Final Production | Chester Wallace

Preliminary Task | Feed The Fish

Question 7

Evaluation - Question 7

Overall  I am happy with the outcome of our opening scene for a film. The main part in which I like the most would have to be all the beach scenes and how we had edited them together. I think the main reason in why it turned out how we wanted it to was because the week before we planned everything out. We found the right location that we needed and we even asked Bens Grandparents if we could stay with them so we had two days to shoot if we missed anything on the first day so we had time to look through the footage and re-do anything that needed to be done. Before we went to film we had drawn up story boards so we knew what we had to film in an order and not just film shots n a random and unorganised order.  Here are two of the few story boards that we used when filming down in Hailing island  so we were planned and ready. Unlike the preliminary task where we just shot what we thought looked good and when it came to editing we just hoped that it would all link together.


Although when we had to reshoot the cycling part of our film again for the beginning part we didn't plan or make a story board we just knew what we wanted. So when we started to shoot we kind of argued a little because some of us didn't think the shots that we were getting  would be good. So we kind of just shot from all different angles and changed our beginning scene around a little when shooting.

When shooting the beach scene we didn't want to use a tripod because we thought the shots would look to still and abnormal. So instead we would just hold the camera so the shots wouldn't be 100% still there would still be some movement in them which I think looked better then some of the shots when we tried using a tripod. Although when toms friend has just been hit over by a car we used a tripod to get a few of the shots looking down at him dead on the floor, also using  a tripod meat that we could zoom out of the shot.
Another thing that I have learnt is continuity editing and how clips can look so different just if  something small is different. For example in our preliminary task we didn't realise that lewis is wearing his yellow lanyard in one scene and then  the next he isn't. So when we filmed on the beach we needed to look back at each of the clips to see if we could stop anything that was different from the last.

The lighting was anotherthing that we did struggle with was the lighting and how it can differ from each shot. When we were shooting in the hall the lighting would change from where we would stand and shoot and when we came to edit the clips they would look different because on one shot we would be standing underneath a light which would brighten up the frame and then the next would be dark from filming from a different location.

So when we went off to film in Hailing Island we needed to shoot all the shots in the same time period so the shots would all look the same and not darker in some scenes from the clouds for example. 

Evaluation | Question 6

Evaluation | Question 4 and 5

Evaluation | Question 3

Evaluation | Question 2

Evaluation | Question 1

 

Shooting - Final New Scene

 When we changed our beginning scene we had to re-shoot it one day after school. We were going to shoot this scene at Toms house because he had the idea of shooting down one of his ally ways and then I would go around the corner and then get hit by a car. We had to shoot a few of the same shots again so we could edit to get fast passed cuts. One  thing we found hard was staying in the same position when shooting from different angles and making sure we didn't have any continuity errors.




Here are a few screenshots of the clips that we got like the beginning shot to establish that Chester is the main character.

Then another shot showing the other two characters.

Here is when lewis ( camera man ) would stand in different positions to get different angles so when editing we could use fast paced editing.




This was when we used a zoom out of when I am dead on the floor showing isolation with the blood running down my face.

Location For New scene

For the new scene that we are going to add we are filming it down one of our friends alley ways. We decided to shoot near his house so we were easily able to get all the equipment from his house and then cycle to the ally way and then film. We also used this alley way so we could ask his mum to get there car and drive it to the alley way so we could shoot it with a car to make it more realistic rather than just having my face on the floor. Using the car meant that we could show the audience what happened to me so it would make more sense.

We will cycle down the alley way towards the right and then I will be at the front so when I turn the corner I will hit the car straight on. Cycling down the alley way meant that Lewis (Camera man) meant that he could stand in different places and shoot the same scene so when we came to editing we could use fast paced cuts to create tension.

Shooting The New Beginning Scene #2

Richmond Park | Opening Scene

For the beginning of our opening scene we decided to film in Richmond park. We decided to film Chester and two of his friends cycling around Richmond Park using different camera shots to create a faced paced scene just before it goes down hill and then gets run over. 

We had the idea of getting lewis to cycle behind us whilst filming so we could get shots like in the music video  

'Rudimental - Waiting All Night ' and how they haven't used a tripod to get still shots. But when we looked back at the shots we realised that half of the takes weren't even looking at us cycling they were looking at the floor so we just decided to keep with the cycling idea for the beginning scene but instead of filming it in Richmond Park we would film it in an alley way near one of our houses so we could get Toms mum to drive the car so we could make my death more realistic.

New Beginning Scene

                         

For our film we wanted to have a stronger beginning instead of Chester walking on a beach and then gets a phone call from his grandparents say that his parents have just died. We came up with the idea of Chester and his friends on bikes having fun doing what teenagers do going around the park and then suddenly his brother or friend gets hit by a car so the connection between the two will be stronger.

We filmed this scene in an alley way near our friends house. We would film us going  down they alley from different angles and from different heights, so then when we come to editing we can use fast paced cuts to create tension just before Chester's  friend gets run over by a car. We are going to shoot the same scene multiple times from loads of different angles and places so when we come to editing we can use fast paced cuts to build up the tension.
  

Casting

Here we are tying to find out cast members for our film.  We are looking for a main character who is able to pull off the role that we want them to and can look depressed and sad when we want them to.  We want a character who is down to earth being either a boy or girl. We also might need to look for more characters for other scenes in our film. 

All of these people are in our media class so we are able to easily contact them when needed if we would want them in out film. We also can't decide wither or not we would like a girl actor or a boy actor at the moment.

One problem is that none of these students have taken drama for GCSE or A-level which could be draw back from having a good actor, but because we don't want some one who is over confident and melodramatic which is the opposite of what we want. We want some one who looks normal and looks depressed.

New Beginning Scene

New Scene

After re-watching our opening scene a few times with multiple people we ended up deciding to add something new to the beginning, to add more tension. We decided to film a rugby scene with Chester and his friends and then Chester would go home and get a phone call from his Grandpa saying that his parents had just been in a car crash. We decided to start the opening scene with the rugby ball falling to chester's arms and then passing it in between his friends.


This is one of the scene that we did when Chester is passing the ball between his friends, and then he gets tackled hard against one of his friends.

After the rugby scene we would have changed to all of us walking home and then tom walking into his house before he gets the phone call. Would used a tripod so we could get a still shot of Chester and his friends walking back from having fun playing rugby in the park.







Then there would be the next shot of tom just when he gets the phone call from his grandparents which is a close up shot to show his facial expression. Then it would cut to the phone hitting the floor. It would then cut to black and then start to fade into the beach scene.

Target Audience

Target Audience

For our film the target audience is going to be aimed at ages 16 to 20 year olds. We aimed it at the younger audience so they are able to relate to the main character. We will be able to attract our audience by having props, fast cuts and music in our opening scene. We will be starting our scene with Chester on the beach in dark clothing walking down an empty beach showing isolation.  People who go to the cinema to watch Coming of age films are normally young adults/ teenagers because they want to be able to connect to the actors. 

For our film we have aimed it at this age because on our survey that we posted on reddit we found that most of the people that watch Coming of age films are around this age so if we target out film to the same age group they will be attracted to watch it. 

Questionnaire

We have designed a questionnaire to be able to find out target audience and to identify our target audience's demographic. Here is a link to out questionnaire so you are able to see the questions that we asked. (Questionnaire)

Storyboard for new scene.

This is the story for our new scene that is going to go after the black out. The shot will start of with chester catching the rugby ball and then we have a small montage of people playing rugby. Then Chester (Main character) goes home and then sees either a missed call or a voice mail on his phone from a relative saying that his parents have been in a car crash and they are in the hospital.
We changed our film because we thought that the second part after the flash back was a bit dull and nothing really happened. We just took up one minute and thirty seconds of Chester walking up stairs and going into a room which we thought was a waste of out time. So we decided to change it and have a rugby ball as an object that will remind Chester of his old life when he was still living with his parents.


When we are shooting we will use this storyboard to remind us of what we need to film and can be our guide and so we can relate to something when we film.

Codes and conventions of a Coming of age

A coming of age film is normally considered to be about the transition from childhood to adulthood normally targeted at teenage audience. Coming of age genres normally emphasize dialogue rather than action. The main character in a coming of age film tends to be around the ages of 16 to 18 which normally are the ages in which go to the cinema and watch this genre. Coming of age film normally consist of multiple story lines such as virginity, pregnancy relationships and friendships. The story line is normally realistic with the protagonist often facing realistic everyday challenges. A break up between characters normally occurs and breaks down. Other things tend to happen as well like illness, lessons learnt and a hero comes out victorious.

Music

When we we're searching for music on YouTube we found a good acoustic guitar track played by some one called  Tombaileymusic. We played the song several times and decided that we all liked it so then we downloaded it and put it over our 2 minute clip.  

In order to be able to use his music in our film we needed to ask Tom Bailey to be able to use his music and so we wouldn't get a copyright strike, so we got ben to message Tom Bailey on Twitter to be able to ask him if we were able to use his song in which he replied with Yes but only if we were not getting paid for our film which we are not.

We are not 100% sure that we are going to use his music or not in our film because we think that is too slow and sad and we just want something calm and child for when Chester is walking on the beach. We will sill be looking for music but first we will need to finish out editing and cutting all the clips together. 

Testing Title Sequences In Final Cut Pro 

In todays lesson I was testing out and making multiple title sequences for the beginning of our two minute film. We decided that we were going to use the title sequence over the beginning clip of our film when chester Wallace is walking down the beach. I tested out different fonts that would normally be seen in coming of age films. I used a different range of titles given from Final Cut Pro that I could test out with different shot types.  

Here a clip of all the different title sequences that I have made just testing out with different fonts to see which looked best. The name of these title sequences is called " The Decisive Moment" which isn't going to be the name of our film its just a test to see what the fonts looks like.
We then looked at all the clips together to see which one we liked the most, and ended up choosing the second title sequence because we thought it suited the genre of film best.