Evaluation Part 8 - Preliminary Work

At the very start of this year we started off with a preliminary piece of work, which was 'The Encounter' where we used different techniques and camera language. The first area that looking back on I have mixed feelings on is digital technology. For example the first thing that we can denote from this is the use of many different types of shots, for example we used closeups, mid-shots, over the shoulder shots and two shots. Here are some examples.

0:26

0:22

0:36

All these shots were staged at different points in the preliminary task, the reason that I think that this was a success was because we managed to show most of the action that was going on in the scene and top of that we were able to easily show the different emotions of the people in each shot, for example in the first screenshot of the closeup. This was during a question that was being asked and was quickly followed by anger and this closeup allowed you to see the characters frustration. In addition the second person who was the hostage was able to show fear or anxiety through the closeup. The two-shots for example where there is the aggression show towards the hostage at 0:36 shows direct involvement and actions of both people and allows the viewer to see how each person is affected by the other.


Another thing that I thought was successful about this preliminary piece was the use of a creative storyline or narrative, most of the other examples were set in a school but in this one it was a hostage situation and meant that you could see that there was one figure who had superior authority. Another reason why I  think this was a good thing was because it helped us be creative with the ideas that we wanted to include such as tension and ambiguity of what was happening. The scene hinted at an idea for a story but never actually gave it away and I think that this will help us in the future as it will allow us to think of more creative ways or ideas about a story.

Research was key in this project, we had done a lot of planning up until the point where we made our opening sequence, this was a success I believe because it helped us to create deep characters and narratives. For example in our opening sequence we managed to actually create a main character that didn't feel empty or meaningless and really would be good at keeping peoples attention in a film. 

Vignette effect at 0:37

During the post-production phase we did a lot of editing inside of different software. For example the most notable ones for our preliminary work and our opening sequence were iMovie, Final Cut, LiveType and Adobe Photoshop/Illustrator. The reason that I felt we had succeeded by using these technologies was because we learned new skills as in how to use each software, since they all have a different infrastructure. iMovie wasn't essential but for the preliminary task it was a quick alternative that allowed us to do basic editing quickly as it didn't require rendering to preview clips. On the other hand I preferred using Final Cut. When we were using Final Cut we were able to add colour corrections and visual effects, for example the flashback scenes had a vignette effect applied to it, although it is very subtle. in addition to visual effects I think we succeeded in timing the video, for example in the scene of our opening sequence where the policeman's dialogue matches up in to different shots, giving us more flexibility on shot types and not having to limit because of dialogue, I think this gave the film a more natural feeling to it.

Research and planning was our strongest point out of all the different areas, for example when we were creating the shooting script, we had a very detailed script that included all of our shots and what would happen, which we followed. We also managed to accurately portray different characters and their roles for example by researching archetypes and camera language in the preliminary work the interrogator was held in a low angle shot to make him look more menacing. By being able to plan this in a shooting script or storyboard which we did it really helped to show that he was the bad person. 

Another example of how we succeeded during the research stage was because we were able to plan when we would record different shots on certain days and times and this meant that there was less rushing to do in the final moments.

However there were also a number of different weaknesses that i can point out with all of these different aspects, when we were using digital technology the amount of time that we would set aside wasn't always enough, which meant that we had to work on our planning. This was one thing that I can further back up as we were only able to get the police to help record with us during the opening sequence nearing the deadline and for the preliminary, the conference room which we would use to record in would often be used by other people. This impacted our final outcome as parts of it would be noticeably less quality than other areas of the piece.

An example of what I could have used - emaze

When it comes to digital technology I feel that my uses of different online sources was lacking this year, for example I would typically use only blogger, YouTube and a few other things from time to time, this really limited what I was capable of doing in terms of presentation. If I had used some other sites I think that the actual aesthetics of this blog would have been improved. In addition to the lack of technology use I feel like my camera work could have been better, I struggled at some points to avoid using a lot of long shots and I feel like this hadn't really improved much at all since the start of the year. However since I was able to learn some new skills since the start of the year I was able to improve on some of the new techniques and rules such as the shot-reverse-shot, 180 degree rule and rule of thirds, which I think I implemented well and imp[roved on since the start of the year.

Creativity wasn't something that I feel was an issue during this year since my ideas from last year during GCSE and the start of this year were quite abstract, for example the idea of a hostage situation instead of a regular conversation. However if there was on issue that I would point out it would be that I was over ambitious this year, it was difficult to record scenes based on the limited time, equipment and budget we had. For instance we could have made terrorism much more believable in the plot if we had these resources as well as the hostage situation in the preliminary. 


Finally when it came to post-production I feel that the biggest issue I had this year was trying to do to much in such a limited time span, I wanted to add a lot more cuts and clips as well as sound effects and colour correcting but in combination with render times and the deadline it was just not a feasible.

After looking over this year until this point I would say that it was moderately successful since we were able to get things done on time for the most part and all our research was well done but all of the negatives were very limiting in making the overall projects look good. I feel as though they looked quite amateur and would definitely want to address all the negative points for next year. Since we wont have any more time than this year to work on the music video I will definitely make sure that the video isn't overly ambitious.

Evaluation Part 7 - Technology

Evaluation Part 6 - Target Audience

Evalutaion Part 5 - Representation of Ethnicity

Evaluation Part 4 - Conventions

Evaluation Part 3 - Film4

Evaluation Part 2 - Target Audience

Evaluation - Part 1 - Summary of Brief

This piece of work was to create a opening sequence for a British Social Realism film, that had to be two minutes long with boundaries of 10%, so plus or minus 12 seconds. In addition to this we had to make the film follow the ethos of Film 4, this meant that we had to make sure that the film follows certain themes and styles of film that they broadcast. Film 4's ethos is to show film that is representative of reality in a suburban or urban environment. This is why our film was set in the local area since it is fitting to the ethos in terms of settings and locations. Another thing that Film 4 focus on is themes of violence, drugs, depression and sexual behavior and a very negative and downbeat narrative meaning that the film would have very few positive moments.

Finally the last thing that our brief mentioned was that the film opening had to be based on British culture as well as be targeted for a teenage audience and above, so around the ages of 15-24 years. 

Main Title Graphic at 1:12

The title for our film is 'Intifada' which is an Arabic wording meaning terrorism in English, right away it tells you that the film is going to be about the ethnic group of Asian people in the UK. On top of this it sounds as though it is a negative word even if you don't understand what it means, it gives the impression of something sinister in the film and so connotes that the rest of the film is going to be quite dark as well. Based on the English translation of the title it connotes that the film is going to be about racism and discrimination including violence and murder. This connotes further that the film will be based on the Muslim community because one of the stereotypes in the Western world is that this is the group of people which are the terrorists. The titles meet the brief because they were created using LiveType and as well as that the fonts were entirely copyright free. 

In the opening sequence we made sure to include different types of editing to convey different meanings to the audience Two examples of this would be the cuts which are very common during the scene when the younger brother runs into and out of his brothers room after reading the messages that are on his phone. This can be denoted in my opening sequence at 1:18 and afterwards. 

From this scene we can denote a quick rapid succession of cuts in the video, which connotes a lot of action or emotion is taking place, that something bad has just happened and in this case since it is a British Social Realism film, it is likely it is going to have been to do with crime or violence. A cut also connotes that all the events are happening right after each other and that there is not gap in time between each of the different shots.

Finally my opening sequence follows the different conventions of an opening sequence, for example one convention was the action sequence, which is the same as the shots above but also including the police chase scene, this is where the pace of the opening sequence increases to reflect that sudden change in atmosphere and mood of the film, in this case it is where the audience discovers that the elder brother is taking part in a murder/terrorist attack. This is conventional of almost all opening sequences for example the film 'This Is England' uses this during the action montage of the film, this shows that around the country at the same time there is widespread violence but also during the scene where the Asian families windows has been broken connotes racism in the streets of the UK. This is exactly the same moral that my film tries to put across as well since it involves a fight scene and discrimination, only in my film the roles of ethnicity have been reversed.

In the shots shown above, there is no indication to chronological order in terms of the film unlike in my opening sequence but it still puts across the same feeling of fast paced action and a sequence of events because it is an action montage.

Institutional graphics to our trailer

Another example of this would also be the institutional graphics at the start of the opening sequence, in this case it would be the Film 4 logo and the Bulldog Productions logo in my film. The reason that these are both included is because they are the two companies that actually produced the opening sequence for the film. The reason that this is important in a film is because the companies that produce the film will often make a very specific type of film and that makes their content and their company recognisable for producing it as well. You would then expect that company to be good at that genre of film production since it would have focused on that are in particular and so in a British Social Realism film you would expect them to use themes such as violence, drugs, abuse and neglect in their films as well.

Fish Tank Institutional Graphics

Any film could be used for this as they are in almost every single production but the film that I chose the example from was Fish Tank, here we can denote two different institutions from those used in mine but that produce the same kind of content in terms of genre of film and the themes that they explore. We can also see that they have the same structure as the opening sequence to mine, as it is typical for these graphics to actually take up the entire screen unlike the title graphics.

Production Log 17 and

This week we were working on the sound of the production as well as the editing. We had very few issues with the sound though, almost all of the clips were fine and had a high quality double channel audio synchronised with the video. 

As a result we would just be able to split clips and the audio and just move them into place on the final cut timeline, we would also add some transitions in the audio to fade in the audio clips while another audio clips was playing, this would allow us to seamlessly blend or transition the audio without any noticeable cut and made the sequence seem only more natural. Of course this would be because there was no such things that would ever happen in real life. To further create a universal sense of atmosphere in certain scenes such as the park scene, we would use a wildcat soundtrack which was essentially just an audio track from that location so that we could eliminate any silence as well. 

However we did come across some issues as well, for example we had some tracks which would not include audio when imported into the Final Cut timeline even thought the video file associated with the item contained sound. As a result we had to use other atmospheric noise from other clips in the same location and add a few transitions and cuts to remove and dialogue to create this instead. Another issue that we had was that some of the audio clips would only contain the right audio, which was strange since it showed there was both left and right audio and neither channel had been muted, we never managed to fix this in the final production since there wasn't enough time, which would have been another thing that I would change if I had the chance.

Final Opening Sequence

This is the final version of our opening sequence for the film concept Intifada. This was exported from Final Cut and edited completely in Final Cut and Live Type. 

When the opening sequence was uploaded we weren't able to upload the video publicly since it had police officers involved in the production of the film and so would violate the conditions made when recording, as a result the video is unlisted and so can only be seen with the link, which may not be shared publicly.

Production Log 16

Production Log 16

This week we were working on editing the opening sequence of the film, we were using Final Cut to edit it. We came across some issues when recording today, these being that the footage that we used wasn't all suitable for the film, for example some of the shots were too distant or too many of them were long shots. We also had a few issues where some of the shot's couldn't be added in because we were still waiting for confirmation to record at the police station. However we finally got permission and are now able to record the final few shots next week. 

We also needed to find some music as well since the copyright music holder still hadn't sent an email back to us about being able to use their song, instead I went and found a site that uploaded copyright free music as well as multiple channels on YouTube that also uploaded non-copyright music for people to use. We are going to add this into the film as well. 

The feedback that we received for the edit was that it wasn't complete and that we needed to add more to the opening sequence. From this we of course decided to add more work to the edit by including more of the clips in the sequence. From all the feedback I know what changes I am going to make, I need to change lower the contrast in the lighting of the alleyway shots since they were too dark, which we did do and then to resume in editing the opening sequence. 

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

    
 

Production Log 11

Production Log 11

This week we were working on two different things, the shooting script as well as the Location Recci. The shooting script plan was just to finish off what we were working on from last week and for the location Recci, we had to find three locations on where to record for each type of scene that would be in the opening of the film, then describe the features that supported why we should use that location and then the reasons against it. However this was a relatively easy week as we didn't have all that much to do. We also had to include the details of each location as well as an image.

The only problems that we had this week was coming up with locations where we were going to record, for example the prison as we needed to find a very negative and dismal looking prison that was accessible and easy to get to and not too far away, we finally managed to narrow it down to better locations but was much harder than finding the location of our park scene which we decided on as Christie Gardens Park.

Shooting Script

Shooting Script

For our film we decided to create a shooting script, which is very similar to a storyboard except that in this case instead of it including images, it is described through text. Instead of showing a high angle in the picture it will just be written, this does allow for more room to describe what actions take place and to show a more developed story in the plan as well. 

This is our script for our opening of our film. There will be minimal dialogue.

Location Recci

Location Recci

Location 1: Park

Our first option for recording in a park is going to be Seven Kings Park. The reason that we chose this park is because it has a large field with a lot of space which is one of the criteria for our scene and would be very effective in long shots or wide shots for the scene where they are playing football together. However the downside to this location is that it isn't surrounded by very urban housing or flats which look rundown, which doesn't quite fit the idea that the film is trying to show. 

Our second option for the location is to record in Goodmayes park because it is relatively close to both of the other two locations and our houses and it, the good things about this park is that it also has a lot of space to record in and is able to show a variety of different shots and cutaways as well as the football scene. On the other hand this park are that this park would not fit the genre of British Social Realism as it would have a lot of children happy and playing in the park whereas we are trying to portray the opposite.

The final location is the park that is next to our school, Christie Gardens Park, the reason we chose this is because it is enclosed and surrounded but a housing estate and flats which definitely suits the genre that we are showing. As well as this it has areas where it gives the impression of a lesser quality of living and has a caged are where people can play football. On the other hand the park is much smaller than the other two so if there are other people in the park it will be harder to get a recording without other people in it. 

Location 2: Alley Way

The first location we found for our scenes in the alley way was the one on Barley Lane. This would be a good place to film as it is wide and also you can see the estate houses and other things that look like they are owned by middle class people. The mise en scene in this location would be suitable for the genre. The drawbacks of this alley way is that as it is on the main road, there would be alot of cars driving past, therefore noise would be an issue.

The second location we chose for the alley way was on Percival Gardens. We chose this location as you can see estate houses in the back and also it is in a quite area so it would make sense that gangs meet up there. However the drawbacks of using this alley way is that it is very narrow so it would be hard to show an attack as well as film there.

The last alley way we found for the attack scene is the alley way on Chadwell Heath Lane. We chose this alley way as it is close to our other locations therefore it would be easy to film there, however the drawbacks of filming on this location is that the alley way is also very narrow and it is next to an area that looks like where middle to normal class people live.




Location 3: The Police Station


We needed the outside of a police station to film a scene of the older brother leaving the station after being released.The first location we used for a police station is Ilford Police Station and we chose this location to film at as it is easy to access. However the drawbacks of using this location to film at is that it is located in a busy area so we have to keep in mind the noise around us.
 
The second location choice we had was Ilford Town Center. We chose this as it looks old and like a traditional prison and that is good as we only need the outside of the location. The drawbacks of using this location is also about it being a public place so we have to make sure it is not loud or busy.

The last location we found to film the police station scene is Goodmayes Church. We chose this location as the side of this building looks very similar to the location we had in mind. Also the location is in a quite area where it would be easy to film. The drawbacks of using this building to film is that cars would be driving behind us therefore it may be busy.

Production Log 10

Production Log 9

This week we were working on data collection through the use of surveys. We started by going over all the different types of survey that we could carry out, for example a Vox-pop (video of questions being asked and answered in real time) or through the use of a questionnaire (a sheet with questions being asked). We had to decide what would be a better choice for our film and we decided on using the vox-pop because it is much more appealing to look at rather than a lot of sheets of paper but also people have more incentive to give a legitimate and a longer response when on video as they can be exposed unlike with an anonymous questionnaire. 

We will then use the data to help alter the narrative of our film and make some changes in order to make it more appealing for the audience to watch. The examples of our change can be viewed at full here, but a short explanation would be about the two brothers and how the eldest brother had been reformed we got 2/3 responses saying that they thought it was a good idea that the two brothers were close but the idea of the older brother being changed while in prison and then trying to help his brother out after seemed to prove to be very popular. They thought that it would be a very dramatic story and that it would be intense. Further more when asking about the second question about what each person thought of a British Social Realism film that was based upon religion as it is obviously linked to the idea of terrorism in our film we got very similar responses. Many people thought that the idea of exploring the differences with people from different ethnic backgrounds was a good idea as it got to show the process and the routine of someone from a different culture. It also would raise some issues to society about equality between people of different colour and or gender and they thought hat it would be good to help try and erase those thoughts and ideas from the people and replace it with something less threatening. 

Qualitative Data Analysis

Qualitative Data Analysis

From all of the research conducted we managed to find out some key points about what we should and shouldn't include in our film, this will be very useful to keep in mind especially when considering the target audience in order to get more people to watch he film. 

From doing this research I have found out that I should include many different interests as part of the story as it will help to draw in people from a wide range of different backgrounds, if we didn't then there would only be a very small sample of people who would see it. For example this could be that we include football in order to bring the attention of a lot of the male figures and to draw in more female viewers we could include romance in the story. This would mean that there is more depth to the story as well rather than it being an empty shell.

Another thing that I have decided on is to include other social issues in society such as abuse, drugs and inequality as they can often fit in with terrorism but also helps create a negative image of society in these urban areas of the UK. It sets up a negative location and tone as well as a negative image based on the people so when the older brother is released he is seen as a more ideal person in society.

Thirdly I am going to include only relevant terrorism plots, things that are realistic in the UK and do actually happen, this creates a strong sense of realism in the film and can actually highlight how serious these issues are in real life, getting the audience to view society in a different life. The goal would be to open peoples eyes to how vulnerable the Muslim community is in the UK and that other precautions should be taken into effect in order to prevent things that happen in the film from happening in real life.

Another thing that we have to make sure that we do is not to deviate too much from the actual plot of the story, the narrative is about the older brother trying to save the younger brother. This means that the audience want to see a close bond or relationship between the two brothers and so would mean that we have to show that both of them used to get along very well but only recently drifted apart since the older brother has been in prison, this gives the feeling that there is still a connection and that the younger brother is worth saving and doesn't portray a negative light on either of the two characters, instead only criticises the idea of religious extremists. 

Finally the last point that we got, which I also agree with is that the terrorism shouldn't be shown as extremely over the top and extreme, it should start off as just negative opinions and escalate over a period of time. This gives the impression that the younger brother is being transformed and still portrays that positive light on him but also allows the story to follow a more convention storyline structure, it shows how the issues of religious extremists  evolve.