Dairy Post: 20/02/2015

As I have been editing my film together I have found that footage wise, I have a lot of footage spear which is great, I am happy with the amount I have because I would rather have too much than too little, also in the future if I decide to change my ideas around and add extra footage or swap some things around during the film than its a good idea to have more footage.

As I began to edit the majority of the storyline together I realised that my film opening seemed slightly repetitive and also expected- you could tell what was going to happen. Because of this I began to brainstorm some ideas together and I came up with an idea to record some new footage of the girl already lying down dead, maybe with some propped fake blood over her and in a park somewhere in the pure bright daylight. With this new footage I'm thinking of cutting some clips into my existing footage and repeating it throughout. So, in terms of my existing footage, the new footage once edited in will make it look as if it is a flash back. This makes the opening two minutes of my film slightly more interesting and different to add enigma and mystery to my film opening, hopefully drawing the audience in more, making them want to watch on furtherer.

Diary Post: 05/02/2015

Yesterday we went to film for my film, luckily I had changed the girl that I was going to record with as she was more available than the other girl. We set off around 6pm, because it was relatively dark outside. Because it was dark I drove around looking for a lit up street which was suitable for recording. From planning I had originally planned a specific road to record on, however, the big beamed lights that I had chosen to use on the road was off that night, therefore because of this I had to rethink the whereabouts. Luckily, I had found a substitute road and it worked just as well, also near the road was a car park so the storyline ran slightly smoother.

The recording went well, although I was a bit worried about how dark it was and if it was too dark to use the footage in my over all opening of the film. So, too look at the footage closer than what was on the small play back screen I uploaded the footage onto the computer and I was happier with it once it was on the screen it had become more clearer.

Diary post: 02/02/2015

Failed filming weekend.

This weekend I planned to record the film opening to my film, I hired out the equipment and arranged to meet with friends. Once I met with friends it was too late and the person who drives who was going to be a part of the film to help improve lighting and to play the boy in kid napping the girl, maybe playing around with maybe putting her in the boot of the car when she gets stopped, but unfortunately the plan didn't work, it got a little too late and he didn't come out.
As a result of this I'v planned to keep the equipment and try again this weekend.

Animation for my opening 2 minutes of Lost Girl:

For the animation storyboard of my film I chose to take photographs of the scenes of the clips I will be recording and left the photo on screen for how long the clip will be. By doing this it enabled me to receive a strong understanding/ feeling for what my film opening will look like as well as planning how long it will be on for. From making this storyboard I realised that my idea may be slightly repetitive, which is going to be a problem, also if I feel that it is going to be slightly repetitive I also believe that it will reduce the timing of my film opening and make it shorter than what I need it to be. To resolve this I will be thinking about filming and maybe even including the moving images as I feel that they came out really well.
Overall I feel that by taking photos and putting them together in a sequence rather than drawing pictures allowed me to get a much better as well as who is viewing my blog of what the opening will look like. I am pleased with the opening titles, they work well and are not all the same transition so therefore mixes it up a bit but follow the same colour theme/ font type therefore remaining a strong brand image that I would create if I was to look at the advertising side to my film. The music also fits in well with what is going on, it builds tension and keeps the audience wanting to know what may happen next resulting in them carrying on watching the film which is what I was aiming for.

Looking at opening titles for my film opening of Lost Girl:

For my opening titles I feel that in terms of keeping a strong brand image that it was successful as I used the same colours/ same font throughout. This makes it easier for my audience to recognise my film if I was to broadcast and advertise in other cases such as film posters or a trailer. Editing on the Mac I was able to know what I am and am not going to use. In the future, so for example when I make my animatic storyboard I need to research further into the order that the titles go in and link it to the production company that I am choosing for my film.

Preliminary Task:

For my preliminary task I practised filing different shot type techniques as well as practising editing them on the Macs. Because I was using a new editing programme and filming a conversation it was new and I found it hard to adapt. After this task I was a lot more familiar and felt confident with using imovie to edit with.

Location Research:

For my location I have chosen to pick an everyday setting which a young girl would be likely to walk through on her way home for example.
Because I'm choosing to film when it is dark to fit the setting of my film I needed to consider if the video even came out when I record and that the lighting isn't too poor reducing the quality. Because of this I looked at areas that was well lit with street lights and found that it still wasn't bright enough. So, I went to a road that is next to a football training pitch which had the flood lights to light up the pitch. Because the road is on the other side of the pitch it will allow me to use the lights without me getting the football pitch in the recording, so the audience will be unaware of this.
So in the picture to the right it shows the flood lights that I will be using, the audience will be able to still see that it is dark/ late evening time because the sky is still dark grey and over all the atmosphere is still gloomy and dull.

In this picture to the left is an example of the lighting without the flood lights in the shot. I think the lighting looks natural, it looks like the light is coming from the lamp posts/ street lights which is good and the effect I wanted to achieve.
The only problem I will have with this is that the majority of all my film opening will have to be on this one street, because of this I will need to think about ways I can change it up to avoid repeating myself as well as making it boring and predictable for the audience, especially if I am trying to create enigma towards the end of the opening which is stereo typically shown in horror films.