IDEAS SHEET

IDEAS SHEETS (FEEDBACK)

The feedback was useful because it helped me decide which ones were the most original and which ones are different to others. After the feedback i felt most confident about the Aligator and the Pizza delivery ideas because they got the most positive reaction from the peer feedback. It has given me a few ideas o how to develop the character by using backstories.

I have decided that i want to use the Ali-gator idea because it will be the easiest to develop a character for. Also the name was a point that got a positive reception.

Visual FX test footage Project 1

To dod this effect i used Adobe After Effects. I wasn't not particularly happy with this test effect but i think i have learnt how to improve for the next time i try it. The speed of the shot is okay but the ball did not look convincing enough. The brightness was too high and it didn't appear at the right time

SOUND SOURCING Project 1

Voice over- 00:00 - 00:40- Post Production, Using microphone
music 00:10 -1:47- SoundCloud, BCMusic
Dialog 00:52- 1:10- Camera Mic
Sound FX, 00:15- 'swoosh' noise for throw- Freesound.org
Dialog 1:26-1:30 - Camera Mic
Sound FX 1:31 'puff' sound for smoke
dialog- 1:33- Camera Mic
Sound FX -1.47 'school bell'- FreeSound.org

Sound time line Project 1

post rough cut Production meeting

Production meeting outcome

As a group we have decided that we need to improve the acting in scene 6. The acting is very unrealistic and the script is very dry. We have come to the conclusion that we need to change the actors that we are going to be using in scene 6. This means that we will now need to reshoot all of scene 6. As a group we have written up a new script with different visual effects that are more realistic rather than the ones we had before.

filming Health and safety sheet

Casting Notes

We have four main characters in our short sequence. They are all teenage boys. We then have extras in some of the shots.

Shot 1 - Sam
Shot 2 - Crowd
Shot 3 - Six girls
Shot 4 - Four teenage boys
Shot 5 - Four nerds
Shot 6 - Three main characters

Sam- George Harrison
Average looking 17 year old boy, dar brown hair, average height. I think George will play this part very well as he has a lot of acting experience and is good at adapting to roles.

All girls with lots of make up on, hair done, looking as if they spend a lot of time on their appearance.
Girl 1 - Anni Sims
Girl 2 - Amy Jo
Girl 3 - Lauren Taylor
Girl 4 - Scarlett Atkinson
Alternative - Phoebe Ireland, Nishrin.
All fit the description quite well as they all look after themselves and take care of their appearance. We will be holding auditions for this scene as I don't want it to come across as people just acting in this way, I want it to look very realistic and many of the girls have very little acting experience.

All boys in this scene need to act really self-centred, no cares, very chilled out. All boys fit the part quite well.
Boy 1 - Matt Tomlins
Boy 2 - Sam Dix
Boy 3 - Tyler Thurston
Boy 4 - Hugh Brynt

Nerd 1 - Casper
Nerd 2 - Edwyn
Nerd 3 - Anni

Scott - Josh (Stephen's friend)
Max - Luke Bennett
Leo - Stephen

Hans Zimmer and Christopher Nolen worked together to produce the music for the dark night,
Hans Zimmer would create lots a fragments of short music clips and show them to Christopher.  Hans was taking the idea of anarchy to help inspire him. He was trying to create a a sound for the joker than was short and simplistic but also embodied the character of the joker. He needed it to have a sense o fear tension and chaos. He wanted to create something that was provocative and people could actually hate.

He used the idea of tension mounting and growing. But needed to keep it simple and make it work with the music so you could hear just a hint or a couple of second and you would know that the joker was involved.

The final score has used the simplistic idea well. It builds and builds without really changing which i think is quite effective because it will build up to the moment when you see the joker. It is quite but because of how unique it sounds it still has the same dramatic impact as a load music piece would

Composing music for a film is a task that is often crucial to the films succes.
Tips to creating the best music for film possible are
Get to know the film/scene. It is important to really get involved in the project you are composing music for. Watching it on silent over and over again may become tedious but it will give you a feel for the clip. Taking notes on how the scene is formed, shot lengths, cuts dialog timings are all important things you will need to consider and build the music around.

Experiment with instrument choices. Some of the best music in film can come from instrements you may have never heard of before. Being original with instrument choice will not only make you're work stand out from other producers but it can also offer a real unique feel to the film because of the rarity of how a peice is composed the viewer will remember the music a lot more. The more original the music is the more the viewer will relate that piece to music to that film

Understanding and sticking to the rhythm of the film. Recognizing whether  the film has a fast/ slow beat tempo will allow for you to compose in conjunction with the way it is filmed. Giving the film a seamless and natural feel.

Complete more than one piece of music. if it is possible making a couple different sound tracks would be recommended because watching the film with one soundtrack and then trying it with the other will allow you to see the differences, what parts worked where and what kind of atmosphere really suits the clip. Allowing you to pull out different parts of each to create the best piece you can to match the film

Keep the music in context. Having music in a film that is actually suited to the time period, location or characters. For example using a chinese style peice for a scene set in china. It offers an authenticity to the piece and helps the viewer understand the kind of cultural setting the film is in. It is also useful so it is clear wear the place is set and to make destinctions between other shots set in different locations

To make the music for the dark night Hans Zimmer had to make music to suit the characters and the atmosphere of different shots. He complied many different peices. This is so he can listen to them, show them to Christopher Nolen so he could compare and contrast them and help come up with the perfect piece

Research into Recording Ambient Sounds and Dialogue

Recording Ambient sound 
In film making ambient sound recording is the recording of atmospheric or background noise. Fundimentaly ambient sound is any sound that is naturally created by the environment of a clip for example, wind, sounds of ocean, birds etc.

When making a film a sound recorder will often record 30 seconds of ambient sound. This means they ask everyone to be silent and just record what is there anyway. Room tone can be recorded in this way to help out the sound editor. it gives a basic sound that the room has which could be from anything, for example machinery. This gives the editor a background slate to work with so he can add dialog and other sounds over the top of it.

Recording sound on location is often preferred by sound recorders, This is because it is easier to record the sounds that are there and then tweak them later if needed. The sounds that are recorded on location are more unique than sounds found in a sound library.

In the film the Hunger Games ambient noise was recorded in a jungle and used 4 mics in 2 pairs in each pair each mic is set up facing in opposite directions. Then the other pair was placed around 50 meters away. This achieved all around sound recording more the best quality recording to create an immersive experience. Panning through speakers used when editing to enhance the immersive surrounding effect.

Recording Dialog 

 Recording dialog can often be difficult because it is not as simple as recording with the mic on the camera a lot of the time. This is because of factors like how far away the subject is. The environment conditions (e.g wind) can distort the sound that is recorded from a camera. Ultra directional microphones are used for exterior shots. Directional mics are used for interior locations. It is important to place the microphone close the the actors mouth so it is loader than the background noise so the dialog is clear.

Looping also known as Automated dialogue replacement (ADR) Is the process of re-recording dialog from the original actors. This is done when the quality of the original recorded piece of dialog is not suitable for the final cut. This is usually because the dialog is difficult to understand because of other external noises, for example wind or animals in the background. Sound editors will look through clips that have been shot and choice which ones need re-recording. An actor will watch the original clip and try to re-create the dialog, but it will be recorded in a sound studio where optimum sound recording can be achieved. Hard cuts are usually not advised because of the clarity of the dialog can be compromised by ambient and background noises.

Ambient noise is important while shooting conversation scene because it is likely that shot and position of the camera will need to be changed, especially if you only have one camera to record with. This means cutting between shots which entails finishing a clip and moving the camera. Because cutting to the next shot will take time it offers a continuity problem. It is possible the ambient noise is not continuous so there can be noticeable differences between the shots, For example the sound of traffic approaching, getting loader. The shot will be cut and then by the time the next shot is recorded the traffic noise will have become loader than it should be in real time.  

Scene 6 shot 13 After Effect

For this effect i needed to create a teleport effect to make him dissapear and then re-appear. I decided to used smoke effects to do this. I had 9 to choose from. First i put the clip of him throwing the ball before the clip where he is in the distance jumping up in the air. i put the smoke effect over the first clip and rescaled it. then i timed it so the smoke started when the ball was nearly landing. The smoke covered the character and then the clip changed. the smoke overlapped so when the smoke cleared he wasn't there and then i did the same with him in the distance but created the smoke so he appeared from it. I then lowered the opacity of the smoke because it wasn't very convincing. I then thought that adding colour correction would give nice effect. I decided to use red because it was the same colour as his jumper.

Scene 6 shot 9 After Effects

For this shot i needed to create the visual effect of a ball being thrown then stopping in mid air infront of the characters face and floating there for a second. I needed first to find an image of a tennis ball. After this i cut it out and made it into a vector in photoshop. Then i imported it into after effects  and put it on top of the clip. Then i resized the ball using the Effects>Transform>scale and reduced the size till it was right. Then i had to position it by using the transform tool. I positioned it first in the character who was throwings hand. After this i used effects>colour correction and changed a number of factors to make it the most realistic colour so it matched the ball we used in the clips before. Then i added motion blur becuause it still looked too unrealistic because of the detailing on the ball. The camera moves from right to left so i didn't need to adjust the motion of the ball. I just had to add in some rotation key frames to make it look like the ball was spinning.

After Effects Scene 6 shot 1

In this shot i needed to create the look of the character (max) having super speed and running really fast. I needed to time re-map the clip and add in key frames to adjust the speed the clip went at by using the time re-mapping tool. I speeded up the clip for the part she is running then slowing it down to the original speed when she stops to pick it up. Then speeding it up again untill she gets back to the group.

PUBLISHING AND COPYRIGHTING

RIGHTS OF USE
Publishing rights are the rights to use a piece of music that have to be obtained from the people who own the copyright to the piece of music. Publishing rights are the right to the lyrics and composition and only exists after the music or words have been recorded or written down. As opposed to a recording license, this needs to be obtained from the person who performed the piece of music. For example the use of a cover recording of a song. The Recording rights will need to come from the performer.

To clear a piece of music so you can use it in a film you would need to contact the publishers and find out who owns the rights to the music. Then you would need to get permission from them to use the music. Often you will need to pay for this and it can be very expensive. Alternative methods are using license free music. There are websites that people can put there music on and you can use them freely. For my film i used a friend who i knew made music and asked him directly if i could use it in my film. He was happy for me to do so.

If the composer has been dead for over 70 years then copyright expires and you dont need to seek clearance for the composition. However you will still need to get clearance from the rights holder of the recording to use it.

Incidental music works as the soundtrack to a play, film, video game, tv programme, radio show or something that isn't primarily musical. It is less common for music in film to be referred to as incidental music but more often as the 'sound track' or 'score'

CREATIVE COMMONS 

Creative commons is an organisation that are expanding the number of creative works for others to use and share legally. They release copyright license that are free to the public.

Creative commons allows people to share creative work on the conditions of your choice. It allows more freedom and flexibility than regular copyright procedures. It means people can easily change conditions of copy right. It also means the people using the work dont have to worry about copyright infingment but they are still required to abide by the conditions set.


THE LICENSES

1.

Attribution 

CC BY 

This license lets others distribute, remix, tweak, and build upon your work, even commercially, as long as they credit you for the original creation. This is the most accommodating of licenses offered. Recommended for maximum dissemination and use of licensed materials.

2.

Attribution-ShareAlike  

CC BY-SA 

This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon your work even for commercial purposes, as long as they credit you and license their new creations under the identical terms. This license is often compared to “copyleft” free and open source software licenses. All new works based on yours will carry the same license, so any derivatives will also allow commercial use. This is the license used by Wikipedia, and is recommended for materials that would benefit from incorporating content from Wikipedia and similarly licensed projects.

Attribution-NoDerivs  

CC BY-ND

This license allows for redistribution, commercial and non-commercial, as long as it is passed along unchanged and in whole, with credit to you. 

Attribution-NonCommercial
CC BY-NC 

This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon your work non-commercially, and although their new works must also acknowledge you and be non-commercial, they don’t have to license their derivative works on the same terms.

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs
CC BY-NC-ND

This license is the most restrictive of our six main licenses, only allowing others to download your works and share them with others as long as they credit you, but they can’t change them in any way or use them commercially.

  

Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike
CC BY-NC-SA

This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon your work non-commercially, as long as they credit you and license their new creations under the identical terms.

MY CHOICE OF MUSIC

https://soundcloud.com/bcidemusic/lay-low

I choice this music because i knew that a large portion of film was dialog so straight away i knew i would need a neutral instramental track. I thoiught this one would be suited because it has a repetetive tempo which reflected the mundane atmosphere of a school but i think it also had an underlying tone of tension which added to the atisipation something unusual was going to happen. 

and it was not likely to over power the voice over and dialog in the film. 

Foley Artist research

A foley artisit job is to create sound effects for film, tv or video games. They need to create sounds externally and add them into the final clip. The priority for filming in terms of audio is to record dialog rather than sound effects so they must be created and added in. They are usually difficult to recreate a what the sound effect is being used for so immitations are used. Also it can enhance the atmosphere of a clip by making it more dramatic to give more impact.
First footsteps of the characters are recorded then the background footsteps. Then they go through a prop pass which is creating sound effects for all the things happening on screen.

A foley artist creating a sound by dropping a bowling ball

Foley artists need to be skilled and experienced in thinking of ways to make different sounds to full effect. A creative mind is needed to do this and an ear for how the effect will work with a clip. Timing is also important because they need to sync it to the footage.
A foley artist will use real objects to create sound effects rather than digital techniques is because they can create a more authentic sound and it is often possible to create many different sounds with the same item in the way it is manipulated.

Example of a foley artist studio 

Some examples of objects used are snapping celery for a broken bone, biting some uncooked pasta can create a crunching sound that would work for a broken nose

Submarine clip audio analysis

The Purpose of the music in the clip is to reflect his mind state and the tone of the footage. The music relates to how he is trying to find himself and the music has a busy and restless nature. It i also there to bring all these clips together because they aren't all from the same scene or period in time but they are all related to the letter he is writing. The music ties all these in together.

The music includes wood wind instruments and is an instrumental track. The music is nutral and means that the main focus is to the footage rather than the music. If it had lyrics i think the focus would be taken away and it woudn't be as effective. Also no lyrics is needed because it is being voiced over and would be too confusing to listen to. The music is there to link all these clips together into a montage like sequence. The music is has a reminiscent feel which is what is needed because he is looking back at things that have already happened.   The music changes slightly in tempo and style at different points. usually reflecting the nature of the clip at that time. For example when he is on his own the music is more subdued and when there is more tension it is a faster beat

The Experiment

META DATA screen shot

Rough Cut appraisal

Audio
The audio in the clip at the moment is pretty basic. I haven't added in any music or sound effects yet. The dialog is sometimes engaging but mostly a bit dull. Also it is difficult to hear what is being said at some points because of background noise. I think i can improve by adding some music and re shooting to get the best dialog possible.

Special Effects
There is only one special effect so far in this sequence, the throwing of the tennis ball and i think it worked quite well. Although the drop isn't very convincing and i should adjust the colour correction and opacity to make the ball a more realistic colour so it doesn't stand out as much as it does at the moment

Sequence
I think overall the continuity of the clip works quite well and the tennis ball being thrown around offers a marker as to when each person is speaking and i think that makes it flow nicely. Also the special effect tennis ball clip the 2 shots flow nicely into each other. At the moment it doesn't make complete clear narrative sense but that is because a lot of shots are missing that haven't been added in yet. I'm going to make the composition of the shots a lot better because the position o people were too far away a lot of the time where a mid or close up shot would have been preferred. Also colour correction is needed on a few washed out clips.

What went well- The tennis ball effect work quite well and it didn't take as long as i thought it would.

Problems- didn't have a background slate so they're wasn't something my character could disappear into.
What will do next time- take a background shot before all shots it will need something to disappear into

Peer feedback sheet screen shots

From the feedback i got i can see clearly what i did well and what i need to improve. By adding sound effects and music were necessary  would improve it also colour correction could add more style to the piece. I was told the special effects were good but if i dropped the opacity of the ball it would be improved.

ROUGH CUT (+playlist)

Editing Screen Shot

This is a screen shot of how i have laid out my clips to edit.

Matte painting began being used in films started off really because of financial or physical limitations. It would beither be too expensive, impractical or sometimes impossible to shoot on actual location. 1905 Norman Dawn took his photos and painting and placed them on a large sheet of glass. Black tape would then be put over the part of the camera the painting would go. These were all painted by hand or mixed with photos.

COSTUME SHEETS

Health and saftey

Notes on Gary Woolley's healthand safety talk

covering things like the need to wear a hi-vis jacket whilst filming to make sure people know that you are filming. Also putting up a sign saying "filmng in progress" sign to let people know that you are filming and can be aware of that. Also filming from high angles he warned us that standed on benches is dangerous because they can break or you could slip. Also you are not aloud on the school roofs. 

Aswell because of people being partially sighted or having hearing dificultes, they wont be able to hear you so wont neccisarly know you're there, or wires and cables left around could be dangerous because they are hard to see so could trip over them.


Health and safety filming preperations

Matte painting definition
A matte painting is a painted representation of a landscape, set, or distant location that allows filmmakers to create the illusion of an environment that is nonexistent in real life or would otherwise be too expensive or impossible to build or visit 

Matte painting beign used in films started off really because of financial or physical limitations. It would beither be too expensive, impractical or sometimes impossible to shoot on actual location. 1905 Norman Dawn took his photos and painting and placed them on a large sheet of glass. Black tape would then be put over the part of the camera the painting would go. These were all painted by hand or mixed with photos.

Later on Digital Painting came along. this meant a much more realistic look could be achieved in the paintings. Painter Chris Evans was the first to create a digital matte painting used in a film. in 1985 it was used in a Sherlock Holmes film. Other examples of using matte paintings are in films like star wars, Indianna Jones and The Planet Of The Apes.


Example of a matte painter painting a scene for Star Wars

Matte painting then developed to digital methods in the 1990s. The paintings were scanned into a computer. by 2000 hand painted matte paintings were very rare. However some were still used, for example in the film Titanic. Now matte paintigns can be done with digital drawing tablets and Textures and 3D models are used so more dynamic filming can be achieved

 3 examples of matte painting over 3 decades are
Count Dracula's Castle  in Dracula (1931)
North  by North West unitednations building (1959)
railway line in The Sting (1972)

quotes
"Paint has now been superseded by digital images created using photo references, 3-D models, and drawing tablets. Matte painters combine their digitally matte painted textures within computer-generated 3-D environments, allowing for 3-D camera movement."
"Traditionally, matte paintings were made by artists using paints or pastels on large sheets of glass for integrating with the live-action footage."
"The computer animation (another first) blended perfectly with the digital matte, something a traditional matte painting could not have accomplished."

PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS

Inconviences- 1.Possible bad weather when we are filming outside. Solution- check weather before hand 2.At the moment not everyone in the group has done the same work because Amy is away. Solution- send the work to amy and show her what we've done 3.Equipment might not be available the times we need it to be. Solution- check when equipment is available and make sure we can use it then. Minor Problems- 1.not confident of how floating effect is achieved. Solution- research and watch tutorials to learn how it can be done. 2.Tennis Ball effect didnt look very realistic when we tested it. Solution- Review test footage and see how it can be improved 3.Using actors with no experience. Solution- either try and find different actors or make sure the actors know what they are doing so it works well 4.We haven't decided on who is doing the voiceover yet. Solution- choose somome who is not already in the film. 5. Actors not having free time when we need to film. Solution- Plan exactly when we will do it according to when everyone invloved can do it. Major- 1.Dont have many backup actors. So there may be a shortage when we come to film. Solution- get some backup actors for if the others are ill etc. 2.May run out of time for filming. Solution- make a timetable and plan when to do what so we can get it done in time

PRODUCTION MEETING