Production Log 12/13/14

Production Log 12/13/14

This week we were working on the graphics for our British Social Realist Film, we had already decided on what graphics would be included in the opening as they were already fixed into a specific point in our shooting script, this meant that all we had to do was actually create the video graphics.

In order to do so we made sure to use a  program that was specifically for creating video titles, LiveType, this allowed us to use custom fonts and design schemes that would fit onto and video. We made many different titles, one which all consisted of graphics in the bottom left or right hand side of the screen as this is often where the graphics will be seen in this genre of film, except for the main title of the film which would be much larger and in the centre of the screen. This allowed us to easily distinguish the title from the rest of the other titles and so make the film title clear to the audience.

In the opening we used very plain text, we used white as the main colour and the only effect that we used on it was a small dark grey stroke or outline, this would allow us to easily make the text stand out on any kind of background whether it was dark or light because of the contrast between the stroke and the colour fill of the text. We also decided to add in animations, which consisted of a fade in and a fade out as this was typical as well as the colour scheme of the text in a film like this, since it is relatively boring and so would fit in with the mundane story of the film, often it will either be a fade or a cut for the titles.

The only issues we had was exporting the video without a background and the poor anti-aliasing on the text when exported in white. If we regularly exported the video it would included a black background and the only way to remove that would be through chroma key or blending modes in After Effects, which wasn't the aim plus it would also remove the dark grey stroke and potentially make the layer translucent. So to avoid this we activated Alpha channel when exporting so anything other than the text would be transparent pixels. To fix the second problem of jagged edges, we had to play around with the text since, anti-aliasing wasn't a feature built into LiveType, we instead had to add a solid dark outline to the text.

Production Log 15

Production Log 15

*Needs images from our Mac - screenshots of our work*

This wee for our production we have been working on filming and editing the introduction to our film. Even though we had finished recording most of the shots over the Christmas holiday and the week after we still had to rework some parts of the opening. For example we decided to re-record all of the football scenes, this time during the day and in the park, with different angles and more shot types. On top of this we also managed to redo some of the shots inside the house with the phone and planned on doing the shots where the brother get's arrested. This time round though we would have an actual police officer so it looked more realistic. 

For editing we were working in Final Cut, a better alternative to iMovie since it allowed more types of editing and a much more natural and smoother interface to work with. This meant that I had to show my partner how it worked, since I was the only person who had actually used it before. On top of this we started to put together our opening sequence by doing a rough draft, which would place down all the clips, transitions and graphics. Ontop of this we also created the institutional introduction/graphic. I created it in Adobe Illustrator by inking the outline of a bulldog and finished it by colouring it in, in Photoshop. We used a very rough urban style font from dafont.com as well. 

In general this week had gone very well, there were very few if not any problems except for music, we never managed to get permission to use a song so instead we had to use a royalty free song in the style of rap on the internet.

 

Location List

Location List

 

Production Schedule & Cast List

Production Schedule & Cast List