For this project our group decided to choose the genre Thriller/Drama. We chose this because most of us were very familiar with the genre as we've already seen films such as: "Brick", "Run Lola Run" and "Get Carter" in class. By now our group had a good understanding of the genre and the general conventions that apply to Thriller/Drama films. With the chosen genre in mind our group wanted to do something realistic and engaging to the audience. We came up the idea to film something related drugs and gangs in relation to teenagers, which they are seen more realistically associated with and inflenced by in modern day films.
During the planning stage our group didn't find much problems in choosing props, location, pre-production and story boarding for the genre. This was because we wanted the film to look realistic and in films such as "kidulthood" gave us ideas on costumes. The cast's clothing in "Kidulthood" was mainly Hoodies and Jeans which is effective because it is made more realistic for the target audience which is teenagers. We also wanted to add the technique of shaky cam which gives the film sequence an ad-hoc feel. It suggests unrehearsed filming of reality in a situation where stable image techniques cannot be applied.
We tried to plan it out as carefully as we can beforehand, in order that we wouldn't have to make too many adjustments. Unfortunately some things weren't working out as expected so some very minor things had to be altered slightly, for example the drug dropping. It was originally going to be several separate bags and one of them would be left behind. But due to short notice, not all the props were available together. Instead of that, we used one smaller prop. However, except for that, it was planned out well, so that we didn't have to change many things.
My role in the group was the cinematographer. During the process of making a shot list, I wanted to use a lot of close ups during scenes with dialogue to show the actors expressions and emotions, which can create suspense and tension. Both of these are very important in genres like Drama and Thrillers. I also wanted to use the shot pan-ou For example the low angle close up of Vincent showed his facial expressions thus helping the audience to understand his emotions. We used a lot of low angle shots in the scenes with the killers because we wanted them to seem more superior. During the actual filming we didn't use all the shots originally planned, because one of the reasons were that we felt the shaky cam technique would be more appropriate for creating realism in some of the scenes rather then just close ups or low angle shots. We were also careful not to over use the shaky cam technique because it can distract the audience.
But the main drawbacks we had, was our group being unorganized and members of our group were unable to attend during the filming day we meant we had to cast another actor. Also our group wasn't well prepared which resulted in us having less time to shot a variety of different shots. We then came across the problem of the camera having low battery because it was left on while traveling to our shooting location. Therefore we didn't shot all the shots we would of liked, thus giving us less footage to use in the editing stage. We then also encoutered an problem, during the second half of filming it started to snow which ment we had to tolerate the circumstances as it was the last day of filming.
Overall I think our film could have been better in many ways. Our group had many concerns for being unorganized and inattentive with commitment. The pre-production stage early had gone well but post-production could have been much better had if all our members turned up for filming and lessons to finish editing. But I was still pleased with the overall outcome in relation to the varity of shots we had and a positive feedback. In the feedback, some of the things that were acknowledged we weren't so sure about, such as the camerwork, on which we received good comments. Also we were complimented on how the mise-en-scene worked well with the shots. I was very pleased with my cinematography skills used in the overall project.
My micro responsibility was editing. I decided to split the two time zones using a Black and White color tint, as to make the divide clear. It also added an eerie element to the flash back vision. Although there is slow motion in both the present and past tense shots, the majority of it was in the past tense, and a lot slower to make it seem faded and reminiscent rather than the clearer side of the present time. In the present time there was a continuous effect called "Gloom" Which is a type of blur. This effect gave it a more surreal look, and highlighted the strong colors in the video. The whole movie has effects on it, because the whole incident seemed like it would be surreal, so it really suited having a unique look to it. The editing wasn't particularly fast paced, but we weren't trying to make it fast, we were actually going for a slower style, but still build tension in a different way. Rather that it being really fast, and having loads of things in front of your face, i decided that a slower edit would make people want to see the next shot thus building suspense.
We decided to work in the genre of 'Gritty, Drama, gang culture, Drug, youth' much in comparison the the recent film 'Adulthood'. So in the sequence the Mise-En-Scene had to fit this category. We did so by making sure the characters wore stereotypical clothing, such as hoods, tack suit bottoms and trainers. The hoods are key to the story line, because both sides of the incident would try to conceal their identities. In the clip we realized, through feedback and self examination, that it is not incredibly clear who are the 'good guys' and who are the 'bad guys'. However, we came to the conclusion that this problem was irrelevant because none of the sides could really be deemed 'good. But there is definitely a favored side. Still though, it is only a segment from the scene (in this case the end). Still though, they would both require hoods, so the costuming there was a good choice.
The Genre being 'Drama' did not really effect many decisions we made. But it being 'Youth' made us have to think about the lingo, and the activities that the youth of today would be participating in. The 'Drug' genre is definitely becoming more and more prominent in today's films, both as influences, references and foundation genres. And i think it slotted well into our project.
We had a session of deciding Narrative, Characters and Genre. And i had a specific genre in mind of which i wanted to tackle. So it was my idea that we decided to go with. When we had the initial choice of genre, we began to speak narrative, and we all pitched in with ideas we wanted to see in the sequence. We had ideas for the narrative way before we decided where in the story-line the incident was going to take place. We used an A3 piece of paper to Brain Storm some ideas. Then we plotted the rough idea onto a story board which we then developed after some consideration.
We tried to make sure that the idea was quite possible to make from the start, in order to avoid as much alteration as possible. Unfortunately some things weren't working out as planned so some very minor things were changed slightly. For example the drug dropping. It was originally gonna be a load of separate bags and one of them would be left behind. But it wasn't practical to get all those props together. So instead we decided to use a smaller package. Apart from that though, it was planned out well enough for there not to have to be many changes.
I wanted the sequence to seem draggy. As if it was happening slowly, whereas in actual fact, what you see happens very quickly. So there are two feelings, one that is thinking it's slow, and one that is thinking it's missed something because the action is over before it starts. I also wanted the audience to appreciate the clear difference between the two time zones. I would've hoped they'd come away knowing what went on as well.
The feedback was mostly positive, although there were instructions for negative feedback as well. Some of the things we weren't so sure about were praised in the feedback, which gave us a little more confidence in those ideas. At the time of the feedback session, we were having problems with our music soundtrack. So a lot of the negative points were to do with that feature being in the lack. the camerawork was positively touched on which was good. We were also complimented on how the mise-en-scene fitted the scene well. So in 'hindsight' we made all the right changes i think, I'm please with the result.
My Technical skills have only helped along the process of making the creative choices i wanted to. And thus i am pleased with the overall result of the project.
For our film genre, our group decided to pick a thriller/drama. We chose this because our members were overall familiar with the general conventions involved in thrillers and we had already watched a few of examples in class. These included “Get Carter”, “Run Lola Run” and “Brick”. The plot of our film is going to be about a few members who represent syndicates who proceed to a drug trade. We found it particularly easy in planning for props and pre-production in story boarding for this genre. This was because the costumes were already present to us as our group members normally were already wearing urban/scruffy clothing. These included leather coat/jackets and ripped jeans which we remember from “Run Lola Run”. As for the props we required only a bootleg for the drugs which could be a wrap of tinfoil or plastic sheets. The most essential prop were the fake guns we needed so we could utilize it for traders so we can capture the killing scene. Overall, the planning for our props/costumes and soundtrack went pretty smoothly as we were all genuinely familiar with the genre and we all knew the exact demands.
My role as sound engineer was as simple to just provide a composed soundtrack and possibly voice work/sound effects. However, I needed to work closely to my two group members as not only were we they directors but Josh was also the main editor. I opted to be responsible for the sound because I was fully aware of the kind of tunes/music available from Garage band to compose a shaky provoking soundtrack to raise the tension towards the audience. Examples of these included Drones and Sci-texture which sounded very low pitched. I also had some relevant freeware SFX that would prove useful for the gunshot just to add that extra realism. For the filming, we all decided to keep the dialogue to a minimum. This was because of the weather conditions we had to contend with. Some of these conditions included windy shifts and a cold temperature which we realized began to hinder our performance.
When it came to editing stage, I decided to cut out the background noise for the clips that had no dialogue so I could focus on composing the soundtrack. However, one of the major drawbacks according to our feedback was the lack of soundtrack in our final cut. We did manage to finish a soundtrack for the rough cut which we had originally planned to use. But we ended up running into technical difficulties with the Macs being unable to transfer a copy via Memory stick yet alone export a new song from Garage band. This overall affected the final product with the scene seemingly having no atmosphere whatsoever. Another unfortunate encounter was the sound effects we lost. This is because the gun shots were imported from a memory stick (my own). Thus, it would have meant that I would have to bring it all the time unless I saved a copy into our group folder.
But due to the conflicts with our group being unorganised and absent from early stages. I ended up forgetting my role in bringing the SFX so I could concentrate on editing the main footage with our editor absent. After many sessions of experimenting, the earthquake filter came to our rescue. This visual effect allowed us to shake the canvas however we want so we could present a provoking and electrifying experience to viewers during the gun shot point of the bullet travelling. During the filming, we came across our camera being low in battery. This was due to a simple mistake where the camera was left on while we travelled to our location meaning we had to get it charged. However, this is also delayed our time in managing to complete our filming within the time we planned as we only had an hour left until it would get dark. Apart from the limited time, our battery was also low because we couldn’t afford to charge for a long duration.
This caused us to almost improvise some shots a long the way as we didn’t have the time to discuss and properly shoot the correct shots according to our list. One of our improvements was to improve the flow of our scene. To my understanding, this was partially due to the variety lack of shots that were available to us since most of our shots were quite long which may have caused our viewers to loose interest. Overall I believe our film could have been better in many ways. Our group had many concerns for being unorganised and inattentive with commitment. The pre-production stage early had gone well but post-production could have been a touch better had if all our members turned up for every lesson to finish editing. But I was still pleased to have resorted the gunshot issue by recording an artificial SFX and receivepositive feedback.
We received feedback from the class noting what was good, bad and what could have been improved.
The Good: Relevant use of Black and White filter for flashbacks Slow Motion to add for dangerous approach Nice Artificial Gunshot SFX Lucid, clear dialogue Effective costumes Guns considered tangible and perceptive
The Bad: Lack of soundtrack No tension due to no music Slightly confusing shots at some points Unclear why the main characters were innocent
Improvement: Better story flow (so its easier to comprehend) Pace could be a touch quicker Some music would make it look interesting
