Video Editing...

This is our footage before we applied any changes to it. It looks a bit too bright and does not conform to conventions of social realism.

After editing our footage, it gives a much better effect and looks more like a professional social realist product than before. We desaturated the clip and also added a strobe effect to the first shot to give it a surreal feel. We got this idea from the opening sequence of Ratcatcher where we see a boy spinning round in a curtain, it is slowed down so much that you can see individual frames. We are not sure whether we will add this to our final product until we have finished the roughcut as the finished sequence may look different.

Production Meeting

This lesson we will be working towards our roughcut deadline on Monday 2nd March. We will be experimenting with the saturation of our footage on final cut to give the sequence more of a drained and poor quality effect, which conforms to conventions of social realism.
We will also be changing and finalizing our script, ready to record between now and Monday's lesson.

Animatic...

This is our animatic enjoy...

Filming Location

We chose to film the opening sequence in Newmarket by the train station. We chose here because it provided an isolated housing estate in a large area.

Below is the location where we filmed:

Thursday's Filming

I think the filming on Thursday went really well. Even though Scott couldn't make it, and we forgot our story board showing us different shots, we managed to remember everything we needed. The location was really good for what we wanted and as we went at a quiet time of day, there were no delays such as people walking past who we didnt want in our film. Before we went we were worried about the weather as we didnt want it to be snowing or raining, even though it was cold it stayed clear for the time we were filming - which was helpful!

Before we did the filming I started to write a script for our sequence. It isn't finished yet however we plan to finish it and record it so we can add it into our rough cut. It would be helpful to get it done in time for the roughcut deadline as we will know how long it needs to be and anything that needs to be added in or cut out for our final sequence.

The roughcut deadline is the end of the 3rd Media lesson w/c 23rd Feb
The final practical deadline is the end of the 3rd lesson w/c 2nd March

Risk Assessment

This is our risk assessment sheet, identifying potential hazards during the filming of our sequence and ways the avoid them.

Contributor Release Form

Script

When writing the script we looked at professionally made social realist dramas to see what language is used and in what content. We also looked at what slang is used as well as in what accent (Sottish, Scourer ect..)

Below are a couple of examples that we looked at:

Killer Of Sheep:

Football factory:

Lesson Summary

In todays lesson (Wednesday 4th February) we focused mainly on improving our blogs. To do this, in our coursework groups we look at each the other groups blogs and wrote one good point and one point on an area which could be improved. This also gave our group a chance to see what the other groups had posted on their blog, in what detail and how which is important as each one group may have had a different idea on what sort of information to post on their blog (pictures, text, drawings ect..) and the amount which could be useful inspiration. Following this we looked at the comments and set about changing and adding information to areas of our blog to improve it.

During this lesson our group also choose when to start filming, where and what time scale we would use. Which is important as the rough cut deadline is fast approaching!!

Before filming...

In the week we have before we film, as a group we need to agree a script for our opening sequence. It needs to be read out by the main character and needs to fit the timing of our sequence. The narrative will start after about 30 seconds of footage is shown. It will start on the 4th shot when we see the main characters face, even though we do not actually see him speak, to give the effect that they are his thoughts.

FILMING

We have agreed to film our footage in Newmarket on Thursday the 12th in our media lesson.

Props and equipment:

Character Description...

We are really only using one main character through out the sequence (Ben). The actor will be dressed casually with reasonably smart clothes on, these consist of a black jacket with jeans and trainers or shoes, we have yet to decide. The character will have a fashionable hair cut, slightly spiky. As this character walks around town he begins to narrate, telling us about his past and experiences.

Blog Feedback

After members of our class looked at our blog, they gave us points for improvement and positive comments about the blog.

Positive Comments:

• Good amount and content of analysis
  
• Good analysis on professional idents
  
• Good connotation of images
  
• Good ident
  
• Clear prop list

Areas for Improvement:

• More pictures needed e.g. images of costume and location
  
• Character description would be useful
• Use ideas from the moodboard throughout
  
• Complete analysis of Football Factory
  

We have taken all the response to our blog into consideration and will use it to improve and update our blog effectively. This lesson we will be completing a character description and will be getting images of our location.

Filming Considerations

After the bad weather we have had so far this week and the weather that is supposed to come in the next few days, we difinitely will not be able to start filming this week. We have to consider the weather at the time we want to film as we want it to be clear rather than raining or snowing (:

We have not really thought about where we will shoot our film. We want to film near housing and where there is a path through a park or grassy area. I have thought of a few possible filming locations we can think about:

• Bottisham Primary School - there is a path running through a grass area outside the primary school in my village, there are also houses visible in this area.
• The Avenue, Newmarket - here is also a remote grassy area near housing here with a path going through it. This location is also near newmarket train station so this will give us extra background noise which is effective in Social Realism.

I think our main character should be wearing fairly smart clothes such as a black duffle coat to show that he is now respectful and has moved on from life in teenage gangs.

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