Film Log - 9/3/2011 - First flashback

Today, our group planned to film the first flashback the character experiences through the film. This was an important scene, so it was imperative that we planned each shot, the location was correct and that we had all the props as we didn't want to compromise the scene. As we were filming by roadside, we made sure that certain precautions were taken so that we could avoid injury and so that no shots could be ruined by cars driving past so that we could maximise time and do as little re-takes as possible.

For the first flashback, our anti-hero is overseeing a drug-deal between two people, for this scene, we chose a quiet roadside next to a secluded alley as we believed it was an appropriate place that a meeting of this sort could take place. As the scene starts, we begin with a close-up of the anti-hero to instantly establish that the scene directly involves him. We move on to show an extreme long-shot of the client meeting the dealer to show the distance between the anti-hero and the deal taking place. Overall, we have used several techniques while filming to create an interesting and visually appealing scene. For instance, for the final shot we have used a point of view shot of the client getting punched in the face to demonstrate his view in the scene to give a multi-perspective feel to the scene. We have used a mixture of low and high angle shots to show off the different powers between characters and also to show off the location so that audience could feel immersed in the scene.

We are now planning to film the second flashback, storyboarding it and planning the best location to bring out the scene. I believe we are well on our way to creating a fully fledged short film.

Textual Analysis - This Is England

Textual analysis

Allocation of roles

To maximise our efforts and to minimise time, the group ahs decided to allocate roles so that in the future we can focus on our own areas so that we can save time.

Alex T

• Cameraman
• Co-writer
• Storyboards
• Risk assessor
• Director

Alex P

• Costumes
• Location planning
• Co-writer
• Editor
• Actor (Main character)

As we have had a group change, someone leaving our group, we have had to absorb the other members duties and allocate them amongst ourselves.

Rough cut - Audience feedback

This is the first rough cut we have edited, we have uploaded it to Youtube so that we can gain audience feedback on the two separate scenes we have uploaded.

Teacher Feedback

1) Textually analyse at least three examples of either short films or films of a similar genre.
2) Audience research
3) Risk assessment
4)Costume plans
5)Audience feedback
6)Allocation of roles
7)Research into similar videos

Narrative

What is narrative?

The concept of narrative is the coherence/organistation given to a series of facts, in other words, its what strings each event to the next and how we can interpret those facts and events.

How useful is a narrative?

The concept of  narrative is very useful when understanding someone's work as people need a narrative to understand the ideas and messages behind the work. People need a narrative to string toegther the events in order for it to make sense. Every work has a beginning, a middle and an end. The narrative helps the viewer in understanding how these all link.

Differences between film and music videos

The differences between film narratives and music video narratives is that music video narratives are often just a reflection of the lyrics, while film narratives try to follow along a story or plotline. Music videos tend to focus on the artists themselves, while a narrative will create a universe the film's plot can work around.

The structure of our narrative

Our narrative isn't a conventional equilibrium, disequilibrium and another equilibrium or a standard beginning, middle and end in terms of time. Chronologically, our video starts from the end, slowly revealing what happened in the beginning.

Costume and prop planning

Before we begin filming, we have planned out what props we will be using and what the main character will be wearing:

Costume and props presentation

Location shots

Here is a slideshow of shots of the locations we are thinking of using for our short film:

Presentation1

Compiling these shots will help us plan shot types while story boarding and also help us plan what types of creative techniques we can use for specific scenes.

Genre theory

There are several theories on the subject of media genre, which include:

John Fiske -

"Any one programme will bear the main characteristics of its genre, but is likely to include some others: ascribing it to one genre or another involves deciding which set of characteristics are most important" 

- Any texts main characteristics will be classed as that genre e.g. Lord of the Rings is considered fantasy as it mainly contains the icons of fantasy.

Richard Maltby and Ian Craven -

"The success of Hollywood is reliant on the combination of predictable elements with variation." - Hollywood is mainly successful because films that fit in specific genres have predicatble plot devices.

Edward Buscombe -

Edward Buscome felt that Iconography was the best way to achieve generic definitions.

- A films genre is defined by its icons e.g. A gangster film will contain guns, violence.

In stark contrast Rick Altman suggests:

• Genre theory presumes that viewers pre-read texts
• Viewers become passive voyeurs
• Genres are therefore restrictive
• Doesn't allow for hyrbids - the blending of genres

Film Log - Wednesday, 10th November

Today, we successfully managed to film a test sequence for the introduction of our film. Since the recent story change, it has been much easier to film as the locations haven't been nearly as demanding. We have uploaded our footage to the computer and have finished editing. So far, the shot types were mostly successful, however, at certain points we have had to edit it differently or even had to remove the entire clip so a re-shoot may be need to be scheduled in order to perfect the sequence.

We have lowered the saturation and brightness on each clip to give it a dingier, more urban look. Despite social-realist films not usually being edited drastically, we believe that we still fit within the conventions of it as the desaturated, grey look adds to the atmosphere of the film.

We have next planned to film the first flashback of the film, as we have decided to try and film it in a chronological order.