Moving Image Evaluation

For this project we were put into groups & given specific roles for the short film. A script was also given to us - ours being "Herds" I was given the role of Assistant Director.

The basic storyline is that a man unknown to what reason he does it - walks about, knocking on people's doors and entering their house like he knows them. They are unsure how to react but him entering & he then proceeds to eating their food in the house.

We changed it slightly in the fact that Agnew is cooking a romantic meal for his girlfriend when Monty knocks on the door. Agnew is portrayed as a very weak character who doesn't know how to handle the fact a strange man is in his home. Monty is very upfront & confident - he drinks the wine & food Agnew prepared. We changed the script as well as it is actually Agnew who lives his own house & lives Monty alone.

My main ideas and intentions that I was trying to express in the project were: That we had been given a script & had interpreted it in our own way as a group – it may not have been how the creator of the script wanted it to be read but how we produced it into a film is how we saw it as a script. Wanted to express the idea that there was something wrong with “Monty” – it’s clearly not normal to do what he was doing but wanted the audience to have their own idea of why he did it. Was he mad, sick, rude? We wanted to create a strong character but at the same time not give too much away about him as a person.

The methods I use to develop my ideas were: (brainstorming, , visual research, storyboards etc) I have blogged all my methods since starting this project that developed my ideas. Being assistant director, I felt this was quite an important part of my role – to keep the group organised. WE created a group blog so we could always blog ideas & updates about our film and give feedback to each other on how well we thought it would work. At the start of the project I created a brainstorm and storyboard – which have changed slightly but this gave us a good insight to the idea we had to follow which made it a lot easier on the day of filming. Me, Joe & Harry also researched into quite a lot of film clips to get inspiration for shot & angle ideas. “Hot Fuzz” with the quick edit gave a tense atmosphere which is what we also wanted to create – so we have adapted this into the start of our film. We also had a seminar about lighting which helped when coming to film as without the lights it does make a big difference on how good the final piece looks. Posters for our film were created in a seminar.

I took a risk by trying something new. (Explain): Normally when working in a group we don’t have roles we are all expected to do the same. I feel having roles & being assistant director did give me more of a chance to suggest my ideas more than I have done in past situations. I liked the role of having to be organised & not just stepping into the background. Although some of the ideas I suggested we didn’t use in the film, we did try them to find they didn’t work very well. For example, Agnew is cooking a dinner for his girlfriend & I suggested her & Monty walking past each other on the stairs when he leaves but it didn’t really fit into what we had filmed already & looked a bit out of place.


Some of the unexpected problems I had to solve while working were: I think at the start of the project we all really had our minds set on the film & did a schedule for what needed to doing & by when. Then we kept putting off filming and in the end when we finally decided on a day to film – our actors couldn’t do that day. The lighting was quite difficult, either too dark or too bright but after a while we did manage to set it to the correct balance. Working in a group is always hard as sometimes people don’t turn up to seminars or can’t make it which was slightly frustrated when we wanted to edit our footage to find the editor wasn’t there.

The decisions and choices I made to help solve these problems were: We improvised on the actors and used Mark & Joe in our group – which doesn’t make the film as effective as it could be. Our group did communicate well through Facebook and texting and we would try and say if we couldn’t make it and then we could do something instead to make up for missing what had been done. For example Harry said he would take charge of finding actors but he then had to go home that weekend so I said I would do it, it wasn’t a problem to have to do it as Harry had let me know in plenty of time.

The things I have learnt from this particular project were: (Specific examples should be cited.) Although it was only a 3 minute film, it takes a lot of work and equipment to make a really good effective final piece. On the first day of filming we thought we could get away without using lights & looking at the footage afterwards it looked pretty bad, it made such a difference when the lighting was used. We have used dialogue which is recorded on the camera and sound effects such as wine being opened, water boiling and plates being used on the microphone and the quality of the sound is a lot better on the microphone. It does take a lot more effort to do it but its better in the long run as the quality of the film when doing it properly makes it so much better. For a 3 minute film we had about 2 hours worth of shots & although we didn’t use a lot of them, I’m glad they were filmed because if we hadn’t of had the right shot it would have been nearly impossible to re shoot it trying to get the same lighting as the previous footage.

Areas for improvement , If I were to do this project again I would change or do differently: I have really enjoyed this project and the group I worked within made me enjoy it. I think if I could do it again I would like to have a different role. I did like being assistant director but I would also like editor, sound or camera in which I could actually get involved and not just give ideas of how to hold the camera but actually be able to do it myself. We have still got the original footage so I may do my own edit of the film to add to my presentation as well as the group edit. I also think the theme and genre is a bit vivid, it is suppose to be a thriller but I think it lacks a little bit in some of the conventions so is also quite hard to pin point a specific audience for the film. I would improve this to make it stronger.

A new project that might grow out of my experience maybe: I liked the fact we got given a script and only had that to work from, if I did choose moving image as my pathway I would like to do adverts/commercials. So could perhaps look at scripts online for adverts that have been produced and film them how I think they should be interpreted to the audience.

Slumdog Millionaire

Today in Phil's seminar we watched a scene on editing from the opening of "Slumdog Millionaire." I've never seen the film before so decided to go home & watch it. I thought it was such a good film & the storyline was brilliant. I also enjoyed how it had the set theme that everything you do really does happen for a reason.

Edited Versions Of Herds

First Edit:





Not quite finished yet so comments would be appreciated! negative & positive :)

Some Photos From Film Shoot..

Update On Film "Herds"

We are planning to film tomorrow, Sam is cameraman & has sorted the hire for it all as has Naomi for lights. Naomi has also recored sound on the microphone such as pasta boiling, wine being opened & plates being used. I have produced a storyboard which I am still yet to upload. Have blogged the script already but was quite a while ago so will again:

1 EXT. DOORSTEP. NIGHT 1
TITLE: Herds
Knocking on the door MONTY skips from foot to foot
As AGNEW opens the door Monty slips past him, entering
MONTY
Bloody hell you took your time. It's a bit
quiet though better be early than be late,
never got into the fashionably late bullshit
did you?
AGNEW
Who are you here for?
MONTY
No reason we can't crack these open though is
there?
Monty holds the bag up and clinks the bottles together
2 INT. KITCHEN. NIGHT 2
Monty and Agnew sit at the table. They are drinking beer
MONTY
Not alot in the way of snacks at this party
AGNEW
Is there a party? Lads don't tell me
anything. Had work after lectures so...
MONTY
Where is everybody else?
2.
AGNEW
I'll text them now. Are you a mate of Johnny
then?
MONTY
Don't know Johnny
AGNEW
Billy's mate?
AGNEW
Never been friends with anyone called Billy.
On principle
AGNEW
Prior?
MONTY
Would love a sandwich. Love it. You got any
ham?
Monty crosses to the fridge/cupboard and spends the new few moments
making a sandwich
AGNEW
Do we know each other?
Monty crosses and shakes hands
MONTY
Monty
AGNEW
Agnew
Monty sits and eats his sandwich
AGNEW
Well I think someone's having you on Monty
MONTY
Having me on?
3.
AGNEW
Told you there's a party and sent you this
address
MONTY
You got any salad cream? I couldn't find any
AGNEW
But there isn't a party
MONTY
Or mustard?
AGNEW
And we don't know who you are
Monty sits and chews, and chews, and chews
3 EXT. DOORSTEP. NIGHT 3
Agnew holds the door open and Monty exits
4 EXT. STREET. NIGHT 4
Monty stares down the street. He is looking at houses
5 EXT. DOORSTEP. NIGHT 5
Monty knocks on the door. SHARPY opens it. Monty holds up his carrier
bag of beer
MONTY
Bloody hell you took your time
The END

The basic storyline is that a man unknown to what reason he does it - walks about, knocking on people's doors and entering their house like he knows them. They are unsure how to react but him entering & he then proceeds to eating their food in the house.

We have changed it slightly in the fact that Agnew is cooking a romantic meal for his girlfriend when Monty knocks on the door. Agnew is portrayed as a very weak character who doesn't know how to handle the fact a strange man is in his home. Monty is very upfront & confident - he drinks the wine & food Agnew prepared. We change the script as well as it is actually Agnew who lives his own house & lives Monty alone.

Joe found this clip from "Sexy Beast"

This the sort of relationship that we want between the charcters, one is clearly in control and superior, whilst the other is terrified in his own home.

We found actors and although they were able to film for one day for us the day we had all the equipment ready - camera, lights, etc - they couldn't film so we have had to improvise & use Mark & Joe from our group instead. It won't be as an effective short film without the actors but it's better than nothing. All props have been brought & are at the location - such as wine, candles, wine glasses, pasta & a huge clock.

For our title sequence we are going to have overlayed digital text, we will have this over the top of the slow shots at the start of the film which show Monty making his way to the flat. We will cut back and forth between Monty and Agnew, Monty shots will be all about the sound and the detail establishing that he is making dinner, we dont want any text here because we want the focus to be on the sound, when we cut to Monty the shots will be slower and darker and this is where we will place our titles, we are hoping to find some good music to overlay to this part of our film. After looking at anumber of title sequences Deborah suggested this one Joe found as he really liked how it remains dark throughout and thinks our title would work well like this with the right music.




We have left filming later than the other groups in our seminars but I think we have planned well & have everything ready for day of filming.

Group Name: Ntu Dolmio Day - due to eating a lot of pasta when filming :)

We are also updating our group blog with ideas http://herdsfilm.blogspot.com/

Poster For Herds

Today in Phil's seminar we had ten minutes to produce a poster for our Film "Herds."

All of my groups were pretty good & Harry's won out of the class for being the best & he won dvds & cinema tickets hahaa. Here are all of my groups as I think we should use one of them for our final design.

My design:

Harry:

Naomi:

Joe:

Sam:

Started Filming :)

Yesterday we started filming scenes for our film. We did the starting scene in which the audience can see Agnew preparing dinner and Monty walking - although his identity isn't yet revealed. We wanted to create a fast paced edit to create tension - like the scenes from "Hot Fuzz" & "Shaun Of The Dead"...

(Embedding disabled)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAGr4oOyOc0&feature=related

Our cooking scene looked a little similar to these shots:

Colour & Light

Today in our seminar we did some work on lighting. We were told to create a dark atmosphere for an interview:

                                 

Film Update...

Our planning for film is coming on well :) hoping to film early next week.

Risk Assessment:

Also think we have one definate actor & a maybe which is good :)

Have a seminar today with Debs where we get get all our storyboard ideas put together & upload it.

:)

Film Seminar

Today we had a seminar with Deb in which we did a little about storyboards and what one needs to have - shots used, what's happening in the shot, lighting, transition to next shot etc. We decided Jo will do our storyboard with input from rest of the group.

We then created a groupblog - http://herdsfilm.blogspot.com/
where we can all blog ideas / updates. We then made a plan of what needs to be done, when by and also props needed:

Pitching Our Idea

Today we pitched our idea for our short film "herds" to Phil & the rest of the group. We changed the script abit in which instead of Monty going in and eating a sandwich, we now have Agnow making a romantic dinner for his girlfriend - who is yet to arrive & Monty eats / drinks the food being prepared for her.

We are keeping our story interesting mainly by the character of Monty. We don't want to give too much away about him - is he mad, homeless, sick or rude? We want the audience to have their own interpretation of him.

Tomorrow we are planning our props, location etcccccc :)

Short Film Example

Low budget short film we watched in todays seminar:

First Seminar For Film.. :)

Just had a seminar with Phil for moving image. We were put into our groups, given our roles & script.

6 People in my group

Harry: Producer
Joe: Director
Me: Assistant Director
Mark: Editor
Sam: Camera
Naomi: Sound & Lighting.


An assistant director (AD) is a person who helps the filmmaker in the making of a movie or television show. The duties of an AD include setting the shooting schedule, tracking daily progress against the filming production schedule, arranging logistics, preparing daily call sheets, checking the arrival of cast and crew, maintaining order on the set, rehearsing cast, and directing extras. Extended responsibilities may include taking care of health and safety of the crew. Historically the role of an assistant to the director (not the same as an Assistant director) was a stepping stone to directing work; Alfred Hitchcock was an AD, as was James McTeigue. This transition into film directing is no longer common in feature films, but remains an avenue for television work, particularly in Australia and Britain. It is more common now for ADs to transition to production management and producer roles than to directing. The role of AD has also expanded to become a separate technical profession.


We were given the script of "Herds."

1 EXT. DOORSTEP. NIGHT 1
TITLE: Herds
Knocking on the door MONTY skips from foot to foot
As AGNEW opens the door Monty slips past him, entering
MONTY
Bloody hell you took your time. It's a bit
quiet though better be early than be late,
never got into the fashionably late bullshit
did you?
AGNEW
Who are you here for?
MONTY
No reason we can't crack these open though is
there?
Monty holds the bag up and clinks the bottles together
2 INT. KITCHEN. NIGHT 2
Monty and Agnew sit at the table. They are drinking beer
MONTY
Not alot in the way of snacks at this party
AGNEW
Is there a party? Lads don't tell me
anything. Had work after lectures so...
MONTY
Where is everybody else?
2.
AGNEW
I'll text them now. Are you a mate of Johnny
then?
MONTY
Don't know Johnny
AGNEW
Billy's mate?
AGNEW
Never been friends with anyone called Billy.
On principle
AGNEW
Prior?
MONTY
Would love a sandwich. Love it. You got any
ham?
Monty crosses to the fridge/cupboard and spends the new few moments
making a sandwich
AGNEW
Do we know each other?
Monty crosses and shakes hands
MONTY
Monty
AGNEW
Agnew
Monty sits and eats his sandwich
AGNEW
Well I think someone's having you on Monty
MONTY
Having me on?
3.
AGNEW
Told you there's a party and sent you this
address
MONTY
You got any salad cream? I couldn't find any
AGNEW
But there isn't a party
MONTY
Or mustard?
AGNEW
And we don't know who you are
Monty sits and chews, and chews, and chews
3 EXT. DOORSTEP. NIGHT 3
Agnew holds the door open and Monty exits
4 EXT. STREET. NIGHT 4
Monty stares down the street. He is looking at houses
5 EXT. DOORSTEP. NIGHT 5
Monty knocks on the door. SHARPY opens it. Monty holds up his carrier
bag of beer
MONTY
Bloody hell you took your time
The END


The script is how we interpret Monty as a person, is he lonely, mad, sick, rude?