Friday, 31 January 2014

Experimenting Camera Shots - Storyboard and Analysis



Framing Tips

Before starting this task we were given some tips on how to frame the scene. These are:
  1. Compose the shot to ensure that the action takes place within the frame and doesn't cut out of it. Ensure that everything in the scene is meant to be there, make sure the camera or any parts of it can be seen.
  2. Shoot the same scene numerous times from different angles and use different shot types in case different shots are needed when editing.
  3. If it is possible, get actors to walk in and out of the frame for better editing.
  4. Make sure there is minimal camera movement unless you are going for a particular effect. i.e jump shot.
  5. Shoot plenty of cutaways.
  6. Film at the eye level of the actor. Mirror the actors point of view where high or low angle shots will be subtle.
  7. Pan slowly in one direction only.
  8. Don't zoom. Use a different shot type and edit.
  9. Ensure that the scene is focused on what you want.
  10. Continuity - making sure that clothing, hairstyle, props are the same if shooting on different days.
  11. Use match cuts to make the film look more professional.
  12. Remember the thirds rule when filming.
  13. Use a variety of close ups and medium close ups as they create tension and easily show the actors expression.
  14. Make sure there is no space above the head.
Analysis

Using different shot angles and the different types of camera shots have helped us identify the effect on the story when using different shot angle. We now understand that filming or taking shots from one steady point will be boring and will give no effect or emphasis on the story. Each angle and camera shot deliberately makes the character(s) look a particular way which gives a real effect on what is happening in that scene. For example in our 6th shot we see the character trying to rip the tape off with her teeth, we can see the emphasis on the action.  In our storyboard we used:
  • Extreme close up
  • Close up
  • Medium close up
  • Long shot
  • Wide shot
  • High angle
  • Low angle 

Tuesday, 28 January 2014

High school musical movie presentation.

Researching Music and Sound

Copyright gives the creator of music, a film , a book legal rights to control who uses the product and how it is distributed . This is to ensure the creator/artist will get paid. Therefore it is important to use copyright so we do not break the law, the use of copyright music/sound involved in our media work increases our chances of been awarded more marks. I had to use this website called creative  commons, find the music I want by researching it using emotions ( angry or lets happy) and a list of music with those emotions comes up. At some point I also had to type in rock to get a list of rock songs. After that the song chosen is downloaded and  saved into the mac desktop which then gets imported into final cut pro, edited and layered exactly where it is needed. I had fun doing this. I finally learned a new skill which is how to add copyright music/ sounds into a muted clip. Therefore for our own teen movie if the filming process does not allow the sound of a particular object to come out properly , what to do wouldn't be a problem at all.

Friday, 24 January 2014

Researching Music and Sound - Screenshots





Researching Music and Sound for own film openings- Finished product





I wasn't able to add sound/ music to the whole clip . In fact I  was only able to add music that somehow represents each character even I was supposed to add sound effects as well. If I had more time those things mentioned would have been done. I spent a lot of time looking for the music that represents each character so perhaps next time I wouldn't do that in order to finish the task given.

Researching Music and Sound for your Own Film Openings

Using a higher learning clip with no sounds, I used creative commons and copyright free sound files from the sound resources folder, these files were imported into Final Cut Pro and I started editing in which every sound I edited into the clip matched the scene and sounds you would have normally heard in accordance to the following actions and scenes. It was quite enjoyable as I was able to choose the different sounds using both offline desktop sources already in the computer system and a website called creative commons. This allows me to put copyright free music into my final product as i intend to put it online with no costs. I also liked the range of sounds I played around with when editing and if given more time or a similar future project, I believe I could do the same to create a future quality clip.

Researching Music and Sound for your Own Film Openings - Finished Product


Researching Music and Sound for your Own Film Openings


I was unable to finish editing the sounds in the Higher Education clip however this activity helped my researching skills in collecting copyright free music and sounds. I used a website called Creative Commons to find copyright free sound clips and music that people have published for the public to access. I like researching the sounds for the Higher Education clip because I added in the sounds for the actions taking place in the clip. I also used some sound clips from our own resources in a file on the Apple Mac. I think this task will help us as a group when we want to find different copyright free sounds to edit into our own film.


Screen Shots - researching & adding sound to the Higher Education clip:





Researching Music and Sound for your Own Film Openings - Editing







Comparison

The Breakfast Club Opening Scene -



Remake of The Breakfast Club Opening Scene -


Here's what each member thinks about both clips:-

Brenda:

Overall I would say that the shoot went well. I enjoyed playing the princess and the basket case. We had to all film at some point as well as be involved in the remake. However the lack of  enough group members drove two of us to play two characters. We were also finding it a little hard to remember our words/script but we got through it with practise. As far as I'm concerned our remake of The breakfast club is one of our best remake since September. This is because each of us allowed ourselves to understand the characters properly and act exactly like them. Therefore when it comes to speech, costumes, behaviour, music and body language there's hardly any differences compared to the actual opening. On the other hand in terms of  other props and settings even though we did our remake in the college which is similar to the setting in the actual opening, when it comes to props like the cars, we had to use toy cars or should I say chairs and some so called wheel to represent the cars. obviously when talking about the settings we couldn't  take those chairs outside. Therefore we had to film inside. However of course if we had an actually car it would have been better and obviously more similar to the opening and less different. I must say the lack of actual props did come in the way of the filming so we didn't get to film certain parts of the opening. Lastly the editing process did affect the sound of our remake which is something we can improve on in the future because we had a little technical problem. Apart from that there is nothing else to comment on that matter. We included most of the different type of shots such as close ups, long wide shot. What else can I say, our remake was just a success but will do better with certain improvements


Yasminn:

I think that our version of The Breakfast Club opening is very good as we followed the shots used in the original. From the storyboard we took from the original, we tried to follow each shot and possibly add our own to make it better by our standards. Instead of using the same shots the original used throughout the voice over, we chose to use shots of places from our college which i think worked really well. We used the exact same voice over that plays in the beginning of the original and followed the script almost line by line. Because our group was limited to 4 people we had to ask other people to pitch in and play some of the minor roles. We also had RJ play two roles as I was going to play the role of the Brain but had some problems so I was unable to. As we did not have access to cars we had to use toy cars and chairs for scenes in and out of the car which I believe this may have lowered the quality of our film. I think the acting was very good as each person represented the characters in the film perfectly by copying the original actors movements and costume. Overall, I think that our remake is very successful but with more access to better props could have been better.


Senis: 

I think our remake of the opening of The Breakfast Club is successful because we included all the key scenes and we used the script where speech was required. Unfortunately we didn't have enough people in our group to fulfil one role each so we had to play 2 or more characters each. This is something we could improve if we did the remake of the opening again. Furthermore i think in some of our scenes  the sound was an issue that could be addressed. The only clear difference that is obvious between the real opening and our remake is that we did not include the scene where the basket case and the criminal arrives, this could have been filmed if we were able to film with real cars rather than miniature toy cars. I think we as a group did a good job in playing the main character parts, we copied actions and mimics of each character so that our opening gave the same atmosphere as the original opening. Finally despite the problems with the lack of available actors and the sound in some scenes, I believe our shot-by-shot remake is a good example of a remake to the opening scene of The Breakfast Club.

RJ: 

I think our rendition of the opening of the breakfast club is quite good compared to the original as it gives a similar vibe and allows all of us to put in something to create the finished product with our limited resources. I feel like this was a shot-by-shot remake as it involved the main scenes of the opening despite a small amount of available actors, I also believe that to improve, we could have either used technology to green screen our selves into a car and editing further from there, or spent extra time planning and arranging out of school filming time in order to film actual car scenes. I think that would have given us a better result but overall, for a few hours work, I like the way it ended up. As far as the sound is concerned, I believe there were some errors that could have been re-filmed or edited extensively so that it looks more professional. I also believe that we should always work together and become proactive as individuals so that we all equally contribute to the finished project.

Breakfast Club Opening


Tuesday, 21 January 2014

Character Digital Posters



Breakfast Club Role Costume



The Brain:

- Navy Jumper
- Thick black rimmed square glasses
- Black Rucksack

The Athlete:

- Baseball Cardigan
- Blue Hoodie
- Blue tank top
- Loose Blue Jeans
- White Basketball Trainers
- Black Rucksack

Friday, 17 January 2014

Breakfast Club on Tumblr



Breakfast Club Opening on Whatsapp


Advertising our remake of The Breakfast Club on a Whatsapp Status.

This will help advertise our remake and help to increase the number of audience. Using social media to advertise our remake will help get our friends and others to notice what we are doing and we will have more of a chance for our remake to be viewed. Social media like Facebook, Twitter, Whatsapp etc. helps with the marketing and advertising of our remake of the Breakfast Club. We may consider using these social media sources in order to advertise our own teen movie opening when we have done with the filming and editing. I think social media plays a big part in the advertisement and number of views when releasing a film.



Breakfast Club Opening on Facebook




Breakfast Club Opening on Instagram

                                        
 We made an instagram for our opening remake of "The breakfast club". As you can see we posted pictures of the process of the remake to allow people to view some pictures, given them ideas about the making and the actual opening scene . They will then be attracted to our production pictures to the point where they would want to view the actual remake.
                           
 

 Our followers increased. We were now following 3 people who followed us back showing their interests in our instagram page/ remake.
     
 
So far we only got 4 followers but as days go by they will increase because more people will find out about our page.
 

We even have people liking our pictures and commenting on them. There are 4 of but 2 of us had to play 2 characters and I was one of the 2.
 
 
 
 
 
 
Overall I would say that the shoot went well. I enjoyed playing the princess and the basket case. We had to all film at some point as well as be involved in the remake. We were finding it a little hard to remember our words/script but we got through it with practise.
 
 

  

Breakfast Club Opening - Shot by Shot Remake Editing

Breakfast Club Opening - Characters



 





Breakfast Club Opening (Behind the Scenes)

 Filming the car scenes were quite a hassle as there was a lot of script problems… Locations were a bit troubling with several people walking in the background but at least we made it… yay!












There were plans to use several cars and film inside and with friend's and family cars but we thought it was best to improvise in class during school hours as time was quite limited as well as resources. In the end, we managed to film quite a lot with a lot of laughs to go with it…