Isaac. Of course due to the fact that we didn't know many people who could play the part, he really was our only option. We mainly represented his character through his attire (explained in an earlier post on costume). During the shot where he's on the opposite platform, he acts slightly surprised and confused  when he spots Ariadne to communicate to our audience he perhaps has a previous link to her. This also is a part of stimulate enigma, as this question is not answered in the opening two minutes and leaves viewers wanting to know what his significance in the narrative is. Cam's appearance suited very much how we (or at least I) saw Isaac in my mind.

Music for our "Motion Picture"

At the moment we were recommended by our teacher to research the artist "Moby" who produced the theme song to The Bourne Identity called Extreme Ways. Apparently he produces free downloadable music for small non-profit films that are in need of tracks to accompany their film. VKLC productions therefore decided to create an account with his company and began searching for possible songs. We all briefly discussed beforehand what we each heard in our heads when looking at our footage. During this discussion I remembered something I once read from the book "101 Things I Learned in Film School" -

The music you hear in your head during filming is probably not the right music for the  film.

"If you have a 'perfect' song or score in mind while writing a script, prepping, or filming, the moment you match it to the edited footage you are likely to be disappointed. The image and the story want what they want, not what you want."

John Williams, composer, five-time Academy Award winner

Surely enough, I'm starting to understand this, and as we went through the individual sons one by one, I started liking what we had found. Despite the fact that it was different to what I had in mind. I'm not sure how everyone else feels about it though.
One thing we all decided upon was that no matter what musical choice we make, we wanted the music not to attract too much attention to itself, considering we also have another two layers of additional sound- The Voice Over and the diagetic sound of the underground. We think if there's too much going on, it will sound too hectic- and too cramped to focus on what the Voice Over is saying.
At the moment from the list on the website-  these are the songs we have chosen:

• Wait For Me
• Isolate 
• Ghost Return 
• Wait For Me (ambient)
• Sighted                       

Props Research

Props range from the small, unnoticeable things to the iconic pieces in films that help complete and sell the verisimilitude of the film to the viewer as well as represent character and sometimes stimulate the plot. In "the business" The Properties Department is responsible for creating, handling and designing the props for film. From my research I have discovered there apparently five different types of props within the department- Dressing Props (surroundings e.g. furniture), Hand Props (things actors will carry or hold), Hero Props (objects central to action in a scene), Stunt Props (  I think this means props used in movie combat or stunts that have been replicated into softer materials), Mechanical Props (props that move). In some cases (such as in our film) the McGuffin of the film is the main prop.

We initially decided on the map to be our lead prop during the narrative discussions as it ties in with the plot. The map was something initially created by Ariadne and Isaac when they were kids- it plots the locations they wanted to visit in and around London. Later the map gets lost in archives and various paperwork but luckily comes into the possession of Ariadne. It was redrawn by Isaac before it became lost- blank of names, just red lines and dots all joining up in a mysterious but logical way. When it came to making this prop we were advised to create multiple copies for the purpose of accidents and when it came to filming the drop shot- so if we wouldn't get the shot we wanted the first time we would have a non-stained back up map. On "the day" we also nearly lost it so it was a good job we had three extras!

Designing Specifications for The Red Map

• Map must be worn- look like it's been used by Ariadne and been lost through archives
• Must be blank of names
• Red lines and dots 
• Map must be fairly large to be able to film the drop shot
• Must look like it's been drawn by Isaac- graph paper, straight lines - nothing too fancy         

Our final product (after it was used for the drop sequence!) 

 Due to the fact that ultimately this was our McGuffin, we wanted the audience to wonder what this map meant, what it was and why it was in Ariadne's possession to stimulate enigma and propel the plot. It's significance was also hinted with it's mention in the voice over.

The bag to the left is what Ariadne wears in the opening two minutes. The design is simple, to show her lack of concern for being fashionable, the canvas material also reflects this theme of practicality evident throughout her costume. To begin with, we saw her carrying a rucksack of the same material, but due to our limited budget we decided to use something already in our possession and slightly worn.
During the exhibition at the V & A about costume design, I remembered something mentioned by Meryl Streep's approach to acting. In her role as Margaret Thatcher she filled the contents of her bag on set with similar props she imagined the real Thatcher to have carried round as a way to get into character as much as possible. This is called method acting. We applied the same theory to Ariadne's character. After having discussed her situation at this time in the narrative, we filled her bag with two maps- the Red Map she would be trying to decode, a London map- probably for reference, many pieces of ripped out paper which is to represent her identity through others' eyes and her way of  communicating, as well as practical things such as tissues, money, water, snacks etc... We tried to make it as full as possible to communicate to the audience that this character is on the run- she isn't there on a day trip.

The contents of Ari's bag

                                                                                                                                                                     

Our Official Shot List

Our official shot list used on the day of production

Contents of the Shot List above (shots in order of filming priority)
Shot 26 - Over the shoulder shot across platform to Isaac
Shot 9 - Soft focus crowds, Isaac amidst them
 External Shots
Shot 1- Paddington exterior establishing shots 
Shot 2 - Long shot of stairs
Shot 3 - Long shot of crowds with focus line
Shot 4 - Ariadne in crowds, bumped by passer by
Shot 5 - Mid Shot of feet, Ariadne picks up papers
Shot 7 - Cut shot of Ariadne refilling bag, lower body
Shot 10 - Bridge, set up shot of platform, Ariadne in frame
Shot 11 - Mid shot, Ariadne walking down platform
Shot 12 - Long shot, passing trains
Shot 13 - Low body shot, Ariadne should sit
Shot 15 - Pulling out papers still on bench
Shot 19 - Close up, Ariadne fiddles with hands
Shot 20 - Drops map to floor
Shot 6 - (could be filmed in conjunction with 5-8)
Shot 8 - Ariadne close up, head rises
Shot 14 - Over head shot of face
Shot 17 - Extreme close up of eye
Shot 18 - Extreme close up of mouth
Shot 16 - Map close up, Ariadne traces route
Shot 21 - Map lies on floor, long shot with focus on map
Shot 22 - Reaches to pick up map close up
Shot 23 - The drop shot
Shot 24 - Close-up extreme: water mixes with red ink
Shot 25 - Following water trail

(Any extra shots or improvisation can be completed after this. Does not include opening titles such as VKLC production company)

Official Storyboard

Our Official Storyboards 

(Shot's 1-4)

(Shot's 5-8)

(Shot's 9-12)

(Shot's 13-16)

(Shot's 17-20)

(Shot's 21-24)

(Shot's 25-28)

I found that on "the day" we referenced to these more than I thought we would, when we got absorbed in doing another shot or we just needed reminding, our storyboards helped us stay on task and reminded us of our initial creative vision. I think we came a long way in terms of our story boarding for our Prelim task and our story boarding for this task. Our drawings were clearer and we had more time to come up with a stronger creative vision of each shot. We also did a rough draft of our story boards- to ensure we knew exactly what we wanted to achieve. 

Location Research

How It's Done in Hollywood

Location scouting or Location research is a vital part of pre-production in film. Not only are the location department required to match an ideal location to the visual image the head of the production department, but they also have to consider weather, electricity, "logistic feasibility", cost and parking.

The process of location scouting generally involves a location department (consisting of location managers and scouts) to be hired that will communicate with the production department to find the desired scenery.
Location scouting is done through photography, research and visiting the chosen areas to ensure they are ideal for the film. The department must create what is called a "short list" of all the appropriate locations found to be passed onto and approved by the production department.

 "In addition to providing creative input, the Location Manager is responsible for the day-to-day management of locations"
                                            - LMGA "Who We Are" page

4 minute video on location scouting from the LMGA website (Location Mangaers Guild of America) - http://locationmanagers.org/lmga/2011/11/who-we-are-and-what-we-do-a-4-minute-video-about-location-managing/

How It's Done At Newlands 

When we were first exploring the possibilities of what we could do for a two minute opening, the idea which we had in mind already came with it's location of the Underground. The very very first raw idea from which everything rooted was; a dishevelled looking girl riding on the underground late at night. From that first idea we've looked into shooting on the Underground, been disappointed and planned to shoot somewhere else, applied for an official student permit from the TFL (transport for London , gone through the application process, encountered financial problems when paying for it, overcome those problems to finishing typing this blog post the day before we film "the new Bond".

As we wrote in our application for the permit:

(...)Within this opening, we hope to capture to urban environment of the bustling London city and we believe that the London Underground is perfect for presenting this theme. The tube will appear in an audio-visual way on camera, appearing as our main setting for the opening of our narrative. The passing trains should add a sense of depth and urgency to the filming as well as providing atmospheric lighting. All of this is essential to our opening to present as much meaning as possible through visuals, given the fact that our main character does not speak. Our production group believed Paddington to be a good station to choose as it is a mainstream station, meaning crowds will be abundant and it is also easy to commute to being an central location. Further to this, the circle line platforms offer as a good mix of natural and darkened light, reflecting many aspects of our films plot and main characters struggles. The footage we can acquire from this shoot will depict our characters actions as her main thought process is shown through voice over. Therefore, the shots will match the monologue that is spoken by our character  The setting of the underground also works well with emphasizing how lost this character is compared to the moving world surrounding her. The great thing about filming in a station such as Paddington is the feeling that everyone seems to have a destination, contrasting to our lost protagonist, Ariadne, who is trying to discover hers.

We chose three possible stations when considering which platforms and undergrounds to shoot on: Angel, Baker Street and Paddington. From previous experience we all decided that these were the underground stations that evoked the appropriate mood we needed for our footage due to the versatility of the lighting, crowds and layout of the stations. Initially, we thought that Baker Street would be most ideal due to the low lighting that we thought would evoke a sense of isolation, however we were reminded that an important aspect of what we were trying to convey about Ariadne is her sense of insignificance to other people and how she's invisible to most people because of her disability, which would be achieved through the initial shots of her amidst the crowds of London. We thought that of all three stations Paddington would be the most crowd-filled there is, not to mention well-known, therefore the viewer would identify the location more so than the others. We ruled out Angel because although it had the right atmosphere, there weren't two opposing platforms available to do the shot-reverse shot of Isaac and Ariadne. Our final decision was to film on platforms 1 + 2 of the London Underground, Paddington station.

                                                                            Angel:

Baker street: 

London Paddington:

http://www.tfl.gov.uk/corporate/media/10484.aspx - for my location research- tfl

Plan For Tomorrow

As part of our location research I have researched the weather forecast so we can be prepared for tomorrow, and spread out the shots accordingly. 

Our Schedule is as follows: 

Filming Schedule – Unspoken

8:45 – Meet outside Maidenhead train station, maximum late allowance- 6 min’s. Buy tickets for 4 people, group tickets around £7.49 day travel pass and board the 9:08am train on platform 4 (unless we find an earlier train).

10:31 – Arrive at Waterloo station (due to train works) and take the Bakerloo line direct to Paddington. Meet Cam in Café Nero/Uppercrust. Go to necessary Police department (written in notes to be taken with us) then find Supervisor and present documents and equipment.

12:00 – Have lunch where ever closest to avoid wasting time. 

12:30-13:00 - Start filming. Shot reverse shots with Cam to be shot first. Exterior shots and shots requiring specific bright daylight for exposure purposes. 

15:00 - 15:30 – Interior shots. 

16:00-17:00 - Film drop sequence and any other shots that may be necessary.

18:30 - Sign Out and go home

Film Openings - Atonement

I know I've referenced to the film Atonement (Joe Wright) quite a lot throughout this blog. However I feel that the opening for this film was really effective. As I said before- I'm not that big a fan of the plot line, but the way the movie was constructed is really effective, and this opening is one of the (only) two positive things that stuck with me after having seen the film. I believe there is a use of MacGuffin in the opening two minutes, and the use of sound is also really effective.

Atonement - Timeline of Opening Sequence


1/10 sec's - "Universal" institution logo and own music (a typical convention of opening                    sequences. However I find it more effective when the diagetic music is played                    during the company logos- it just makes the movie more real for me rather than                   "movieish") 
2/10 sec's - Institution logo and music conclude by fading out to pitch black screen and                    silence.3/10 sec's - More production company logos, no diagetic music/sound as of yet. 4/10 sec's - Diagetic nature sounds (mostly birds) begin softly. Official movie titles dissolve                   in and type writer is wound up/pulled back between tittles dissolving.5/10 sec's - Typewriter is pulled back three times. Diagetic sounds of birds continue. Quite                    loud typing sounds in sync with main title appearing letter by letter . Historic                    printed font which replicates the font of a typewriter, already giving away the                    fact that this is a period film set around in the middle of the 20th century.6/10 sec's - Type writer is pulled back again and a punchy diagetic noise of typing continues.                    Punchy noise in sync with the straight cut to the establishing shot of a dolls                   house, the diagetic typewriter sounds continue. The dolls house is  brilliant                    example of a strong opening. This image effectively tells us what the movie is                    going to be: a childs perspective of adult issues. The dolls house reflects the                    child's perspective, and the fact the house looks really intricate and is an exact                    copy of what we'll later see is the house of the protagonist's family, tells us the                    child's perspective will be of adult issues. It also depicts innocence and (again)                   tells the audience that this is a period film from the vintage style of the dolls                    house. A couple seconds later the tittle of "England 1935" appears (also in sync                    with continuing typewriter sounds). Camera slowly starts to zoom out of dolls                    house shot. Second Minute begins here1/10 sec's - Type writer sounds pick up pace and diagetic nature sounds continue. There is a                   particular distinctive fly buzzing heard (diagetic also) which reflects what will                    lead to the child character misunderstanding certain events in the future. the fly                   buzzing in the window is what attracts her attention to what's occurring outside,                   causing her to misinterpret a specific event. Simultaneously there is a  low-angled                    tracking shot following a trail of toy animals leading from the dolls house to the                    protagonist child character sitting in a desk chair. This is also symbolic for most of                    the other characters blaming this child the entire story for the way events weave                    themselves into reality because of her childish misconception. At this point, the                    setting of a child's room is definitely established through the background of toys.                   There are natural colours maintained through the furnishings- mostly pale green                   tones. 2/10 sec's - Camera grows closer to the type-writer, therefore the  diagetic sounds grow                    louder. Camera slowly rises to the level of the girl typing sitting in the chair. The                    painting hung above also could symbolize her desperate attempt at forgiveness                    and putting things right as well as her innocence.3/10 sec's - Camera is now at the same level as the girl and starts to pan around her head,                    slowly revealing her face. The diagetic sound of the typewriter is now at it's                   loudest level. 4/10 sec's - Close up of the girl's innocent blue eyes- camera still slowly panning. A non-                   diagetic sound of a single reccuring piano note begins to play. Camera switches                   to a shot of the paper in the type writer reading "The End". 5/10 sec's - Page pulled out of type writer, second piano layer added with closure of the                    folder in which the girl places the piece of paper. The name of the character is                    introduced this way- Briony Tallis. We also know she's a creative character and                    is interested in writing. More intricate musical layers begin until the main theme                    of the film begins. As I mentioned in my analysis on sound previously, this                    intricate polyphonic texture reflects the intricate and quick way the events                    weave themselves into reality for these characters, and Briony is the catalyst.                    Camera zooms out as Briony grabs script and walks away, at which point the                    camera switches to a long shot. The initially diagetic sounds of the typewriter                    become non-diagetic and a part of the polyphonic musical texture. The audience                    starts to see the vast space of the house and rich interiors. 6/10 sec's - More layers added to music which is fairly fast paced. The camera follows                    Briony's journey through the house but not through a tracking shot. Camera in a  fixed angle, but turns as Briony passes through the frame. 

Lighting & Colour Research

The lighting & colour in film is excruciatingly important. Any slight changes in colour or lighting can change the mood of the scene and therefore the effect this had on the audience. Lighting tends to be either low key or high key. I explored these two terms in a previous post on it's role in the industry in general. Low key is when the lighting isn't concentrated on a specific area of the screen and the entire setting remains equally lit. High key is the opposite- where most of the lighting is concentrated on a specific area. I think generally, lighting tends to be quite often altered using various equipment so it appears as it does to the human eye, to ensure the actors faces are lit up appropriately. The costume and make up department often works with Lighting & colour to coordinate the visual aspects of the way a scene will work. Having the right make up will ensure the actors faces won't look oily or reflect any of the light in the scene to destroy the verisimilitude of the filmic world created. 

We already have lighting restrictions even before we arrive at the location. Due to the area in which we we're filming, we're not permitted by TFL to use any additional lighting as this would distract the train drivers. In a way I think this works in our favour. I think the end result of the film will give the viewers the impression they're at the location on screen, adding a sense of realism. Also it allows for versatility in adjusting lighting and colour later in the colour grading process so if we for some reason decide not to add anything or aren't happ with the way it looks we can always go back to the original format. 

I think one of the advantages of filming at this location is we have a variety of lighting available to us, as evident in the photo above. There are areas of high concentration of light as well as low- so we have a lot to work with. This will of course also depend on the whether forecast for the day which we will post and research beforehand. We may of course encounter the problem of there being too little lighting as the source for this station is natural light. 

We are also prepared to film on the underground station, Angel should Paddington not suit our requirements. As evident from the photo above the lighting is quite artificial and concentrated. I think for this reason it won't work as effectively as Paddington  The natural light of Paddington evokes a sense of coldness almost- and the theme of isolation is what we wanted to evoke. I think the warm, artificial hues of Angel won'y work as well because they lack the coldness  Of course this can simply be altered during the colour grading process.

Baker Street above is our final option for a filming location. This lighting is closest to what we envisioned in our minds due to the creepy low key use of light. We had all visited this station before and agreed that it captured the feeling we wanted to evoke perfectly. 

Colour!

We agreed on the colouring of the film to be mainly natural, with darker tones to replicate the main themes of our narrative. It also helps that the stations we plan to use have an aged look to them which gives of mystery and enigma, and also fits more to the conventions of our action/drama genre whilst providing us with a more cinematic feel. We planned for Ariadne to be amongst the initial crowd shots, therefore her clothes will blend in with the natural colouring of the scene to hide her importance in our narrative. This will also be similar to that of Isaac's character, yet he will hopefully have a more intimidating feel, with dark clothing that mimics Ariadne's colour scheme. This will mean that although he could be seen as an antagonist, a connection between the two characters is also faintly evident. 

Main Task Update 2

We received our official permit yesterday!!!! 

So we are definitely going to be filming on the underground!!! The permit lasts for exactly one month and it is apparently possible to return to film on location any time between the  starting date and expiry date. We have put together all of our necessary documents for the day- the paperwork received with the permit, the employer's liability and the risk assessment (along with four copies of the script). Tomorrow we will have our run through session with the Camera so we know how to operate it tomorrow and don't waste any valuable time. Our shot list is being drawn up at the moment as well as our story boards and hopefully everyone should have their research complete by the big day. I've also started to write up a schedule for the day- which I haven't finished yet due to the shot list being incomplete- and which I will print off for the director (me) to have tomorrow.

Development of Character - Isaac & Ariadne

The two lead protagonists in our narrative are Ariadne Russo (lead female protagonist) and Isaac (lead male protagonist). After having mind-mapped the basic personality of Ariadne (below) we started to talk about what kind of impression we want the audience to get from her character and how we are going to represent her. Our group member Cary Banks is our official costume researcher as well as story-boarder  therefore we discussed a general concept that Cary is able to develop.

Ariadne

The mind-map discusses the back bones of Ariadne's character. She is on the run and a generally guarded person, therefore she doesn't trust people too easily. She's not the kind to smile at a stranger, mostly she keeps to herself and her writing. Not many people notice her, she's not the kind to attract much attention, therefore it's no surprise someone bumps into her without realising- knocking her bag off and spilling her papers everywhere.
She doesn't have many accessories on her. Practically she came from a foster care home and doesn't have much money or possessions on her- she doesn't tend to get emotionally attached to small things, just give her some paper and a pen and she can draw you her dreams. The only jewellery she wears is a silver band ring from her infancy- it's a link to her past with Isaac- they found it together during one of their many adventures. She's a strong character. But because she cannot speak she gets very annoyed when she wants to say something and can't- because of this she has a short temper. And Isaac is the opposite- he laughs at the small things she obsesses over and is a contrasting more relaxed character.
Before I move onto Isaac- Cary created a mood board for Ari's appearance which is to the right>>

 Ariadne is a guarded character, therefore her clothes would not give too much of her away. She is on the run - depicted through her dishevelled appearance and lack of care about personal fashion. Her clothes will be in-keeping within natural hues, but nothing detailed- mostly plain colours. In the early developments of her character we discussed her looking like a blank-canvas. She doesn't know who she is- and this is what she is trying to discover. She wears a satchel- practical for all the things she needs (paper, pencils, pens- all sorts of stationary, water, some snacks, map, scarf etc...) and she's had this satchel for as long as she can remember. It looks quite worn and like it's been many places- the fabric is canvas-style. She has writing on her hands and ink stains here and there. The clothes she wears aren't mainly from high-street stores, she prefers to buy second-hand clothing as she was raised to be practical. But her clothes depict a certain sensibility and classiness that girls of her age don't usually have.

Isaac

As I began to explain, Isaac has an opposite attitude to Ariadne. He's more relaxed about the little things and doesn't get mad easily- it's the future and Ari's demons that bother him most. He's naturally protective of Ariadne, sometimes too much, having taken her under his wing in their infancy when they were both in the same care home for kids. He's more logical than creative like Ari is in terms of his interests and is very precise in everything he does (for example- map making) . Whilst Ari is intrigued in the cultres of the world and travel Isaac is interested in travel but admiring it from a distance- he has more of a stable view of home, contrasting to Ari who is used to bringing her home wherever she goes. He's an organized character and likes to be prepared. Below is the other mood board Cary prepared for Isaac's appearance.