Christina1200’s Weblog

When we were first introduced to our coursework, in September we were given the main specifications for the coursework and the briefs of which we could choose from. The choice was between two assignment briefs, one was to create a college magazine, which had to include a photograph of a student in medium close-up, as mock up of a contents page and an appropriately laid-out text and a masthead. The other was a Continuity task which involved filming and editing a character opening a door, crossing a room and sitting down in a chair opposite another character, a exchanging a couple of line of dialogue. 

I initially was in two minds about what brief to choose as they both posed their individual advantages and disadvantages.         The magazine brief appeared to be more difficult as it involved taking our own photos for both the front cover and the contents page of the magazine, illustrating advanced skills on Photoshop (a programme of which I did not feel very confident using) and finally it was an individual effort which meant that there was a lot of work involved for just one person. However comparing the magazine brief to the film brief, it did appear easier, in terms of not having to recruit actors or find a setting etc. On the other hand the film assignment did seem more appealing as it gave me the chance to be more creative with ideas that could conform to the brief, it also allowed gave me the chance to share my ideas within a group (as the task would have been too much for one person to complete). It was this that then led me to choose the film assignment.

In response to this I then had to find three other members of the media class that were too, interested in the film option, these were; Kimberly Grant, Elliot Bass and Rosie Golder. Once the group had been formed we looked at the brief in closer detail, it stated that we would have to film and edit a character opening a door and crossing a room then sitting down and exchanging dialogue with another character. Simultaneously we would have to ensure that the film conformed to continuity rules. For example this means having the characters wearing the same clothes within a scene, same appearances such as make-up and hair, the same props and finally the same extras. Furthermore we would also have to make sure that we obeyed the 180-degree rule, this meant only filming on one side of the characters to allow the audience to easily comprehend what is happening.

Once we ensured that we all fully understood the concepts of continuity and the 180-degree rule. We decided to think of different ideas we could fit around the brief. As explained in production log one I came up with ideas such as a speed dating event, and affair situation, a drugs situation and a police interrogation. I initially was quite interested in the drugs situation idea, as it would have given us the opportunity to experiment with dark lighting and creative settings, however after some discussion the group decided that the most sensible and viable idea to choose would be the speed dating event.

Once we had collectively decided on an idea we were told we had to create a presentation that we could show to our peers in order to gain feedback on the ideas we had chosen, after listening to the feedback from our classmates the idea was to rethink the film we were going to shoot to see whether it was the best and or most popular option with the class. In the presentation we included three ideas which where the affair situation, the speed dating event and the police interrogation. After giving our presentation many people stated that the affair situation emulated that of a soap story line, which is something we did not wish to recreate, we desired for an original and unique idea. We then showed our peers our ideas for a police interrogation, which we gained little feedback off, however our teacher expressed his interest in this idea as he suggested that we had the chance to develop an interesting and diverse story line here as well as using a range of camera angles. Finally we presented the speed dating idea, it was then explained to us that the speed-dating event was an original idea, we were told that we had the chance to make it comedic which is exactly the thing we aspired to do.  Considering all these aspects we went for the majority vote, which was the speed-dating event, despite the advice given by our teacher. Furthermore the team had originally expressed their desire to use this idea, even before presenting some choices to the class.

Once we finished presenting to the class, we created in detail our ’speed dating’ situation. As we stated in the presentation we wanted to create a comedic situation, with an awkward dynamic between two people. From this we created our story line and main characters. Our idea was to have an upper class lady, to attend a speed-dating event as a last resort and last chance to look for love. However in a typical comedic genre way, things don’t go according to plan. In this scene she has to encounter a sleazy man who’s intentions are not appreciated by Jennifer. 

The Film would start in the toilets where the upper class women nervously prepares herself for the evening, where she applies make-up and straighten her clothes. This is to illustrate her desperation to impress, therefore bringing it back to the idea that this is her last chance. We would then see her enter the restaurant and immediately spot a ‘good-looking’ man, however she is unsuspectedly pushed out of the way by a second women, who then goes on to sit with the ‘good-looking’ man, leaving her with the sleazy man. They then have a conversation about a topic that clearly does not impress the upper class women, as the sleazy man tries to ‘make his move’ by touching her leg, she leaves the table unimpressed and disheartened. 

After creating and finishing our storyline we quickly went on to carry out some research into filming and specifically filming date scenes, in order to do this we looked at dates scenes from films and programmes such as sex in the city and the 40 year old virgin. This way we could gain insight into the types of shots we needed to use and the type of dialogue we would need in order to give our film that humorous aspect.                                                                                                                                                                               After deciding the types of characters we wanted in our film we also researched ways in which we could uniquely characterize and represent them, we did this by researching colour connotations, body language of specific types of people and their meanings. This way we could illustrate and create the type of movie we aspired to create.  The colours we decided to choose and the types of characters can all be referred to in my previous production logs.         

We then decided on names for our characters, we came up with Jennifer for the upper class lady as it suggests connotations of wealth and formality, the name Wayne was suggested to the sleazy man this was because it creates an image of uncertainty as it’s not the most simple of names. Finally we decided on to names for the other male and female within the scene, although they don’t have speaking parts and their names are not mentioned, we thought creating a rounded character would help us when creating the overall image for our film. For the ‘good-looking’ man we came up with the name Brett, as it reminded us of a ‘hunky’ American man that is desired by many females. Then for the second female in the scene, we came up with the name Laura, this implied simplicity and non-specialty. 

 Once we had decided on the colours each character would wear, their personality, name, genre of the film and ultimately the film as a whole, we decided that the audience we wanted to attract were women in their mid to late twenties and above. This was because the main female character (Jennifer) is a woman in her late twenties, this way our target audience could relate her character. Furthermore we felt that the genre of the movie was ‘romantic comedy’ which, I understand to be quite popular with women of that age range.

Whilst furthering the production of our film, we were instructed that we had to receive Photoshop training, this was mainly for those who had chosen the print brief, however the group was told that we would have to create a DVD cover for our film and ultimately we would have to use Photoshop to create this cover. We created some images using the advanced tools on Photoshop, of which can be found on Production log 1. 

As we did not need to use Photoshop as in depth as those who had chosen to do the print brief, we decided to use our time wisely and create the story board for our film and decide on a final script for the film. Whilst Kim and Elliot worked on the storyboard, Rosie and myself created two individual scripts, which we later merged together. 

The storyboard had to include drawing of the desired scene to shoot, what type of shot it were to be (or what camera angles we were to use), sound and dialogue. The storyboard became a crucial part of our filming process as it clearly set out the guidelines to what we needed to follow. I believe it was well drawn up by Kim, as when it came to filming there was no question of what we had to do. When creating the script, we knew it defiantly had to include comedy, to do this we decided the easiest way to do this would be to include a ‘Cheesy’ chat up line. Saying this I went on to the Internet and searched for chat-up lines until I found the most suitable one for the script I wanted to follow. When merging the script with Rosie we found that we had very similar dialogue, and very similar chat-up lines therefore making it very easy for us to create the script we wanted for our film, we decided to give Wayne a ‘Cockney’ accent and Jennifer a Formal English accent, this gave us the opportunity to show the vast difference in class, therefore representing the incompatibility between the two.   We then showed the script we had created to Elliot and Kim, who too expressed their happiness with the script. 

After Completing the storyboard and script we had to visit the camera technician to get trained to use the camera, this was an exciting experience as it meant that we were one step closer to filming. The camera technician taught us how to set up a tripod, mount a camera on to a tripod and ultimately how to use the camera, he also taught us how to use the microphone and play with sound. This tutorial meant that we could go on to film with the knowledge we had gained, however before filming the main production we needed to obtain actors, with this we had to set up auditions and film them. 

To broadcast the auditions for the film, we created two audition posters, so that we could attract and acquire a range of people, we then set them up around the college for two weeks prior to the auditions. The posters stated audition times, where it would be held and the type of film we would be creating. The group and I were quite worried about the amount of people that would come to the auditions as the posters were put up at quite short notice. However to our surprise thirteen people showed up to the auditions, which was quite a lot in our eyes. Rosie and myself set up the camera, as we were most confident in using it, whilst Kim and Elliot watched and judged the auditioned. We gave each audtionee a script to read off and paired them up so that we could see if the ‘awkward’ dynamic that we wanted to portray in our film, would work between the two actors. 

Once the auditions were over we watched over the film and immediately agreed on whom we wanted as Jennifer, Wayne and Laura. However we could not find the right person for Brett, so we decided to ask one of our friends who went on to accept the offer. Furthermore for those who did not get a main part, were offered parts as extras. 

After all the parts had been given out we could go ahead and film. However we needed to notify the Brasserie (the setting of or film) and the actors of when we needed to film and see whether both were available on the days we needed. Once all dates ere sorted we began to film. The first scene we filmed was Jennifer in the toilet, in my opinion this was the easiest scene to shoot, as there were no extras involved so it was easier to consider continuity. The second shot we filmed was the close up of Jennifer’s hand on the door entering the brasserie. Amazingly this was the hardest shot to film, despite thinking that it was going to be the easiest. We had to get the hand the right position on the door and had to make sure that the door shut at the right time in order for editing to purposes, to ensure that the door opened and closed at the same time. Furthermore it was quite difficult to obey the continuity rules, as lighting and sound were different to that of the sound and lighting in the toilet, due to the fact that we had to use a different door than that of the toilet.

We then went onto film the scenes within the brasserie; we decided to film the conversation scene before the entrance into the restaurant due to the unavailability of the actors. This way we could carry on with filming without having any delays. Once all but the entrance shot had been filmed we realized we needed to quickly finish filming in order to get everything finished on time. As we originally stated we wanted Jennifer to enter the restaurant and immediately spot a ‘good-looking’ man, Brett, however this was not possible, due to the unreliability of the actors, so we therefore had to remove this scene from the film. We then overcame this problem by shooting Jennifer’s entrance in to the restaurant with a Point of View shot, from the eyes of Wayne. In my opinion we dealt with this situation quite well as we were able to obtain enough footage to create a viable film. The full extent to which we filmed can be found in Production Log 3.

After having completed filming we had to edit, Elliot was in charge of this as he had completed training in the software we required to edit, final cut pro. Whilst Elliot was editing the film with Kim’s help, Rosie and I created the DVD cover for the film giving it a sophisticated look in connection with the type of film we were creating. We then wrote a blurb for the back of the DVD and to gain opinion on the blurb we asked a women of this age whether she would watch this film, on what the blurb had said and her response was yes it seems quite interesting. We also had to think of a name for the film, this proved quite difficult until Rosie mention the title ‘ desperate measures’. We all thought that this was quite fitting for the film as you wouldn’t expect to see this ‘upper-class’ woman at a speed dating event, therefore implying that she is employing desperate measures in order to find love. Full descriptions of this process can be found in production log 4.

Finally after having completed the DVD cover and the editing of the film, we burnt the film on to disc and printed the DVD cover out. We then needed to gain feedback on our film so we could critically analyse it, to do this we created questionnaire which we handed out to 8 people, we then asked them to watch the film and answer the questions. Many of those we asked said they enjoyed the film and that they did understand the humor of it, however they also noticed the continuity error with the different extras, however as explained in Production log 4, we said that we could use this to our advantage as people change seats within a speed dating event.

Critically looking at the film our group made I would say there are good points to it and parts we could improve on. Firstly I think the main idea of the film was a productive one, the idea of an ‘upper-class’ lady with a ’sleazy-man’ at a speed dating event, we believed that this creates a juxtaposition. I also think that choosing the comedy genre to attach to our film was another good idea, I believe that it sticks to the typical conventions of a comedy, for example not all things go according to plan, there is always one particular line in a scene that makes it comical etc. Our choice of target audience was another good decision, I think its the type of film that would attract those 20/25 +, we wanted to attract a similar audience to that of Sex and the City. Furthermore I think that the DVD cover created also helps to attract this type of audience, such as the elegant pink/red writing, and the Blurb.

Looking at the production I can see what parts of the process and the overall film I would improve if I were to do the task again. To begin with I would create a film that didn’t require as many extras as we needed due to the unreliability or unavailability of actors. When thinking about the actors I would also consider their availability as well as their acting skills. However this has taught me a lesson for the next film we have to create for the main task. The group has decided to create a film that involves fewer extras. 

I would also consider booking equipment earlier and generally speeding up the whole process of the film, as we found ourselves filming and editing very close to the due date of the coursework. For the main task I have learnt that once the group have decided on a main idea we should put up audition posters and book equipment and other such things as soon as possible. 

Furthermore commenting on the actual quality of the film I believe that sound and picture quality could have been improved. Watching the film back the actors voices, mainly Rosy’s sound quite faint, this was probably due to the fact that the Microphone was not held close enough to Rosy therefore resulting in a quiet sound. Also it was mentioned by our classmates that the picture quality was quite fuzzy. For the main task we suggested that we play around with lighting a bit more carefully and use cameras with high quality resolutions.

Ultimately I believe we met the brief with success, furthermore I also think our film was successful as our intentions were achieved, to make our audience laugh, which the film did particularly the cheesy chat up line.                                                    Analysing the film and thinking about what type of institution would be likely to distribute our comedy film, I would say film companies such as Universal studios, Paramount or 2ost century fox, this is because I believe that it create and distributes films with a similar style and genre to ours, such as ‘40 Year Old Virgin’ (Universal Studios) which is one of the films we looked at when doing our research and ‘Bride Wars’ (20th century fox). Film Companies such as MGM would not take on our film as I think they deal with a more old and serious style of film.

Although there were quite a few problems along the way I believe that this was vital in teaching us a lesson about how prepared you need to be to make a film, furthermore I think that it will help improve and influence the decisions that we make for our next film.