First day of filming

On Wednesday 2nd December, we began to film different shots of our music piece. Our aim was to gather certain shots from our shot list which heavily involves our main actor, Jazz. This is because it is very hard to find time to film Jazz so we booked a date suitable for us and the actor and got as much filming done as possible ensuring it was filmed to our best ability. To make sure we had god shots, we made sure we filmed it at least two or three different times so we could pick the best one. 

Above is a clip of an example of some of the filming we did that day. We focused our filming in the main location at The Marlborough School. This is a shot emphasising the characters loneliness, showing that she is isolated with no friends. We showed this by clearly showing a group of friends walking past her and not acknowledging her.

Our shot list enabled us to film every shot we wanted to include in our production as well as filming additional shots. This allowed us to become organised and me and my partner both clearly knew where to film and what angle/position of camera.


Overall, I am very happy with our first day of filming. This is because I believe we gathered some very effective shots to emphasise the actors loneliness within the school. In order to improve our filming for the next time we film, I believe that we should plan the different locations in the school we will be using move effectively so that it is less time consuming on the day of filming.

Visit to BFI

On Thursday 19th November, AS and A2 students studying media in the Marlborough school visited the BFI (british film institute) in London.

It was hosted by Tim Woodcock who was the presenter of 'making film opening sequences'. Tim spoke about many different ways to make a film opening sequence to its best ability showing us examples of other productions. We also learnt how important many different aspects of film making was, these include the use of sound, picture framing and the effect of shots.

This is the power point which was presented to us at the BFI by Tim Woodcock.

http://titledesignproject.blogspot.co.uk/

We then had another speaker in the afternoon called Corin Hardy. Corin is the director of 'The Hallow'. He spoke to us about his latest film and how he entered the film industry and first became a director.

This is the trailer to 'The Hallow' by Corin Hardy.

http://www.corinhardy.com/ This is Corin's website.

Wheatley park film festival

On 6th November 2015, me and my media class went to the BFI film festival at Wheatley school. The festival enabled us to view different media productions which were produced by media students in year 12 and 13 from last year.

Over 30 media productions were entered into the competition for the awards of : The best fiction, best music video, best promotional and best overall production. The Marlborough school entered 7 productions. These can be viewed on the Marlborough youtube channel: www.youtube.com/marlboroughmedia

Different media professionals from all over the world judged the media productions. One of the judges was Brian Mitchel. Brian was the director of audio motion studios. Audio motion studios was involved in the production of work such as Call of duty, Harry potter and Iron man 2.

Our school won two awards, the 'best music video' and the 'best fiction'. 

Below is a video of 'the best music video' called 'O.V': 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wyMca9ZVwLk 

Below is a link to the best fiction production called 'Pendant':

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4N1TLH7rJzk 

This trip enabled our class to view other peoples performances and gather a better understanding of how other media students complete their work. After the event, it gave me more ideas for my production this year. I was also very pleased that my media production from last year called 'The visitor' was nominated. 

First film date

We have decided our film date for the scene in the common room will be on the 11th November 2015. 

We have arranged that we will be using four different form groups in order to make the common room look as busy as possible to highlight the main actors isolation. The different forms will enter the room by 3 different entrances, circle jazz then sit down. This will clearly identify Jazz as lonely at school.  

Product meeting - arranging our first film date

On the 13th October, me and my partner had a meeting regarding our first film date. We have arranged that we will film the hardest shot first as it may be more time consuming. This is because it takes a lot more preparation as we need to ask for pupils and teachers permission. 

Our idea for this shot is to arrange our sixth form into 3 groups. Each group would walk through the sixth form common room leaving by different exits. We plan for our main actor, Jazz, to stand in the middle of the room on her own. We chose this shot because due to lots of people walking past her, it emphasises her loneliness and how she is isolated at school. 

We aim to have three different cameras. One camera we would like to be a high angle looking down on everybody walking past the main actor. This would help clearly show her vulnerability. Another camera we would also like to be a high angle but from a different direction. We will then use a different camera to film a low angle of everybody's feet walking, this would help show how many people there are in contrast to the main actor on her own.

As a team we have discussed that it is vital that this shot is done effectively. This is because we may not be able to get the time for sixth-formers to leave lessons again to help us be involved in our filming. Also, this shot can only be effective if it is done correctly. This is why we will film everything whilst we are setting up and take time to film. 

For this shot we believe it is very important to plan it out effectively. In order to do this we have made a shot list of all the shots we would like in that specific scene. Below is our shot list we have made:

We also believe it is a good idea to do a trial run. This is because on the day we know we will have the correct amount of people. this is because if we have too many people it may look too overcrowded and people may focus on the main character in the middle less. However, we also need to ensure we have enough people to emphasise her loneliness. 

Our influence

We have come across a friends cover of 'use somebody' by Kings of Leon which is the song we have chosen. We were intrigued by the song lyrics as well as the style of which our friend was performing it. We specifically liked this style of the song as it was a slower tempo.

Below is a video showing a sample of our friend singing and playing on the piano 'use somebody'. 

Ideas of different shots

Below are different shots we took in our ideal location. We took different shots so we had a better idea of how we would like to position our character in each scene.

This is a high angle shot of the character. We chose a high angle to show the vulnerability of the character. We would like to include a shot similar to this as i believe it reflects her isolation and loneliness.

 I believe this shot is also effective. This is because the shot shows the character on her own with other people sat together in a friendship group.

This shot and the shot below is a point of view shot. I believe this reflects how lonely she is and deep in thought.

This is another shot we would like to include in our production. However, instead of this being a shot on her own, we would like many people in it. We believe using this corridor will give us the perfect opportunity to show her loneliness. this is because it is a very narrow corridor and when lots of pupils are in it it becomes very busy and the camera can focus on the actor on her own within all of the pupils. 

This is a shot of the location of the introduction scene. We plan to introduce the character by her coming to reception to meet a teacher. This will clearly show that she is new to the school and does not know anybody. 

This is a shot of the location we would like to use at the end of our production. this is because it has a stage and the correct lighting to set the scene of the character finally getting to sing and do what she enjoys with somebody else.  

We aim to get a close up shot of the main character playing the piano.

This is a high angle shot of the main actor playing the piano. The high angle shows that she is being looked down on by others.

Our 'use somebody' pitch

Pitch for Use Somebody

Storyboard for use somebody

We believe it is very important to make a story board. This storyboard shows the different shots we plan to include in each scene in our music video. The storyboard has enabled me to become clear and organised about what we are filming so me and my partner fully understand. If we did not produce a clear storyboard, i feel that we would not be prepared to film. 

Below are pictures of our story board which show the shot we would like and it explained in more detail.

Production Meeting - 22/09/15

On the 22nd September 2015, we had our first production meeting with class friends. We had made a story board so that our plan is clearer and that we understand our different shots and scenes. We discussed our ideas with our peers and they gave us some more ideas. 

The first idea somebody suggested to us was that we should be aware of the surrounding settings to separate the characters. This would clearly identify the lonely character. We could use physical spacing so empathise the character is lonely. 

Towards the end of our music video, we would like it to be more uplifting and positive. in order for this to happen, we had an idea of introducing the other character who is helping the lonely girl. To introduce the new character we had the idea of gradually introducing another instrument in which they will be playing at the end of the music video. 

Somebody also gave us the suggestion of using time lapse to emphasise the disconnection.  We plan to do this in a high angle shot to show her vulnerability. this could be filmed in the common room. 

Our change of idea

After researching more into the "Heya" music video and music videos which are similar such as "happy" we have decided to change our idea. We have changed our idea due to believing that the music video "Heya" will not get us many marks as we did not have many ideas for it. 'Heya' was a very upbeat and fun song, however we have changed our idea to something more heartfelt and moving.

The idea we have come up with is "use somebody". We prefer this idea because we believe that we can make the music video very effective. instead of basing the song on relationships, we have decided to focus the music video on friendships within school and how sometimes they aren't always perfect. We have many ideas for this music video and believe it will be far more successful.

Below is a music video of the song "use somebody" in which we have chosen to focus our final piece on.

Response to our questionaire

In order to gather audience research, we made our own questionnaire about music videos.

The first question we asked was "What is your age?". We asked this question so that when we were analysing our results we could identify a trend or pattern between different ages. This could show that different age groups may prefer different sorts of music videos. Out of 19 people, 15 answered the questionnaire saying they were in between the age of 16 and 18.

The second question we asked was "What is your favourite feature within a music video?". We found out that 9 people like a personal storyline within a music video compared to 2 people preferring to focus on a band performing in the music video.

We then asked "How do you watch music videos?". the results show that computer and phone were the most common way to watch music videos. 

Finally, we asked " are your parents likely to listen or overhear the music you listen to?". Most people answered saying often, sometimes and yes.

Production Schedule

Above is an image showing a production schedule. A production schedule will allow us to easily plan our process of making the music video. This will help us to become organised and it will ensure our group members understand which dates we will be scene planning, casting, choosing the loaction, the props/costumes and scripting.

The prodcution schedule allows us to clearly plan our pre production and production. This will help us to become organised so it prevents delays on our production.

Audience research - Questionaire

Above is a screen shot showing the website we used to make a questionaire for our audience research. We believe audience research is very important. This is because gathering information from our audience through the use of a questionaire will enable us to receive their opinion on music videos and therefore enable us to establish our targeted audience for our specific song.

This questionaire will be shared on facebook for people to fill out. Once we get responses, it will allow us to gather our information together and analyse the data gathered.

Here is a link to our questionnaire:

https://emmabethdlq.typeform.com/to/UNT4IZ 

Research on music videos

We had ideas of filming many different people from all ages singing along to the song. We aim to make the video as upbeat and happy as possible. One music video which influnced us is 'Happy' by Pharell Williams. 

Below is the music video of 'Happy'

This music video is not just set in the studio and it has many different scenes. It involves many different people from all ages and ethnicities singing and dancing to the song. This enables us to have a more open target audience as it is including a variety of the public. With many different people involved, we believe it will make our music video more interesting as it isnt just focused on the main singer. 

Research on music videos

In my first meeting with my team partner, we came up with many ideas of songs. Initially, we wanted to choose a chart song which everyone would know. However, we felt as though this could be difficult to do a music video for as its a song with such a high reputation. 

We then came up with a different idea. Our latest idea is to choose an old classic song but one which many people would know. One of the songs we came up with was 'Mambo no.5'. This is because it is a very upbeat song. We also brainstormed 'wake me up before you go go' and 'Dancing in the moon light' as well as 'Hey ya'. These are all very old songs but we believe they are very well known from all ages. 

Out of these song ideas, we chose 'hey ya'. This song is very upbeat and is well known by many. 

This music video focuses on the bands performance.we ad ideas of filming many different people from all ages singing along to the song. We aim to make the video a upbeat and happy as possible. 

Research on music videos

Another music video i have researched is called 'Single ladies' by Beyonce. I believe this music video is very different to the research i did on rudimental 'waiting all night'. This is because this music video does not tell a story, it is simply just Beyonce and two other dancers dancing in a studio. However i do believe it is effective because they have edited it to have a bright, vibrant white background which causes the three woman to stand out. It is specifially effective due to them all wearing black outfits so this allows them to stand out even more. 

This is a fish bowl studio and i believe the music video is very effective. This is because although it is simple due to it being just three dancers, the white background causes them to stand out. This is because if it was a normal studio, it would be less effective as the contrast is not so severe. This music video does not tell a story however it is still very attention grabbing.

Research on music videos

In order to make a final decision on which brief i am going to choose, I believe it is important to research the other briefs which interested me.

This blog is about the research i have done on music videos. Below is a music video by Rudimental called 'waiting all night'.  I chose to research this because it focuses on two of my briefs i have narrowed down to. It is a music video however also shows aspects of it being a short film. 

This music video is about a boy who lost the lower part of his leg whilst participating in his favourite hobby which was BMX'ing. The video shows how he then had to watch the rest of his friends carry on with his favourite sport whilst he recovered. However, towards the end of the film it shows he has an artificial leg and he finally begins to ride his bike again. 

I believe this music video draws in the audience due to it being a real life experience so others could relate. Personally, i like the use of the hand held camera. This is because it allows the audience to feel involved and like they are also experiencing the situation. This could allow the audience to feel empathy. The use of the hand held camera is something i would like to explore as i believe it is very effective and something i may include in my music video. 

Final decision of my brief

This is my final chosen brief after narrowing it down out of 4. I chose this brief because I feel that a music video will be very enjoyable. A music video can also be seen as a short story/introduction and I feel that I would suit this due to doing something similar in AS. This means I would be able to produce a music video to my best ability as i know what is effective and what is less effective. 

Our pitch

Pitch for Our Idea

Research on documentaries

In today's lesson, we did product research on the documentary 'In guns we trust'.

This documentary was found on the website 'shortoftheweek.com'. 

https://www.shortoftheweek.com/2015/06/08/guns-trust/ This is a link to the documentary 'in guns we trust'. 

Research on short films

After researching short films, it will allow me to make a final decision out of the briefs i narrowed it down to.

I have used the website 'film for action' and 'vimeo'. On film for action i found many different short films.

This link http://www.filmsforaction.org/watch/the-oceanmaker-2015/  shows a short animated film which tells a story in just 10 minutes.

This link is another short story  http://www.filmsforaction.org/watch/dear-future-generations-sorry/  lasting approximately 6 minutes.  Although this video just shows a man speaking, i believe it is very effective. This is because the video focuses on the man in a suit against a very simple background. Below is the video of the short film:

This picture shows a medium close up of the man speaking. This means that the audience just focuses on what the man has to say as he is stating an important message. This allows the audience to engage instead of getting distracted by a background. 

The video then begins to bring in animated effects to match his point he makes. I believe the animation on a basic background causes it to stand out. 

Also, large, bold text is used. I noticed that the text matches when he says the word in perfect time. This is also very effective and something i may research more into. 

Research on documentaries

Research into brief number 7 - Documentaries

Because i like the idea of brief number 7, I have chosen to develop my understanding of the brief by researching different documentaries.

The main type of documentaries which i prefer are reality documentaries. However, there could also be other documentaries such as wildlife documentaries.

Below is an example of an introduction to a wildlife documentary produced by David Attenborough about wildlife. I have noticed this has many shots and clips of nature and landscapes with his voice as a voice over narrating the clips. The documentary also shows David Attenborough within the documentary.

There could also be a reality documentary filming people. Below is an example of a reality documentary filming peoples every day life. It has a woman doing a voiceover whilst filming the reality of peoples life. There is also a soundtrack.

However another form of a documentary could be telling a story but reconstructing the truth of the film. This could be having an actor to reconstruct what actually happened to somebody.

I used the website ' Wall of films'. This allowed me to view many different documentaries. I understand now that documentaries focus on a specific thing such as filming somebodys way of living.

http://www.filmsforaction.org/watch/sweatshop-deadly-fashion-2014/  

This link is a documentary of the life of people working in a sweatshop in Cambodia. They interview many different sweatshop workers and use subtitles to translate the language to english. 

Decision of brief

After recieving my briefs and anaysing which one would be best for me, i narrowed it down to 4 different briefs to choose from

I have chosen brief number 3 as i believe i could make TV advertisements on the computer using the programme ' movie plus' which i used for my AS media final piece. This means my knowledge on the programme will allow me to develop and produce a more advanced TV advertisement due to the previous experience i had on the programme. 

This brief really interests me as i believe that making a documentary could be very fun as well as interesting as there are so many ideas to choose from for a documentary and it could come in many different forms. It could be from my own previous experiences or someone elses experiences which are very dramatic making the documentary interesting and intruiging. In order to develop my understanding of documenatires i will do some research on them. 

Brief number 10 has also caught my attention. This is because it is a short film, which is similar to my AS media. However, i believe a short film could be very hard as i would need to plan out a whole story line and make it short and precise so it lasts 5 minutes but has a plot and tells a story.

This is brief number 1. It shows we have to make a music video. I am very interested in this brief because in a music video, we could make it a short story. This is something i believe i will very much enjoy. 

Now i have narrowed it down to 4 different briefs, i will do some further research on each brief to see which one i will have the most ideas for and produce the most successfully by the end of my A2 media course.  

Evaluation of AS media

Brief summary

Above shows my final piece of our groups opening sequence in AS media. This film is about a district nurse visiting an elderly woman's home, and experiencing unusual noises and movements within the house. When the district nurse knocks on the door, there is no answer. This causes the nurse to enter the house , and this results in her feeling haunted by unnatural behaviours within the house. This film is based on a horror genre and we made it appear this way by the use of the soundtrack and camera work within the film to show the uncertainty of the house. 

Success in the film

I believe our film was very successful. This is because i felt that it met the genre of a horror film due to our correct use of camera shots, soundtrack, setting and dialogue. This enabled the audience to clearly understand and relate to the storyline. The soundtrack was quiet and got louder in tense areas of the film. This caused tension and made the scene eerie. The setting of the film was in an old house, it looked very dark showing it looked unlived in and dark lighting is traditionally what scary movies usually use. Also, we had a very detailed plan which enabled us to stick to the deadline. This allowed our group to become organised and everybody was aware of the progress of the film making and their job roles to meet deadlines and the criteria. I believe another success of the film was that was met the criteria of the brief. This is because we used a soundtrack as well as a wide variety of camera shots and titles.

pre production

production

post production 

Areas of improvement 

In our film i felt that we used many techniques to produce our film to the best ability. However, we felt that the continuity of our district nurse was one of the main areas for improvement. This is because in some shots the nurse had different coloured nail varnish and a different jacket on. Also, a man was driving the car and we tried to edit it to make it look like the district nurse actor was however we missed a part and you could see the man driving. I felt like the lack of continuity let our film down as continuity is a vital part for producing a film. if it is not continuous it could confuse the audience and appear like we did not spend much time on that aspect of the film making. Also, i feel our titles within the film were not at their best ability. This is because i felt the colour of white stood out too much in the dark setting. This drew the attention away from the film and the audience just focused on the titles. I also think that the position of the titles were not great. This is because i felt they did not fit in with the film and we did not film to leave space for the titles we just added them in. 

Audience feedback

As a group we feel that audience feedback is very important. This is because it allows us to evaluate our piece to see the success and improvement for the film. this allows us to imporve and expand in the future when we next make a film. It would help me in my A2 levels so i know what the audience like and dislike in a film. One member from the audience told us that they noticied the lack of continuity. This means we know to take extra care on continuty for the next time i produce a film. I believe criticial feedback is very important as it allows us to expand and improve for the next time so we learn from our mistakes. 

Introduction to A2

On the 11th June 2015 we were introduced to A2 media. We were shown 13 different briefs in which we could choose from to work on throughout our year of A2 media. Below are the 13 briefs we had to choose from: 

My understanding of a brief is the task in which we need to carry out in A2 media. It explains what we need to do and involve in our media piece. The briefs show different options varying from portfolios on video, print, web-based. audio or game software. Our portfolio would present our research of the chosen brief as well as evidence of planning and the final evaluation of the chosen brief. 

I believe these briefs are different to the brief from AS. This is because this year we have more choice in which brief to do to meet our specific preferabilities instead of being given just one brief to do for AS. Also, A2 briefs have more content so it means our portfolio has to be more advanced. However due to the research and knowledge we gained from AS media i believe A2 gives me more of an underdtanding of media and i can develop my ideas and final piece to a higher standard.