Additional scenes

Last week after a focus group session, I decided to test some additional scenes in the film. These scenes were flashbacks, and took place in-between scenes on the bench.

The scenes were interesting and they did add some variation to my film in the sense of locations, angles and characters. However I felt, and so did my test audience, that the scenes just did not fit the flow of the film. I think the film works best with what I already had.

Reflective Comment:

I'm glad that I was able to test some additional footage, but it just didn't fit. I didn't want to upset the flow and atmosphere of my film by adding more scenes, but the testing was worth the time.

Third Draft of my Film

Above is a HD third draft! Edited and ready to be shown to some more test audiences. I have already started the editing process of the next draft, but overall I am quite happy with this draft. One problem I did face was that some sound effects I have added have decided to remove themselves. Hopefully I will be able to fix this problem by the time of the fourth draft.

New to the third draft

1. New scenes. These new scenes add a little bit more humour and actual content to the first half of the film. These scenes include the fob watch scene and the file scene.
2. New sound effects. I've started adding more sound to the film to make the film more varied and immersing. Some sound effects add to the atmosphere while others are crucial to establishing the scene. I am going to do a blog on sound effects soon.
3. The title card. The title card has finally been added and it fits quite well in my opinion. It still needs tweaking but it does work well.

Reflective Comment:

I am very happy with the my short film so far. I feel that it flows well and is improving with every draft. Test audiences have enjoyed it as well. While I would like to do so much more with the film, being realistic I think I'm getting very close to be finished with the film.

Woodland Footage

Today I went and got some woodland footage for my opening title sequence. It only took about half an hour and I got about two minutes of footage. I really only need about twenty seconds of footage for the OTS, but the more I have the more I experiment with.

This is the footage that I captured and have imported.

This is the footage imported into Final Cut, ready to be edited in.

Reflective Comment:

Today was a very simple task, it took very little time and was just to capture around half a minute of footage. With this footage I can continue to edit my draft.

Preparing for Filming on the 19th!

So tomorrow is the hopefully going to be my final day of filming! I am very much looking forward to finishing up with filming and being able to edit it all together. I have contacted both of my actors and provided them with a handout which entails what scenes need to be reshot and what additions we will be making. We're starting filming at eleven and I'm hoping to have everything done by about half one.

Reflective Comment:
I'm glad that I'm nearly done with filming. As much as I do enjoy it it will just be so relieving to know that I have it all done. Also, once the filming is done for tomorrow I should be able to edit one of my final drafts together!

Filming cancelled 12/02/2016

Unfortunately I had to cancel filming for the twelfth of February due to the snow that came over night. My actors could not work too late enough for the snow to melt and the sudden appearance of snow in random scenes would most certainly hurt the continuity of the film. I've re-scheduled the filming for the 19th.

Reflective Comment:
The snow is annoying and frustrating as I just want to finish up with my filming. However I did start my filming process early on meaning that I can allow for these annoyances. 

Update post

This is an update post to update on the current situation. Due to unforeseen consequences I was not available to film on the Sunday that I had planned. Therefore I have moved the filming a week back, to the 12th of February. This, while not ideal, is not too much of a problem.

I am making steady progress with my poster ancillary task. I am now creating the sixth draft, which I am hoping will be my final draft. I have received feedback from several different people, from those who know about the film and those who do not. I am planning to have to complete by the end of this week.

The second ancillary task, the magazine article, I am struggling with but still making progress. My teacher is going to be helping me with how I write the article and this seems to be my weakest point at the moment.

Despite my set backs I still feel that I am on track to meet with the deadline. The filming should be done this weekend and once I've edited in the changes, my main product will hopefully will be close to finish. The poster is the least of my worries right now, as the progress there is steady and stable. While the magazine article is difficult to complete, I still have plenty of time to do so.

Reflective Comment:
I started a lot of my production early, meaning that even with these setbacks I still have time. I am not overly worried about not meeting the deadline, as I just seem to refining the majority of my work, with the bulk of it completed.

Emaze on my props

This is an emaze on the actual props that I will be using. If you are looking a more indepth look at my props, please head over to this post. This post is just outlining that I have found my props for the filming on this Saturday.

Reflective Comment:
Having the props is making me look forward to filming this Saturday. With the props I'll be insert more symbolism and new scenes into my film that will improve the overall quality of the film.

Planning for filming on the 5th

Above I have attached a slide about my filming plans for this Sunday. I am planning to print this off and taking it on the day to hopefully make the filming process a lot more smoother. I had wish I had done this sooner really.

Reflective Comment:
I feel like that with this small plan that filming will go a lot smoother than it has previously. Also now that I've worked with Ronan and Peter a few times I feel confident working with them. 

Emaze on props

I have created an Emaze on implementing props into my short film.



Reflective Comment:
I am looking forward to adding props to my film. I think it will add more content to the film and add more depth to it. It'll also allow me to add more meaning to my film. 

Dying Denial Second Draft

I have completed my second draft of Dying Denial. I have added the new footage that I filmed on the 23rd, and started the process of fixing the sound. (To an extent.) I am very happy with this draft, and I feel I only need one more day of filming to iron out any remaining issues. I still need to add some music, but I will be uploading a blog post soon about the music situation.

I am planning to put my second draft on Youtube soon and then posting the link on Twitter, Facebook and Reddit. I am going to create a survey and I am going to try receive helpful feedback. Twitter will have mostly teenagers answering, Facebook will have older people answering, and Reddit will be a bit of a mix.

Below I have attached the second draft. If that does not work you can watch it on Youtube.



Reflective Comment:
I am very happy with my second draft. Things are really starting to come together and I feel confident that I will be meeting the deadline that I have been set. The poster and magazine article are coming along nicely as well. 

2nd Day of Filming 23/01/2017

So on the 23rd January I met up with my actors again and got some filming done and also took some photos. The photos look pretty good and can be used for testing my poster ideas. For the footage, I filmed the waking up scene and re-shot a few scenes that need to be re-shot.

All the footage and photos.

So for the next few days I have several things that I can be working towards. I can create a better poster draft with the photos taken, I can also update my draft of my film and in edit in the new footage. I also still need to make a blog post on the music that my friend Greg has made for me.

I was unable to film a additional scene that I had planned where the two characters cross the road. I realised the cars were going to be too loud and we didn't want to distract any drivers and cause any accidents!

I also wanted to reshoot the bench scene, however the wind was even worse than before! Also, a plane seemed to be circling above making a large amount of noise.

Reflective Comment:
I'm pretty happy with the filming done overall. We were unable to film a few scenes due to weather and sound, but I was still able to film the crucial scenes. I am looking forward to editing it all together. 

First Draft audience feedback

Today I faced my nerves and showed off my first draft to members of my class. I showed around six students my first draft. I created a temple in which I could take note of what people liked, disliked, what their favorite part was, and how I could improve.

What is good
Most of my watchers all found they liked similar things about the movie. The most common aspect of the film that everyone seemed to enjoy was the narrative and the character of Death, played superbly by Peter Long.

Also mentioned was the camera work, the light-hearted humour and the lighting in certain scenes.

What is bad 
I had one constant complaint from each viewer of my short film, which was about the sound quality of my film. During the scene on top of St.James Hill the audio is hard to understand and unpleasant to listen to due to the wind.

Favorite Parts
While everyone seemed to favor different things about the short film, they all came down to the atmosphere and characters. The character of Death, his personality and the general flow of the film. People seemed to really understand what I was going for and enjoyed it.

To Improve
What I need to do to improve is to iron out the issues that I'm currently having with the audio. My friend Greg has possibly suggested using Audacity, and if this does not work I should be able to do some re-shoots.

Reflective Comment:
I am overly relived that my first draft has been well received so far. I'm hoping to get the rest of the filming done and complete a second draft, to re-complete a similar process.

Filming Dates changing

I had originally planned to finish up my filming on the 14th/15th. However one of my actors (Ronan) is now unable to film on this date. I am unable to do the 21st but am available to do the 22nd. We're now planning to film on that day.

However I am still waiting to hear back from Ronan, and if he can't film on the 22nd I'm in a difficult position. Peter cannot film on the 28th/29th. This would only leave me one weekend to film, the 4th/5th. This definitely too close to the deadline of the 10th.

To counter this, if need be I can film on several Thursdays. Thursdays I have media P1/2, and the rest of the day free. This would offer plenty of time to get filming done. If my two actors could do just one of these dates, it should be fine. The dates for these would be 12th/19th/26th.

Reflective Comment:
Working with actors is stressful. They cannot help it, but you rely on them massively. You have to work around their schedules, which can make planning production very difficult. However it does make the film look a lot more professional rather than using student actors who aren't overly keen about being on camera. 

Deadlines

We now have just over two months to finish our media coursework. While that seems like a lot of time this time is likely to fly by, as first we have mocks to do. After mocks we just have over a month to finish everything up. Our final deadline is the 10th of February. To meet this deadline, I have set myself miniature deadlines.

I want to have both ancillary tasks done by the end of January. This is a realistic target, as I am getting closer to finishing up with them. This gives me a few weeks tweaking time if I need to fix anything.

I want to have all my filming done by the end of January also. I've already got a large amount of my filming done, so this should not be too difficult. I have one more scene to film, and a few re-shoots. This will leave enough time just in case I need to do some more re-shoots, but I think that this should be fine.

I want to have a final draft of the film completed the week before the deadline. I can edit fast so I know this will not be a problem, and will leave me time to fix any errors that I may find. This also allows me to make changes if audiences believe it can be improved.

Reflective Comment:
I feel pretty confident about meeting my deadlines. The only deadline that worries me slightly is the filming deadline, as filming is always the most difficult part of media. Several things can go wrong, however with the time I've allowed myself I should be fine. 

Testing filters

I want to see if I can edit the lighting levels in my scenes to give them a better look. With a simple adjustment to the contrast, lighting and exposure you can change the atmosphere of the scene greatly. Below I'm going to attach some screenshots of the different filters I can create, and I'll collect votes to what one looks best.

Default. 

Looks normal. I think at times it looks too bright. Still good.

Edit one.

Looks a bit more gloomy. I think this does suit the scene better, as it's quite a depressing subject that they're talking about.

Edit two.

Similar to edit one, but a bit more saturated. I'm not sure which I prefer more. I think if it looks too saturated it can look less professinal.

Edit three.

Edit three looks more dark and depressing. I think this may of suited a more darker script, however my script is still pretty light-hearted.

Edit four.

This edit is quite close to black and white, and therefore looks quite dull and empty. I do think it fits, however I think again it's a little too gloomy for the final cut.

Reflective Comment:

I think that edits one and two look the best.  I think they suit the film as a whole well, and add to the atmosphere. I'm going to collect votes for each of the edits and see what tests best with audiences. 

My first draft of Dying Denial

I've created the first draft of Dying Denial! Overall I'm very happy with the first draft. Of course it's not perfect but it's a work in progress. I've attached it below.


So now moving forward, here are my plans.

Edit the footage's lighting and contrast levels to achieve the correct balance.
I want to mess around with the settings to see if I can find a suitable effect for my short film. I want the film to look a bit greyer, possibly getting greyer closer to the end of the film.

Attempt to look at suitable music for the scenes so far.
Music is a big worry of mine, so the sooner I start looking at it the better. I need to look at software I am also going to use.

Try to fix the sound, as it sounds patchy at times.
Really this just means find out how to reduce the sound of the wind, because it is so loud! Hoping to fix this soon.

Create a version of the first draft pointing out errors and things that need to be fixed.
This will be great for reflection and really helpful for trying to decide what needs re-shooting and what doesn't.

Organise some re-shoots with my actors.
This shouldn't be too hard, as I've already confirmed with my actors with scenes need re-shooting. They have already said they should be available.

Reflective Comment:
I am happy with my first draft, but there are clearly some things that need to be worked out. Sound, music, and reshoots all need to be added and done to really refine my short film.

Length of short film

I've nearly finished editing the footage of my short film that I got on the 3rd of December. This footage should make up about 2/3 of the film, so should be about 3:30 minutes in length. The specification makes it clear that the short film is meant to be around five minutes.

However I have noticed that the edit I have already created, which is missing footage, is almost reaching the five minute mark. I fear that once I have everything filmed and I put it together, it will be over the five minutes we are allowed.

To counter this I am going to have to take some footage out, which actually works in my favor in a sense. Some scenes aren't as strong as others and some of the script actually repeats itself, something I had not noticed at the time. If I can reduce the time of the film and take out these repetitive scenes.

Reflective Comment:
I always sort of knew from early on that I was going to have a bit too much footage. I think it's better to have too much footage rather than too little. I should be able to work around this problem fine though! 

Footage of my filming

When I filmed my footage last saturday I had my friend and fellow student Fabian get some photos and footage of my filming. I've attached some of this below so that you can see it.

Reflective Comment:
Having footage of my filming is evidence that I was the one who filmed my short film. It's also helpful in analysing what I can do to make the next shoot work better.

Problems I faced while filming

While I did my filming I faced a few problems. It was a good, productive day. There were a few small problems that I had to deal with though, and some I didn't realise until we had stopped filming and I was editing. 

Sound

In the background of many of my shots you can hear a lot of interference. This I can deal with during editing, however there are some things that I can't work round so easy. In some shots there are motorbikes revving past and car horns being extremely loud. There isn't much I can do about this, except not using those scenes.

Weather and lighting

Something you have to fight when filming outside is the weather and the lighting. During one of my scenes it begins to rain, this itself wasn't a problem, however the problem was that some rain dropped on to the camera lenses. It was so faint, that I couldn't see it at the time. Now, on a big screen, you can faintly see it. I can't really do anything about this until I re-shoot it. 

Also, during two scenes the lighting is really strange. For some reason, the lighting goes an orange color. I haven't tried editing it yet, so we'll have to see if I can work around it.

Reflective Comment:

These are minor problems that I'm facing. I could have a lot worse problems, so I'm not to be bothered. I can work round these problems. 

Location Test Footage

On the 3rd of December I got some of my filming done. Before my actors arrived I decided to capture some test footage to get a look at the lighting, footage quality and sound. I have made a quick video in which I show the test footage and list what's good and bad about it. I have attached the video below.

I recommend enlarging the video. For some reason the upload to my blog has caused the quality to significantly drop. Hoping to fix that soon.


Reflective Comment:
The test footage I got was quite helpful, as it gave me a chance to prepare for the filming. I can see what needs to be improved and can start planning on what I'm going to do counter my problems.