Interpreting The Brief
In this part of the course, we have to make a short film based on a fear of ours. In my own case, we are using Thalassophobia as an example of what to do if about. I chose this as it makes an interesting story and is a creative subject to write about.
The target audience is for teenagers and adults, to create an understanding of how people with this fear feel, and to make a potentially creative horror-esc story about the fear of deep water.
It is due by April 2024, when all the filming, editing, and writing has to be due.
We will explore the theme of how people with this fear view the world; It shows that deep water appears to be an unknown horror for some. This makes it easy to give a better understanding about it and what can be understood.
Film Codes and Conventions
Iron Man follows the 3 act structure very well and It follows each step in a linear format, apart from the beginning, of which begins during the end of act one, which then returns to the beginning once again.
Act One:
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Act Two:
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Act Three:
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Propp's Character Theory
The Hero: The one to drive the story. In this case Iron Man; Tony Stark. Drives the story forward, opposes the villain and achieves the goal.
The Villain: Obadiah Stain, the antagonist towards the Hero, being an obstacle to his plans and drives the story in the wrong directions.
The Dispatcher: The Terrorists, in removing Tony Stark from His everyday and thrusts Him into the adventure which the film takes place during.
The Helper: Rhodey, playing the role of Tony's side-kick, helps Tony along his journey by using the military to assist.
The Donor: The Scientist in the cave, sacrificing His life and resources to make sure Tony lives and begins His journey.
The Damsel in Distress: Pepper Potts is the love interest throughout the film. Helping Tony Stark in His journey, and being there for Tony in His need. Having to be saved from the villain in the end.
The Father: Howard Stark; Tony's Father, makes Him inherit His company at the end of the film, once Tony acquires it after defeating Obadiah and getting it back.
Target Audience Fear
On a google forms document, we had to make a survey on several questions about our own fears. Below is the listed questions, and my answers to them.
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Applying for a job role
Test Shoot
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Before the short film, we had to do an interview for our job rolls, needing to explain why we want it and several other questions required for the role. I had to explain what I had accomplished with the qualifications I have and the grades I had gained in college. I explained what awards I had gotten in my previous education . And finally why I should be hired and why I want the job.
Job Role Application Feedback
After the interview had finally been done, a review was written by the interviewer for what I did well; good answers in the interview, explaining my great experience in the field with the knowledge of the camera equipment. My response was apparently planned out well with confidence as well!
My only issue was bringing up my work experience, and to big myself up more to make myself seem better.
Paperwork
Equipment Request form
This is a request form for the equipment used in the shoot. We did not need much as I owned all that I needed.
We only needed; Boom Mic for the sound, LED Light + Stand & 32mb memory card for the shoot. This all allows us to shoot the shots for our test shoot.
Storyboards
This is a storyboard, showing what should be shown in the scene, by describing how things should look and what actions should take place in certain scenes, how the script should be said and how it should look.
It shows the beginning scene of the main character and showing the camera angle, saying the shot used. It shows a clear view of the correct ways things are done, and describes what happens; even using cartoon effects to add emphasis.
The Script
This is a script to say what the actors should say in a shoot. It describes what should happen, how words should be said, and what the scene in like.
It shows emotion in a scene, and labels who should be talking in a situation.
Editing Techniques Research
Editing Techniques are vital for any piece of media, whether it is Video, Photo or Audio. These put scenes together, or makes them look and sound better, making things flow well and improves quality of the project.
Cut
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Montage Editing
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Editing Screenshots
After the paperwork and the recording had been done for the test shoot, I had to first begin by importing the clips onto Premier Pro from the desktop, then placing the clips onto the timeline, and cutting up the clips to put the camera over the person who would be talking, by cutting the clips as someone speaks their quote. |
After the clips had been overlayed on the timeline, I added an adjustment layer onto the clips to make the scenes match in colour, and to bring the tone to look preferable to our tone of voice, referring to the various Banana puns in the script of the skit.
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At the end of the skit, there was a scene where person B puts the bananas on the table for person A. This seemed a little boring in monochrome, so I had placed a keep colour effect onto the last clip and duplicating the clip; placing it over the other, then when opening Lumetri colour for the duplicated clip I used the eyedropper tool to select the yellow of the fruit and decreases the other colours around the made dot on the hue line. This creates a selective-colour effect over the clip to make the scene as required. |
Test Shoot Final Product
Legal and Ethical Issues
After the test shoot, before we pitched our plot for the real short film project, we had to sort out age ratings for the film as any film requires, to show what people it is suitable and legal to watch. Different ages can watch different things depending the topics.
U
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12
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15
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18+
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The Pitch
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This is the pitch made for our short film; showing information of all we plan as part of this project. This lists everything we need and plan to do in the shoot. Including: locations, props, actors, themes, what to book, etc; explaining how we would do it. It also includes what themes take place in the project, combining with what would be done to do it; as well as audience review with what rating the film should be with what we will do inside it, telling us what themes should take place in the film.
We also added a little game to play to entertain the students watching! Could you spot all the hidden rats?
Pitch Feedback
This survey for our pitch was an almost overall positive review compared to our older pitches.
It features a review on "What went well"; Great title, premise, film description, script, market research, themes explored. "Does it fit with the target audience?"; it fits very well with some research well done. "Do you understand the product?"; (Asking the review author if they understand), The story is understandable, but seems ambitious, think about story structure. "What message does the idea give?"; Isolation, mental health. "Even better if.."; (Saying what could be better), talk more about age rating and audience research!
Pitch Evaluation
I thought the pitch went well, the audience seemed invested! Watching out for all of the rats in the film. I could have been better at reading things out, explaining things, despite doing that often in the pitch. I had found it was a fun project to work on, despite being a little nerve-wracking.
Focus Group ResearchThis is a word bank we used to list all of the Genres we can use for the short film, taken from our market research surveys; including the Genres we can list, swell as our favourite and least favourite Genres. These help us to know what genres are best for our target audience, giving us inspiration for the rest of the short film production. It seems our target audience is a large fan of horrors and comedies, but Dramas and Romance make a better story.
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Short Film Pre Production Paperwork
Script
This is the script of the story. The director; Ashley, spent days writing the whole thing, knowing the story and how scenes are formed. The whole group fit their feedback into the script for any scenes, allowing us to know what may happen and what the actors should do or say. This helps the actors know what to do or say as well, with the same for the Cinematographer.
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We had found the script had been a little hard to read due to grammar mistakes and unnecessary words which do not quite make sense in a sentence. After improvements were made, these are the:
Final Script
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Schedule
After we decided the locations and the script for our short film we wish to shoot, we had set ourselves a schedule to know when we will be filming. We have an almost 2 months to a film in total, with a total recording time to be over 9-10 minutes, filling the whole script.
AV Script
We had done this sheet after the script had been done, matching the video to the audio to let us know what is happening in the scene. This contains descriptions of the actions in the scene, including camera angles, shot sizes and positions of the actors. The Audio side however, includes the sound effects and script to match the video techniques together, for the recording.
Risk Assessment
This risk assessment was for the locations we had done earlier, letting us know what to look out for, as part of our shoot. This lets us be more careful and have more of an idea of the shoots we are doing.
Kit List (Equipment Request Form)
This is a kit list to request the equipment for our short film, as we need to request it to get permission from the college and to be able to use it. This requests equipment like: Cameras, Lenses, Trim-pods, Sound Equipment, Trim-pods, Memory Cards, etc.
Shotlist
This shotlist is the script that the DOP uses, knowing what camera angles and camera sizes are used for certain scenes in the film. These also include descriptions of what are happening with the shot, and allows the DOP (me) to know what to do exactly. These are listed different shots by number, and separated by different scenes in the film.
Change Of Plan
After the locations had been found, the shoot began, we had decided the shoot was too difficult to do given our upcoming deadline, the availability of the actors and our limited budget. We had found transport to the required locations (e.g. Robinswood Hill & Bill's Diner) is too difficult to get to, or the availability of the actors made the whole time-frame nearly impossible to work with. We struggled with the props, camera work, the lot. Another group working on a boxing film had the same problem we had, like an inability of location, failure of acquiring actors.
We had eventually decided to merge the two groups together, working on both projects as one large group. Having such a similar situation, to make the process much better to handle. For our story, making it easier; we had made a new script about a student being late for an exam along with the anxiety that goes along with the situation. It will contain less and easier to get to locations, with less travel needed as well as a much more manageable list of camera shots and props. The actors have a much easier route to the location, being that it is still inside the college too.
Meanwhile the other story is about a fear of stage fright, have a much easier location with better camera angles and a much better story to work with.
Both of these stories will be much more manageable with the larger group, helping us in the future production of the project.
Short Film, Stage
This short film was not edited by me, however I star in it! It features a film about a boy being frightened and nervous for His stage performance.
Short Film, Exam
We began on the first short film after the plan had been concluded, with the job roles ready and available to be done; the shoot began! We brainstormed the plan for the film, how we would do it and what we would do for it. First things first; began the paperwork.
Short Film, Exam Script
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Short film, Exam Kit ListAs our new short film was getting ready, we had sorted the kit for the scenes. This is the form for what we may need. We are already using my home camera, lens and trim-pod of course, but I had added spare just in case. We had added sound recorders and a microphone for foley noises and voice lines, LED light stands and spot lights for the lighting in the scene to make them pop. A 64GB card to record all of the footage. Plus batteries for the lights. |
We then attempted to get cast members for the short film! It was a tough task, we could not find actors for ages! We wandered down to the drama course, however the class we were looking for were not free for volunteers, and not running at the times we need! So we tried to settle on finding actors for the film in our own class. It just so happened
Behind the Scenes
These were taken when filming. The scene was based on Leo being late for an exam finding out it's the incorrect one. Being the camera man, I had recorded each shot using several camera angles and camera movements. We had set up the lights to point generally towards the actors, highlighting them in the scene. I moved the camera around the room for different ways to display the scene, following the actors for tracking shots, even tracking the vision of the protagonist.
Editing Screenshots and Process
Having finished all of the recording, sound and paperwork needed for the short film; the editing had begun! It was hard to know when to start, after the previous recording for the Stage Fright film all the recording shots and sound became jumbled! I was not sure what went where, however, I sorted through the files and make it easier to manage and maintain, watched each clip and used the icons on each file to organise them in an easier to mage order for the shots. Starting from the hallway scene, to the freakout scenes! I ordered them correctly. The audio was tricky however, so I left it unorganised and listened to them all individually and wrote down the number of all the ones required for the shot. |
After sorting the clips, I watched through them and listened to the takes to make sure I know what clip goes where in what order for the shot. Starting from uploading which, for what I need. The hallway blurry shots at the start, importing those to begin with, then later going to the freakout shots to the last exam reveal scenes. Putting them together like this helps me pick-and-choose what to place on the timeline correctly. |
In the beginning section, as I placed all the clips together on the timeline, I opened on a blurry scene, copy and pasting a chopped part of the footage to extend the beginning monologue, following along with the emergency, I had placed the audio clips in an understandable order to bring the continuity to the scene, having him revising about the exam in his head to start when he asks himself what time it is, realising He's late. Title card appears, opening the film into the plot! |
After the title card, the clips are ordered to make our protagonist slowly focus into frame. During that long shot, I overlayed footage of different running point of views to Him going through the corridor, sometimes from behind, to show intensity, from a distance to show being late and A clock to bring emphasis to the time that is being lost as He runs down the hallway. I repeated that process a few times, using different clock scenes every time to make it seem more urgent. Until it gets to the shot of Him running past the camera. Cutting to the interior classroom door, I shortened a clip of Him running to the door, cutting to a close up of opening the door handle, to a quick pan with a hidden cut between to show the clock hitting the right time and our protagonist entering the room. I finally sped up the quick pan in this scene to bring more urgency to the scene, having it transition more smoothly.
Next was sorting the sound, having listened to each of the clips and jotted them down; I had used a mix of sound from the sound recorder and the camera, fusing them for what each may have missed. For example: the camera recorded some lines much better than what the sound recorder did. I even gathered sound effects from YouTube as sound effects for parts of the film. Such as the alarm at the start, on the line: "what time is it?" and clock sounds, synced to the movement of the second hand every time the clock is on screen. I synced the sounds to the footage with the clap at the start of each shot, laying sounds on top of each other to bring either more intensity to a scene, or having multiple sounds playing at once. To help with this, to make the camera sounds and sound recorded noises blend together at once, having a sharp transition between when the clip changes between. The background ambience allows the fade in to each clip become easy, even as I lower the audio on one to help the blend become clean, as if they were recorded on the same device. |
When moving to the first long shot of a few, I used the audio from the clip as that was better than the audio from the sound recorder, without cutting up that long shop much, I used ambience from the background of a previous clip, copy and pasted across the back of a scene. I used a spooky ambient background sound in the back of the scene to show intensity and bring attention to His intense expression.
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After the long shot, changing to the next scene, showing the change in pitch of what is in his head, and what is not, I played a tinnitus, ear ringing sound, over the top from YouTube. First cutting to a shot of the "perfume sprayer" (a.k.a Nikolas), after our protagonist looks to His right. Finding the right audio clip, I synced the sound with the perfume sprays and laughter to find the right shot. Then cutting to the "delinquent" (a.k.a Ruby) throwing the paper; when cutting back to our hero, I kept the audio going for a second to make the paper hitting the floor sound prevalent. When He turns to face the other Actor "wrapper thrower" (a.k.a Mika Church), when He throws the wrapper to the camera, I cut the footage to just the frame as it hits the lens to transition to "the sleeper" (a.k.a Karnak), hitting Him in the head. Cutting back to the original head turning scene, I overlayed intense music over the top again, heavy breathing sound effects from the source list, overlaying quick clips with fast sound effects, swapping the bottom layer to another shot of our actor (Leo) having water poured on Him, showing sweat as He freaks out. The music intensifies when the overlaying becomes faster, until the "delinquent" blows smoke into the camera to transition to "the tutor" (a.k.a Tom) slamming the exam on the desk. This cuts to a close-up of the exam, then through a long shot I cut scenes of Leo looking repeating the earlier scene, but in a different context as He looks either side nervously. It finally concludes with a slow pan up to Leo's face, cutting as he says a swear at the end, concluding the film.
After the end of the film, I overlayed blooper shots! Shots I had not used in the film, bloopers. Placing an adjustment layer over the top, dimming the lights to give emphasis to the credits, swell as placing background music for the credits: (Baggy trousers, for displaying school dismay).
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