Documentary Work shop.

Tomorrow Me, Lizzie and Sam are going to fortify Cafe to film are documentary workshop, we have been asked to film actuality shots but cause are last shoot wasnt very successful we decided to re-shoot the whole thing again, Me and Lizzie have been talking with the cafe and they asked us if we could also do them a video for their website they gave us a link for us to watch to give us an idea of what they are looking for.

Tomorrow's plan of action is, to go to the cafe for 10am where we will set up a camera and James ( our interviewee) up near a window so we can use natural light from the window, we will have the camera on a slant so we dont have people in shot from outside and this would make continuity easier to control. The cafe is very beautiful so it would be great to get lots of actuality shots where staff are making coffee, serving customers even adding flowers or something to tables.

The lighting I think that would work well would be a very soft lighting almost glowing like the music that would fit would be instrumental but quite soft and light almost like a nursery rhyme that kinda of soft gentle music.  

Documentary Work Shop: Helen.

Today we was asked to expand on the documentary we did a few weeks when we revisited our footage we decided as a group that this one we would re-do the whole thing just cause one we couldn't go back to guide dogs and also me and lizzie felt we could do it better and work harder on our project to make the brief. We have been in touch with fortify cafe in maidstone once we find out if they are happy for us to interview them, We asked in the email if we could meet up so we can talk to them in more detail and find out more about the company and how they survive against the fast food industry. We have noted down what kind of shots we want but until we get there and have a look at the layout of the cafe this is just a draft at the moment, I feel cause we are filming in a cafe using radio mics would be better to get less back ground noise from other people who will be in the cafe.


Problems we can come up against. 

The problems we have to think about are, noise- to get around this we can use radio mics so we can get a very clear voice and the background noise wont over power the facts we are trying to get from our interviewee. Continuity- we need to frame our shots so we don't get people in the back ground but also it will make it slightly easier to control the environment also it means if no one is in shot then we dont need lots of different peoples permission and it would make it easier so we dont have to blob out lots of different faces. Setup camera- cause we are not fully aware of our space at this moment we might find it being very crams and maybe compromising  shots to fit the space we are in. To avoid this we need to visit the cafe asap and do a location recce and mark out places we can place the camera without getting in too many peoples ways.

Documentary Commission Unit. Pitch.

Yesterday i came into the lesson to pitch my idea for the documentary i didn't have a slide to show any images but i felt confident in my idea to be able to talk about it and i had enough information so that my panel could create their own picture of what i was telling them.

Not having a slide show clearly didn't put off the panel as my idea was choosen to be commissioned meaning i have now to start talking to people getting them to fill in the consent forms and getting them all out of the way and i can concentrate more on my shooting script and also trying to do a picture version of some shots i would like in my interviews and also locations shots.

In the interviews Kathy will explain some of the scans i will be using in the film so in a way she will narrate her own life and her own world that she lives in and that way we have one voice that the audience can follow and it will run a lot smoother than having two voices especially when Kathy has such a strong irish accent. I feel the irish accent will create character for Kathy an give the documentary its own personality that we will be able to let the audience feel the emotions Kathy feels when she is feeling sad i want the audience to go through the same emotion to maybe help them understand Kathy a bit more than just an person on camera talking.

Documentary Unit Helen

Over the last few days me and Lizzie have been searching for people to interview but the same thing kept coming back to us, Sorry its too short notice or Sorry i need to ask head office. Yesterday Lizzie rang the guide dogs centre in Maidstone and we are lucky enough to get an interview today at 2:30 my job will to do the sound while Lizzie will be the interviewer and Sam creamer will be on camera. We also went into shops yesterday music matters and body shop both people who would be in today did not want to appear on camera so refused not to do the interview which means we only have one interview.

Documentary Commission unit Helen.

After trying to communicate with people that own a shop in Maidstone town centre is proving to be very difficult when we ask if they are available for an interview they simply respond saying they haven't enough time to get in touch with head office and to get back with us, this might have been a different story if we had longer than a few days  there would be a possibility we would of been more successful, i feel the next step for us is to ask the general public for their views in a voxpop style were we will have lots of short interviews where we will ask the public to say something positive about Maidstone and what they like about the town, there is a video online doing a simular thing asking questions using voxpops.

Portas Pilot- Maidstone

Direction Unit 2: Editing

Today i will be editing my short film the whole film will be in black and white and with a slight glow once we hit the romance scene in this post you will see lots of different shots of the editing process.

This is my colour correction shot where i have turned all my shots into black and white by lowering the saturation lowering the black colours but making the white colours higher.

This is the outcome of colour correction once i have done the process above.

Another shot from my film where Alex meets Cameron and the sparks start to fly.

During my editing it was brought to my attention that i still need to bring a tooth into my film which means i will have to re-film certain scenes but the problem i've come up ageanst is my female actress is gone for the weekend and all the camera's are booked out there is going to be a high chance i'm going to have to re-film the whole thing due to actor change.

I've managed to get a camera for the weekend thank you to a friend for helping, i've also put an ad up on castingcallpro.com to see if i can get any actress's or Actors to be in my film at the very last minuet if no one can get back to me in time i'm going to have to get friends to be in this but the female in my film will have to push him for real to get the fall to look real once he has been pushed to the floor his face will hit the floor and thats how his tooth falls out they both scramble looking for this tooth all the while the female will be looking up at the guy she just hurt making sure he is ok.


This link will show some of the most "popular" romance scene's in hollywood and i'm using these to help me create a good romance film for my actors to make it feel more real.

http://youtu.be/-6PRfDENIds


The one thing all these romantic scenes have and I am missing is the kiss and this kiss isn't just a kiss this kiss is everything these two people have been building up to what they have waited for their whole lives. For this to work my two actors will have to become one and be a couple on the rocks walking in the park not looking at each other you will hear the sounds of everyday life around them then as they get to the opening they turn to each other looking angry and that this is the end the girlfriend pushes the guy onto the floor as he hits the floor she runs by his side and realises he has a tooth missing they both scramble around looking for his tooth the girl finds the tooth she gives him the tooth back as he takes her hand they look at each other she helps him up they look closely at each other and kiss in this embrace the world around them slows down and the sounds disappear and its just these two people in their world at this moment in time the break off from there embrace hug each other and start their new life together they leave the park holding hand in hand she leans her head on his shoulder you can hear the birds tweeting and the world is peaceful once again.

Direction Unit End of shoot

Today i filmed my short film it wasn't as bad as i expected and after sorting little problems out like my actors things started to move a bit more smoothly the weather stayed dry the grass was a bit wet and that made it a bit hard for my actors not to slip, Hopefully i have all my shots I did film everything and even added a few lower angle than i would normally of done.

For this short film i wanted to have a nice look to it and use the natural light as much as i could that did mean opening the aptuer up a bit more in some places than others but i am confident in my cameraman's judgement  that it looks its best.

Here are some pictures from my shoot today.

Direction Unit Shoot.

Today i am off to film my 3 minuet short film. After being told at 10pm last night my male actor wont be making it I spent most of the night finding anew actor but on such short notice that was harder than i thought it would but then i received a message from a friend who was willing to step into the lime light so I'm able to keep my story the same and not change as much as i thought i was going to have to.

I have bought a water proof cover the camera just in case it rains and i have things to keep my cast dry and warm.

I am a little scared about doing this direction unit just cause i've had so much go wrong so soon in the production, i think i need to make more short films in my spare time and re-build my confidence.

Lizzie Glaisters Shoot.

Today I got a phone call from Lizzie asking if i would be the female role in her short film due to the original actress not being able to make it.

Being in front of the camera was strange for me it was even more hard work since the male actor was a professional but he was very nice about it and made me feel at ease he joked and was easy to talk to as well all these factors became very helpful.

Watching Lizzie today direct made me feel more at ease about doing it and less panic about it all she did it with such confidence and power that the Actor she brought in performed really well, i feel Lizzie short film will look amazing.

Director Unit New idea.

After my idea didn't go very well ive got a new idea

A young girl is walking through the woods with the world on her shoulders, you can tell this by the fact she will be looking down at her feet not really paying attention she stops at and opening and we will hear lots of confusing noises like muttering annoying sounds like car horns babies crying, you can see she is getting madder by the fact she will start screaming stomping and swinging her arms around. As she swings around and stops she punches some one in the face and his tooth flies out of his mouth she stops falls to the floor to see if he is ok he looks up stares her in the eyes she stares back she gives him his tooth back he kisses her their life begins together.

Direction Unit- My Plan.

The story I am going to do a suspense film, where the audience will never see the face of one character in my film, while the other character ( the victim) you will see clearly, the victim in my film will be in pain as their teeth will be removed as a form of torcher, I will be making my own false blood that will ooze out of my actors mouth and I will also be making my own moulds of my actors teeth so I can make it more realistic for my audience also for more realistic feel I will be using actual teeth for any close up shots.

My Story

You will see a dark figure standing holding their hands out flat the camera will be behind the dark figure then shots will slowly get closer to the dark figure and you will then see a close up of one of their hands in the hand will be teeth covered in blood and in the other hand a heart shaped locked, the figure will be looking at two paths one that looks straight and plesent while the other is more twisted and darker looking, these paths will represent their choices will they make the right choice and go tell some one what they have done or pick the darker path with the teeth in their hand and carry on with what they have been doing, All through the film the dark figure will have tree branches and leaves to cover their idenity, also the dark figure will be leaving a trail of teeth the trail will be leading some where and left for some one to find and follow if they follow the path in time they will save out victim who will be in a white shirt covered in blood screaming in pain and they will save them, All through out following this dark figure we will see snaps that will show on screen for a short time showing what went on for this person to get the teeth they had.

The Look.

The look I will be aiming for is quite a dark look low lighting and I am hoping that I can get a shot of the suns ray's coming through the trees, I will be shooting at dusk so its still light but low enough to create the creepy suspense of not being able to see whats around the corner feel.

 

My Character

 

 

My victime character will be my friend howy the reason I wanted to use Howy was because his image is alsready quite dark and i wanted to see if i could make him look more vunerable than his as you can see from his image below he would fit the norm for the killer. He will be wear a drity white t-shirt covered in blood and jeans the reason I want him ina white shirt is so that the blood will be very clear on that shirt and also i find white is easy to dirty up. 

 

My other character that will be dress completely in dark colours will be a female but i want to hide this from the audience until the end when she removes her dark hood to show long blonde hair this will be my twist in the story just to keep my audience in suspense cause blonde women tend to play the victim and are unlikely to cause so much pain on some one else.

 

 

The Location

 

The location I have to work with is a wooded park but in this park there are lots of paths that split off into two we also have steep staires and lots of places where a body could be hidden, I will be shooting quite deep into the woods just to get the feel of there being no other person being around them.

 

 





Director Unit: Location

Date: 5th September 2012

Today me and Lizzie went to the park location to have a look around and to see what we have to work with, the setting is ideal I would prefer low lit so I will be likely go to film around dusk time of the day where i can still get light filtering in through the trees. This will give my look to my film a bit more suspense cause you will not be able to see the person's face very clear.

Aim

To create suspense, using one location and lots of different camera angles.

Story.

Star i have a male and female character one will be a victim while the other is spotted walking through wooded area as they walking through the woods they see teeth in shallow shrubs clearly laid out to be found (or the person in the woody area will be laying out these teeth to be found by some one else) the teeth will be leading or showing a path to some where . through out the story we don't see the faces of the characters we will see backs of heads feet their hands wearing leather black gloves, also use camera angle from near the ground but also behind trees s that the trees will hide the face of the people with the teeth. Once the teeth have been placed down and the path has been set we start to see a figure in the distance as we get closer to the figure we see some one on the floor screaming in pain the dark figure that we have been following through out the whole film will show different close up shots of the person one will be of their hand clenched with blood dripping from it then we will look through the darker figure like an over the shoulder shot that's when we will see the victim tied to a tree with missing teeth and worn out clothes the victim will look very dirty worn out and bloody with a few bruises around their eyes then the darker figure will get closer to the victim the last shot will be of the dark figure with blood dripping from their hand then an over exposed shot so we will never truly see who the dark figure was.

Props.

For the teeth im going to attempt to make my own mould of my actors teeth and then use them to plant around the park covered in false blood which i will also try and make myself by looking up ways on how to make edible fake blood just so it will taste a little nicer in my actors mouth and maybe look a bit more real.

A selection of the location pictures. 

Semester 2 Director Unit. Early Planning

Date: September 4th 2012.

I've come in early to get a head start in some research about life and see what ideas i can get from the word life looking at short films that already touch on life to get ideas and also how i can use them ideas to bring the my tooth/teeth prop.

I've decided to a suspense film where my character will be hanging on to life, this way I can make a clear link between my theme and prop that i can work a little easier with this idea.

So when researching into suspense films i watched Saw 5 and phone booth and decided to follow the route of the saw 5 film just because it created suspense in more or less one place which is part of our brief we can only film within the park.

Unit Sound Design complete video

The sounds I have used for this particular project have come from a mixture of garage band and also freesound.org.  The idea of my story is a domestic violence but its the woman who is an alcoholic starts to abuse her husband a turn of events where normally we see a male abusing a woman.

Sound Design Idea Change.

After re-reading what i cant do for this project i found the idea i had before wouldnt work so instead im doing my story on a young girl who goes out dirnking with her friends we see her sowly getting drunker and drunnker and then in the end she wakes up with a guy in her bed and she is unsure what happened the night before, the point of this idea is to show the affects of drinking alot but also the dangers of it. The sounds will be partly recordedby myself and some will come offline the hardest part of this idea will create a bar scene without using music.

Sound Design: Idea Devlopment

For my Sound design unit i will recreating the story of the tortoise and the hare this story is a journet in it's self but also the different accents i will try and use will take you on a journey threw conversations and accents. the images you will see will  be of people in conversation with each other.

Unit-Sound Design: Idea

My idea for this unit is based on missing conversations. The images will show conversations but all you hear are sounds from around the town centre or sounds that don't match the images.

Story Telling Unit- Trailer finished

This is my trailer fully edited i used the internal mic to give my trailer to give the end a more of a video diary feel.  

http://youtu.be/IcUAb12apsw

There was a problem to upload the video. 

Story Telling Unit: The Meeting Edit

Today ive gone in and editied my footage from filming the feel im going for is quite out there but also i want my audience to feel on edge and to get a creepy feel for this trailer the reason for this is because i done a feel for trailer meaning i've not used any footage that would be shot in the film instead i did a low lit one location shot and two actors. The hardest part of my editing will be see if ive filmed in order and that my shots are all conintuous.

Shot From The Footage I Shot.

Story Telling Unit: Trailer Filmed

On wednesday the 28th March 2012 i went up to the UCA with two friends to film my trailer we set up the lighting also set up sound which didn't work out too well so ended up going with the sound from the camera which gave an echo that fitted the film really well gave the edit more of a creepy feel. over all the filming went really well and my actors really enjoyed them selves.

Next time i will be editing my footage.

This is a shot from my trailer.

Monday 19th March

Yesterday i spent the day helping out make a video to send out for a competetion to help win the town 100,000 pounds to help bring the town center to life. This was an eye opener for and i realized that what i am working towards being is a male world and that makes me more determined to do what i want to do and show the guys that females can dop the job just as good. There are more and more female directors appearing in the big screen.

One Hour Photo My Opinion

One Hour Photo Staring Robin Williams.

The reason I picked this film to watch was because it was based on Sy (Robin Williams) who works in a supermarket and develops peoples photos off their camera's. One lady is a regular customer and sy becomes very familar with her and her family, one day sy loses his job and his obesstion with the family becomes even greater and he starts to get involved in their personal life until the point where the police get involve and see he has copies of pictures the family have taken on a wall in his apartment. i really enjoyed this film it showed how an obession can start off small but build up into this big thing and thats how i want my character in my 10 minuet film to be like, start off just watching him from afar but when thats not enough she has to go one step to far and kidnap him and keep him for herself.

Character change "The Meeting"

When watching films like "One hour photo" I decided that it would make more sense and a better story line if my character was use to getting what she wanted but being rejected. Her parents would stay the same this is show her rebling agenst their rules she will now be a confident lady dark hair slim build dresses in tight clothes i.e vest tops and skinny jeans.

i want Mae my female character to be use to gettign guys that she wants but when she meets david and all he wants from her is friendship mae cant accept that and instead tries her hardest to change his mind and get mroe than friendship she invites him over a lot feeds him drink but he still keeps to his guns then it gets past trying instead she goes to the extreams and the story unfolds i want my audience to feel more and more uncomfortable.

Attempt One At Soft Trailer

On Monday the 5th of march 2012 simon set us the task of doing a trailer for the channel four film "soft" we had to watch the film and pick out the clips that told the story the best. The clips we chose don't really give away the story just give you an insight into what goes on, the song we chose was ION by Placebo which is an instrumental piece, The reason we chose this song was so that our audience didn't focus too much on any lyrics and put their full attention onto the trailer its self and whats being shown.

The task for this was to work in a pair and come up with the trailer ourselves using Final Cut Pro to get us use to the software.

"The Meeting" Pitch and Synopsis

Gemma Whipp

The Meeting Pitch

Your a 20 something female who needs to know him, he is a handsome man you watch from afar but does the obsession go too far?

The Meeting Synopsis

The movie opens with Mae early twenties preparing for her day as she applies her make-up in the mirror. This is Mae's daily routine but on this day something doesn’t feel quite right she cant seem to feel any feeling of happiness or sadness she is unsatisfied with the way she is going about her life, Mae lives with her parents and younger brother these people live their lives by routine as well everything is the same day in day out. There have been times when Mae has thought about leaving and starting fresh with her own way move away to another town on her own but cant bring herself to leave her family and just sticks to the routine. Mae dreams of making it big time in America as a writer, she dreams of the little house in the big apple where she will write, but each day that dream becomes smaller and smaller the longer she stays in the small town. Mae tells her family her big dreams but they are so consumed in keeping things the same they ignore what she says and she slowly fades into the background and slips away out of the house.

Mae leaves the house to walk down the street she has walked a thousand times before seeing the same faces she sees a thousand times a day, but today was different today she sees someone different when you live in a small town its very rare you see anything different, as she walks past this new face she cant help but to stare, he is the most beautiful man she has ever seen as her eyes lock onto him he walks on by not noticing her ignoring her presents near him. As a result of seeing this man she cant seem to get him out of her head just the image of his face running around her head his scent still hunting her as she sits down in a café. As Mae sits in the café and looks out the window all she can see is his face suddenly everyone looks just like this stranger, she drifts in and out of a day dream mostly thinking of him then she suddenly snaps out of it and looks at her watch when she realises she is late for her lessons.

When Mae sits down she looks at all the beautiful girls around her and she craves to be one of them to be admired like they are in the goddess like forms where men idolise them she puts her head down and carries on with her little daydream life. After the group disappear Mae moves over to their places they sat and surrounds herself with their belongings thinking what it would be like to be them. As she sits there Mae sprays one of the girls perfume in her mind people will want to know her if she smells like the others.

As Mae leaves the lessons and walks back up that long road she is so familiar with she sees him again this beautiful man walking past her she needs to know him she wants him, as she passes by she smiles at him he looks at her and looks away again with no emotions showing. Mae just crumbles she finally feels an emotion ANGER how can he just walk past like she is dirt on his shoe? This is where Mae realises he needs to know her she wants his love she needs fore fill this craving for him she just wants to touch his skin, this is where obsession goes to the next level. The next day she leaves like normal but this time with anger on her face, he passes ignores her but this time Mae turns to follow find out who he is where is he from. This is her prince.

Tick Tock By Len Chi (short film)

http://youtu.be/w14v4vGUDdg

I really like how this short film is played out at it bends the way of showing a story but keeps you guessing on whats going on cause it's edited backwards.

The Meeting.

The Meeting

After getting my feedback I've decided that i need to give my idea a twist somethign for my audience to hang onto something to get their tastebuds going so after looking into obsession and ordering films that touch on some one in their story being obsessed over something i.e number 23 jim carrey is hookled on finding out why the number 23 means so much and the book he is reading relates so much to his life. The reason for me doing this is because i want my female actor to become obsessed she needsto believeable the audience need to see she is totally hooked on this young man, ive also looked into love films to get a feel of how women get hooked easy into falling in love with a man and the signals my male actor need to give off in order for the femal to want him so much and badly. So my story is starting to develop now and im giving it some feeling its going to be quite dark and resemble a thriller film. Using the films I a watching i can get a feel for what i need to show in my meeting.

Some Films I am looking into for ideas:

Fear 1996 directed by James Foley
http://youtu.be/SwqPYsnstP4

Obsessed 2009 directed by Steve Shill
http://youtu.be/9-ugXe_xEXw

One hour photo 2002 directed by Mark Romanek
http://youtu.be/bucbky6oLbU

"The Meeting" Idea 3

"The Meeting" Idea 3

after trying hard to write pitches and synopsis's for my other two ideas and just not getting any where i decided again to change my idea to something we are all guilty of at times and thats obsession, obsession comes in many forms going form something as small as a favourite tv show or film to more extreams like a person, I want to achieve in my scirpt the feeling of an uneasy character that cant cope with the "norms" of growing up and discovering guys how feeling become stronger, i would like my character to resemble "carrie" from the stephen king novel "carrie" (http://youtu.be/yJe0iVo8y3A- the trailer for carrie) the reason for this is because in this film carrie white is a very low confident young woman who has troubles fitting in and i feel a lot of girls at that age have the same problem and they would be able to relate to it. I want my audience to relate to the script and by doing that i will show them the hard truth about being hooked on a certain person that you cant have.

"The Meeting" Idea Two

"The Meeting" Idea Two:

This idea came to me cause its part of a personal event that happened in my life, after struggling to fit in at school and other things I decided to look into religion and that's where I found my place the meeting will be being able to meet the real me and accept the meeting of myself, The film will show how ive changed my self around and form going from a shy person who didn't speak out to this young woman who can now stand in front of a class and give her opinion, the film will be on edge, I want my audience to be on edge and feel uncomfortable about watching what they see I think that will hit home more but then by the end of it feel lighter and less troubled. 

Subjects to touch on:
Religion
Bulling
Self Pitty
Change 

"The Meeting" Idea One

"The Meeting" Idea One. Gemma Whipp Broadcast Media.

The idea I had came after watching a programme about how a young man suddenly changed from being well respected to become this wanted man who just wanted to hurt people and it came to me that when your walking the streets or going out with friends or just simply sitting on a bus you never know who that person is who is next from you he or she could be this really dark person with secrets that could make your blood curl or they could be this person who goes to church every Sunday and lives a "pure" life. so i kinda just thought i could touch on something like that showing that not everyone is what they seem.

Story Telling uni "Spaced" Synopsis 

The characters you are about to meet are five very different people in their own little world's. you have Tim the comic artist who just see's life as a comic strip he is always drawing while you have Daisy the struggling journalist who seems to have love issues and after a break up she put her love into a dog ( Colin). These two are very different people but they both share the same back story of a break up that leaves them hurt, through this they meet in a cafe get to know each other and get a flat together posing as a couple so they could live there,in this flat this is where we meet the other characters that are the trouble-some brian and the landlady Marsha who has deeper feelings for brian that are bigger than friendship. Every episode you will see how Daisy and Tim grow closer together through day to day issues that Time and Daisy tackle in a humours way but also the writers and director used pop culture references which widened their target audience they also used the age of their main characters (20 somethings) to grab the younger audience. The format to some shows are quite different even for now by using a flashback that goes back to the same point in his childhood and you never get to see the end of the story, This show also has a large combination of genre's from a drama to sci-fi even though the genre's are so different they manage to blend them together very well and in a subtle way. 

Gemma Whipp Broadcast

Story writing unit. "spaced" pitch. 


You have 5 complex characters, 6 episodes 30 minuet series and you have spaced this urban set show will  take you on your own life adventure.