Voice over and Diologue Sound

Today I brought my laptop into school so that we could work on recording some of the voice overs and diologue incaset he camera hasn't picked up the sound as well as we want - which we aware is an issue as the sound quality in the cameras aren't perfect.
We didn't record all of them, so by monday we will probably finish this and start doing a rough edit.

In the mean time, we will also have a look at the Studios we have premission to use. We'll have to get a basis which can create a various issue of atmopshere, whilst relating to topic at hand and genre - this could also be included to the rough cut eventually.

Final Film

Currently, we've finished filming, however we ran into a problem.
Yesterday we checked if the camera was fully charged - which it was - yet within half an hour it had lots 2 bars of power until finally, near the end of the shoot it cut out and wouldn't turn back on. At this point, we were done with flossi (our actor) so if we could find somewhere to charge, we could have worken around it. However, I had came up with a solution, because this is situated in a police themed film for athriller, I came up with the idea that we take photos of the weapons and then insert them into the film as evidence. If this doesn't look right, we could also return later in date or work our way around the story line. That said, all we need to do is convert the footage and start editing; otherwise our filming has went okay, however I'd avoid this camerafrom now on as this is the second time we've had issues with it.

Testing Second Location

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WnBoySNupjs&feature=g-upl&context=G21b78cbAUAAAAAAAAAA&fb_source=message

This is the video Reece did whilst scouting for the flashback scene, initally we had a large issue with lighting as none of the lights in the tunnel were working, but it appears as Reece explains that they've been replaced - so hopefully the camera will be able to pick up light better, though the ambience of black and white later on may not add much to that effect anyway, it depends.

We'll be shooting there tomorrow after school and this is possibly the best location. It's within a distance to all of us, has near by facitlies such as toliets and shops and whilst its in a public area, I don't think we'll have to worry about that much.

The camera is fully charged, empty memory and we're gathering props now.

Name Opening Title

We finally decided on the name DECPIHER (which we will talk more about later) and decided since we had time between filming spots and planning, that we would create the opening title for the opening scene - we again decided to go with something not over the top but not dramatically simple either. With the title zooming towards the audience, we believe it gives a feeling of suspense and tension as well as dramatic pull and time to read the title - we will try different varies of music over the top also in a later date when we come to editing as music will of course change its apperance.

Logo in film

We decided to annimate our logo for effect of our sutdios - we wanted something simple as an explosion was suggested, but we felt it did not suit the tone of the film and instead went with something far more simple by making the logo spin from nothing, across the screen and gone.

Though, we are thinking if it is too slow, or needs to spin more, so for the moment this is not a final logo clip but rather the prototype - we still need sound to go with the logo with decide too or play the seccession music to introduce the opening scene.

Studio Logo Design

This is our final studio design for DynamiteKittySTUDIOS - we decided to go with a panther due to it being 'dynamitekitty' and thought it was more adventrous and unique in the twist of words for our studio. We had previous degins from this, but we came to a conclusion that this was more mature in black and white, more so as it refers back to tile concept and tone of our film as it is a thriller.

Example shoot (raw)

This is raw piece of film straight from the camera, with a left to right pan - we think this is the smoothest pans out of all them also as we did it several times. I am showing this on example of our lighting situation and shot type.

Filming

So we started filming the previous night, the 17th december from 3:20pm until 6:15pm and got all of the interrogation scene done. We ran into a few problems, particularly with the camera running out of memory twice, so we had to transfer clips to my memory stick then delete them from the camera - though at first we didn't realise how to do this and took a huge chunk out of our filming time.
The area we used grew dark quickly, so we had to use light as an aid which we had written into the script and storyboard (we choose not to say what we used direactly) however it worked brilliantly! On the film while shooting we could see that the camera was picking up Barry in a lovely shot glow and when we got it right, Reece was casted in black.
Here are some of our shooting shots:

We like this one, purely because of the invision of light, and prophase in hind sight should have done a point of view shot from Barry's presepctive to capture Reece in such a light.

As you can see, whilst we can see Reece well in the light, the camera is picking him up obsecured and the light in a blur, which is again perfect to work with as it corrosponds with our idea.

This is an example of our scene, we had to adjust the ilght to get it at the right cast angle and glow for our shoot. We were sort of worried about the curtains, but when looking back on the video they were very rarely picked up, and only a few of the shots got a grain feature to it - though we can probably fix this when we later come to editing.
This spot was ideal as we were close to plugs also, though I am sure we caught them in the camera now and then.

This is scene rehersuel.

This is me whilst operating the camera to see if the light the camera was picking up was too strong, too light or too dull and the frame of the shot - we at this stage also figured out the 180 degree line, so the camera was always on that side of the table also.

This is again one of the established shot of how the camera would be picking up light and tracking shadows so that we did not cast on Barry.

We were in an ideal location, we had everything but food, though that did not come as a problem at any stage of the shoot.

Here is an example of the light the camera picked up - there is as huge difference between Barry's iphone (having more megapixeals) and the camera.

We decided to shoot all in one night as we worried about continuity if we had to come back later, such as posistion in the room (as we could not keep it in that order) and thought if we had the oppotunity that night, then why not? The interrogation scene is the largest amount of footage through the film, though it was suprising how long it took and the multiple shots we took.
The master shot we did of all the interrogation lasted 30 minutes all together, but does mean however we have plenty of footage to later select from - we've learnt from our last project as we were anxious, worried yet confident of what we were doing from angles to coninuity and types of shot - whilst developing I was also continously thinking of editing stages.

We will shoot the flashbacks later next week.

Gathered More Props

We considered the props for attacking the character Ryan from Nick, at the moment we have been considering using a bed post, but there is also the aviability to an actual baseball bat, so we need to decide which would be better within the mise en scene as a group, what would reflect the reprsentation of our chracter nick or example? Would a baseball bat or a bed post reprsent his class, due to avaibility.

Seen as we already have Nick's suit for the interrogation scene, we need another set of clothing which will represent not only the time change adn area, but also the character as a 'second persona' in a way, thus reflecting the region and class as compared to the suit - jeans and jacket clothing like this would represent a normal class whilst the suit would represent upper class - the ideal of keeping black always keeps Nick in the power of authority withint he opening scene which is important to establish.


So far we've had not set of clothes for Ryan and this is Barry's on his prop list. It's important to ntoe that Ryan will now only have 1 pair of clothing to show that there is a continous time frame between the interrogation and the flashbacks - we will do this by having fake blood upon Ryan from when he is attacked to show this. The representation of these clothes in comparsion to Nick needs to be addressed - whilst Ryan is wearing dark clothes (that would corrospond and represent traditional male roles), the clothing is not as dark as Ryan's, thus showing that Ryan maintains the power throughout our clip. Also, Ryan's clothing will represent a domesic, urban and lower class representation of the character which in turn contrasts Nick once again.

Storyboard Animation

It's an extreamly rough one for now - when we come to do commentry later on I'll add mroe detail to it such as sound, zoom and subtitles. I think it's important to note however, if your storyboard can be made just over 2 minutes long, it certaintly means we should be able to get enough footage for 2 minutes at least for our piece.
As a side note, the blue is colour / present day and the rest in black and white is the flash backs. The pixel effect / which we are not using / is to represent the transistion between present time and flash back for the moment.

Time Schedule

Week 1 - Ensure that all pre-planning is complete e.g. gathering props and finalising storyboard and script. Gather props and find a female actor.

Week 2 - Decide upon colour / tonal use of flash backs and present time - prophase run a test. Create a study logo and running clip for pre editing. Book camera and schedule meeting days and begin to bring all equitment needed for interrogation shoot e.g. torches and lamp.
Ensure camera is charged and memory card is inserted.

Week 3 - Begin shooting interrogation scene, idealy having at least half of the squence shots done before the end of the week.

Week 4 - Finish shooting interrogation scene, begin house scene and finish up to tunnel set.

Week 5 - Start shooting tunnel scene of Ryan and Sophie, finish. Start shooting attack scene in tunnel and finish.

Week 6 - Hand back camera for media file conversion. Begin to record voice overs  Bring laptop for voice recording.

Week 7 - Create title opening sequence as follows - Insitute (WarnerBros.), studio (DynamiteKittystudios) and finally opening credits / opening squence of film / title. Have opening titles finished and title.
Bring laptop for Adobe After Effects use.

Week 8 - Begin to edit video footage only. (possible rough cut for blog)
Bring laptop

Week 9 - Aim to rough finish video footage without effects or sound. (possible rough cut for blog)
Bring laptop

Week 10 - Begin to add sound e.g. music, incidental themes and voice overs and produce a rough cut.
Bring laptop

Week 11 - Fix any errors in current rough cut. (possible rough cut for blog)
Bring laptop

Week 12 - Begin to add lighting effects such as brightened, serial colour and sepia tone - finish film opening squence.
Bring laptop

Week 13 - Finish editing by joining credits, film and title effectively.
Bring laptop

Edit to Prop List

Reece managed to sort out some of the clothing today and some of the props such as a police badge that we are to use in the film; he's also manged to gather equiment such as the torch.





At the present time, we still need to gather images of other props such as mug, recorder, Ryan's clothing and Sophie's clothing (yet we are still looking for a female actor) - yet this is one of the complications we had primarly, getting a suit. We decided also, since in the script of Ryan being attacked - not stabbed - we imaged a blunt object. At the moment we are considering a bed post, it could add to the mise en scene of regional representation, a common murder weapon and go against the steryotype of police further, however we are also considering a baseball bat and how that would reflect the piece.

We are also having an issue of a knife, at the moment we will investigate in to what we can do with the police, failing this we will get a fake knife and view what it will look like on camera and failin this option Reece has suggested this piece of kitchen equitment:

though I feel this is a last resort as the two opportunitys above must be explored first before we make any decesions as reality of this piece I feel is important.

Call Sheet

For pre-planning we each divded the tasks after deciding what was needed and Barry created the call sheet.

Time to meet:
Location to meet:

Scene Description		Location

Cast		Characters

Extras (If needed)	Special Instructions

For extra messaure, he has included time of the meetings and the location (to accompany the call log), which will also be on the shedcule for the next 13 weeks of what, where, who and how we are doing things for our project.
This is particularly useful to use if we have to change antyhing mid project (which we should not) if some error were to arrise, such as the knife subject I picked up, we may have to get some sort of replacement for use.

Shot Log

Number of Shot And camera angle	What’s in the shot	Who has filmed the shot	What props have been used (continuity)	What is the actor wearing (continuity)

 

As apart of our pre-planning, we are going to all areas to remove the possibility of continuity errors or as in our last project, missing clips. On day of shooting, we will have several of these printed so that we can log each shot, what scene, who did it and in what condition it was in, and for reference later number the shots we take as we go along.

This will also come to aid, if for example, we had to shoot the next day incase anyone had to leave for emergancy and we would know where we had left off in clothing and what was were. For extra tacts, I am thinking of taking my camera or using my phone to take pictures of our current posistion to work from if that were to happen or if we had to suddenly stop.

Prop List

Last night, as a group we had a long talk about what we needed to do for our pre-planning, what we had to keep and change about our project, idea and how or why we were doing it. At the moment, we have not aquired all of the props we need, mostly costumes and accessories for mise en scne, but Reece is already out this evening looking for some and has found a suit to play as Nick, our detective.
At this exact moment, our prop list is as follows
- Nick's clothing (interogation: suit - attack: hood / long coat and hat)
-Ryan's clothing, two sets for the time stages
-Red dress or clothing for our women actor to represent traditional female roles to dress so and also lust
-police badge
-mug
-recorder
-baseball bat or something similar
-fake blood
-knife

My main worry is of the knife as at that stage we will be shooting in a public area, will we get a fake or a real one? Would fake harm the realitiy of our piece? How would we go about with a real knife? - of course if that were so, we would have to contact the police and ask for guidence as if we were to be spotted, seen or stopped by police for shooting in a public area, posession of a knife would leave to use being arrested. Would a fake one cause the same out come?
Or could we replace the knife with something else within our script yet?



A current issue we have also found is finding a blond, female actor to represent the beauty and lust continuing with the ambsolble of her mise - en - scene, I have currently asked soemone to do it but have not had a reply yet, where as Barry and Reece insist that it is not important and that I should act. However, I feel differently due to the females that are seen in a thriller, most commonly they are blonde, such as in The Departed, and since recently watching, Oceans Thirteen, even SWORDFISH insists this is the ingredint to the film of thriller as 'the pretty blonde one gets it' - I feel it would add to our representation of the weakness of the female gender and thus reflect yet another representation in our piece.

Another thing we will need from the script is something that plays music, as I had added diagetic 'rap' music to represent the area and the culture that are inhabitted there, such examples can be seen from television police programs such as The Bill and gang films where the area turns 'gritty' music that is steryotypically related to a ethincity or region is insituated.

Second Location

These are the photo's for our second location, the interogation set. Although we need a room we can black out, I am hesitent to use this location due to the mise en scne: even with the lights out will it look like a school? If so, how realistic? It could be problomatic, but seems only a location that we can black out enough to work in with a desk and chairs.
There has also been debate on the first draft of sub convention and where or how we care going to use colour and black and white shoots. In the first draft, we had the interrogation in black and white, and the flashbacks in colour. If we were to shoot however in a low light room, with the camera filming in black and white, it could seriously harm the quality of the image because of low lighting (as I am aware we are going to have an issue with this to begin with).
Whilst in this area, it would create a sub convention effect, I am worried primarly on one thought: would the audience understand this swap? Typically in film, black and white footage is used within flash backs and the present day or time is shot in colour. As our project is meant to capture the attention of our audience, what would happen if they were to be confused - an audience generally don't like films that confuse them in some ways, as Inception for example, features both good critique and negitive due to the percentage of audience that generally understand it's concept.
I have also identified another error with this roll of flash backs being in colour as it is going to be dark and at night, we are hardly going to be picking up colour in the first place - however I would still be hesitent to shoot in black and white film, instead I would prefer until we arrived at the editing stage to add colour effects and lighting options so that it does not darken the film that we will already be battling with to pick up well.

Story Board

I was orginally going to draw the story board by hand, but there is no reason why I can't do it in paint, either if I was going to draw in a similar way; also I am having issues with my home scanner.
I have issued shot angles and notes, such as an 180 degree rule in the tunnel as I was mapping it out in my mind, on that location we will need to be careful.
Whilst I've been specific in angles that were not mentioned in our first draft, these are still changeable if we feel needed when it comes to shooting, such as wanting more low angle shots on Nick and more high angled ones on Ryan - I also forgot to added the duch shot angle, also.
However, this gives us a basis of our project lining in what and how we are going to shoot.

Actor Script

A problem I found with the script Reece wrote was that it actually wasn't a full script and detailed too much on the specifics of the senario, and shots we were going to use; whilst that is ideal it is not for the actual script. So I went and re-wrote it and this will be the one that is handed to the boys and our third actor when we come to shoot. Also, because thsi one is more simple and easier to follow, we can use it whilst editing so we know we have everything in the correct place.
Another thing I did was remove the amount of diolouge which was in the first draft as I felt there was a lot that wasn't needed and thought ambience of silence and sound is more effective within a thriller. The Dark Knight for example barely uses diologue - it is mostly action, where as one could argue my motive against SWORDFISH,  I feel for what our project is this would be far more effective.

Adaption on script and planning

A senario draft script has been written, but as we finally spoke for the first time in over a week as a team, we decided there are things wrong with it, things that can be bettered and the actual draft needs to be written in the form of a script when passed onto our actors.
Tonight we will be calling each other to sort this out, and asign each other with things we need to do in the next day or so.
Hopefully we will have a lot of adaptation work done and final process added to our pre-planning soon.