16 : 20

Final Opening

This lesson we finished our film opening :)

We made a lot of improvements to our roughcut to produce our final product:

• Adjusting audio levels - Our background noise varied through the sequence due to the wind on the day of filming so we had to turn the volume of each section up and down to achieve a balanced sound throughout. We also had to adjust the audio level of the speech to fit with the background noise.
  
• Video and audio transitions - To make our sequence smoother we had to perfect the cuts of both the video and the audio. We cut out a section of the script as it was running for too long at the end of our sequence. This was hard as the speech was continuous however we managed to cut it in just the right place so that it did not jump. We also added ambient back ground noise where there were breaks in the speech so it did not jump to silence. With the video, we inserted slugs to make the sequence run smoother. We also added gaps between 2 shots at the start of the sequence to introduce the titles.
  
• De-saturation - Although we had already desaturated our footage we felt that we needed to do it more to add a greater effect to the sequence and to conform with the style of the genre.
• Editing effects - At the start of our roughcut, we applied a strobe effect to the opening shot to give it a more surreal feel. When we looked back at this we decided it look as if the video was jumping. We still wanted to make the opening shot different to the rest of the shots as we saw in 'Ratcatcher' so instead we slowed the shot down. This still gave it a surreal look but stopped it looking to jumpy.
  

Overall we are very pleased with our final product, enjoy!

Final Titles

We decided which titles to add to our opening last lesson. However this lesson we decided on our font for the titles. We didn't want them to look too stylized so we chose a fairly plain and simple text. It looks similar to typewriter text which compliments the simplicity of our sequence. This is an example of the font:

Production Meeting

This lesson we recorded the script for our voiceover. It took a few takes to get it at the right pace and to get the words right but overall we are pleased with how it turned out.
We now have to work on matching the sound to the video clip by cutting different sections of the script and putting them with the right shots.
Also this lesson, we aim to finish editing our video footage so that it flows better and tweak our titles. We are on track for completing our final product for the end of Thursdays lesson :)

Rough Cut

Film Title

After lessons of discussing what our film should be called we finally came up with the name 16 : 20. We thought of this after thinking about names to do with clocks and time as our main character is thinking back to when he was younger and involved in teenage violence. He was around 16 when he was involved in it and in the opening sequence is older (20). So we displayed both ages as a time (:

Titles

The titles which we are including in our opening sequence are as followed:

• Directed by Desmond Creek
  
• Written by Bryony Richards
  
• Editing by Ben Tomlinson
• Camera by Steven Priest
  
• Costume Design by Scott Lansdale
  

Our Script

There was nothing different about me, hangin round on street corners downing stale beers and smokin 6 packs of fags. We used to walk round like we owned the fuckin place. All in gangs, hoods up, thought we looked hard, threatning like.
It was a laugh smashin up cars makin our mark on every wall in the street and occaisionally kickin the fuck outta someone. And for what? The thrill of chasin some old granny down the road threatening to kill her cat? I dont think so.
As i got older i realised what a bloody waste of time it was, spending my days skiving of lessons to have a fag behind the language building. I spent countless evenings hanging round the neighbourhood waiting for some innocent little fucker to shout abuse at and throw beer cans filled with stones.
Its all different now, I dont play them stupid kids games. I dont need to cause people shit to make my life exciting. Now i can just laugh at silly little boy gangs hanging about outside the kebab shop with nothing better to do with their sad lives. I admit, its hard to pick yourself up. Get a job, earn a living, make something of yourself. What else can you do? Becaome an alcoholic, livin on the streets mixin with the dealers. Thats not the life for me.

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

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:

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:

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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