Clients Feedback on Final Product

  After seeing our film Derek said the film was incredible and overall a terrific film. The combination with the film and music was good and well used. Close ups of hands and feet were well used. The film captured the idea of loneliness and way its supposed to feel really well. It had a clear and strong message. The replacement of the keyhole scene with the dripping tap was well replaced and fit in perfectly. The little things made it simple. Possibly at the end if we could add that the actor was portrayed that way and not actually feeling that way in real life. Overall it was a terrific film and it will go on Youthoria.org. If it didn't have the Childline poster in the film then it probably wouldn't have gone on the website. Anyway mission accomplished!!!!! :)

Mr D's comment

Good post Sam - well done. It's good to see detail on how you're responding to feedback.

Week 8- Improving Our Video

  At the very start of our day we watched the other groups films. They weren't near finished so not much feedback was given to them, but since our film was mostly done we got a lot of feedback and ended up doing a lot of improving in our video.
  Here are some feedback we got from our film:

•  Possibly too long
• Good flashback scenes/ black and white colouring works well
• Music adds depressing feel/ works well with film
• Good acting e.g. acting with feet and hands
• The scene of moving in towards keyhole good, but gives off an uncomfortable vibe. *Main Issue
• Overall good piece of footage

  After getting the feedback our group went on and dealt with the keyhole scene issue. We decided to cut it out of our film and and put a filming of a dripping tap that we happened to film that day. Replacing the keyhole scene was quite difficult since it could have messed up our in sync music(which I was concerned with because of a very well timed "ding" sound when he actors first step is taken). So we had to deal with the dripping tap scene being completely in time with the music so that every drip would have its very own "ding". It took us a while to deal with that, but we managed to edit in perfectly. Now we had to deal with shortening some parts of the film. That was also going to be a difficult task since we had to keep the music in sync. We shortened the some parts of the film, but not many since we would completely messed up the timing of the music so we left it as it was. The film itself ended up being cut down by 15 seconds which out of the 2 minutes 45 it was is now 2 minutes 30. Which turned out a bit better since one of the main problems was the film was too long.
  I did some editing in shortening some of the scenes and also gave out ideas.

  This was the keyhole scene that we cut out of the film and was replaced by the dripping tap scene.

  This was the crucial step I was talking about that was right on time with the music.
I fixed quite a few problems that we had and we are going to hopefully improve the rest of the film next week.

Week 7- Editing the Final Pieces!

  We started editing our film straight away. After getting the music exactly in sync with most of the transitions we thought we were done, but we spotted some continuity errors so we started fixing them, but at the same time we had to manage and keep the music in sync too. I did more editing than I did in our last session and contributed a lot more too.
  When we finished editing we asked for the credits and later on found out that in one of the credits it said 2010 instead of 2011 so we had to ask Mr. Durran to fix it.
  I didn't get a response from childline so we decided to go ahead with our film anyway. We added the childline logo to the end of our credits to kind of sponsor them in our film(since we used a childline poster).
  After all that we found a few more continuity errors and I fixed a couple of them. After finally finishing editing our film we went on and did some folder work till the end of the day.
   I learned that I can fix a lot of continuity errors and edit pretty well.  I also contributed a lot more than I did last week and helped the group a lot.

   We used colour correcter to fix the white balance issues we had in parts of our video. It worked really well and brought the quality of our video up.

   This is a camera effect that Ben did to kind of bring the sense of blinking and weariness and also fits in perfectly with one of our scenes in our film.

Week 6- Editing and Filming

  We headed off and started filming the rest of the scenes of our film. We headed out to the front of Coleridge to film, but then we noticed that a Parkside Federation sign and we decided best we not film because of that sign and went to the west side entrance to film there instead. It took us a while to get set up and the cold windy weather didn't help us set up any faster. We took multiple takes because in some of our takes a reflection of me and Ben could be seen on the glass. I took some ambient sound of the area. After filming Ben went to get ambient sound from the Coleridge Field( which would not go in our video since we added music throughout the whole video), so me and Ellie headed back to the CRAM room to edit the footage we have.
  When Ben came back we gave him some editing to do and we also saw that we made this really cool effect with the camera while taking some ambient sound and he edited in with the rest of our video.
  Ben did most of the editing from there on out while we suggested what to do. After finishing the editing the video we had to put in some music so we went on incompetech.com to get some royalty free music. Then  Ellie started to play around with the music we put in the video so that it would fit in with the transitions. She tried to match it for about half an hour, then Mr. Durran came and helped and managed to fit in the music with the transitions perfectly!
  After that we were basically done with editing our film with probably a week or two to spare.
  I contributed to the team by doing some editing and also filming some parts of our footage that day.
  I should have contributed a bit more in the editing of the film.
For next week I'm hoping to get more involved in the editing and contribute a lot more.
  Here are some pictures of the timeline of our edited piece and of us working on the editing:

Week 5- Filming

  I had to catch up on some of the work that we didn't manage to finish. I had to finished up on my risk assessment and our groups screenplay. After finishing all that we got ready to go film. We headed out to the Coleridge Field to film some of our flashback scenes and it was very cold and we managed to get set up and only film about 5 seconds of useful footage in about 45 minutes. I had to handle the boom and sound equipment while Ben did the filming.
  We then headed out to the staff toilets to do the main scenes of our film. A few teachers passed by and where a bit disturbed by having people setting up film equipment and filming from above the toilet cubicle. We had to recruit another member from a different group to handle the sound equipment while I got another camera kit to film with, so that we could limit the amount of shots we need take, because we didn't have many sandwiches to use for our scene. It turned out that we didn't use much of the second camera at all and actually had more than enough sandwiches, so I stood there and directed some of the shots. Though one hard thing about the filming was how saddening it was to watch Ellie sit there eating a sandwich crying.
  The utensils were as needed for the filming in the toilets listed: sandwiches, eye drops and sanitizer for hygiene.
  After finishing filming the toilet scene we carried on to get some ambient sound of the corridors after the bell rings. We got some questions like "is it filming?" or people just acting in front of the camera. I was using the sound equipment and managed to get a good 3 minutes if ambient sound. Then we carried on with the poster scene and managed to finish it fairly quickly. After all that we tried filming the bullying scene in the school playground, but with all the commotion and noise of kids running around and going home we couldn't so we headed back to the CRAM room after a successful day of filming.
  My goal for next lesson is to finish filming the flashbacks and the rest of the film so we could go on and edit it.  

Week 4- Planning

  After getting in my group we managed to decide on a group name( after one week). The name was Schribble(aka scribble spelled wrong). Then the youthoria curriculum manager Derek came and gave us a bit more information about the goals of our project and some stuff that we might not be able to do. After presenting our idea to Derek he said that we should discuss our idea with another group who took the topic of bullying and also it wouldn't be a problem that we use the child helpline number, in face they might just want that to be advertised, but just in case we should e-mail them and get permission just to be polite.
  After presenting our idea to Derek our group had to get ready and do the following things so that we could get going and start filming next week:
  Locations: Ben did the the following and had to upgrade each of the copies 3 times till it was good and detailed. I had to get some photos of one of the locations which is on school campus so that we could put on the locations paper.
  Casting: I did this part and wrote what each members do and why.
  Costumes: I also did this par and wrote down which characters will wear what.
  Screenplay: Ellie did this, but I still haven't gotten a copy of it. It says what our characters would say(though there won't be a lot of speaking in our film and also where it is being acted and shots are being taken. Possibly even the emotion that the actor should be showing at that moment.
   Storyboard: Ellie also did this one. It was a sketch of what our film would roughly look like.
   Shooting Schedule: We sill haven't done this so we will have to do it next week. It is about what time we are going to film and where.
  Risk Assessment: We have only done part of this and will have to finish it next week too. It is about what we should be aware of and how we can avoid the hazard.
   After all that Mr. Durran checked my research report draft and said that it has very good detail and likes how I had referred to the acting , but also said that I should use more examples of other adverts not just the ones that we studied in class, so i will try to extend my research report.

Week 3- Starting the Project

  At the beginning of the lesson I joined the group I was in last week to finish editing the action scene.  It took us a while to get finished with our editing.  Since we had a start all over to various reasons, though it was for the best since it ended up better than before we added a lot of  continuity to the film. We took turns editing and I managed to do some of the middle bit and end of the film.
  I learned how to use continuity better in editing and also what kind of opening frame can work best.  I did most of the acting in the film and didn't use the camera during the film so I didn't learn much in camera use itself, but by watching the other films I saw how different angles and shots could make a film all the more better.
  This is the edited version of the film my group made ( I am the one being chased):

    We got the brief of what we had to do and I also got into my group that was chosen. We started discussing what topic we should film on. We had our eyes fixed on cyber-bullying/ internet safety as our film, but we couldn't come up with a good idea and story we could fit into that topic. So we started going to go towards peer pressure which was our second choice, even though I came up with a good idea for peer pressure which involved 2 people getting pressured into fighting each other the rest of the group thought that we could do something better than that. We didn't have a proper 3rd option. I suggested to do something about alcohol, but yet again my idea was rejected. Though I wouldn't really know how to come up with a story to fit with alcohol so I let it pass. We finally found something we could do. We decided to go with bullying and managed to develop the idea even further until it sounded a really good piece of footage.
   We started to write down the storyline and also had to find a team name(we struggled on that part and didn't end up finding a name that lesson). We did so much on developing our story bit by bit that we couldn't blog at the end of the lesson and went straight home. Next week I'm hoping were going to find a team name.

Week 2- Public Information Films

  This week we looked at how public information films were effective and down to the point and which filming techniques they would use.  I knew that for public information films they would make a shocking films like for the kids in Africa and how they need support, but the films we watched in class were as shocking as they get. We mainly focused on driving and car accidents. We also saw a few public information films from the 60's and other timelines. In the 60's I learned that they used comedy and patronising a certain person to get a point across and i found it really funny. Then in a few years time they brought famous people into doing public information films and then they used kids in public information films later on in the 20th century. They slightly evolved the concept into more gruesome and graphic films now in the 21st century.
  I learned a lot about public information films that I never knew about. How in the 1960's they didn't have many woman in the public information films and patronised a particular person.
  This is one of the public information films of the 1970's:

  We also watched part of a public information film that originally is 30 minutes long. It was based on the fact that what could happen if you text while driving. It was a very graphic film and proved the point of texting while driving could do.

  After that I went in a group and we started to film an acting scene. My group took a while to film the scene but it turned out good.  We didn't have much time to edit the footage, but it still turned out really good.

For next week if we get any time to edit I would put some adjustments and things that need to be dealt with. 

What You Want - Short Film

Week 1- First Filming Lesson

  This week I went to Coleridge to start my filming lessons. The basic theory is that we'll get in groups and make a video about bad habits or things like taking drugs or bullying, but this lesson we watched videos of previous groups and the current year 11 group. Then we had acting lesson of what shots and angles are good to use and how to show emotion by the littlest movements. I had to act a scene and I found out a new hidden talent that I'm terrible at acting and if I was going to act I should act a comedy piece. After all my horrible acting I saw how different angles could make a film so much more effective. Just like taking photos from a different angle makes the photo more effective. Acting is also an extra thing that I will have to improve on. Another thing I learned was that you can show many emotions by acting with our body parts. For example like when your cold or angry you can show it by shaking your hand in an uncontrollable way.
   After learning all different types of acting we got into groups and started making a video. The assignment was to act 2 lines, but our group did a little story in the beginning and then our camera ran out of battery so we couldn't film the 2 lines. I was the camera man of the group and decided not to act. I also worked with the sound at times.
  We managed to go on adobe photoshop and managed to put the film together. It was a good film though we didn't really manage to do the task. Next week I am going to be put in the final groups and start the Youthoria project.
  I will put my groups video in a separate blog.