Production Diary
SHOOTINGFilming Day 1: 2nd November 2013
Today was the first day of shooting. I was able to get every shot in the location of Amelia's house complete. This includes shot 1, 16, 17, 18, 20, 21 and 24. The shoot went very smoothly and I had plenty of time therefore were able to re-film shots if needed. Some shots needed to be re-filmed because of the lighting for example depending on where the camera was positioned. Shot 1 we attempted from different angles but decided a front angle was most effective and had the most appropriate lighting without any shadowing. The shadows in other attempts made it low key which is not an effect we wanted to achieve, this is because this shot will feature in the first half of the teaser trailer therefore high key lighting will foreshadow happier times for the characters. I now have many shots to work with during the editing stage and aim to progress to film in other locations next week. The mise en scene we set up was very successful, using candles and roses to represent the romance. However, colour grading may be used in some of the shots due to the variation in lighting throughout the day of filming. One of the shots I wish to include in my trailer I found a problem with watching it back. This was because the camera was positioned so that other unwanted items were seen to the right of the shot. However, during post production this will no longer be an issue because we can crop the side of the shot out to avoid the distraction of the items for the audience.
Filming Day 2: 3rd November 2013
I directed this day of shooting which took place at night. The night shot allowed the character of Jasmine to appear mysterious and threatening, as she lights a cigarette The mise en scene of a cigarette represents her change in morals, this contradicts her delicateness at the beginning of the trailer, therefore the audience will be kept gripped throughout the trailer. The night was very windy therefore it was difficult to keep the camera steady when filming. After a number of attempts I found one shot which was successful as it combines both good acting skills, with effective low key lighting as well as an appropriate and steady positioning of the camera. When edited together with jump cuts during post production I am hopeful this shot will look extremely effective during the tragic half of my teaser trailer.
Filming Day 3: 12th November 2013
Today I filmed the shots that didn't require the participation of any actors. Only two shots were needed which included two the dramatic shots which will placed at the end of my teaser trailer; the shot of the rose falling on the floor in slow motion (which will be edited during post production), and the close up shot of the paracetamol on a Jasmine's bedside table. I filmed from various camera angles which framed both items differently which means during post production I will be able to choose the one which was most successful. Both shots include meaningful iconography in my teaser trailer, conveying the romance and the tragedy. This meant framing and camera angles were especially important to shoot correctly.
The character of Jasmine needs to be shown in calm light during the first part of my teaser trailer. Jasmine is a clever character, represented by the shots in the first half of the trailer. I filmed the scene of Jasmine in the library today. I carefully thought of mise en scene such as books which made her appear intelligent. The background of this scene included lots of books therefore it was obvious that the location was the library, portraying her as a smart character. I tried different camera framing for this scene and decided the most successful was when she was framed to the left as the books on the right hand side of her are obvious, exaggerating the location and her intelligence.
I filmed another scene exaggerating Jasmine and her intelligence. This scene included Jasmine studying at a desk. She was framed in the centre of the shot and an over the shoulder shot was achieved today showing the audience how complex her work is - exaggerating her brightness further. This shot was successful especially because of the lighting. High key lighting was achieved in this shot as the key light was coming from a window from behind the camera. This was helpful because during post production this shot will not need to be edited to become high key.
Another scene was shot today. In our initial storyboard, a dramatic shot including Jasmine running away from the camera down a deserted road was going to be included. This was the shot that held most importance in terms of post production, as I was going to edit the shot in time to the soundtrack beats, alongside flashing titles from achieve a dramatic effect. However, after thinking carefully I could see this effect could be achieved more successfully if Jasmine were to stand in the distance opposite the camera, whilst the camera slowly zoomed in to her. The slow zoom increases the suspense and will I am hopeful this will be a successful shot in my final teaser trailer.
Filming Day 4: 14th November 2013
Today I almost managed to complete shooting. The weather worked in my favour as it was fairly bright the majority of the day and it didn't rain at all. This meant I could continue to shoot all of the outside scenes without any major problems. The first scene was taken in the kitchen location (using a school technology room). This meant we had a limited amount of time shooting therefore had to rush slightly. Shots for this scene were completed successfully, however actors becoming comfortable with each other took up some time.
The second scene we completed today was the scene where Nathan and Jasmine open their results together. Camera positioning changed in this shot as I soon became aware it looked more successful using different camera shots, rather than what was drawn on my storyboard. For example the long shot which was originally planned, was changed to a medium shot. This allows the audience to see facial expressions more clearly, as this is an important shot to show character emotion.
One of the most creative shots of the day took place on the street location. I prepared for this scene by changes the actresses make up to make her look messy, portraying her as 'off the rails' to the audience. Her clothes were revealing which exaggerated the change in morals and behaviour this character has had throughout the trailer. The extreme long shot was kept the same for this shot as it allowed a full body shot of each character, allowing the audience to see Jasmine's costume, which would shock and intrigue. The rose was used in this shot to portray the running theme of romance in the trailer, despite the difficulties being shown to arise between the couple. George had lines in this shot, playing the part of Nathan. One of the main reasons this shot was successful was due to his skillful acting. George was able to shout in the correct manner, making this scene one of the most dramatic in the trailer. Although a boom mic was used to pick up his speech, ambient sound such as cars may be heard in the shot. This shouldn't be too much of a problem as the soundtrack I will edit in the shot during post-production should block out any unwanted sound.
A location change was needed for one of the shots today. I was running slightly behind schedule therefore when my intended location was approached the lighting was low key because the sun was setting. This meant the shot would not have been appropriate to shoot as high key lighting was needed to achieve the lighthearted, romantic feel. However, on the journey to next location I walked past a location where the sun was setting across a bare field. This shot was scenic connoting peacefulness. This location was therefore used as an alternative, perhaps even ending up more successful than my original intended location.
My last location of shooting today was in a small cafe in the centre of town. Although the cafe was small, the location had a cosy and personal feel to it. This exaggerated the representation of a couple having a 'special place' where they share time with each other. Luckily the cafe was quiet therefore I did not have any interruptions during filming. I filmed this scene quite quickly and the overall success was high. I took shots from different positions so during post-production I can choose shots which are most effective.
Filming Day 5: 18th November 2013
This was the last day of production and all scenes remaining scenes were filmed. The first shot of the day was the classroom scene. This was shot at a convenient time as it required extras in the shoot and many people in the day had free lessons so could help out and feature accordingly. Each of the extras were situated in a classroom environment and asked to act in a typical student way e.g. writing, reading, talking. After shooting began it was soon clear that the contrast was too high in the classroom due to the sun coming in through the window. After closing the blinds and turning off the lights the lighting problem was soon fixed. After this issue was dealt with, all of the acting was natural and the footage recorded was successful. Attempting a few takes was important so during post production I can carefully choose which one was the most successful.
Another shot which was filmed was Nathan walking out of the classroom. Acting was very important in this shot as it required natural behaviour. The extras in this shot were very helpful which allowed a number of takes. The only problem shooting this scene was the problem of space. There was not much room to film therefore at some points were in the way of people getting by. However, a number of takes were attempted and composition of the shot was centred to look professional.
The final shoot was outside where both the character of Jasmine and the character of Nathan was required. This shot included Nathan giving Jasmine a piggy back and spinning around with her outside. This shot was difficult to film because the weather was cold and windy. This meant we needed a number of takes until we got a suitable final shot as the actors were cold and the wind disrupted the takes by pulling up hoods or affecting Nathans balance. The rule of thirds was carefully maintained when filming this shot. I feel an extreme long shot looked effective for this as it allowed the characters to fill up only a small section of the shot, exaggerating the romantic setting they are in (open field with autumnal leaves). The lighting also interfered with the smoothness of this shoot. When the sun went in the shot appeared to be too low key. This made the scene look dull which would not have been appropriate to the context of the scene. The shot was supposed to represent happy times for the couple, therefore the lighting should be bright. This meant that we had to wait for the sun to come out at many points when attempted to film. Not only did the sun brighten the shot, it allowed shadows from both the characters and the trees which looked effective on the ground. I also managed to work with the weather in the end because the wind ended up being one of the keys to the final successful shot. Jasmine's hair blew around when Nathan was spinning her on his back. This made her look cute and added to the romantic 'flustered' look.
Filming Day 6 - 30th November (Re-filming)
Today we re-shot parts of the initial footage. In my audience feedback it was suggested that the second half of the trailer included parts where Jasmine could be presented as more desperate and lonely without Nathan. A way of presenting this to the audience would be including shots of her in places she used to share with Nathan, for example a shot to portray her loneliness includes a shot on her own where they previously were together (aka sitting against the sofa where she was with Nathan - another shot of her in the same place except this time by herself). This technique was used twice throughout the trailer and worked very well portraying her as lonely. Not only did these shots portray her as lonely because she is isolated, but the colour in the shot with her by herself was also low key lighting to connote Jasmine feeling isolated and miserable. The original shot of Jasmine drinking a bottle of vodka was shot in a location which would have been unfamiliar to an audience. It was suggested that the audience may be able to relate to the situation more if Jasmine was isolated in a familiar location which had already been shown to them in the first half of the trailer.
To achieve more effective mise en scene I went to a florist and purchased a real rose. This was so that the trailer would have a greater feel of romance and appear realistic to the audience. I tried recording the rose falling from a number of angles, all of which were close up. It was established that this shot would not generate the required feel if it was shot from an extreme high angle. The most effective shot was when the rose was dropped from a side angle and will be slowed down during post production to increase the drama.
My audience feedback concluded that the extreme close of Jasmine on her own (which zooms in to create a final close up) was not professional enough. This was because there was a distraction from the member of the public in the side of the camera. Also, the framing wasn't correct as the final close up was off centre. To avoid these problems today I filmed the same shot except from down an alley. This meant avoiding unwanted mise en scene and distractions e.g. cars and passers by. I managed to frame it correctly and Jasmine is now centred as the camera zooms. The acting was also more effective when I re-filmed this, showing her serious and miserable facial expression to help exaggerate Jasmine's life without Nathan.
I wanted to challenge myself because this was one of the last days filming. I filmed a focus pull which wasn't originally in my teaser trailer. I felt this may look effective after the ending credits of my trailer, to build tension until the very finish. This took a number of attempts as sometimes the focus pull either wasn't noticeable or was too fast. Below is the example of my final focus pull. During post-production I will decide if it looks professional enough at the end of my trailer.
Filming Day 7 - 3rd December (Re-filming)
Today I filmed the final shot needed for my teaser trailer. My original audience feedback suggested that there needed to be familiar locations of Jasmine on her own, therefore in the same location where Jasmine was being swung around on Nathans shoulder, I filmed Jasmine walking by herself, exaggerating her loneliness. The lighting was also lower in this shot compared to the original footage when she was with Nathan, connoting the darkness of the second half of the trailer, because the sun was not out. Because this location was in front of a school playing field I needed to time my filming correctly so students playing rugby were not in the background of the shot. After waiting quite a while I achieved a nice mid shot where no distractions were shown in the background therefore the audience would not be put off by unwanted distractions.
POST PRODUCTION
Post-Production Day 1: 25th November 2013
Today was the first stage of post-production. I put all of the shots onto a time line using 'Adobe Premiere'. I had to put all my shots in order, referring back to my storyboard. Watching the shots in a sequence allowed me to see what shots need to be shortened or taken out. One of the shots that appeared at the end of the sequence was the paracetamol shot. This did not complement the sequence therefore I chose to take it out and not use it, despite initially planning on using it. This was because the majority of shots were fast moving and revolved around the actions of the characters. Having a random still shot in the middle of other fast moving shots did not look suitable. Taking this shot out also creates an enigma, drawing the audience to my final text as watching the teaser trailer will no longer hint its conclusion.
Post-Production Day 2: 27th November 2013
Each scene was colour graded and/or colour corrected during this lesson to create continuity throughout my media product. For example the shot below was over-exposed therefore I had to lower the brightness and contrast in order for the shot to look natural. After the over-exposure was fixed, it was then colour graded in order for it to have a professional finish which looked natural and bright.
One of the shots needed to be darkened because in my trailer this was set in the evening, but filming took place during the day. This was fairly simple to fix by adjusting both the contrast and the brightness. The 'three way colour correct' tool was also used to fix each of my shots to make them appear more natural and aesthetically pleasing. I wanted to create a contrast between the bright first half of the trailer - connoting romance and happiness, with the second half of the trailer - connoting sadness and worry. To achieve this I had to dim the each of footage for the second half of the trailer by changing the input and output levels on three way colour correct. For this I had to decrease the input levels which dimmed the shot and created the sense of change.
A large amount of time was also spent adjusting the sound in product. I had to import both of my chosen soundtracks to the file and place them and cut them accordingly. I chose two soundtracks which were parallel in tone and mood. For example the first soundtrack was slow, soft and romantic to accompany slow moving shots. The second soundtrack increased speed over a number of shots creating a sound bridge adding continuity to my trailer, linking each shot together. Parts of the soundtrack needed adjusting in volume throughout the trailer, for example the soundtrack needed to fade in at the beginning so avoid it sounding harsh. Points were needed where dialogue required to be heard. This meant the volume of the soundtrack was lowered by adding a key frame to the sequence and adjusting it higher or lower. This was also altered after my first audience feedback responses, as some members of my target audience felt that the soundtrack overpowered some of the dialogue throughout the trailer. This meant I adjusted the key frames in order for the dialogue to increase in volume.
Titles was another aspect that was considered during the course of the day. During the research stages of the coursework, one of the techniques my group and I decided we wanted to include in our product was to have our titles appear on the screen in time to beats of a soundtrack. To make sure our soundtrack would complement this I added temporary titles using Premiere to my sequence and timed them correctly with the music. This was very effective therefore the next stage was to make professional titles using Adobe After Effects. It was decided that the colours of my film title would be white and red, connoting passion, romance and danger - all running themes throughout my media product. Although conventionally romance titles appear to be fancy, this was a convention I will challenge because of my target audience. My target audience are youthful (16-24 year olds), therefore out-dated and fancy font titles would not be appealing. This was soon proven after my first audience feedback response suggested that my titles could become more modern and appealing. Below is a screenshot of the original font titles;
A more simple and modern approach to the more conventional film titles fonts would be more appropriate. This means my media text will succumb to Steve Neale's genre theory in order to keep a running theme of the set genre but refreshing typical romance conventions in order to keep my audiences interest. In this case it involves titles which I have chosen to look modern in order to gain a youthful intended target audience. After considering a number of more refreshing fonts below shows a screenshot of the altered font style;
Post-Production Day 3 - 28th November
Titles and transitions was the main objectives of today. I watched a number of Adobe After Effects tutorials in order to grasp the basic navigation of the program, and then went on to create my titles. Below is a screen shot of the tutorial followed to create titles for the actors names/director/produce, although the font were changed from the original tutorial in order to achieve a more romantic connotation. At a later date they were also changed to appeal to a more modern audience (ie simple and sophisticated) which would hopefully be more successful. Below is a screenshot of me created the titles;
I quickly researched recent successful romance films which had been released this year and it was clear that simple titles were appropriate to the genre - through simple elegance, as well as appealed to the target audience.
For the main title for the film name (Distance), I visited a tutorial on video co-pilot. The first thing I needed to do after choosing my chosen style and tutorial was to download the smoke effect for the titles. This was from the internet and was royalty free from the video co-pilot website. I then had to add a mask effect to the text called Turbulent Displace which made the text appear to fade. I then had to apply the opaque effect to the text to blend in with the smoke surrounding it.
However, after getting audience feedback the smoke effect was suggested to have connotations of mystery rather than romance, therefore I decided to change the film name titles after my first draft. I felt a more simplistic approach would make these titles more successful. To do this I created a fade effect on After Effects where I was able to change the colour of the background gradually. This was achieved by adding a shape to the background layer and feathering it to allow the colour to disappear, adding key frames among this to add a gradual fade. I decided this colour would change to deep red (for romantic connotations - matching the colour of the rose appearing in the sequence beforehand). The titles which I used to overlap this effect were simple, appealing to my modern target audience;
Audience Feedback 27th November
A first draft was completed today excluding the creation of professional titles. From this I was able to gain some audience feedback in order to improve the footage I already had. I questioned whether the narrative was clear because minimal dialogue was used throughout mt sequence. Below are some examples of responses.
Thankfully it was apparent that the majority of my target audience found the narrative easy to follow. This meant that extra dialogue will not necessarily be needed. The motivation behind each character was understood by everyone therefore the clarity behind each role was high. Some suggested improvements from the feedback included re-filming parts. The two scenes which will be re-filmed after gaining feedback will be the final scene of the rose falling on the floor. Although this close up shot looks effective, especially when slowed down, the rose appears to look fake therefore I will film another close up shot of a rose, except this time it will be real to add to the realism of the trailer. The extreme long shot of Jasmine standing in the road was effective in terms of fitting titles and sound around it, but as it zooms a member of the public appears in the background. This was said to be distracting for the audience therefore I will re-film this shot in order for this problem to be eliminated. The sound recordings were not very clear/professional and ambient sound could be heard behind the voices, therefore using the boom mic sound clips will be re-recorded to ensure the quality of the recordings are heightened. Lastly, I may try and film another couple of shots with Jasmine alone. This is so that it will be crystal clear for the audience to understand Jasmine's position in the narrative and her change/transformation throughout.
Audience Feedback 3rd December
A second draft was posted on the social networking site 'Facebook'. I got some very positive feedback from those both inside and outside of my target audience.
The emotion I wanted to convey definitely appeared to be successful in my teaser trailer with people describing they felt 'emotional' after watching it and felt they like began to 'tear up' towards the end of the trailer.
Audience Feedback 9th December
To get more detailed audience feedback I decided to conduct a focus group. This allowed feedback which was more in depth and my audience were able to explain their feelings of my product at a deeper level.
In conclusion my focus group gave me mostly positive responses to my draft. My target audience could understand the general narrative of my trailer and could give back an accurate story line description. In addition, my audience felt the music fitted very well and matched the genre closely. By using well known stars such as Ellie Goulding and Florence and the Machine was another factor which appealed to my audience, as they were familiar with the artists already therefore could relate to the music. The main concern from my feedback were the title fonts. It was suggested that different ones could be used to make them appear more modern and less childish. The font also looks outdated, however matches the genre. I will attempt to change the font styles in order to appeal to a more youthful audience.
Audience Feedback 10th December
The last piece of audience feedback I received was conducted online using the website Survey Monkey. This was so it could be given out to my target audience on social networking sites to receive a large response.
The feedback from the online questionnaire was very similar to my focus group. The on-screen footage alongside the dramatic music enabled the emotions of my target audience to be provoked. This means that my technique has been successful. The one suggestion most of responses gave was to change the titles to make them look more professional and appealing, which I am in the process of doing.
Final Cut:
Footage Log
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