Group- Film Opening

Feedback- Tom Wiles:

Strengths

• From audience testing many people liked the use of our soundtrack, saying it fits well with the visuals and the high pitched, discordant sounds of the flashbacks were very effective in creating a sinister, scary feeling about the piece which shocked audiences (this was the effect we wanted to create).
• Audiences also thought our camera work was excellent, especially the frequent short and long tracking shots which revealed various props as well as our protagonist in the sequence. They also liked the use of pull focus shots and canted angle shots, saying it made the piece more professional and more fitting to our thriller/horror genre.
• Additionally, people thought our location was perfect, saying the caravans dingy, dull and abandoned look created a more visceral experience for most people and believed that its small, confined space actually contributed to build enigma.
• Finally, another strength included the high quality resolution of the picture and audiences believed that this made the sequence seem like an actual film.

Improvements

• Some people thought that a couple of the shots looked a little bit shaky, which did not fit as well with the piece as it should.
• One person thought that the edited effects and composition of the flashbacks did not look very effective, that our group should improve the look of these flashbacks to make it more clear and sinister.
• Lastly, a few people thought the continuity of our sequence could be improved, saying that providing more shots with movement of our protagonist should be added to make our sequence just that little bit better.

GT- Reflection on shoot 2

We planned to conclude the entire shoot on January 25th, meaning we had to capture all the shots in the caravan, which would constitute around 70% of footage in the entire sequence in one day. Also, having had trouble with the camera track and dolly on the previous shoot (specifically issues with the stability of the track), we had the idea of taking full advantage of it inside the caravan where stability would be significantly improved on the smoother surface of the caravan.

• My first role in this shoot was transportation of the track and dolly. Likewise with shoot 1, it was my responsibility to collect the track and dolly and make sure it got to the shoot location on time. I also picked up a group member, Harry, and transported him to the location too. It was vital for the group that we made the most of what little time we had to finish the shoot, so timing with transportation would play a significant role in the outcome of the shoot. Whilst I was transporting Harry and some of the equipment, Tom was preparing the caravan for the second shoot, making sure the camera batteries were fully charged and checking the SD card had available space from our first shoot.
• During the shoot I played the antagonist, a masked, hooded man. This role would include little in terms of acting as Harry had on screen prevalence as the victim throughout the entire sequence, leaving me a brief amount of time on screen.
• We all shared a role of suggesting a variety of shots to take at the time and how to improve the shots predetermined in class before the shots. for example, we introduced the cupboard shot at the time, as well as the tracking shot along the small objects in the foreground and Harry in the background.
• Another role that I played in the shoot was operating the camera. Though Tom shot the majority of the shots taken that day, occasionally I was needed to help create a shot, an example being the track along the small objects previously mentioned. 
• The entire group contributed in setting up the equipment, such as the track and dolly which required a fair amount of assembly. We also all worked together in making sure the track would be smooth, which involved positioning objects under the track to even the surface. This took time as the track is naturally unstable, emphasised through its wheels detaching numerous times throughout the shoot. 

TW- Reflection of shoot 2

During our second shoot on the 25th of January 2015, we focused and captured all remaining shots needed in and around the caravan, this included various close ups as well as tracking shots. My role within this shoot included the following:

• Before the other group members arrived, as with shoot one, I gathered all props, equipment and anything else we would need and put them in the caravan. This allowed maximum efficiency whilst shooting as everything we would need was always with us, saving us a lot of time and allowing us to quickly start our shoot after our short briefing. I also proceeded to make sure any health and safety risks around/in the caravan were removed or minimized, this included clearing glass and china shards from the caravan to make sure no one would cut and injure themselves.

• Furthermore, I made sure we had sufficient space on our cameras SD card so there would be no problem with re-filming shots if they were not to the standard we expected. I also fully charged two camera batteries so that, as said before, there would be no problems or delays within our shoot, allowing our time filming to be as quick but also as efficient as possible.

•  During the shoot, I was the main person to film the majority of the shots, combined with creative ideas which allowed development on how to improve each shot from the other two group members George and Harry. The storyboards really helped with this as it allowed us to identify what shots we needed to capture and how we would position and frame them, saving us a lot of time. This meant I had to always be careful when filming not to reveal anything in shot that should not be there, for example a reflection of the camera or the dolly and track.

• Proceeding the shoot, in class I have been cutting and editing the footage we had captured on the Premiere Elements software, I have also been experimenting with the positioning of typography and various after effects we can add to the sequence for example filters for the short flashback scenes in our opening. Finally, I had also come up with the idea to add a soundtrack to the sequence, deciding that 'When I Paint My Masterpiece' by 'The Band' would be most appropriate and then developing this idea.

• Other tasks I completed on the day, with help from the other group members, were: Assembling both the dolly and track for use, attaching and detaching the camera from the tripod I had provided at various points in the shoot. I provided the fake blood and applied it for use in some of our flashbacks, finally making sure anything untidy that I had not cleared up from our last shoot was removed or resolved.

HG- Reflection on Shoot 2

Reflection on Shoot 2

Our second shoot was on Sunday 25th January, we knew that this was going to be our last time to shoot as the deadline was just five days from then. Because of this, we was extremely efficient and well prepared in terms of props and clear ideas for framing our shots. My teammate George picked me up at around 10:30am on Sunday morning; we arrived at the location at 11pm. We were all set up by 11:15am after we had got all of our equipment ready and after a brief group discussion.

All of our shots in this particular shoot was inside the caravan and our storyboard helped us in terms of the overall look of shot and framing. Occasionally, each of us individually thought of some innovative shots that would be extremely effective for our clip, in particular these were towards the end of the clip as we wanted to make it look as good as possible.
Our shoot finished at around 4pm after 5 hours of non-stop filming. By the end, we were extremely pleased with our piece and there was a sense of relief as at times we didn't think we would be able to finish. I am very pleased with our attitude and work ethic and I am delighted with how we persevered and showed resilience throughout both our shoots.

After our first shoot, we were a little bit anxious as a group after not shooting as much as we would've liked. However, rather than affecting us in a negative way, it motivated us further to finish on time and to shoot to perfection, which indeed we did. In this shoot, we attempted to make each shot as innovative and unique as possible and I think this was achieved in the majority of our shots. The shots I am most pleased with from Shoot 2 are the mirror shot, the pliers shot and the blood on the caravan shot. These are the main shots that we innovatively thought of during our shoot.

GT-Potential Sound Effects

These are some of the potential sound effects that may be featured in our film sequence.

https://www.freesound.org/people/dobroide/sounds/124196/  -Bone Crunch sound 1

https://www.freesound.org/people/DalomarGrimm/sounds/7720/ -Bone Crunch sound 2

These sounds will be used in the first flashback where pliers are seen crushing a finger, hence the ‘Bone crunching’ sound. These non-diegetic sound effects are extremely horrific, which is vital in order to replicate the horrific nature of the shot with the sound.

https://www.freesound.org/people/Headphaze/sounds/177101/ -Horror Drone 3:14 minutes

This drone sound, likewise with the bone crunching sounds is non-diegetic. It could potentially play through the entire film sequence. It is iconic in horror films in creating tension through its layering of various drone pitches, making it suitable for our horror film.

https://www.freesound.org/people/Yatpo/sounds/21921/ -Flashback Sound

https://www.freesound.org/people/klankbeeld/sounds/181810/ -Flashback sound, sharp high pitch

This flashback sound is, again, non-diegetic, and will feature in each flashback in order to convey to the audience that it IS in fact a flashback, hopefully avoiding confusion. The sound itself is sharp and high pitch creating a sense of disjunction through each flashback.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wq2e7DPhyHg -We also plan on using 'When I Paint My Masterpiece' by 'The Band' as a backing track. If we do decide to do this then the drone sounds above will not be used to avoid them clashing. 

https://www.freesound.org/people/ejfortin/sounds/49704/ -This knife slash sound may feature during the slash of the crow bar followed by the splattering of blood on the side of the caravan (as shown through the picture below)

TW- Post Production Role

During the past 2-3 lessons, I have been working on the post production of our opening sequence. This included:

• Uploading any shots we had captured during our shoots onto the D drive of the computer and transferring them into our Premiere Elements editing software in order to be edited and placed in a timeline. I did this by selecting the 'Get media' button within the software and transferring them via files and folders.

• Using the clips on the timeline (as shown to the right), I would then have to cut the shots down in order to fit the time frame specification for our opening as well as making sure the piece looks both more continuous and realistic, removing any unwanted frames of the clip, for example, when there is moments in each shot were either nothing had been revealed to the audience, there was no movement in the shot or when the diegetic sound mix from the shots were unneeded or unrealistic.

• I have also been testing and using various post production effects we could add to the sequence to make it of higher quality. These effects included some fades in and out of shots, changing the speed of these fades to match well with the sequence. I have also tested the various speeds in which our shots could be shown at, this could be either making a certain shot with more slow motion or increasing the motion of the on screen movement.
• Furthermore, I have cut appropriate shots into the timeline which will allow space for opening titles within diverse and simplistic clips, this is because our group decision was to have typography on screen as the sequence progresses, not cutting to, for example, a blank screen to allow spacing throughout the opening for introductory titles.

HG/GT/TW Call Sheet/Risk Assessment Shoot 1

TWGSB Media Studies Film Production

Call Sheet & Shot list

 

Date: 15/01/15  Location: Caravan and Woods, Tom’s house grounds

Meeting Time: 7:30am    Group: 9      

 

Crew & Cast Contact details:

 

Tom Wiles

_____________________         Phone: 07815619285

Harry Garside

_____________________         Phone: 07715850709

George Thresher

_____________________         Phone: 07714863403

 

 

Props & Equipment                               crew responsible

 

Bottle                                          Tom Wiles, Harry Garside and George

Fake blood                                      Thresher. Tom will provide all props

Weapon (either axe or crowbar)                  and camera and SD card. The

Pliers                                          track and tripod will be borrowed

Mask                                            from school on behalf of all group

Rucksack                                        members.

Hiking boots

Bottle glass shards

Tripod

Camera

SD card

Track

 

 

Location	Shot number (on storyboard)	Cast	Technical notes
Woodland		-	Still shot of stream
Woodland		-	Worms eye view through tree
Woodland		Harry	Medium long shot of Harry
Woodland		-	Pan shot, long
field		Harry	Caravan in background, pull focus, Over shoulder shot
Caravan		Harry	Tracking shot across caravan
Caravan		Harry	Tracking shot reveals Harry by the door
Woodland		Harry	Pull focus of fence, Harry in the background

TWGSB Media Studies Film Production

Risk Assessment

 

 

You need to consider all the potential risks at each location shoot and outline how you will work to prevent any accident or injury to you, your cast or the equipment.

 

 

Location	What is the hazard?   Think about road safety, filming at night, potential damage to equipment	Who/what might be harmed and why?   Think about who needs to be aware of the risk	How will you reduce the risk?     What steps will you take to ensure that the risk is lowered?	Signed   Approved by JF, CF, KJ
Tom’s house grounds, woods	Possible trip hazards from branches	Group members may be injured if they slip or trip over. Also, less importantly, equipment may get damaged in the process.	Be cautious around these hazardous areas. Pay attention to other members of the group to warn them of trip hazards if they go unseen.
	Lakes and Rivers	The castor other members of the group may slip and fall into the small rivers and lakes around, risk of hypothermia	Do not go near them if possible and if not, then use extra caution when walking around them
	Stray Horse	Cast members and equipment may get harmed if the horse that’s located on Tom’s grounds attacks	Keep clear of the horse at all times
	Falling Branches	Due to the dense woodland, there is a great risk of falling branches that could harm the group members and cast	Be aware of abnormal sounds from the trees and be cautious at all times.

HG/TW/GT Production Log Reflection Shoot 1

Harry (Left) George (Centre) Tom (Right)

This is our group reflection on our first shoot on Thursday 15th January. It includes what we believe went well and also the challenges we faced and how we can avoid certain problems in our forthcoming shoots. We try to explain in detail each of the 7 questions detailed below:

 

1. When and where was the shoot?
2. What scenes were you focusing on?
3. What was your individual contribution to the shoot?
4. To what extent did your storyboard affect your use of camera and framing?
5. What do you think worked particularly well? (+ visual evidence)
6. What were the challenges of this particular shoot (+visual evidence)
7. How will you use this experience to inform your next shoot?

HG/TW/GT Rough Cut

This video attached above is a rough cut, some of our tracking shots are still extremely shaky, however, since we exported this, we have used software to reduce the bumpiness of the shot. Also, on Thursday the 22nd January, we took some more shots, this including an establishing shot and a short clip of Darren coming into frame in an ELS. However, we haven't added this to our rough cut, therefore our rough cut is just under half of what our clip is going to be and only features the shots we took on Thursday 15th January. We are very happy with the pull-focus 'nail' shot in this rough cut which took a reasonable amount of time to perfect. The tracking shots in the rough-cut have been edited and smoothed out since the rough-cut as I explained.

Feedback from Focus Group:

Positives:
- Good variety of shot movements/distances
- Good pull-focus shot
- Great location
- Good use of Tracking shots
- Good continuity editing

Negatives:
- Too short (as we haven't added some of our recent shots e.g from the shoot on the 22nd January.
- Shaky tracking shots (we have used software to prevent the bumpiness of the shot but haven't yet been able to put the new tracking shot into our piece).

GT- My Role in Production

My Role in Production

Location Aspects

In order to get to the our chosen filming location, organisation would be key in order to transport all the equipment and team members to the location (Tom's house) within the limited amount of time we had available to shoot. As a result of some unfortunate weather, the trains Harry relied on in getting to Tom's house were cancelled. This, in turn, meant I had to drive out to Tonbridge to pick him up where we then drove on to Blackham, where Tom's house is situated, with an hour of potential filming time wasted. Despite being let down by our transportation arrangements, we managed to shoot around 40% of the entire film sequence previously planned. Furthermore, we were able to utilise certain equipment, that without the car, would have proved extremely challenging, such as the track and dolly. To prevent this set back reoccurring, we have decided it best to not use public transport, but to solely use the car; a decision that will aid us in travelling in the worsening weather expected in the following weeks. The above picture gives an idea of the size of the track and dolly, however the camera shown in the image is irrelevant.

Preparation

My preparation consisted of loading up the car with all the necessary equipment for the shoot, such as the track and dolly and the tripod. The track and dolly was in popular demand so therefore required booking in advance, as well as picking up from Tunbridge Wells the day before the shoot. I also arranged the meeting point and times for Harry and I, prior to when the trains were cancelled forcing us to alter the arrangements.

Filming

For this shoot, the filming was shared between me and Tom, Tom controlling it more so than me. The reasoning behind this was the result of me featuring in the actual production on screen as the antagonist, and also Tom was most familiar with the camera. However, many of the shots we took were contributed to by all members of the group. This shot with the wooden fence in the foreground (shown in the picture above), was initially my idea, but was contributed to by members of the group, such as altering the focus half way through it. 

Editing

The editing in post production was done by myself along with Tom and Harry, meaning we all contributed. We didn't have much footage to edit at the time, having only shot around half of what we planned initially. We used Premiere Elements to create a rough opening scene with what footage we had.

HG- Reflection on Shoot 1

When and where was this shoot?

This shoot was at my team members' house as the caravan we are using is situated at the back of his house. We planned to shoot from around 8am-1:15pm, however, due to public transport issues on the morning of the shoot, it ended up being 10am-1:15pm. Despite this; there was still plenty of time to shoot some of the shots we had storyboarded.

What scenes were we focusing on?

For this particular shoot, me and my team focused on the build-up of our clip at a pre-climactic point. What I mean by this is we shot the part of our clip before/as Darren discovers the caravan. We concentrated on how our shots would intrinsically create tension for our audience.

What was your individual contribution to the group?

Due to the part of the clip we was filming on the day, I was the only actor, and as Darren is given prevalance throughout, i am in more or less every shot. Therefore, my main contribution is acting. Despite this, some of our shots take several takes to look how I and my team would like, and I would therefore discuss with the others about how to make the shot better and often give my own ideas.

To what extent did our storyboard help?

Our storyboard helped but only to a certain extent, I say this because as we arrived at the location, we wanted to find a woodland area which differed to the one we depicted in our storyboard. Because of this, the framing in our shots were different to the ones we drew. Nevertheless, we still used the storyboard to look at the basics of the shot, e.g close-up, longshot etc and camera movements too.

What do I think worked well?

Personally, I think we worked well as a team. If our shot wasn't working and it didn't look effective we would persevere until we was content with the shot. Also, the location itself is very effective and we are very happy with the accessibility of it. I was happy with some of the shots, this included the tracking shot along the caravan and then at the end of the shot one can see Darren entering the caravan.

What were the challenges of the shoot?

The main challenges for this particular shoot is that we wanted Darren to be walking through the woods before he comes across the caravan. The difficulty with this is that at Tom's house, here is very little woods and we were in a very isolated area so it would be time consuming to go elsewhere.

How will our previous shoot help us in terms of experience?

Our previous shoot will help us in terms of our preparation. We now realise how much preparation is needed for the shoot, this includes; the exact shots we want, time arrangements, clothing/props etc. We know that we cant afford to spend too much time on one shot and we need to spend a relatively even amount of time for each shot. There is very little point in spending too much time on one shot and rushing another.

TW- Reflection on shoot 1

Location- As the filming was done on my house grounds, I made sure that the location was accessible for the other group members, giving them directions on how to get to my house and the quickest route, allowing us to have maximum filming time on location in order to capture our chosen shots. 

Preparation- Before my other group members arrived on location, I gathered all props we would need when filming our opening, this included a hiking bag, tools such as pliers and a crowbar for the antagonist to use as well as our chosen mask for this antagonist, I then moved these props into the caravan where we would be around at all times so we could use them right when we needed them. 
Moreover, I also provided the camera we would use to shoot due to its quality, I made sure the SD card had space for the shots as well as having a spare battery if needed. 

Furthermore, on top of this I had also gone to our main location for the sequence, the caravan and tidied the area in which our character would need to use to move around freely in various camera shots. This tidying included picking up cushions and sofa boards which had been lying around the caravan (as you can see from the picture to the right) and moving them back to the correct positions; I also made sure all unneeded objects around the caravan were stored away so they would not be revealed in shot.


Filming- For this primary shoot, I was doing the bulk of filming on set, taking ideas and help from the other group  members so we could use our storyboards and various ideas and capture high quality footage. This included filming included pans, track shots, close ups and establishing shots.


Editing- In post-production I, along with the other group members have been cutting together a rough opening, putting our clips into an order and timeline on the Premiere Elements software provided in school. Editing this clip together has allowed our group to develop and combine different, intriguing styles of editing, for example in which places we would place our typography in our opening and if they will have effects like a fade.