Estate of mind from Jemma Goulds on Vimeo.
Wednesday 7 April 2010
Monday 29 March 2010
Evaluation Q1: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
1. The title of the film: The title of the film is shown through a very hazy burgundy cloud of smoke. The font is shown in neat italics, connoting themes such as hope, love, compassion, trust & promise. The hazy clouds behind the title connotes the notion that the characters will forever be plagued by their deeds no matter how hard they try to change, as well as suggesting danger & commotion.
2. Setting/location: The location is filmed around an estate at night, connoting a sense of danger and mystery.
3. Costumes and props: Here the characters costumes are seen as very shabby, especially the character Jospehine, who's clothes seem to be quite revealing and unladylike, which connotes the careless and disheveled lifestyle that she leads. The props shown are an alcohol bottle and cigarettes, further emphasising the drug-filled lifestyle of the characters.
4. Camerawork and editing: For the CCTV effect, we filmed Terry from an above angle shot, and slowly filmed him walking through the streets, as if we were tracking him. This effect was to echo CCTV footage presented on the news whenever there has been a stabbing etc.
5. Title font and style: The font prints are small to connote the idea of the characters living a larger than life lifestyle and how they are easily caught up in it and are slowly becoming consumed by it, hence why the cloud of smoke fades into black.
6. Story and how the opening sets it up:
7. Genre & how the opening sets it up: this shot shows the two characters during a confrontational scene. The clothing that the characters represent the theme dramatic/street theme to our film as well as being very obvious iconography.
8. How characters are introduced: The way that the split screen shows the characters and their movements shows the guilt and shame that they film. They grey connotes that everything is not 'White' or 'Black (good & bad) for them and that they are stuck in the middle.
9. Special effects: Shown here is a smoking scene, in which the smoke has been reversed, appearing to go back into the mouth rather than out. This editing techniqufurther connotes the ideas of each of the characters living a very backwards lifestyle and how the mentality they are forced to take upon is slowly consuming them.
Friday 26 March 2010
Thursday 25 March 2010
Evaluation Q4: Who would be the audience for your media product?
Sample audiences suitable for our film:
The target audience for our film are aged between 16-27 years of age. As a group we decided that this age range was appropriate as it relates to the same age range as our characters and that they were more likely to understand the culture and society of youths today. We tried to include many aspects of life that our audiences would understand as some may have experienced or would know someone that has experienced those things first hand. Here is a brief example of a couple of people that are most likely to watch our film:
Name: Tyler Davidson
Age: 18
Hobbies: Skating, hanging out with friends, drawing, playing video games, playing the keyboard.
Name: Sherice Sarpong
Age: 17
Hobbies: shopping, watching tv dramas, singing, drawing.
Maslow's Hierarchy Of Needs in relation to our project
Maslow's heirachy of needs can be related to our project as our aim is for our audiences to gain a sense of self - actualistation; realising that if through the pain and struggles that they go through that there is hope and that they are able to fulfill themselves in whatever they want to do. Secondly we aim to boost the self - esteem of audiences by helping them to realise that they are not forgotten, their issues are recognised by others, and that there is hope for those that are struggling, as well as them feeling Love & Belongingness. We have also tried to make audiences aware of what is happening around them and how they should be alert about issues such as drugs, alcohol & abuse so that they can be safe & secure.
The target audience for our film are aged between 16-27 years of age. As a group we decided that this age range was appropriate as it relates to the same age range as our characters and that they were more likely to understand the culture and society of youths today. We tried to include many aspects of life that our audiences would understand as some may have experienced or would know someone that has experienced those things first hand. Here is a brief example of a couple of people that are most likely to watch our film:
Name: Tyler DavidsonAge: 18
Hobbies: Skating, hanging out with friends, drawing, playing video games, playing the keyboard.
Name: Sherice Sarpong
Age: 17
Hobbies: shopping, watching tv dramas, singing, drawing.
Maslow's Hierarchy Of Needs in relation to our project
Maslow's heirachy of needs can be related to our project as our aim is for our audiences to gain a sense of self - actualistation; realising that if through the pain and struggles that they go through that there is hope and that they are able to fulfill themselves in whatever they want to do. Secondly we aim to boost the self - esteem of audiences by helping them to realise that they are not forgotten, their issues are recognised by others, and that there is hope for those that are struggling, as well as them feeling Love & Belongingness. We have also tried to make audiences aware of what is happening around them and how they should be alert about issues such as drugs, alcohol & abuse so that they can be safe & secure.
Wednesday 24 March 2010
Evaluation Q6: What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
1. Camera: the first stage of our production was to film the footage that we had planned. This was used during the very beginning stages of our film opening. However, we were not happy with the results of our footage as the quality wasn't as sharp as we hoped it to be. Nevertheless, we learned how to put into ptactice all the different camera angles and shots.
2. HD Camera: this was used for the split screen scene of the our opening. We used this so that the appearance of the characters remained clear to audiences. Though we were uable to use HD cameras as the numbers where limited, we were able to recognise and distinguish the difference between the HD camera's and regular cameras. For instance, the microphone on the HD cameras are to produce high quality sounds whereas regular cameras do not have this there for making the sound quality very unprofessional.
3. Tripod: although not used as much as the other technical eqiupments, the tripod was beneficial to us as it helped us to keep control of the camera so that the footage wouldn't shake.
4. Cubase: this programme is used to produce music. This programme was very beneficial as it was easily accessible in the school, therefore enabling me to produce the soundtrack. Through this programme I learned how to experiment with different sounds that would make the track sound interesting and suitable for the style of our opening.
5. Voice recorder: this was used to do our voice overs. With this we were able to learn how to adjust the sounds so that our voice overs were not lound neither too quite to be heard.
6. Adobe After Effects: this was the programme used to produce our logo aswell as the opening titles. This programme was used as it is very professional and help make our opening more appealing. This programme taught us how to us many effects, photoshop and manipluate different animations.
7. Adobe Premier Pro: perhaps the most important of all, Premier Pro was very beneficial in the process of editing our footage as it enabled us to make precise cuts, incoperate additional effects and also fitting in the soundtrack, logo and titles. This programme was used as it made our opening appear very professional.
8. Computer: to put everything together, the computer was used exrememly important eitherwise making our opening sequence would not have happened!
Evaluation Q7: Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
AS preliminary task from Jemma Goulds on Vimeo.
Looking back at our premiliminary task in comparision to our finished product, our preliminary task pales in comparision to our finished product in many ways. As this was our first time producing a short film, we didnt have any experience in how we would film our preliminary task. However, we attempted to incorperate the different camera techniques including shot reverse shots, the 180 degree rule and match on action shots.
Our attempt at the 180 degree rule.
Our attempt at the match on action shot.
Developed camera and editing techniques from our finished cut of Estate Of Mind.
Although our preliminary task, entitles Pokerface, wasn't up to par with our later work, it became our stepping stone in our progression to making much finer work; it helped us improve with the quality of our filming, making advanced title credits, choosing different locations to film, adding a soundtrack and adding effects and editing techniques to make our footage more interesting to watch.
Monday 22 March 2010
Treatment
For our film opening we wanted to incorporate the things that teenagers come into contact with whether it is from seen on the news or in real life.
• Drugs
• Addiction
• Weapons
• Gangs
• Theme of escapism
• Street wars
• Low class lifestyle
• Street reputation.
We wanted our title to represent the film and what the film is about. After we had done so editing we started to come up with titles. Each of us would pick their own name and we would see who’s was the best.
The titles that where suggested:
• Estate of Mind
• Here today gone tomorrow
• The better life
• Eyes of a teenagers
The title that we decided that we was going to use as Estate of Mind because the film is based on a estate and to survive on the estate you need to have your mind focused to make sure that you are not killed.
We then came up it a statement for our film opening; An Estate is not only a low class building it is a state of mind... Estate of mind.
The film follows the lives of two young south London teenagers trying to find a way to escape their lifestyle but is really leading themselves to their death. Josephine is a 17 year old mum who struggles to control being a mum, a student and a broke drug addict. As she tries to quit the addiction she finds herself get more addicted which makes her lose everything she has. She is wanted by her abusive ex boyfriend, who is her drug dealer because he wants his money. Terry is also 17 years old trying to make something of his life but finds himself confined to selling drugs on an estate but there are other dealers who want to see him dead so he starts to carry weapons. When he gets to a dead end he realizes that “Bad boys don’t have to stay bad forever” and changes his life proving society wrong that teenagers can change.
Josephine and Terry fall in love. Terry tries to get Josephine out of the trouble she is in and get her child back but this just makes Josephine ex boyfriend, Terry’s enemy mad. Terry gets killed and Josephine escapes. Our opening has a mixture of scenes and a smoky effect where the titles of the film appear. We did this to create suspense to see what is going to happen. It starts with an establishing shot of London to show that it is set in London. Then cuts to a drug scene with a few teenagers taking drugs. After that Terry is seen walking into the estate that he sells drugs but then is robbed and threatened.
In our opening you cannot tell the narrative as we wanted to make it attract the audience to carry on watching the film to find out what happens at the end. We do indicate who the main characters are.
Our target audience is both male and female teenagers from different backgrounds, because every teenager knows about the drug dealers, gangs, weapons and killings whether it is from seen on the news or in real life. The film includes everything that is happening in real life from selling drugs on an estate to robbing teenagers on the streets for no reason. Every teenager knows about what goes on, on the streets that they live on especially if they live in London.
This is how the opening is going to go;
We had the production logo followed by the ‘Solomon pictures’ with the soundtrack beginning. After we have the establishing shot followed by a title. Then we have a bird’s eye view of Me walking followed by a title. Next we have a close up of vodka bottle pouring drinks but the drink gets less than more followed by a title. Then we have a long shot of Me being followed by Myrin who is a drug dealer who wants to see me dead, then a title. After we have a close up on the vodka bottle to show that the teenagers are drinks alcohol, then a title. After we have an extreme close up of Josephine’s lips as she smokes followed by a title. Then we have the confrontation of me and Myrin, followed by a title. Next we have a dancing scene that has an effect to show that they are drunk followed by a title. After a cocaine scene followed by a title. Then a scene of me putting the drugs into a locker followed by a title. Then a spilt scene with all three main characters and a voice over followed by the main title of the film.
• Drugs
• Addiction
• Weapons
• Gangs
• Theme of escapism
• Street wars
• Low class lifestyle
• Street reputation.
We wanted our title to represent the film and what the film is about. After we had done so editing we started to come up with titles. Each of us would pick their own name and we would see who’s was the best.
The titles that where suggested:
• Estate of Mind
• Here today gone tomorrow
• The better life
• Eyes of a teenagers
The title that we decided that we was going to use as Estate of Mind because the film is based on a estate and to survive on the estate you need to have your mind focused to make sure that you are not killed.
We then came up it a statement for our film opening; An Estate is not only a low class building it is a state of mind... Estate of mind.
The film follows the lives of two young south London teenagers trying to find a way to escape their lifestyle but is really leading themselves to their death. Josephine is a 17 year old mum who struggles to control being a mum, a student and a broke drug addict. As she tries to quit the addiction she finds herself get more addicted which makes her lose everything she has. She is wanted by her abusive ex boyfriend, who is her drug dealer because he wants his money. Terry is also 17 years old trying to make something of his life but finds himself confined to selling drugs on an estate but there are other dealers who want to see him dead so he starts to carry weapons. When he gets to a dead end he realizes that “Bad boys don’t have to stay bad forever” and changes his life proving society wrong that teenagers can change.
Josephine and Terry fall in love. Terry tries to get Josephine out of the trouble she is in and get her child back but this just makes Josephine ex boyfriend, Terry’s enemy mad. Terry gets killed and Josephine escapes. Our opening has a mixture of scenes and a smoky effect where the titles of the film appear. We did this to create suspense to see what is going to happen. It starts with an establishing shot of London to show that it is set in London. Then cuts to a drug scene with a few teenagers taking drugs. After that Terry is seen walking into the estate that he sells drugs but then is robbed and threatened.
In our opening you cannot tell the narrative as we wanted to make it attract the audience to carry on watching the film to find out what happens at the end. We do indicate who the main characters are.
Our target audience is both male and female teenagers from different backgrounds, because every teenager knows about the drug dealers, gangs, weapons and killings whether it is from seen on the news or in real life. The film includes everything that is happening in real life from selling drugs on an estate to robbing teenagers on the streets for no reason. Every teenager knows about what goes on, on the streets that they live on especially if they live in London.
This is how the opening is going to go;
We had the production logo followed by the ‘Solomon pictures’ with the soundtrack beginning. After we have the establishing shot followed by a title. Then we have a bird’s eye view of Me walking followed by a title. Next we have a close up of vodka bottle pouring drinks but the drink gets less than more followed by a title. Then we have a long shot of Me being followed by Myrin who is a drug dealer who wants to see me dead, then a title. After we have a close up on the vodka bottle to show that the teenagers are drinks alcohol, then a title. After we have an extreme close up of Josephine’s lips as she smokes followed by a title. Then we have the confrontation of me and Myrin, followed by a title. Next we have a dancing scene that has an effect to show that they are drunk followed by a title. After a cocaine scene followed by a title. Then a scene of me putting the drugs into a locker followed by a title. Then a spilt scene with all three main characters and a voice over followed by the main title of the film.
Thursday 18 March 2010
Rough Cut & Feed Back from Fellow Students
After showing our rough cut, we got some constructive feedback from our fellow students. Some where that:
. The Titles where brilliant and seemed very professional
. That our soundtrack was brilliant and compliments very well with the titles.
However, we were told that:
. The main title was too quick and needed to be longer so that it can be read properly.
. Some scenes were too dark.
. Story very unclear
. That the cocaine should be shown more.
Nevertheless, these constructive criticisms and compliments well help us get the best of our work!
To justify the view that the storyline is unclear, we intended on setting our film opening like this so that we wouldn't give away to much of our storyline to our audience.
. The Titles where brilliant and seemed very professional
. That our soundtrack was brilliant and compliments very well with the titles.
However, we were told that:
. The main title was too quick and needed to be longer so that it can be read properly.
. Some scenes were too dark.
. Story very unclear
. That the cocaine should be shown more.
Nevertheless, these constructive criticisms and compliments well help us get the best of our work!
To justify the view that the storyline is unclear, we intended on setting our film opening like this so that we wouldn't give away to much of our storyline to our audience.
Estate Of Mind Rough Cut from Jemma Goulds on Vimeo.
Sunday 14 March 2010
Soundtrack
The soundtrack for Estate Of Mind is based around a hip-hop/grime theme as this fits the nature of the film opening and suits perfectly. Rather than finding copyrighted music and asking permission for it to be used, I decided that it would be better that I go forth and produce the soundtrack for my team. In order for me to do this, I needed to do research into the hip-hop and grime genres, so that I could have some ideas in terms of how a hip-hop/grime produced track would sound, and different techniques I could use when producing the track.
Here are some examples of tracks I studied and tried to emulate into my work:
To produce the track, I used a programme named Cubase. Cubase is a programme that provides all the different sounds and allows you to make your own original songs from scratch, without any pre-programme loops or samples.
When producing the song, I added in certain instruments to play on the effect and theme of our opening sequence. For instance, the orchestral chords emphasise the drama & tension in our film opening that depicts that will happen in the rest of the film, while the sharp snares emphasises the dramatic, sharp tone to our film, as well as the theme of danger. The tempo, which is fast, emphasises the the fast paced lives that the characters in our film lead, as well as complimenting the hip-hop/grime theme.
Here is the finished soundtrack to Estate Of Mind! :D
Estate Of Mind Soundtrackbyduaneamarquaye">
Here are some examples of tracks I studied and tried to emulate into my work:
To produce the track, I used a programme named Cubase. Cubase is a programme that provides all the different sounds and allows you to make your own original songs from scratch, without any pre-programme loops or samples.
When producing the song, I added in certain instruments to play on the effect and theme of our opening sequence. For instance, the orchestral chords emphasise the drama & tension in our film opening that depicts that will happen in the rest of the film, while the sharp snares emphasises the dramatic, sharp tone to our film, as well as the theme of danger. The tempo, which is fast, emphasises the the fast paced lives that the characters in our film lead, as well as complimenting the hip-hop/grime theme.
Here is the finished soundtrack to Estate Of Mind! :D
Estate Of Mind Soundtrackbyduaneamarquaye">
Friday 12 March 2010
Production Logo
Our production logo is called Y.O.A (Young Original Africans). To create our production logo, we used Adobe After Effetcs. Our original colour choice was blue as we thought it would be more reasonable to have different shades of blue than to have different colours and make things too colourful. However, after this had been done, we took a second look and decided that having just blue gave our production logo a very monotonous feel to it and there resulted in mixing in white. To put the finishing touch to it, we added an animation of electric shocks in the background to make it more interesting and give it a sharp feel.
Our production logo in progress.
Thursday 11 March 2010
Meetings
Meeting 1
During our first meeting for our project, we initially decided to create an African Comedy as we thought it would be interesting and different, as well as original. We planned to call the comedy Tunde Comes to England. This film opening was to show Tunde starting school in England for the first time, but however the day turns out horribly for him. Tunde was to be played by Terry, and we were to include his mother (played by Josephine) in the very first few scenes. To make everything realistic, we dressed the characters up in African attire, as Tunde would be picked on because of his attire as well as his struggle to understand the English school ways. To fuel our inspiration for our opening sequence, we looked through many different African comedies, and a popular choice amongst the four of us was the Nigerian comedy, Mr Ibu, which was our major source of inspiration. It was during this point that I decided to take the role of editor of our footage, once it was filmed.
Meeting 2
During the second meeting, we planned what Tunde and his mother were going to wear, aswell as the locations we would film. Our locations were: outside the school entrance, inside the school building by the reception, and in a classroom full of children. Once we had planned all of this, we then decided that immediately we would film the following day. During the process of filming, we all thought that the idea was going really well and that we had done well to get our ideas as far as we thought we wouldn't go when we first came up with the idea. However, within a couple of days after filming, we looked back at what we had filmed and realised that what we had filmed was more like a sitcom rather than a film opening, and we thought that the idea was too silly to be a film opening. After some serious discussion, we as a group decided to scrap the entire idea of 'Tunde Comes To England', and therefore had to start from square one.
Meeting 3
After the failure of 'Tunde Comes To England', we were began to fell very unmotivated and uninspired and were starting to lose hope in what we as a group could come up with. However, days later, Josephine introduced the idea of us making a Drama inspired film opening, along the lines of Skins, but however with each character giving the audience an autobiographical spoken word insight of their life. Our original title for this was to be London Town, which was to be about a group of teenagers struggling with drug addictions and seeking help by going to council meetings. Our film opening was to show the group of teenagers in a drug meeting, then each character talking about their struggle with drugs and what life was like before they started with drugs, and also there were to be flashbacks of each character's lives as drug addicts. After we had filmed and edited, we were very pleased with the results. However, when we played it to our teacher, we were told that our film was 'crying out for different angles and shots'. For a second time, we decided to start everything from scratch once again, but we decided to keep the main storyline, however we dismissed the idea of the characters going to councilling.
Meeting 4
It was during this meeting that Terry decided to bring the idea of us basing our film opening towards the likes of Kidulthood, Adulthood and Bulletboy. It was also during this meeting that we decided 'London Town' wasn't the right name for our film opening. After going through a list of names that we came up with, we all disagreed with the names and struggled to find a suitable name for our film. Terry then came up with the name 'Estate Of Mind' after randomly making jokes out of the names we could use. After a lot of thought, we all decided that 'Estate Of Mind' was the right title for our film as it was a very clever title.
Josephine, being the driving force of the group, decided on the locations we would film and where particular scenes would be shot: for instance the establishing shot, the drug scene at her home, Myrin and Terry's confrontational scene at an Estate. I was offered to play a role in our film opening but I declined, preferring to take the role as the main editor, while assisting in helping Myrin & Terry film. Nevertheless, as well as Josephine, Terry & Myrin being the actors, it was decided that Terry would do the opening titles as well as credits, Myrin would do the the production logo, while Josephine helped edit and took charge in what scenes we would include and the ones that we would dismiss. During this meeting, Josephine had initially insisted for the soundtrack, a song that Terry had recorded many months ago as she thought it would fit our film and would be much easier than asking permission for an already existing song. However, I offered to produce the soundtrack for our team as I wanted to be more involved in our group and take a chance in doing multiple things. Also, I had first hand experience in producing music and that I believed that making the soundtrack for our team would benefit us a lot.
During our first meeting for our project, we initially decided to create an African Comedy as we thought it would be interesting and different, as well as original. We planned to call the comedy Tunde Comes to England. This film opening was to show Tunde starting school in England for the first time, but however the day turns out horribly for him. Tunde was to be played by Terry, and we were to include his mother (played by Josephine) in the very first few scenes. To make everything realistic, we dressed the characters up in African attire, as Tunde would be picked on because of his attire as well as his struggle to understand the English school ways. To fuel our inspiration for our opening sequence, we looked through many different African comedies, and a popular choice amongst the four of us was the Nigerian comedy, Mr Ibu, which was our major source of inspiration. It was during this point that I decided to take the role of editor of our footage, once it was filmed.
Meeting 2
During the second meeting, we planned what Tunde and his mother were going to wear, aswell as the locations we would film. Our locations were: outside the school entrance, inside the school building by the reception, and in a classroom full of children. Once we had planned all of this, we then decided that immediately we would film the following day. During the process of filming, we all thought that the idea was going really well and that we had done well to get our ideas as far as we thought we wouldn't go when we first came up with the idea. However, within a couple of days after filming, we looked back at what we had filmed and realised that what we had filmed was more like a sitcom rather than a film opening, and we thought that the idea was too silly to be a film opening. After some serious discussion, we as a group decided to scrap the entire idea of 'Tunde Comes To England', and therefore had to start from square one.
Meeting 3
After the failure of 'Tunde Comes To England', we were began to fell very unmotivated and uninspired and were starting to lose hope in what we as a group could come up with. However, days later, Josephine introduced the idea of us making a Drama inspired film opening, along the lines of Skins, but however with each character giving the audience an autobiographical spoken word insight of their life. Our original title for this was to be London Town, which was to be about a group of teenagers struggling with drug addictions and seeking help by going to council meetings. Our film opening was to show the group of teenagers in a drug meeting, then each character talking about their struggle with drugs and what life was like before they started with drugs, and also there were to be flashbacks of each character's lives as drug addicts. After we had filmed and edited, we were very pleased with the results. However, when we played it to our teacher, we were told that our film was 'crying out for different angles and shots'. For a second time, we decided to start everything from scratch once again, but we decided to keep the main storyline, however we dismissed the idea of the characters going to councilling.
Meeting 4
It was during this meeting that Terry decided to bring the idea of us basing our film opening towards the likes of Kidulthood, Adulthood and Bulletboy. It was also during this meeting that we decided 'London Town' wasn't the right name for our film opening. After going through a list of names that we came up with, we all disagreed with the names and struggled to find a suitable name for our film. Terry then came up with the name 'Estate Of Mind' after randomly making jokes out of the names we could use. After a lot of thought, we all decided that 'Estate Of Mind' was the right title for our film as it was a very clever title.
Josephine, being the driving force of the group, decided on the locations we would film and where particular scenes would be shot: for instance the establishing shot, the drug scene at her home, Myrin and Terry's confrontational scene at an Estate. I was offered to play a role in our film opening but I declined, preferring to take the role as the main editor, while assisting in helping Myrin & Terry film. Nevertheless, as well as Josephine, Terry & Myrin being the actors, it was decided that Terry would do the opening titles as well as credits, Myrin would do the the production logo, while Josephine helped edit and took charge in what scenes we would include and the ones that we would dismiss. During this meeting, Josephine had initially insisted for the soundtrack, a song that Terry had recorded many months ago as she thought it would fit our film and would be much easier than asking permission for an already existing song. However, I offered to produce the soundtrack for our team as I wanted to be more involved in our group and take a chance in doing multiple things. Also, I had first hand experience in producing music and that I believed that making the soundtrack for our team would benefit us a lot.
Tuesday 9 March 2010
Costume list
Terry and the confrontation
Terry
Terry
- White hat
- black jackets
- red hoodie
- black hood
- pair of black gloves
- Dark trousers
- Dark trainers
- Long shirt
- Red bra
- Tights
- heavy Chains
- Skinny Jeanes
- Greay top
- Leggins
- Long top
- messy hair
- black pouch
- Locker
- white hat
- Dark clothing.
Monday 8 March 2010
Sunday 7 March 2010
Target Audience
Our film opening is mainly aimed at adolescents and young adults around the ages of 16 - 27 years of age. This is because people of that age group would find more interest in our film opening and would be able to relate to the themes such as gangs, violence etc., although they may not neccasirily indulge into these things. As other films such as Kidulthood, Bullet boy and Adulthood have had success in delivering these films to this particular audience, we assumed that aiming our film towards this audience would be more realistic and would work as our film opening goes along the same lines.
Saturday 6 March 2010
Synopsis
Following the misguided track of two south London teenagers trapped and trying to leave the path that is soon leading them to destruction. Josephine a 17 year old mum how struggles to juggle college life motherhood and her excessive drug addiction, which is not proving so easy. her love for the killer meds soon makes her loose everything that she had loved and she is made to struggle with her beaten down self and try her hardest to build herself up whilst on the run from Abusive ex boyfriend/ personal drug dealer.
Terry a lost 17 year old who is trying break the stereotype that has led his life astray. He tries his hardest to break the mould but it is proven to have a stronger hold than he thought. Things start to get even more serious when he feels like he need to have a little more security and starts to carry weapons the life of grime get the better of him and he is left at a dead end that is until love comes to rescue him and he decides that it is time to prove his peers and society wrong. "Bad boys don't stay bad forever"
An Estate is not only a low class building it is a state of mind... Estate of mind
Terry a lost 17 year old who is trying break the stereotype that has led his life astray. He tries his hardest to break the mould but it is proven to have a stronger hold than he thought. Things start to get even more serious when he feels like he need to have a little more security and starts to carry weapons the life of grime get the better of him and he is left at a dead end that is until love comes to rescue him and he decides that it is time to prove his peers and society wrong. "Bad boys don't stay bad forever"
An Estate is not only a low class building it is a state of mind... Estate of mind
Saturday 27 February 2010
Production Diary
Smart Targets
S: specific
M: measurable
A: achievable
R: realistic
T: timely
Using these S.M.A.R.T targets, my team and I are hoping to achieve our aims through dedication and time, and deadlines set. We will keep account of our progress so that we can see how far we have come with making our opening film sequence, we will make sure that what we do is realistic and that we can all meet aims and deadlines through realistic targets, and we will be specific in what we do, using a variety of techniques such as camera angles, shots, editing techniques so that we can get the best out of our work.
Wednesday 17th February 2010
Today our group met at college to do some shooting for our film opening. Our original plan was to go to college to collect the necessary equipment needed, and film in a different location, which was to be near a local estate. However, we decided that filming some shots at college, which were not necessarily associated with our storyline would help during the editing process, therefore giving us more locational shots as well as back up footage in case there were to be any problems.
The first footage we shot was of Terry putting his stuff into a locker. This particular scene was shot again and again so that we can get a variety of shots such as a long distance shot, behind the shoulder shot, and to add more of an effect, we placed the camera into the locker.
The next footage shot was of Myrin sitting alone doing work. For this scene, an above angle shot was used, behind the shoulder shot, and a close up. This scene is supposed to portray that his character is very secretive and has something to hide, despite the innocent look.
The last scenes shot was of Josephine getting into a lift on her way to a lesson.
Saturday 27th February 2010
Today we were supposed to film some additional scense for our film opening. However a few problems occured which involved equipment, and management times, therefore we were able to film what we needed. Nevertheless we have rescheduled Monday for fiimg.
Monday 1st March 2010
As Terry & Myrin were unable to make it, Jospehine & I met up to film our additonal scences which involved a group of people, plus Josephine & myself taking drugs inside an estate. To get some extras in, Josephine recruited some friends to help out with the shoot. We shot close ups of the substances that would be used such as alcohol, cocaine, marijuana and cigarettes. We also filmed; close ups of the substances being used, medium shots of all of us taking the drugs, and establishing shot of the estate.
Tuesday 2nd March 2010
Using Adobe After Effects, I began to start the process of making the title animation and font 'Estate of Mind'. As this was my first time using After Effects, I had to learn the basics of the programme such as setting everything up, positioning where the title would go, fonts, colours etc. When this was done, I then began with making the title. I experimented with the different colours I could use, and I chose to have red and white, as these two colours connote danger, love, passion, hope, peace, many themes that link very well to our film. I also experimented with different animation techniques, and I have chosen a technique where the letters appear on the screen one by one, but jumbled up, which connotes the confused and jumbled up lives that the characters in our film are struggling with.
Me (Duane)
Thursday 4th March 2010
Today my group and I focused on different parts of our film: Terry focused on the opening credits, Myrin focused on the production logo, while Josephine and I focused on the different editing techniques for the footage we shot on Monday, as well as Josephine helping with the titles also. Using premier pro, I experimented with the different ways that I could make the footage better such as inverting colours, reversing some of the shots, freeze frame and so on. We are still yet to fully complete the editing for our film opening.
Myrin
Myrin creating the production logo.
Terry
Terry making opening credits and titles
Josephine
Josephine too helping with the titles, while also helping with editing of the footage.
S: specific
M: measurable
A: achievable
R: realistic
T: timely
Using these S.M.A.R.T targets, my team and I are hoping to achieve our aims through dedication and time, and deadlines set. We will keep account of our progress so that we can see how far we have come with making our opening film sequence, we will make sure that what we do is realistic and that we can all meet aims and deadlines through realistic targets, and we will be specific in what we do, using a variety of techniques such as camera angles, shots, editing techniques so that we can get the best out of our work.
Wednesday 17th February 2010
Today our group met at college to do some shooting for our film opening. Our original plan was to go to college to collect the necessary equipment needed, and film in a different location, which was to be near a local estate. However, we decided that filming some shots at college, which were not necessarily associated with our storyline would help during the editing process, therefore giving us more locational shots as well as back up footage in case there were to be any problems.
The first footage we shot was of Terry putting his stuff into a locker. This particular scene was shot again and again so that we can get a variety of shots such as a long distance shot, behind the shoulder shot, and to add more of an effect, we placed the camera into the locker.
The next footage shot was of Myrin sitting alone doing work. For this scene, an above angle shot was used, behind the shoulder shot, and a close up. This scene is supposed to portray that his character is very secretive and has something to hide, despite the innocent look.
The last scenes shot was of Josephine getting into a lift on her way to a lesson.
Saturday 27th February 2010
Today we were supposed to film some additional scense for our film opening. However a few problems occured which involved equipment, and management times, therefore we were able to film what we needed. Nevertheless we have rescheduled Monday for fiimg.
Monday 1st March 2010
As Terry & Myrin were unable to make it, Jospehine & I met up to film our additonal scences which involved a group of people, plus Josephine & myself taking drugs inside an estate. To get some extras in, Josephine recruited some friends to help out with the shoot. We shot close ups of the substances that would be used such as alcohol, cocaine, marijuana and cigarettes. We also filmed; close ups of the substances being used, medium shots of all of us taking the drugs, and establishing shot of the estate.
Tuesday 2nd March 2010
Using Adobe After Effects, I began to start the process of making the title animation and font 'Estate of Mind'. As this was my first time using After Effects, I had to learn the basics of the programme such as setting everything up, positioning where the title would go, fonts, colours etc. When this was done, I then began with making the title. I experimented with the different colours I could use, and I chose to have red and white, as these two colours connote danger, love, passion, hope, peace, many themes that link very well to our film. I also experimented with different animation techniques, and I have chosen a technique where the letters appear on the screen one by one, but jumbled up, which connotes the confused and jumbled up lives that the characters in our film are struggling with.
Me (Duane)
Thursday 4th March 2010
Today my group and I focused on different parts of our film: Terry focused on the opening credits, Myrin focused on the production logo, while Josephine and I focused on the different editing techniques for the footage we shot on Monday, as well as Josephine helping with the titles also. Using premier pro, I experimented with the different ways that I could make the footage better such as inverting colours, reversing some of the shots, freeze frame and so on. We are still yet to fully complete the editing for our film opening.
Myrin
Myrin creating the production logo.
Terry
Terry making opening credits and titles
Josephine
Josephine too helping with the titles, while also helping with editing of the footage.
Friday 26 February 2010
Equipment List
Tripod
Alcohol Bottle
Glasses
Flour & Sugar (Cocaine)
Cigarette
Lighters
Alcohol Bottle
Glasses
Flour & Sugar (Cocaine)
Cigarette
Lighters
Lamp
Tape
Video Camera
Hd Camera (if accesable)
Tape
Video Camera
Hd Camera (if accesable)
Thursday 25 February 2010
Location Shots
This location based at South Norwood is where we are going to film Terry being stalked by Myrin, who also plays a drug dealer that smuggles Terry after failure to deliver him money to buy more drugs. The shots filmed here will be filmed late in the evenings.
Here are images of estates that we are most likely to base the majority of our filming at. It is important we include an estate as it plays a big role in our film opening, hence the title 'Estate Of Mind'.
This room (located in Josephine's home) is where we are going to film the apartment shots of Josephine's character and a few of her friends as extras playing drug addicts who are deep into their addictions. 
The locker where Terry is to place the drugs.
By these school lockers we are planning to film some scenes of Terry packing drugs into the locker and carrying on with normal college life. This scene should convey to audiences that Terry's character's life is kept private and secretive and that he leads a double life.
Wednesday 24 February 2010
All Media influences for our Film Opening
Kidulthood/ Adulthood: These two films are a major influence for our film opening. It depicks the life of adolescents in the modern day and the daily struggles they go through i.e gangs, violence, drugs & alcohol.
Bullet Boy: The second most influential film for our opening sequnce, this film delas with a newly released Londoner who tries to starighten his life out but faces many trials and tribulations. This is reminiscent of how the characters in our sequence try to straighten their lives out.
Skins: Another major influence to our film oepning. Skins potrays the lives of each character as well as showing how disfunctional some of them can be. Skins represents different stereotypes of young adolescents and we have tried to incoperate some themes from Skins into our film opening.
Waterloo Road: BBC's Waterloo road is a programme that deals with the lives of teenagers struggling to maintain school life amidst all their problems. This is reminiscent of our opening sequence as our characters are students.
Pineapple Express: The main theme of this film is the use of marinjuana. This film shows how people behave under the influence of marinjuana, and this may help us make our acting more realistic.
It Takes More - Ms Dynamite: This song deals with the negativity that some adolescents impose on others and tells them to take a deeper look at themselves and that there is more to them than they think.
Rehab - Amy Winehouse: This popular song by Amy Winehouse deals with her refusal to go to rehab while facing personal issues, notably alcohol. This song tells a simular story to our characters whom are some point refuse to seek help for their problems.
Bullet Boy: The second most influential film for our opening sequnce, this film delas with a newly released Londoner who tries to starighten his life out but faces many trials and tribulations. This is reminiscent of how the characters in our sequence try to straighten their lives out.
Skins: Another major influence to our film oepning. Skins potrays the lives of each character as well as showing how disfunctional some of them can be. Skins represents different stereotypes of young adolescents and we have tried to incoperate some themes from Skins into our film opening.
Waterloo Road: BBC's Waterloo road is a programme that deals with the lives of teenagers struggling to maintain school life amidst all their problems. This is reminiscent of our opening sequence as our characters are students.
Pineapple Express: The main theme of this film is the use of marinjuana. This film shows how people behave under the influence of marinjuana, and this may help us make our acting more realistic.
It Takes More - Ms Dynamite: This song deals with the negativity that some adolescents impose on others and tells them to take a deeper look at themselves and that there is more to them than they think.
Rehab - Amy Winehouse: This popular song by Amy Winehouse deals with her refusal to go to rehab while facing personal issues, notably alcohol. This song tells a simular story to our characters whom are some point refuse to seek help for their problems.
Tuesday 23 February 2010
Preliminary Task Evaluation
Aim of preliminary task: to prepare for opening film sequence.
Group: Josephine, Terry, Myrin & I.
Firstly to get the concept of what a preliminary task is, we studied other school's tasks via websites such as Youtube. We took into context all the different camera angles that the students used for instance the 180 degree rule, and camera shots such as the shot reverse shot & long distance shot, so that we could collect ideas of what we as a group could interpret into our own preliminary task. Despite looking at camera shots & angles, we also observed the many techniques of editing such as the match cut, wipe cut & jump cut to see what techniques we could incorporate into our task.
Secondly, as a group, we devised a mind map & discussed the possible themes for our preliminary task, resulting in the theme of spies. After this had been done, we began to prepare our storyline/board and during this process, we made a few adjustments including changing the location from inside to outside the building. This was done as we didn't want any interruptions while filming, and also we decided it would be a better location as it we would have more options of locational shots outside rather than in. As well as this, we also decided to locate part of our story in a nearby cafe on the high street. The initial reason behind this decision was that we wanted to be adventurous & imaginative, rather than be confined in school.
Soon enough, the filming for our preliminary task began, in which we have named Pokerface. Our first session of filming was shot within an hour, through terrible weather conditions; it was raining very heavily and there was some strong winds. Because of this, and also due to the fact that we were unhappy about the outcome of our footage, we had no other alternative but to re-shoot at another date. Nevertheless, our second session of filming went well & we were indeed pleased with the outcomes as the weather was fine, and we were allowed to film in the cafe for a second time. However, we did make small changes to our storyline such as taking out a scene where there spies have to run & when the spies are making an exit out of a building (the school building).
Furthermore, our pre-production process & production went rather well, and this has given us the skill and stepping stone we need to make our Opening title sequence.
Group: Josephine, Terry, Myrin & I.
Firstly to get the concept of what a preliminary task is, we studied other school's tasks via websites such as Youtube. We took into context all the different camera angles that the students used for instance the 180 degree rule, and camera shots such as the shot reverse shot & long distance shot, so that we could collect ideas of what we as a group could interpret into our own preliminary task. Despite looking at camera shots & angles, we also observed the many techniques of editing such as the match cut, wipe cut & jump cut to see what techniques we could incorporate into our task.
Secondly, as a group, we devised a mind map & discussed the possible themes for our preliminary task, resulting in the theme of spies. After this had been done, we began to prepare our storyline/board and during this process, we made a few adjustments including changing the location from inside to outside the building. This was done as we didn't want any interruptions while filming, and also we decided it would be a better location as it we would have more options of locational shots outside rather than in. As well as this, we also decided to locate part of our story in a nearby cafe on the high street. The initial reason behind this decision was that we wanted to be adventurous & imaginative, rather than be confined in school.
Soon enough, the filming for our preliminary task began, in which we have named Pokerface. Our first session of filming was shot within an hour, through terrible weather conditions; it was raining very heavily and there was some strong winds. Because of this, and also due to the fact that we were unhappy about the outcome of our footage, we had no other alternative but to re-shoot at another date. Nevertheless, our second session of filming went well & we were indeed pleased with the outcomes as the weather was fine, and we were allowed to film in the cafe for a second time. However, we did make small changes to our storyline such as taking out a scene where there spies have to run & when the spies are making an exit out of a building (the school building).
Furthermore, our pre-production process & production went rather well, and this has given us the skill and stepping stone we need to make our Opening title sequence.
Analysis 2: Film Openings of E.T & Independence Day
How are narrative & genre established in the opening 5 minutes of E.T & Independence Day?
The opening of E.T begins with a panning of a spaceship hidden in the depth of the woods at night. This connotes a sense of mystery and makes audiences inquisitive into what is happening. To add on to the mystery, smoke is shown as well as key lights coming from within the spaceship, which further emphasises the mystery as well as making the scenery enchanting. Also, slow haunting music and a close up of E.T's hand makes the atmosphere seem spooky and inflicts the feeling of spying amongst audiences. Later on, a low key lighting close-up of a rabbit is presented. The rabbit is shown as minding it's own business, therefore connoting a sense of peace. This informs us that E.T doesn't intend to cause any harm to nature and is very harmless, either wise the opposite would have occurred and E.T may have caused harm to the rabbit. All the while, non diagetic sounds of trees, insects and such is played in the background, emphasising that E.T is in the woods.
In comparison to this, Independence Day has a dramatical opening too E.T. The first shot we see is a medium long shot of the American flag on the moon. This may connotate two things: that America is a very triumphant country and also that perhaps outer space creatures that lived on the moon may be seeking for revenge on the Americans as they trespassed on their territory, which is very common in many science fiction films. To enhance the idea that this is a futuristic film, satellites and a spaceship are used as an iconography to distinguish the genre of the film. We are also exposed to a particular red light, which connotes that danger is most likely to be heading towards America.
The first character shown in Independence Day that is introduced to us is an Asian young man around 20 - 26 years of age playing golf. He appears to wear glasses. His appearance helps us to believe that he is very intellectual & while also giving him the typical 'nerd' image, a very common stereotype in many science fiction films. His actions show that he is unprepared for what is going to happen. In the background, we are exposed to a vast majority of machinery & gadgets which yet again are iconographies that represent the science fiction genre.
Monday 22 February 2010
Saul Bass
Saul Bass (May 8, 1920 - April 25, 1996) was an American Academy award winner & graphic designer best known for his animation title sequences. His career spanning 40 years involved working with some of the most well known and critically acclaimed film makers in Hollywood, most notably Martin Scorsese, Alfred Hitchcock, Otto Preminger & Stanley Kubrick to name a few.
Before Bass made his big break by creating the opening sequence and film poster for Otto Preminger's 'Carmen Jones' (1954), he had begin his career by producing print work for film advertisements. After making the promotional poster as well as the title sequence for 'Carmen Jones', Bass began to realise that making title sequences and closing credits would enhance the viewing audience when watching films and that doing this would help him to venture into his creative genius.
Other than his work in Carmen Jones, Bass is also well known for his work in 'The Man With The Golden Arm' which stars the likes of Frank Sinatra, Eleanor Parker & Kim Novak. Focused on the storyline of a jazz musician struggling with a heroin addiction ( a much tabooed subject during the 1950s), Bass decided to raise controversy with his opening title sequence; using a black paper cut arm to signify the arm of a heroin addict, while making white lines appear on & off screen, but appearing very weary to emphasise the heroin effect.
Saul Basses opening sequence will help my team and I to produce a title sequence to his level of greatness & perfection, although it will not be exactly in the particular style that Bass was known for.
Sunday 21 February 2010
Analysis 1: Batman Begins Film opening (Mise-en-Scene)
'Batman Begins' with Bruce Wayne having a flashback or perhaps a dream about his early childhood when he encountered an incident involving bats. From then onwards, he has developed a phobia of Bats. This scenery is set in a greenhouse. In the beginning scene, Bruce Wayne is shown playing a game with his childhood friend in a greenhouse in the daytime (high key lighting). The camera shots of these two characters are up close, to show their facial expressions and such. Moments later, Bruce is shown falling into a cave full of bats while hiding from his friend during a game, possibly hide and seek. While falling, the camera is tracking him falling from a below angle, to make the shot appear as if we are watching Bruce fall from the bottom of the cave. The camera angle also emphasises on how far down he is falling. Also, from this particular part of the scene, the lighting becomes low key, expressing how dark and gloomy it is to be in the cave with the bats.
Shortly after, the now adult Bruce Wayne awakens instantly in the midst of this dream. The camera shot at this point is a close up of Bruce's facial reactions, showing his disturbed and shocked expression. The scene then shows Bruce waking up in a prison, with an unshaven beard and shabby prison attire. This automatically gives us the impression that Bruce Wayne is a very tough and stern character, hence he later has a fight with a prison inmate. The lighting effects during this point of the opening scene is high key, although it is dimmer than earlier on, perhaps to compliment how gloomy and depressing prison life can be.
In this opening sequence, one wonders why there isn't any theme music to set the pace of the film. However, the sound of bats heard during the beginning brings out a very dreary tone to the film, setting the feeling of suspense for audience. Nevertheless, it can be suggested that the director intentionally didn't put any theme music to the opening credits of the film so that the images and sounds presented would set the pace for the film itself. For instance, the first image shown is a swam of bats flying around in the sky. However, rather than music being played, there are no diagetic sounds used, for instance in the fighting scene with Bruce and his prison inmate. This is to create more impact for viewers, although some may disagree and will perceive this as being quite unrealistic.
Overall, I have discussed the techniques used in this film in terms of Mise-En-Scene such as camera shots, sounds (diagetic/non diagetic), lighting etc. As a personal opinion, I believe that though the opening to Batman Begins was great, it would have been better with the addition of music, to make the atmosphere more dramatic and interesting.
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