Rough Cut 5 Comparison

This is the 5th rough cut video we have done. The reason for this rough cut is to decide if we like a certain shot one way or another. The first shot until the black screen is what we have done recently and after the black screen is the new version. What was changed was when the shots changed from a long shot low angle to a first person shot using a go pro. In the original shot it changed to the go pro shot from a low angle shot, this works and looks well but i thought that it could be improved. So i decided to make a rough cut showing the two different versions. The second and improved version is when the shot changed from long shot high angle to go pro shot. There is only a very slight difference   between the two versions but the main difference is that in the improved version Tom (the protagonist) looks back in the long shot and thats when the shot changes. The shot then changed to first person which matches the other because in that shot he looks back over his shoulder. 

In conclusion i think that we should use the second part after the black screen in our final cut.

Feedback on Rough Cut 4

I decided to try get feedback on as many different rough cuts as possible. I asked 4 people a set few questions about the rough cuts and got their advise.

Are there any improvements that you believe should be made?
Josh Beattie - The music doesn't really fit maybe change it completely or just make some changes to what you already have
Freddie Vaughan - The match cuts do not last long and its just kinda a blur not very clear
Wendy Hey - The narrative still isnt completely clear so i think it would be good if you worked on that
Beth Campbell - Nothing huge just slight alterations

Is there any part to the film which you enjoyed the most?
Josh Beattie - Yeah, i though the chase scene was exciting and interesting really enjoyed that part
Freddie Vaughan - Love the chase
Wendy Hey - I really like the match cuts, favourite part
Beth Campbell - The main chase scene was great

What would you give the music a rating out of 10?
Josh Beattie - 6
Freddie Vaughan -8
Wendy Hey - 7
Beth Campbell - 7

What would you give the editing a rating out of 10?
Josh Beattie - 9
Freddie Vaughan - 8
Wendy Hey - 9
Beth Campbell - 9

What would you give the cinematography a rating out of 10?
Josh Beattie - 8
Freddie Vaughan -8
Wendy Hey - 9
Beth Campbell - 7

What would you rate the location for our film in relation to the genre out of 10?
Josh Beattie - 7
Freddie Vaughan -9
Wendy Hey - 8
Beth Campbell - 7

Were you engaged or bored while watching our film opening?
Josh Beattie - With the added music i enjoy it alot more than previously
Freddie Vaughan - I think its a good film opening and i am intrigued into what happens next
Wendy Hey - I was kinda bored, not a huge fan of movies within this genre
Beth Campbell - A lot more enjoyable than rough cut 1

Was the narrative clear in our film opening?

Josh Beattie - Yeah id say so
Freddie Vaughan - slightly just got to work on explaining those match cuts
Wendy Hey - yeah
Beth Campbell - yep, quite clear

What would you rate the film opening out of 10?
Josh Beattie - 7
Freddie Vaughan - 7
Wendy Hey - 8
Beth Campbell - 7

Digital Techologies essay

Question:

Evaluate the role of digital technologies in the marketing and consumption of products in the media area you have studied.

Answer:

In this essay i am going to analyse the ways digital technology affects the marketing and consumption of films. Some film companies that i will be using as examples are Warp and Working Title. There has been a big effect on the consumption of films in the film industry and this is because of digital technologies. In recent years the different ways that you can access a movie has increased and has also become a lot easier. There was only two was of watching films at one point and this was either attending the cinema or buying the movie on a dvd and watching it on a DVD player. There was no other way to watch a movie that wasn't  available to buy or was still in the cinema, if people couldn't make it to the cinema then they would have to wait until it was released on DVD. With the latest technology we are now able to go online and watch any movie of our choice, may be old or new, whatever time you can watch it. There are lots of different places where you can do this and these are called the role of digital technology, and example of a few of these roles of digital technology are Netflix, Sky Movies, Amazon Prime or streaming the films illegally off websites such as putlocker and Umovies. Just from my small list you can see that there is a large variety of ways to watch a film. Because of the high amount of sites this has resulted in less people going to the cinemabecause it is cheaper and easier to just stay at home and stream the movies on your tv in your own comfort, this also appeals to more people. These digital technologies have risen in popularity rapidly and are greatly changing the way films are consumed. Because of the sudden popularity they are putting companies out of business. An example of a major business which has been affected by these digital technologies so much that they were forced to shut down is blockbuster. BlockBusters business was set around letting customers come into their shop and browse films and then buying them or renting them for a certain amount of time. This was challenged by Netflix because they offered the same deal apart from you didn't have to leave your house and it was instant, this is a lot more convenient and why more and more people started using it. These companies then also expanded onto mobile phones meaning people could watch any film they like, anywhere. Because of the large effect these digital companies have had this means companies like working title and warp have to adapt as well. They have adapted and fit in by uploading some of their movies onto Netflix but Working title are able to do this easier and put more on Because money isnt much of an issue because of the size of their business however Warp have to carefully consider which movies they should put on these sites because they have to makes sure that their decisions are wise otherwise it might not work out for the business, this results in Warp still having to stick with traditional DVDs as their main source of consumption .

The film industry has been impacted by digital technologies, the companies that i have studies Working title and Warp have also been effected in a variety of ways. Nanny Mcphee is a movie which was produced by the film company Working title. Nanny Mcphees budget which was $25 million which compared to a  popular Warp films movie Submarine £2.5 million it meant that Working Title could use these digital technologies to their advantage  and greater scale than Warp when distributing their movie. Because of Working Titles big budgets it means that they were able to take lots of different approaches when advertising ranging from TV advertisements and Billboards in prime locations. This also meant that Working Title could easily access their target audience without much of a problem. Even though Working Title had a big budget they still went for the more traditionalt way of marketing and diddnt focus enough on one asspect of digital technologies that is is very important, this is social media. Working Title still are able to do a lot more marketing than Warp because of the size of the companie and the moeny they have but because of social media indie companies such as Warp have greatly bemnfited from it. Socical media is a very effective way of marketting and this is because the majority of people have acces to the internet and will browse it daily meaning that whatever you put out their can be witnessed by a large amount of people. This can then result in your marketing being spread not even by you, if one person likes what a post they may choose to share it which could start a long train of shares resulting in more people seeing your advertisement. This is very helpful because it will save companies such as Warp time promoting. small companies such as Warp are still at a disadvantage when it comes to marketing but the advance in digital technologies means that they have a good chance of promoting  their film.

In conclusion, digital technologies are very important and have changed the way companies market and how customers consume films drastically and they are still changing today.

Story Board

Balancing Colour

When editing our opening scene and watching our rough cuts i realised that the colours could be improved. I know that colour balancing is very important in films and it is a small detail that if done correctly results in an improved film. This is how i balanced the colour of our clips in final cut.

• This is what the shot looked like originally, It looks too blue. it does looks good but it can be improved. 

• So to improve the clip you have to select it. To select a clip all you have to do is click on it and it will be highlighted this is how you know the right clip has been selected.

• To balance the colour of the clip you have to click the magic wand tool and this will drop down a list of options. To balance the colour of the clip you have to click the first option on the drop down menu or press alt+cmd+B.                           

• Then if you look back at the clip you selected you can see that there is a change in the colour of the clip.

This is a comparison of the original clip (on the left) and the new clip (on the right)

It is also possible to balance the colour of all the clips in the timeline rather than just one. To do this you have to drag the mouse over all the clips so that it shows they are all selected and then it is the same process.

How we select and sort our clips

Folders

We put them all into Final cut and as a group choose the clips we wish to use. We then use a separate folder to put all our primary shots in this means we don't get confused which clip we wish to use.
With the other clips we put them in another folder so if we spot an error we are able to either reshoot or swap out that clip for another.





In terms of grading them we have the best ones at the start of the discarded clip folder. While the other ones are at the back of the folder. Furthermore we have named the clips with a description of the shot and the rank of it compare to the other ones.

Grading of clips

Source:http://wattfilms.blogspot.co.uk/

The Brief Rough Cut 3

This is the third rough cut for our film opening. I am happy with how our filming is going so far and feel like it is heading in a good direction and we all have a clear idea of what we want from this. This rough cut includes all the match cuts that we have filmed so far (4), it also includes a scene where the actors run down an alley which is filmed from a low angle. The last scene is a much improved version of our first rough cut, this version includes more shots in-between others, we did this because we felt for the story to make sense and for the audience to understand what is happening these shots were necessary. In this last scene we have also included a few re shots, this is because we were not happy with what we had and we felt the shots didn't fit the flow of the film so we reshot them and we were happy with how the second ones came out. We are also very happy with how the second scene down the alley turned out. We first shot that scene and were happy with what we had then realised that we were missing a vital part of our film, the bag. This was frustrating because it meant we had to go back and re shoot it all again but with the bag on. We tried to film every shot exactly the same and we feel like that was a success. In this rough cut i have removed the music we had in the first rough cut because we were never going to use that music because we are in the process of making our own and the audio clip was to short for the whole video.

What next:

The next thing we are going to do is film all our connecting shots so that everything connects and the opening makes sense because right now it is all a bit random. We also need to shoot our opening scene, we will do this when the weather is right and we have all recovered from our illnesses. I also want to experiment with colour grading and matching colours because i feel like this is a very important part to all films and would like to be able to do it successfully, i believe if it is done right then it can improve the film a lot.

All Match Cuts Rough Cut

This video is only the match cuts that we have filmed so far. When we came up with the idea of match cuts we decided that for it to make sense what they are we needed quite a few otherwise if there was only one or two the audience would be confused about what just happened and it wouldn't fit the story and just look a bit messy, so we decided it would be best to film a min of 4. I am very happy with how all our match cuts tuned out i think they look very good. In all the matching shots the actor is in almost exactly the same place as the previous shot and when the actor is running it is at the same pace which makes them look a lot smoother. There is one change that i want to make and this is on the 4th match cut, this is the black line in between the two shots, i feel like the match cut would be better is there wasn't a a border in the middle. This can be fixed easily by just dragging the clips closer together to which will remove the line.

First GoPro Footage

This is our first use of the GoPro while filming, considering we had never used a GoPro before we feel like it was a success but for a few of the shots we would like to redo just to make them a little bit better. Some of the shots are a little bit shaky but in a reshoot that can be resolved.

Point Break Analysis

Point Break

Directed by Kathryn Bigelow

Budget $24,000,000

Genre: Action, Crime, Thriller

I have decided to Analyse a scene from the Point Break, I have chosen this movie because it is in the same genre as our opening scene and i believe analysing this movie will help me with deciding shots and give my ideas for shot types in our opening scene. I have chosen the chase scene in the movie to analyse.

In this Scene there is use of multiple different shot types. This makes the film not boring to watch and variety of shot types engages the viewer more because it means they view different angles on the situation. This is something that i want to integrate into my opening scene. Some examples of different shot types in Point Break are:

Extreme Close Up

Long Shot

Medium Close Up

 Close up

The movement of the shots in this scene is often shaky camera movement, this portrays the mood of the scene, it makes the scene feel intense and gives the feeling that anything could happen, this type of camera movement is very good for a chase scene. This scene also features a lot of tracking shots, which makes the audience feel more connected to the action rather than being just a viewer far away.

There is some slow motion shots used in this scene which makes it more dramatic, this works well in this genre.

Mise-en-scene 

The location of the scene is very good, it features tight gaps and narrow alleys such as:

Our Filming Experience

We have faced multiple problems in our lead up to filming which has prevented us to from filming over the holidays. We had organised to film at the start of the holidays but because of the terrible weather this prevented us to film. The weather also caused floods in our area which meant some people were unable to get to the filming locations. We then couldn't shoot during Christmas and New Years time because some of our group were unavailable and we didn't want to do anything with someone missing because we wanted it to be a group effort. This meant that we coudnt film until the final weekend of the holidays, we were all set and ready for this shoot, it was all planned and then it got to the day and the weather let us down because there was a storm that had come over, this delayed our filming once again. We then decided that the next time to film would be after school and in free periods on Tuesday 5th, Wednesday 6th and Thursday the 7th of the first week back.

We had a plan of when to film and this was in our free periods at school and then after school, we don't have much time after school because it starts to get dark relatively quickly therefore leaving us with not a lot of time but it is still possible to get the shots we need. We have everything ready for our shoots eg call sheet, shot list and story board so it is just a case of getting out there and filming.

On the first allocated day of filming (Tuesday 5th) we went out after school to our first location, unfortunately as we got to this location we realised that we were missing a vital prop for our shoot (the bag) without the bag meant the story wouldnt make sense and it would look odd if the protagonist had a bag in one shot and not in another, it wouldnt work. So we worked around this by being able to shoot one shot (shot 15) which did not require the object, this was a succesful shot. The rain did start to come down as soon as we had filmed that shot so even if we had been able to shoot more the rain would have prohibited us to shoot much more. We decided we would come back the next day and try again. 

The next day (Wednesday 6th) we finished school and went to shoot shots 8-14, we didnt need to film shot 15 because we achieved that the following day. All the together the shoot was a success and we were happy with what we managed to get in the can. We had found out that our location was perfect for what we wanted. After the shoot when we reviewed the shots and found that for the scene to make sense we should add a few extra shots in-between this would also result in it flowing better. While filming we tried not to break the 180 degree rule and did every shot more than once so that we had a shot we were happy with. We decided that when we have time we are going to go back and film them extra shots and improve others. This day of filming was a much better experience than the previous day, we were a lot more organised and and didn't face any problems making it difficult to shoot on the day. 
Rough Cut 1 from shoot on Wednesday
Rough Cut 2 from shoot on Wednesday 

The next day on Thurdsay 7th we filmed in school in the gym. We knew what type of shots that we needed these were match cuts. We previewed this shots and found that they were a success and we were happy about what we got. Everything went smoothly and we were happy with how everything turned out.

The next day of shooting that we had planned was on Sunday 10th but the weather unexpectedly changed and it was snowing on that day so we decided it wouldn't be wise to go out and film because it would result in some shots having snow in and others not making the opening look unprofessional and careless. So we rescheduled this shoot for the following day Monday 11th. This shoot was successful and we got all the new shots that we planned and we are happy with them, we also got our first GoPro shots. There was one difficulty however, this came about as we tried to redo some shots. We arrived at the location that we last filmed these shots to be turned away by builders on the area which we previously filmed on, this was annoying because it meant that we were unable to re film these shots which was disappointing but we are hoping to go and try again when we all have time.

We previewed our footage and realised we didn't have a vital part of the film and this was the bag so we had to go back and re shoot everything. We got all the shots we needed also also some extras for match cuts and on the way back we checked our other location which we wanted to re shoot in and it was open so we decided to also re shoot them shots there. Everything that we reshot turned out exactly how we wanted it and we are now happy with how everything is turning out.

Feedback on Rough Cut 1

This was the first Rough Cut we had created so i went and got feedback from it. I felt like it was important to get feedback straight away because this meant i could alter and change things in the edit early on  without much of an issue.

I decided to try get feedback on as many different rough cuts as possible. I asked 4 people a set few questions about the rough cuts and got their advise.

Are there any improvements that you believe should be made?
Josh Beattie - There needs to be some music added to give the film more of a mood and more dramatic.
Freddie Vaughan - I think music would make it more interesting
Wendy Hey - Some music would improve it massive, i think music is one of the most important aspects to a film, so that should be added.
Beth Campbell - Music would be cool

Is there any part to the film which you enjoyed the most?
Josh Beattie - The GoPro stuff was cool, thats a bit different from whats usually on action films and i like that you are making it slightly different.
Freddie Vaughan - There were lots of different shot types which made it more interesting rather than boring.
Wendy Hey - The match cuts were  interesting and a nice touch
Beth Campbell - The match cuts really added a different effect which i liked and wasn't expecting

What would you give the music a rating out of 10?
(in rough cut one we hadnt got to the stage where there was music in our production)
Josh Beattie - N/A
Freddie Vaughan -N/A
Wendy Hey - N/A
Beth Campbell - N/A

What would you give the editing a rating out of 10?
Josh Beattie - 7
Freddie Vaughan - 7
Wendy Hey - 8
Beth Campbell - 7

What would you give the cinematography a rating out of 10?
Josh Beattie - 8
Freddie Vaughan -8
Wendy Hey - 8
Beth Campbell - 7

What would you rate the location for our film in relation to the genre out of 10?
Josh Beattie - 9
Freddie Vaughan -10
Wendy Hey - 8
Beth Campbell - 9

Were you engaged or bored while watching our film opening?
Josh Beattie -Slightly bored but that could be because of the lack of music, it just felt like it was missing something significant
Freddie Vaughan - i enjoyed it because it was fast moving
Wendy Hey - I was engaged and believe i still would be further into the movie
Beth Campbell - Its quite boring when its got no sound

Was the narrative clear in our film opening?

Josh Beattie - I didn't really understand what the match cuts were there for, like they were cool but i not understand the point
Freddie Vaughan - Bit confused about what happened at the end with the bag
Wendy Hey - The chase seemed random and no real reason for a chase to happen.
Beth Campbell - The match cuts didn't make sense

What would you rate the film opening out of 10?
Josh Beattie - 5
Freddie Vaughan - 6
Wendy Hey - 5
Beth Campbell - 7

What i have learnt from my feedback:

I have had some good feedback which will be very useful to create a better and more professional film. I think one major part of the film i will have to focus on is making sure their is a clear narrative to the film and also to make sure their is music because that is a vital part to film making and without it our film wont be half as good.

Production Diary

Below are screenshots of our production diary, it shows which days we wanted and try to film. Sometimes we could not film on days we wanted and this was because of factors we couldnt control such as the weather. But we would plan another day straight away if something got in the way.

Last Scene Rough Cuts

The first video is our first ever rough cut for our opening scene 'The Brief'. We had collected enough shots that we would make a rough cut out of what we had. Doing rough cuts is very helpful because means we can see what works and what needs to be altered and changed. We found that for this scene to flow more smoothly and make more sense that we need a few extra clips to put in-between some shots. We also found that it would be better if we re shot a couple of clips to make it look a bit more realistic. All together i am happy with this rough cut because it shows room for improvement but also is a good scene.

The first video is similar to the second there is only one slight change. The change is at the 3rd and 4th shot. In the first video the 3rd shot changes when the protagonist runs out of shot and it changed to shot 4 and this shot starts the protagonist running onto screen. We changed this in the second video so that the 3rd shot changes when the antagonist runs off screen and then the 4th starts when the antagonist runs on. We did this because we felt that it works better with the timing of the shots.

When reviewing these rough cuts we have picked a couple of shots that we wont to re shoot. One of these is shot 3. We feel like it doesn't work that well when the antagonist jumps over the wall and it doesn't look realistic.  The second shot we want to redo is shot 5. This is because the shot is not in focus and the acting could be better. 

The extra shots that want to incorporate are a shot in between 4 and 5 were the antagonist walks up to the bag before looking in, we feel this shot is essential and will make the flow of the scene a lot smoother, it will also make it easier for the audience to understand whats happening. The other extra shot we want will be the second to last of the scene and will feature the antagonist. It will be a medium close up so that we can see the emotions of the actor, we want to portray to the audience that the antagonist is very annoyed and angry about what has just happened.

The music for this rough cut is non diegetic sound. I found some action music on the internet which gave me permission to use, this music will not be used in the final cut because we are making our own music on garage band but for now i have used this as a replacement  

Analysis of films in our genre

Point Break Analysis

Spectre Analysis

Casino Royal Analysis

The Brief: Screenplay

The protagonist is seen stood central in the frame at a high angle and extreme long shot.In a crowd of people in a busy urban area. There is non-diegetic heartbeat audio that builds suspense. The camera zooms in frame by frame in time with the heartbeats to the protagonists hand - who is holding a bag. 

The protagonist raises his hand to his ear as if he is receiving information through an earpiece. A non-diegetic woman's voice is heard.

The Woman: Agent Cross? Agent Cross, an enemy hostile 6 o'clock. Get back to HQ now!

Protagonist drops his hand and non-diegetic fast paced music begins. The protagonist sprints towards an alleyway with the unrevealed antagonist following closely behind. There is a low angle shot of the protagonist sprinting towards the camera, as he sprints over the camera and passes the camera, it cuts to him sprinting away from the camera in a different location and in training form.

The chase continues to a large field where a first person camera will be filming from the antagonists point of view with the protagonist a few metres ahead. A steady tracking shotof the protagonists feet with a shallow depth of field to still keep the antagonist in narrative enigma.

The protagonist jumps and climbs a wall where it match cuts to a wide armed pull up in a gym scenario with a shallow depth of field. The protagonist gets cornered in a industrial area and there is an extreme close up, shot reverse shot between the two character's facial expressions. The protagonist drops the bag and as the bag hits the floor the screen goes black for a second. The antagonist looks in the bag, then looks up slowly, moving from the camera in the bag to a go pro (first person camera) and realises the protagonist has fled, it then cuts to a close up of the protagonist looking over his shoulder while on the bridge above the train station, with the camera stopping and watching the protagonist walking away over the bridge.





Source: http://westgatefilms.blogspot.co.uk 

Call Sheet

Following on from our shot list, here is our call sheet...

• 15th shot

• 8th shot

• 10th shot

• 11th shot

• 12th shot

• 13th shot

• 14th shot

• 1st shot

• 2nd shot

• 3rd shot

• 4th shot

• 5th shot

• 6th shot

• 7th shot

The reason I have chosen to film the clips in this order is because it is easier in relation to locations and timings for us, as shot 8-15 are all shot in a similar area. We have already got the 15th shot which is why that has been placed first. Shots 1, 2, are in the same location



Source: http://shottype.blogspot.co.uk