The filming!- Sophey Sommers

The filming went well, Artemis and myself did a good job just being two of us; it was hard work trying to do the lighting and having ( sorry to say) the worst equipment in the world. 

We had to re-shoot everything, because we where given a different camera last minute. 

I am really disappointed with the whole equipment thing; on our first time shooting it went really well the camera and most of the other equipment was great, it’s just a shame we had to use a bad camera.

Sound- Sophey Sommers

My research for an appropriate sound track

Recently I have been watching films/ youtube/ short films, and listening to there sound track. Here are a few of them:

Spiderwick chronicles

I listened to the first few seconds and it has a slow beginning it made me question what the mood and atmosphere was, it started slow and light, it then had a dramatic change, scary, dark and atmospheric. I think it is perfect for our short film, it would create mystery and enigma codes for the viewer along wit the motion film.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUnmKJb99Jo&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvAL79Txhiw&feature=related

Confusion remorse light chimes create a sincere mood. Violins creepy drums reputations keep a scary pace

Edward scissorhand

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2oDSEkNV8w&feature=related

Gentile, light, emotional. 

Big fish

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8UbXXkB60A&feature=fvst

8.13- 9.54 ;

The music picks up pace, I thought this would be good for our ending where she finally finds him after all the years, it will show her relief, all the heart ache and loss can be put behind her and she can finally be with her son.

The background music will pick up when she goes through the door and he is standing staring at her.

Corpse bride

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

some songs on my ipod fit the the criteria;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2BudsKiFSs&feature=fvst

What i lernt from last year- sophey sommers

When starting this new project I had steps I needed to change to make a better and professional outcome.
Last year our short film, wasn’t the best, it had bad editing, sound, lighting and clumsy camera work.
This year, I want to concentrate on a better outcome, by doing this I intend to, become better at editing, learning how to use final cut and work on a sound track that suits our particular short film.
I also what to learn new and inventive camera work.
With the lighting from our fist piece, it was dark and sepia looking, that I think was by accident, but it was laziness that we didn’t change it.
With the new project, I hope our group can work to gather to create the right look for the time period.
in the first project our title sequence was quite good, it fitted with our genre, this time We have thought about a very complex title sequence, but I’m sure we will be able to do best to our ability.

Shots we learnt from - Jenny & Artemis

Last week we shot 2 scenes and then edited the footage together. I think what worked well was the fact we had a lot of footage to work with and had a variety of angles, shots etc. However because of the time period we are setting it in, there has to be a lot of work put into the props and setting etc. Unfortunately we missed out a few things like fire extuinguishers that were on the wall and small things like that that broke up the continuity and showed it wasn't in the 1930's - 40's. We are going to need to film some of these shots again.

We think that this shot was particularly successful because the high angle enables the audience to see the setting and because it's quite big it creates a sombre atmosphere. 

We also like this shot however there is a lack of continuity with the radio because in this shot it's at the side yet in the next shot it's by the window. We also didn't think about the fire extinguisher which they wouldn't have had in those days. However we do like the dark lighting and the fact that a silhouette was created because this carries on the eery ambience. Also the cinematography worked well because the long shot showed off the big hallway and emphasized the atmosphere. 

This shot was quite bad because in it we can see the scaffolding which wouldn't have been present in the 1930's - 40's. We also managed to cut off the top of the female characters head so  the framing was unsuccessful. 
Next time we go to re shoot this luckily all of the paint and scaffolding will be gone so hopefully it will be easier to reshoot. 
We will also keep an extra eye out for things like fire extinguishers and any other objects that might affect the continuity and were not in that time period. 
What also needs improving is the lighting in some of the shots. In many cases it was too dark and this was because we were only all available to film in the evening. Seeing as half term is coming up we are going to be able to shoot during the day.

LIGHTING - Artemis

• We have decided for the most part that we want to work with the natural light in each setting, however this could cause silhouettes so we are going to use portable lighting . In the main hall area, there are quite a few windows and its very spacious so it should be quite bright. 
• We may need to use a bit of lighting when it becomes dark because even though we want the darkness to represent the bad news ahead and create a solemn atmosphere we still need to see the action!
• For the attic scene we do need to use lighting because there is much of a light source so a big torch or maybe even a red head. We will use a diffuser as well to ensure it all looks natural. 

One of the films we are looking too for ideas was Atonement. We like how the lighting is quite bright and a bit de-saturated. It creates a sense of realism and matches with the time period and costumes etc. This picture below is the kind of light and airy ambiance we want to create for the daytime scenes before Benjamin goes to the hospital. 
The image above is the kind of low lighting we like. It highlights the female character and expression because the light hits her face just slightly and the male character is standing in the shadowy background. We were thinking about doing this for when Myrtle finds out Benjamin has died. The scene will still be dark but at the same time enable the audience to focus on her emotion.

REPRESENTATION - Artemis

Our film is going to be set in the 1930's so we need to take into account how women and men were represented in those days. 

• The dominant ideology was that women were very much 2nd class citizens to men and society didn't accept the working mother - only the working spinster. 
• Society's expectation was that a woman's only goal in life was to marry, reproduce, cook and clean. This was reinforced by images in the media of women doing households jobs with a smile on their faces. 
• This is why we have decided to have the Father character, George make the heartbreaking decision of sending his son away to a mental institution and pretending he had died. Women in this time period didn't have much of a voice and this represents that. 
• The Mother character, Myrtle will also be seen as the stereotypical housewife and we will make this clear by having her cooking and cleaning and being at the house all the time whereas George will be absent for some scenes and it will be assumed that that is because he is at work.

SOUND - Artemis

The non-diegetic sound for a film enhances and adds the atmosphere of whats going on in the moving image.

To create a stillness and add to the devastating atmosphere we have decided that a slow piece of music should be for the non-diegetic sound. We looked at several films which have the same sort of strong narratives and are set in different time periods and not in the present to get ideas. 

Atonement was one of those films. It is a romantic drama with a sad ending which is set in the 1930's, so it sort of relates to our film and what were trying to portray.

This piece called 'Elegy For Dunkirk' is played in Atonement. It's very sad and slow - it builds up slightly in areas and creates this emotional ambiance. We thought a sound similar to this would be perfect for some of the more distressing scenes like the scene where Myrtle finds out her son has died and then the shots of her crying and packing up Benjamin's things.

 'Liz on top of the world' is from the film Pride and Prejudice. I like the way it starts of quite quietly and slowly and builds up. This one doesn't have that hint of gloominess to it but I can see it linking in quite nicely and fitting to that time period. Something like this would be good for the scenes we have in mind of the young boy Benjamin playing in the garden because we want to create this happy yet mysterious atmosphere. By building up the soundtrack it increases the tension and indicates something isn't right which is what were looking for. 

This piece 'The Living Sculptures' is also from Pride and Prejudice but it much more gradual. I can imagine this piece creating a sort of eerie atmosphere and enhancing the grief of the scene where Myrtle is crying in her chair and then packing up Benjamin's belongings - I really think a sound like this would be great in helping us create this heartbroken ambience and almost desolate atmosphere. 

For the scene where Benjamin will be playing in the garden our ambient sound will include birds and wind because he will be outside. Because most of the other scenes will be shot inside and things like TV's and washing machines etc. won't have been invented there wont be any additional sound added to the original footage. It will only be the diegetic sound that we hear like the dialogue. 

We've thought about getting our soundtrack either through garage band or through recording sopheys sister play the piano because she's really good. 

Film Posters- Jenny Allan

Here are a couple of film posters we are studying that connects with our film in either sound or story line:-

The Lost Prince, 2003, Stephen Poliakoff : This film is set around the same time period as we are filming ours in, just before the World War, the boy is diagnosed with epilepsy and having learning disabilities the boy becomes isolated from his family. However, his mother is very loving but finds it difficult to connect with her son. 

This film is very similar to ours which is were we got our initial idea from. We want to reach the audiences emotions like this film did. The poster however, is something that I wouldn't want to use for the film we are making, maybe include all the characters and have the most important prop in there somewhere.