Friday 4th December 2009!

The Big Evaluation Part 3
Part 3 is about creative tools oooo :) !

Well the technology we used was so high tech it took a while to get used to it. However because we did all the mini projects before, i say we learnt from it and ended up editing 'The Silent Pool' really well.
What we used were digital cameras-to film the sequence and IMovieHD-which was to edit the movie. We didn't use any lighting equipment as we filmed in broad daylight, so we wanted to use that lighting even if we were going to edit it into black and white. We made sure that we did to it in broad daylight to ensure we didn't have to get caught up in the hassle of using special lighting.



I thought because of the facilities we were given such as IMovieHD, it enabled us to edit the sequence to perfection. I also think the best thing was if you made a mistake, we could dig out the original from the trash-which we needed to use a lot ;). However there was the first scene where there was Will standing and people walking around him. We wanted to make this like a really fast moving sequence with Will just standing there looking forward, we had the image in our heads but the power of IMovieHD couldn't make that vision happen! However i liked how the end result turned out and it looked like it was our own little production message like you have at a start of any film...i loved that effect.

Part 4 next :)

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Friday 4th December 2009!

The Big Evaluation Part 2!
Part 2...Is all about Professional Practice!

I would have to say that with everyone that was in the group, even if it were the actors and the directors, producers etc (well the last 2 are Jess, Ollie and Me)...anyway i would say that everyone that helped out created our film, and made it work. But that wasn't all that was done to create this piece. My media group that produced this film, worked together to meet the deadlines, producing a time sheet every media lesson to get the work done, and we also set ourselves goals to finish the film production by a certain date, and we did, so working with a group that have the same mind set as me helped, as we got along with it and it worked.

Our film wasn't majorly dangerous. So the health and safety rules were limited, just wear warm clothes. However we had to be careful for the death scene, so that i wouldn't actually be drowned in the river, so i had to explain to Will what i wanted him to do and to limit the amount of force that could be used, to what would look effective for the film, he listened and produced a very good death scene...so thank you Will for not drowning me!
The people who were in the film, i thank them so much, our film wouldn't be what it was if it wasn't for them. What we did was, we worked out when every ones free's were so we could get filming, but because some had them at different times, we did it in enrichment, they didn't moan when we needed them so I'm happy i worked with such nice people. I also thank Imogen's mum and Jess's dad for taking us to Britons Pond, as we didn't know how to get there, they took us at the last minute, so i thank them very much also.
We worked out who we wanted in the film as soon as we knew what the project was. So we wrote down their names and asked them if they wanted to be in it, they agreed and we went off to film. We used limited amount of props as we didn't want them to carry anything, so all we used were bags for the camping scene, a phone to get disconnected from the outside world (which was mine) and a laptop which was at Jess's house, for the facebook scene. So it was easy to look after them as they were our own possessions and we wouldn't want to lose them, so it was easy to keep an eye on them. Everyone wore what they did to College that day, and they were warm clothes so they didn't need to change anything. We took location shots of where we wanted to film, so we knew what parts we needed to film and where, and these helped us to set the scene in our heads.



The storyboards helped us so much, as we had the images that we had in our heads drawn in the storyboard, so we could see our ideas on paper, which made a visualised impression of 'The Silent Pool' however we had to remember what we had down as we forgot to bring it on the day of filming, but luckily we remembered most of it. It was the same with the script, as we forgot to bring that as well, however we remembered it again but changed the wording around so it wouldn't seem so staged, and some of the people dropped out so it was quite good how we didn't rely on the script, and it looked like they were being genuine in their emotions from what they were saying.
We managed our time well as we worked together. An example could be when Ollie was in a production and needed to rehearse, Jess and Me went to film my death scene and then the next lesson we showed Ollie and worked out what to edit, i think it shows good team work how we can react well with each others problems, and still co-operate together to get the right amount done. We also stayed in at lunch times and after school to work on the editing, which helped to move the progress along. All the time that we managed and spent on the production worked and i think we produced a really good opening sequence!

Part 3....nexttt!

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Wednesday 2rd December 2009!

The Big Evaluation Part 1!
Part 1 is to do with question 1 about reworking the familiar!

At a micro, technical level when we edited the film, we observed our conventions. What we did to edit our film was a fade out to show an extended period of time elapsing, this was to make continuity flow easily and to show audiences when time had passed, which was a main goal of ours. Even though this was to show continuity our plot was also non linear as it jumped from scene to scene, like in a film we watched based on our growing knowledge of the different film genres. The film that had a non linear plot was Memento and we liked the idea of that film, so we used that aspect.

What we did to create the language of the film was to use eery music to create tension and mystery, to make the audience feel out of place, we also used the element of jump cut to show the shady character looking over the group, we did this again to create mystery and an abnormal atmosphere. The structure of our film helped to make it seem real, like it would happen in real life. It followed on from what was said in the last scene such as Jess saying ''I'll send you a facebook email about it'' then the next scene cut to that facebook email, it shows a modern take on a mystifying sequence, and adds to the affect of the shady character looking over that same email! Also the death of myself in the film continues with a shot of the shady character holding onto my head about to drown me, and then a shot of just my feet dragging along and then the scene when you see the dead body lying against a tree, this shows the death and isolation of the heroine.

Throughout the production of the film, we made a few mistakes. The worst was not bringing the script to the location, so we had to make the words up as we went along. This actually helped in a way as it didn't seem staged and looked like the characters were really saying what they felt. We also forgot the scene shots, so we had to go by memory of what we wrote down, luckily we all remembered some of the sequence, and once we did one it linked onto the other, and we knew that we could edit them and put it in the right sequence so we weren't that worried about that part. I would say because of our Preliminary Task it helped us progress with our Main and final task. I say this because it helped us recognise the shot angles such as match on action and shot reverse shot, and from the errors that were produced in that, it helped us widen our knowledge on what was right, so we looked at the possibilities and stuck to the basics, to make the film feel real and easy to understand.



At a Macro level, the location of our film really set the conventions of a thriller/horror genre, as it symbolised isolation and destruction as so many bad things can happen in the woods on a camping trip. The characterisation also played a part in the sense of isolation, this was shown by the way the characters acted and how they reacted off each other such as myself being lead off to find my phone as i lost it in the film. I would say that this film does live up to the contractual nature of the film genre as it shows the suspense that draws the audience in, it does this by seeing the shady character standing behind the tree and makes the audience ponder on what is going to happen next, and the genre Thriller hybrid Horror wants to achieve that goal, as does my group.
We deliberately changed the film by editing it to make it different from the Thriller/Horror genre as we wanted to make it contrast to what you would normally see in the cinema. The difference was the editing, it didn't make it seem real as it was in black and white and some of the scenes had the earthquake effect which looked shaky and unreal, we used this effect for the shady character, to show something was not right with him/her. Again we took away the idea of a non-linear plot from Memento and put our own spin on it, but we changed the continuity of it by fading out, not cutting to a different scene, but we did jump cut the scenes for the death scenes.
I wouldn't really say there was any reference to any other films, however i would say the element of isolation was taken from the film 'The Strangers', I thought about how they could feel they are not alone in the woods and in 'The Strangers' the couple also knew they weren't alone but on a larger scale, they saw it upfront but the characters in our film knew something wasn't right by their missing friends. So i guess we did take on the idea of isolation from 'The Strangers' but on a minimum scale.
I have to say that we really wanted to please the audience and make them feel out of place when they watched the film. We weren't as such trying to make them scared, but we wanted them to realise that the people weren't going to be alone, and we gave hints out during the beginning, with the shady character looking at the facebook email, so the audience would figure out that this person isn't part of the group of friends. I feel pretty confident about the film and how people will be affected. When we got reviews from the other classmates they all said they enjoyed the film, and they thought that our editing MADE the film what it was, so i was proud it did this.

Part 2.....next!

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