Credits and Typography...

Molly and I want a creative, arty style of typography to reflect the style of our film, we also want the typography to look almost handwritten to make it look like it is supposed to be written inside the scrapbook; this will give it a personal feel. The film titles will appear over the first few shots of Katy in her bedroom, however all of the credits will be in the shots of the scrapbook pages to make it look like the names are actually featured in the scrapbook (thus reinforcing the 'arty' idea). The main film title 'The Story Of Us' will appear at the end of the film opening in the shot of the front cover of the scrapbook; thus making the film title look like it is actually the title of Katy's scrapbook. The main film title will be in a bolder font than the credits so it stands out but still continues with the creative theme.This should make the credits flow throughout the film opening so they don't distract the viewer from the actual shot but so they can be noticed and enhance the mood we are trying to portray.
Ideas for typography...
            
Amelia Walker & Dex Elkington 

Amelia Walker & Dex Elkington
Amelia Walker & Dex Elkington
Amelia Walker & Dex Elkington  
Molly and I have decided that the typography we will use for the credits is American Typewriter,as we think the font is simple but has a hand typed quality and will not distract the viewer from the footage. It also has a unique vintage edge to it which adds authenticity to the scrapbook, the colour of the typography will be white as it's set against quite a dark background so it really stands out...
Amelia & Dex Elkington 


However for our main film title 'The Story of us' which will appear at the front of the scrapbook at the end will be made using LiveType with an animated movement and bolder typography. This is inspired by the film opening of Juno where all of the credits have a child-like movement thus evoking a playful vibe which we want our film to convey. This typography will be black which contrasts with the white credits; this makes it seem more important, and the bold typography makes the title appear stronger.

Soundtrack and voiceover...

There will be a voiceover from Katy (the main female character) in some of the flashback scenes to explain her feelings to the audience; thus involving the viewer and making the flashbacks seem more personal. We will need to write a script for Amelia and record the voiceover during post production as we need to have finished editing the shots so we know where we want the dialogue to occur, then we can add the voiceover to the footage in the specific places (which will be in a few of the flashback scenes). The voiceover shouldn't dominate the film opening as we want ambient music to be playing in the background to set the scene.

The soundtrack for the film opening is called 'Final Gripe', we did consider two other songs; 'Adios' and 'Feathers in the wind', but we narrowed it down to one, as we want the sound to be simple and to not distract the viewer from the main footage. We found the music on a copyright free website; Freeplay Music so we are not using any copyright material. The chosen music is described on the website as a 'Bright and cheerful acoustic guitars fingerpick optimistically as piano and electric guitar flesh out the hopeful feel' I think it is a happy, light hearted, indie tune that fits our genre perfectly and further enhances the positive, romantic atmosphere we want to portray. The beat of the music also fits with our style of editing - at one point the tempo of the music changes when there is a shot transition, which subtly reinforces the depiction of time moving forward. I really like our choice of music as it evokes the carefree feeling of young love blossoming; which is exactly the mood we want our film opening to convey.

Editing...

Molly and I are now well on the way with editing our film opening footage on Final Cut Express. Everything is going according to plan; we have plenty of footage and we are experimenting with different shot transitions. One particular shot transition that we have found works well is the additive dissolve which we have inserted between the jump from photo to flashback, this gives a dream-like affect which is the exact feeling we want to portray. We are also making a Bloopers video to show all of the shots that didn't make the final cut this will show how we have selected only the best footage to appear in our rough cut. This is a screen shot of Molly and I editing using Final Cut Express, it shows us editing the first flashback in the park.

This is a screen recording of Molly and I adding credits to the rough cut of our film opening using the 'Text' tool in Final Cut.

Reflection on filming...

Day 1:
I arrived at Molly's house in Bloxham at 12.30, and we got on straight away with Amelia's (our leading actress's) make up. We tried several different styles; from a natural day look to a glamorous party look, we took lots of photos to put in our Costume and Make up presentation. Then Dex (our leading actor) arrived and I took photos of our two protagonists in different costumes, we told them to bring a variety of their favourite clothes and we then chose our favourite outfits that we thought represented the characters we want to portray (a unique, quirky teen style). After this I phoned the cafe, Bread and Milk in Bloxham, to ask permission from their manager for us to film several scenes inside their premises. They said we were allowed however we couldn't film when they were busy (as the interior of the cafe is quite small), so we agreed that we would film later on in the afternoon.

We set off from Molly's house on our filming expedition quite quickly as we didn't want to be caught out by the unpredictable British weather (I did check the weather forecast before and it was meant to be dry). The cafe was our main filming destination however we stopped off on the way to film the 'first meeting' scene which occurred on a bench in front of some picturesque autumnal trees.  We had initially planned the 'woodland/park' scenes to be filmed in a park in Wroxton, however due to time constraints we decided it would be more efficient to film them in Bloxham (as the surroundings are pretty similar). This turned out to be a wise decision as we avoided wasting a massive amount of time travelling between locations. After filming the 'first meeting' scene, we then filmed the 'woodland' scene which involved Amelia jumping off a wall into Dex's arms and then walking hand in hand through an avenue of trees. This was one of my favourite shots as it really captures the romance in their relationship, the sun was also beginning to set so the light was beautiful, however we had to get a move on otherwise we would film the 'cafe' scene in the dark. While rushing through Bloxham to get to the cafe, we took some photos of the couple together and they also took some photos of each other, so we could put these in the scrapbook and it would look like it was from their point of view.

We arrived at Bread and Milk with enough time to film a quick pan shot of the cafe's exterior and also a shot of the couple walking in through the entrance. I then bought two hot chocolates for our actors to use as props while they chatted and we filmed the 'first date' scene. After we had finished this shot it was dark so we decided to meet up for a 2nd day of filming to get some more outside 'park' and inside 'scrapbook' shots.

Overall it was an incredibly successful day, this was due to our organisation as we had completed our call sheet and shot list so we knew exactly what we were doing. I was amazed at how smoothly the filming went, we got lots of good shots and I can't wait to start editing.

 Day 2:

I arrived at Molly's house at 11.00am and we started decorating the scrapbook, which is our main prop in the film opening. The first double page is baby photos of Dex and Amelia, which makes the whole concept seem more believable - as this adds a very personal touch. The next pages document their 'first meeting' (on the bench), their 'first date' (in the cafe), relaxing in the park (on the swings and walking in the trees), and relaxing at home (on the sofa). We used all of the photos that we took on the first day of filming and we also took some photos on the 2nd day of filming which we then quickly printed out and stuck in the scrapbook. After finishing decorating the scrapbook, we then went outside to the nearest park and filmed Amelia and Dex swinging on the swings, while taking some photos of them together. We then rushed back to print out the photos and stick them in the scrapbook with the last finishing touches.

We then filmed some shots of the couple relaxing in bed together and having a pillow fight; these went smoothly and were successful. After this we filmed our final and probably most important scene in our film opening, the one of Amelia finding her old scrapbook and looking through it. This is the first shot in our film opening and also the shots that are going to link the mini flashbacks - which makes the film opening into a continuous narration, so they have to be perfect.While Molly and I filmed this scene, Dex kindly used the flip camera to film us directing Amelia; this gives you a valuable insight into our filming techniques. The behind the scenes footage can be seen at the end of this post.

The last scene was slightly rushed as Amelia had to leave quickly; this was a slight problem as we wanted to make sure we had perfected the most imperative scene. After Amelia had left we looked back at the footage and decided it was not as good quality as we would have liked - it was quite shaky footage as they were hand held shots. So Molly and I used our intuitive and filmed the scene again but with me in the place of Amelia, as it was only an over the shoulder shot that we wanted to redo (so you wouldn't see her face) and I have the same hair colour as Amelia so we look quite similar. However we need to check this shot properly to see if it was successful. After I had left Molly experimented with different ways of filming the scrapbook pages, so we will choose the best shots during the editing process - at least we have a variety of shots to choose the highest quality and most believable one.

Overall the 2nd day of filming was successful too, despite being pushed for time at the end. I am really happy with how the filming process went as I now feel confident with filming and setting up all of the camera equipment. There were no major disasters as we had planned our time thoroughly, however this experience made me realise how challenging directing is - everything has to be carefully considered and organised, which is rather exhausting. Directors also rely hugely on their actors; so Molly and I were lucky to have two cooperative and hard working actors. My first experience of  filming went really well, so I am looking forward to editing the footage and creating our film opening.

  
Here is a 'behind the scenes' film of Molly and I filming some important shots in Molly's bedroom...

Shot List...

Creating this shot list meant that Molly and I were much more organised when we were filming as we were able to keep track of the shots we had already filmed. It also meant that all the shots we'd taken were of a high quality as we always watched the footage after we had recorded it to check it was of a good standard. Molly and I shared the role of camera operator so we both got a chance to film; if one of us was filming then the other would be directing or taking photos. I believe this is impotant as we both got to experience the different roles invloved with the filming process.

Call Sheet...

A call sheet is highly important during the filming process as it helps you to organise every aspect of the day's filming. The sheet includes the date and times that we started filming, the actors involved, the location, the storyboard numbers, the props used and any reminders. This sheet is imperative for directors who have a large number of actors in their film, so they know exactly when and where their actors will be so filming can run smoothly without any unnecessary waiting for actors to arrive.

Scrapbook Ideas...

Our plan for the scrapbook is to buy a plain scrapbook and then decorate and fill it with photos of Katy and Luke, this will be from Katy's perspective. On the first few pages of the scrapbook will be baby photos of Luke and Katy, over the next two pages will be photos of when the couple first met, then over the next two pages will be photos of the couple on their first date, next will be photos of the couple relaxing together e.g. sat on swings in the park, walking through a park, sat on the sofa, in the garden, and on Luke's motorbike.

We will decorate these pages in the typical teenage girl style (which both Molly and I have plenty of experience of doing and have seen many examples) thus making sure it looks like Katy has made it herself. Aswell as having photos of the couple together we will also leave gaps on various pages to insert the film footage during the editing process. We will pan the camera across the scrapbook pages, making sure the viewer is able to see all of the photos before zooming into the still footage and then the footage will begin; this will give the effect of a flashback. After the flashback has ended we will cut back to Katy flicking through the scrapbook and zoom into another piece of footage on a different page; thus depicting her memories of their relationship triggered by her finding the scrapbook. We will also leave some gaps on the pages of the scrapbook for the credits to go, which we will add to the film opening during the editing process. The main title of the film, 'The Story Of Us' will be edited on to the front cover of the scrapbook and the camera will zoom into this at the end of the film opening to lead into the main narrative of the film.

 

Molly and I have done plenty of product market research by looking at different types of layouts of scrapbook pages on Google images. We have decided that a typical indie/girlie style would appeal to our target audience, so we are going to include lots of colour, lettering, different shapes and love hearts, this will portray Katy's love for Luke. Here are a few of our favourite examples of scrapbook layouts that have inspired our decision.

The scrapbook is our main prop so we have spent a lot of time and effort (and money!) in making it look perfect. As it must not only echo the style of our main female protagonist, but it's also our unique tool in documenting the couple's relationship, which is basically the essence of our film opening. Molly and I have bought a plain brown ring binded scrapbook and spent an afternoon decorating it with photos that we had taken of the characters while we were filming and also the actors baby photos that we had taken a copy of (as we thought this would add a nice personal touch). Here are some photos of Molly and I hard at work doing some scrapbook decorating...

Here is a video of Molly and I creating the scrapbook before filming...

Costume & Make up...

 These are photos of our lead actress, Amelia Walker, with the make up we want her to wear during our film opening. Before we started filming Molly, Amelia and I, experimented with make up techniques as we believe make up and costume can portray a huge amount about the character's personality.

The first image depicts Amelia wearing her 'first date' make up. The red lipstick adds a glamorous, feminine edge to her appearance while the eyeliner and mascara are subtle but still makes her eyes stand out. We wanted her make up to be sophisticated and pretty as they will be filmed at a cafe.

The second image depicts Amelia in her 'relaxed' make up. She's only wearing eye liner and mascara to make her eyes stand out, yet it still looks natural as this will be the scene when the couple are relaxing in bed.

The third and final image is Amelia wearing her 'park' make up. She's wearing eye liner, make up, blusher and lip gloss; all in a subtle, natural colour to enhance her features while not being too over the top for walking in the park.

This is a video showing our actors, Dex and Amelia, wearing their costumes for the cafe, park, and bedroom scenes.

Costume Research

Costume Inspiration

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Storyboard...

Location Scouting...

Cafe:
One of our main locations is going to be a cafe; it will need to be attractive, easy to get to and fit in with the 'countryside' theme as the couple will be walking around a country village. We have looked at several locations and our favourite is 'Bread and Milk', a cafe and deli in Bloxham. It has a classic farmhouse-esque interior and exterior with a quirky style which links in with the style we want our film opening to convey, it is also in the same village as Molly's house which makes it easy to get to, as we are using Molly's house as one of our main locations.

 The only problem that we may encounter is the interior of the cafe is small so we may be pushed for space - especially as we have a lot of camera equipment. We have overcome this disadvantage by phoning the manager of the cafe and asking for permission to film before we arrived at the location. The manager said we would be allowed to film, however it would have to be during a non busy time of day as we may get in the way of the customers. So we are planning to film at that location during the late afternoon; thus avoiding getting in the way and also allowing us to have more freedom within the cafe. However we must make sure we don't film too late in the afternoon as we don't want it to get too dark; so we must either bring a bright white light or time our filming schedule so that we don't get caught out by the light.

We have gone on a location scouting trip to source locations, so we've visited the cafe and have planned where the couple are going to sit. They will sit at a table right in front of the main window so there will be plenty of natural light pouring through the window (depending on the weather) and we will use props of hot chocolate on the table to set the atmosphere of the scene.
Here are a few photos of the cafe that the couple's first date will be filmed at...

Park:

 For the outside shots in the park I envisage them to be in a picturesque countryside location with lots of trees in autumnal colours to evoke the time of year. I think this is important because romantic films are usually set in the summer, so our film opening goes against the stereotypical season for this genre, which I think is good as its a unique interpretation. The village of Bloxham is perfect for this countryside location as it has plenty of trees, parks, and charming stone cottages; thus suggesting the characters of our film opening are of a middle to upper class as is so often represented in the television and film industry. This is the archetypal representation we are aiming for the characters in our film opening. I have taken a few photos of the style that I want to portray through the shots...



This is how I imagine the bench location to look in the 'first meeting' scene.



Props...

Props for our film opening

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Risk Assessment Form...

Due to the fact that we are going to be filming in various locations with expensive camera equipment, we must consider the safety of the equipment as well as the safety of our actors and also the safety of ourselves. Therefore I have filled out a risk assessment form that highlights all of the potential hazards that we could face while filming. I have also taken into account any safety precautions that we could put in place to minimise any danger; this has definitely made us more aware of hazards. We will follow the safety guidelines and we will also be extra careful when filming to make sure none of the people involved with the filming process get injured or non of the equipment gets damaged.

The Treatment Sheet...

I have filled out this sheet just to give a brief outline of our film opening sequence. The sheet includes information on; the main storyline of the sequence, how we want the audience to feel when watching our opening, the structure of the opening, the main roles of the characters, the locations, the mise en scene, the style of camera work and also the type of editing. This sheet is a useful resource to refer to through out the film making process to remind us of our initial ideas; however we may want to make alterations later on during the editing process. Overall this sheet has helped us to get our ideas down on paper; thus making us discuss and critically analyse our concept.

Film Concept Feedback...

This is feedback from our target audience on our film opening concept; we filmed them sharing their opinions. This has been incredibly helpful as we can take into consideration the improvements they have suggested, and we can then make alterations to our main concept. This will then make our film opening more appealing to our target audience.

Our film inspiration...

This is a Taylor Swift music video of her song 'The Story of us' which we found on YouTube. The whole concept of her song has inspired the plot of our imagined whole film and it has proved invaluable in helping us create our film opening. It tells the story of a doomed teenage relationship; although this contrasts with our happy relationship film opening - the plan for the whole film would be to show the 'ups and downs' of Katy and Luke's relationship as we want it to seem as realistic as possible.

Film Opening Concept...

This is a PowerPoint presentation that Molly and I have created to present our film opening idea to our class, it includes a lot of detail on everything from our lighting and sound to the locations and the actors.

Film Opening Concept

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Film Opening Analysis...

This is a PowerPoint I have created with an analysis of four film openings that either fit with our chosen genre or have a style that we would like to emulate in our own film opening. They are all very different but include the same creative style that inspires me. The target audience for all of these films are generally young women (teenagers to young adults) who enjoy romantic films so we have decided that our film opening will have a similar target audience as we are attracted to this genre and we also fall into this age bracket. This means that we will have lots of experience of what works well and will create our film opening according to what our friends and we would be attracted to watch ourselves - so we will be fulfilling our target audience. I have also made a timeline and title sequence grid for each film opening...

Film Opening Analysis

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Film opening examples...

Here are three examples of student produced film openings from  Hurt wood House Media department; Hurt wood House school has incredibly advanced media technology, so I had high expectations of the quality of work. The examples I've chosen are all thrillers and are all effective in their own original way.

My favourite one is; Immersed as it uses a simple concept of a girl swimming, but transforms it through well framed shots, smooth continuous editing and good close ups that create tension and suspense. I really like the underwater shots of the girl swimming as this creates an isolated atmosphere that reinforces the whole mood of the opening.The tracking of the camera following the feet of the stranger looks really professional and enhances the mystery, while the typography of the titles are classy and sophisticated.

My second favourite is; Aftermath as the "story telling" feel at the beginning is unique and grabs the audience's attention - it makes them want to find out what the boy is talking about. I think the interrogation theme is very successful as it creates a tense atmosphere needed for thriller openings. I like the way the boy's voice is occasionally used together with the girl's voice to give the effect of the girl replaying the event in her mind. I also like the ending where there is a point of view shot of the girl through the video camera; this reinforces the interrogation theme together with the tape player as a prop.

My third favourite is; One as I like the effect of the camera following the woman around her house while revealing out of the ordinary things occurring. I think the diegetic sound of the alarm buzzing at the beginning is an effective sound bridge and also ignites the suspense of the scene. To improve this film opening I think the students could have played incidental music in the background to reinforce the atmosphere and make the shots more interesting, they could of also made sure the lighting was a consistent good quality throughout the shots to make it seem more realistic. Apart from this I really liked the end shot of the girl outside her home, as the camera tracks to reveal her neighbourhood; this makes the audience want to find out what happens next, which is what a good film opening should achieve.

All of these film openings have impressed me as not only is the editing and camera work of a high quality but all of the ideas are different and very creative. Watching these has made me realise that it is possible to reach a professional standard while at the same time I know that not every school has the technology that this school benefits from.

Film opening research...

Here is a power point presentation I have created about different film openings. I searched for examples of ones that I thought were effective and then analysed them; this has helped me to decide which genre I would like to make my own film opening, it has also inspired me as they are all unique in their own way and helped me to create some ideas for my final task.

Film opening research

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Art of the Title - useful website...

This website is absolutely brilliant for general resources about film and television title designs. They have a huge variety of different film genres that you can view, with discussions, feedback and analysis available - this has proved very useful with my film opening research and I will definately continue to use this website for inspiration in the future. Not only is it incredibly helpful but its also easy to navigate and designed to a high quality, I especially love the screen shot montages from different films of the same genre - very unique!
http://www.artofthetitle.com/

Preliminary task: Evaluation

We have finally finished editing our preliminary task - our group experienced a few problems but I have definately learnt a huge amount of useful skills and I also feel pleased with the overall outcome as I think it includes all of the requirements as well as many other creative elements that I never knew how to do before this. I now feel  confident and excited about starting the final task as I have many ideas and I also know who I am going to work with. Here is my full evaluation of the preliminary task...

Preliminary Task: Evaluation

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Ideas for the Preliminary Filming Task...

Last lesson our group discussed some ideas for our Preliminary Task - basically its a continuity filming and editing task in which a character has to open a door, cross the room and sit down in a chair opposite another character before engaging in a small dialogue. The film should include match on action, shot/reverse shot and the 180 degree rule. We had quite a few specific ideas, however as usual our creativity got the better of us and we conjured up rather imaginative storylines!

In the end we chose the idea that would suit the school environment we will be filming in - as we'll have time and location restrictions. So our storyline thus far; a prospective trainee teacher turns up at school for a job interview (queue extreme close ups of nervous fiddling and a graphic match of her face and the clock which ticks intimidatingly - all of these should portray her agitated and eratic behaviour as she waits in the waiting room), then she enters the interview (via match on action: the 1st shot will have her hand on a door handle, the 2nd shot will have her walking through the door) only to be met with a stern and strict  interviewer (the interviewer is portrayed as being superior and powerful through a high angle over the shoulder shot where the latter takes up most of the frame and the interviewee appears small, weak and inferior) they then engage in a short conversation (containing shot/reverse shot).

They are only brief ideas but hopefully they will soon develop into an organised narrative with all of the listed techniques we need to include.We have made a storyboard which will help us to critically analyse our thoughts and plan out locations, dialogue and shots, before we start the major process of filming.

Initial Filming Task - Reflection...

These are just a few very important tips I learnt from my initial filming task - we got into groups and made a promotional video for our school. It was my first time filming and editing so there was a lot to absorb, luckily my group members showed me a lot of useful tricks in the film making process; from the best camera shots and angles, to navigating the editing software, Final Cut.

Our videa was a success partly because of team work, and partly because we managed to get a solid amount of footage, and a good variety of shots combined with smooth editing and a strong soundtrack. I learnt a lot and now feel much more confident with the technical side of the film making process - as I prefer the creative side.

Initial filming Task - Reflection

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Different types of camera shots and angles...