Editing

Amina is putting our footage on the hard-drive and then will start editing the first part of our teen film. This is the time to start sifting through our footage to see which ones a good and which ones need to be re-filmed. 

Filming Session 1

Filming session 3

Today was our last full day of filming before we hand our camera back into college tomorrow. I felt that the filming today went very well, as we explored a range of shot types (including the all important close up), which I think displays our filming skills. The main focus of today was to re-film our main character arriving on a bus to come to college, and she is wearing the important scarf, as on the first day of filming it did not go as well as we wanted. We also filmed other characters arriving at college via the underground

This photo was taken when we were shooting the surrounding area and the station from different distances and angles.

As you can see there is the important scarf and this is when we were filming our student getting off of the bus from different angles (remembering to keep in mind the 180 degree rule).

Finally this is the bus stop that we were filming at and our character got off from. 

I am currently happy with the way our filming has been progressing but its not completely finished. When watching some of our previous footage back, I found that it was not completely up to scratch and it could be better - so this is something we can work on before editing. 

Filming session 2

The second day of filming was the most eventful for me, as it was an experience to drench myself in fake blood. Though it was a messy procedure (blood dripped all around the college floor) and a smelly one, it was also very very fun to do!

These are some of the photos taken from the filming session: 

This was a fellow group member filming the titling shot of myself covered in blood.

As at the end of the film opening, you see the person covered in blood, holding a bloody knife (which you can see in the shot) and the young girls scarf (which is just out of shot in my left hand).

This was the moment where I had to smear blood all over my arms, which left a horrible smell and was very cold. However in true sportsmanship, this added to the intensity of the filming and looked very realistic.

What to do next? 

From this point onward, I feel very confident with the rest of the filming because there is not much left to do. However, to link this to a previous post of 'hints on framing', I feel with regards to filming we need to include a bigger variety of shots, not forgetting the much important close-up.

Filming session 1

The first day of filming was interesting to say the least! It was exciting to get out there in public and make our teen film opening come to life!! We focused mainly on the beginning shots out in the surrounding area on this day.

These were just a selection of the first day filming photos.

This is when we were setting up the camera and tripod, ready for our main character to get off of the bus and arrive into college. 

The public seemed quite interested in what we were filming, and on occasions I had to reassure them that we were not filming them and it was all for educational purposes... All in a media students days work! 

Finally we felt to help with editing, it was best to film our character getting off the bus from a different angles. This will make our film opening more interesting. 

Handy hints on FRAMING before filming

During a class activity, I watched a video on handy tips for framing. This was very helpful in preparing for the filming to come, as it gave me an idea of how the different shots will be framed in the locations. As there were over 10 tips, I felt it was best to whittle it down to the most important ones that I want to share with you all. Most of the tips I heard are ones that I already knew from previous filming preparation, however it was nice to get a refresh.

So let the countdown commence:

5) Have actors walk in and out of the frame - this will help when it comes to editing!

4) Generally shoot at eye level but you can experiment with high and low angles to illustrate the status of a character.

3) Avoid zooming!!! This will disorientate your audience and give anyone watching your film a headache.

2) From previous coursework feedback, it is generally found that students never use enough close-up and extreme close-up shots. Remember you can never use enough of them!!

1) And finally, there should never ever be any head space!!!!

I hope these tips help you, as well as it helped me before being the filming!

The process of making the fake blood- Independent post

The process of making the fake blood for our Teen Film Opening was messy to say the least. Never the less it was a fun and eventful experience and I felt that it would be interesting for all the viewers to see.

If you feel like spooking your parents and making your own mess in your kitchen, then the ingredients for the fake blood are: Golden Cyrup, Corn flour, water, and food colouring. For added darkness, I'd advice you to leave it overnight because we had a lovely suprise back in college in the morning.

  

 Remember to be careful with the ingredients as mum won't be very happy to find her kitchen in a mess, but rest assured all the ingredients are edible (try it if you dare) and it will come off of your clothes in the wash. The final product was a nice suprise as it looked more realistic than I'd imagined it to be.

 

Now we're all prepared and have our costume and props in hand, theres one thing left to say... let the filming commence!!!

Changes made to project in light of pitch feedback

Overall we found that the pitch feedback was beneficial and we later made simple changes to our presentation, including the accessiblity of the blood, the story board and the budget.

After we spent time making our fake blood, we splattered it all across our white top to create the bloody costume. This was successful as it looks realistic.

We have also brainstormed names for our title and will get audience feedback to find out which is the most popular one.

Media Pitch feedback

When we presented our Media Pitch, the feedback we got was to create a full and improved storyboard which we have done, as you can see in the updated post 'Final planning project: storyboard'.

We were also asked about our budget and whether all the props and clothing are within our budget. We later came to the conclusion that all our bought items came to a price of £5 which was substantially below our budget of £10 - knocking off 50% .

From the Q & A, fellow peers asked whether or not the amount of gore we wanted to produce was within reach, and we found that it was, illustrating that it was simple and very easy to make the fake blood by following the simple steps in the recipe. These are some photos of our production process:

Overall the main part of the feedback we came across was the problem of thinking about our name title, which we are now brainstorming and thinking about ideas.

Media Pitch