Monday 4 January 2010
A2 Short Film Jan 2010
This is the final piece of work that we have created for the A2 Media Coursework. It features a short film about a young girl going through hard ships. Overall, I am pleased with the way the film turned out and have learnt numerous things about the proccess of making an entire film. For a more detailed evaluation please follow the labels to evaulation questions 1 through 4. All other portions of pre-production, production, and post production can be found under the labels on the right.
Sunday 13 December 2009
Final Evaluation Q2
2. How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?
The two ancillary texts that we chose to do were the film poster as well as the film review page. Those two options seemed more approachable to us due to us not having access to sound recording equipment for the 3rd ancillary text- radio trailer. For Monster, we decided to create a poster campaign as opposed to just one poster. A poster campaign includes a few posters that hold the same themes and ideas along with the same ‘house style’ to target different audiences or show different sides of the film. Our main poster featured Lilly with her friends on a mary-go-round with an outline of a tree bordering the entire poster. The fact that Lilly is seen sitting separately from the two girls shows the difference between the characters in the film- i.e. Lilly is the main character. That is the overall image that differed from the other posters because the house style of all three posters included- the slightly opened door in the background, the title “Monster” at the top written in children’s handwriting on a piece of lined paper, credit block, as well as the quote ‘Not all monsters live under your bed” in the follow up 2 posters. Each and every detail of the poster had a direct correlation to the film. The door in the background of the posters represents the father and the abuse. Where as the tree surrounding border holds the representation of the park and how her days are spent. All 3 posters included the leaves that were all made to resemble the meaning of the park. The escapism symbolism of the park is seen in all 3 posters. I believe the posters have a great correlation to the actual film without giving away too much information about the film. They all feature the main character which lets us know the film is about a young girl. It has hidden details such as the kid’s handwriting for the font in the title written on lined paper, quote, and actor’s names. After our posters have been completed I saw the posters for Where the Wild Things Are- these reassured me that we did the right thing with the kids handwriting as font because this also looks like a film based about a little boys life which works well with the text.( http://popprop.files.wordpress.com/2009/03/where-the-wild-things-are-poster.jpg) However for our poster these texts can easily be analyzed as being there because the main character is a child; however it also has a deeper meaning due to the fact that the entire plotline is of her writing an actual story. These details that would not be completely understood unless the film has been viewed can also be seen in the posters for 500 Days of Summer. (http://jbellan.files.wordpress.com/2009/09/500_days.jpg) The following poster has sketch drawings of buildings at the bottom. One would not understand the meaning of that unless they have seen the film. The main character was a failed/aspiring architect therefore this ties into the theme of the movie and is displayed on the poster as a minor yet significant detail. The poster with Lilly smiling and the shadow of her in the background crouching has a great contrast of happiness versus sadness and neglect. This is a direct correlation from the movie where she has two distinguishable sides to her life- the joyful side with her friends at the park and the neglected side of her father abusing her. The poster is part of the post-production area of filmmaking. It is a marketing strategy used to attract the target audience. Therefore it is placed in areas where the target audience has most access to. This could be at bus stops, shopping centres, movie theatres and more.
The film review was the second option for our ancillary text. This included research into film magazines such as Filmstar, Empire, and Total Film. As the task was to create a review that had the look of a real review page that could be featured in a currently running magazine, we chose to use Total Film as the template for our review page. Total Film includes every type of genre of movie ranging from child abuse to romantic comedies. That is why our film would target a good audience by being featured in this magazine. The British magazine has reviews, interviews, commentaries and much more-everything having to do with the film industry. The review we have created includes Monster being the featured review being located at the top of the page with most text and the largest picture. This is often done in magazine reviews to highlight an ‘editor’s pick’ or a newly released film. The picture that we used for the monster review is of the three girls lying in the park laughing and smiling. This represents the innocence of the girls and shows a good representation of the movie to the audience reading the review. Even though reviews come out after the actual release date, it is still important not to give too much information away in interviews, commentaries etc. so that the audiences, which have not seen the film, will still endure the shocking affect of the story. Therefore this picture is more affective as opposed to having a screenshot of Lilly crying alone. The text is also very pun filled and metaphorical. (As most reviews are) Reviewers tend to use a specific type of English to describe the films in a more interesting and slightly obviously rude way. A great example of a film review pun can be seen at the UP film review in Total Film. (http://www.totalfilm.com/reviews/cinema/up-1) “Pixar reaches for the skies once more” is more than obvious when it comes to the reference of the plot line of the film. Taking a quote from our review- “Klaudija Alasauskaite does it again, in an epic tale of deception where we find out not all monsters live under your bed…” This sentence from the review takes the direct tag line of the film to interest and intrigue the readers. Using this tagline ties together the two ancillary texts together as the posters also includes the tag line. The other reviews on the page simply allow for the page to look more realistic and appealing. However everything is positioned in a specific way to where your eyes first jump to the review of Monster.
Final Evaluation Q3
3. What have you learned from your audience feedback?
Audience feedback has proved to be vital when it came to creating our entire coursework-from start to finish. I realized that when it comes to creating your own work, it tends to be hard at first to accept constructive criticism. However when you take a step back and look at your work from different points of view, it becomes easier to see the flaws and you begin to see the changes that could make your work that much better. The feedback we received goes all the way back to the very first pitch we ever created. This was a completely different story idea that we had but decided to go with a new direction due to too many complications and problems with the first treatment. Looking back now, it is so apparent that the first treatment was never going to be successful due to the massive amount of questions we received during the pitch- there were just too many holes! If it is too difficult to describe a story in one sentence it will probably be just as hard to describe the story in two paragraphs.
After the initial feedback we tried to recreate the story to be something possible to create, however due to all the negative feedback we decided to create an entirely new plot line. The story of Monster came after watching numerous short films on the BBC Film Network. However when the story came, it seemed so flowing and simple. This was reassured due to the excessive positive comments received after the pitch. The only negatives we received were how we would get a grown woman to play the part of the teacher, and how we would show the punch/hit of the dad towards the little girl. I believe these two problems were easily fixed with using a shadow scene with the hitting and using an older looking 6th form student for the part of the teacher. The positive feedback such as ‘keeping the girl sweet will allow for audience to relate to her better’ allowed us to exaggerate the positive parts of the film even more. A very positive feedback that we receive was that we were going to make this with ‘passion in our hearts’. Making a film with such a strong and emotional message will not be successful unless everyone involved is truly passionate and caring about the project.
The next big feedback we received was for our script. The main feedback that really affected us was that it did not have enough narration. And as this was a major part of our film we definitely listened to our classmates opinions and extended the narration as well as added a lot more stage directions. The feedback once again proved to be correct as when we finally got to the editing stage of the post-production, we need to add even more narration as the screen looked a bit empty with just the girls playing in the park without a voice over. (Once again proving how important feedback is!)
The storyboard was very important to have on hand while shooting, that is why the feedback we received for it while creating it helped us make it the best it could be. The main issue with our first storyboard was the missing of cut away shots. There was too much repetitiveness going on and unnecessary shots of the same things. When redrawing the storyboard, you can instantly see how much more interesting the story become when you add cutaway shots of reactions, other places, etc. Having the insight of a fresh mind and fresh ideas is vital when creating a work of art; otherwise the project will be so narrow minded and shallow.
We received much of our feedback throughout our ancillary texts stages. The poster was redone about a dozen times to adhere to the audience’s feedbacks. When starting out with the idea for the poster we were very passionate about having the fist in the layout. This seemed to be very appropriate due to the fact that the film was about child abuse. However we received feedback that it seemed too much like a boxing film and did not hold the true representations of the story. As we took this into consideration, it was decided to stray away from the first idea and begin a new poster involving the tree and the girls. This received more positive feedback such as “It holds a good representation of the film without giving too much away”. The poster campaigns all went through vigorous feedback sessions that would be altered after each one. Even minor details such as adding more leaves to the posters were considered. I believe this feedback helped us make the best of our poster. The main feedback we received for the film review page was that it looked very professional and fit the style of the magazine very well. The only alteration that they suggested was to make the “Total Film” icon in the top right hand corned bigger to take up the empty space. However we considered and we did not change this because that is just how it looked in the actual magazine.
I believe receiving lots of feedback during the preproduction stages was extremely important, because at this stage it is still not too late to change your ideas or even go to a completely different direction. (As we did) However the feedback we received during editing helped us so much in terms of solving issues that may have arisen or just help us get out of a rut if we had trouble being creative. All of the editing feedback (that is located on my blog) was all highly considered and alterations were made where necessary. Overall I believe evaluation has shaped the look of our entire film, from start to finish. Without people’s feedback we would probably have a horrible film about an old man on his deathbed!
Audience feedback has proved to be vital when it came to creating our entire coursework-from start to finish. I realized that when it comes to creating your own work, it tends to be hard at first to accept constructive criticism. However when you take a step back and look at your work from different points of view, it becomes easier to see the flaws and you begin to see the changes that could make your work that much better. The feedback we received goes all the way back to the very first pitch we ever created. This was a completely different story idea that we had but decided to go with a new direction due to too many complications and problems with the first treatment. Looking back now, it is so apparent that the first treatment was never going to be successful due to the massive amount of questions we received during the pitch- there were just too many holes! If it is too difficult to describe a story in one sentence it will probably be just as hard to describe the story in two paragraphs.
After the initial feedback we tried to recreate the story to be something possible to create, however due to all the negative feedback we decided to create an entirely new plot line. The story of Monster came after watching numerous short films on the BBC Film Network. However when the story came, it seemed so flowing and simple. This was reassured due to the excessive positive comments received after the pitch. The only negatives we received were how we would get a grown woman to play the part of the teacher, and how we would show the punch/hit of the dad towards the little girl. I believe these two problems were easily fixed with using a shadow scene with the hitting and using an older looking 6th form student for the part of the teacher. The positive feedback such as ‘keeping the girl sweet will allow for audience to relate to her better’ allowed us to exaggerate the positive parts of the film even more. A very positive feedback that we receive was that we were going to make this with ‘passion in our hearts’. Making a film with such a strong and emotional message will not be successful unless everyone involved is truly passionate and caring about the project.
The next big feedback we received was for our script. The main feedback that really affected us was that it did not have enough narration. And as this was a major part of our film we definitely listened to our classmates opinions and extended the narration as well as added a lot more stage directions. The feedback once again proved to be correct as when we finally got to the editing stage of the post-production, we need to add even more narration as the screen looked a bit empty with just the girls playing in the park without a voice over. (Once again proving how important feedback is!)
The storyboard was very important to have on hand while shooting, that is why the feedback we received for it while creating it helped us make it the best it could be. The main issue with our first storyboard was the missing of cut away shots. There was too much repetitiveness going on and unnecessary shots of the same things. When redrawing the storyboard, you can instantly see how much more interesting the story become when you add cutaway shots of reactions, other places, etc. Having the insight of a fresh mind and fresh ideas is vital when creating a work of art; otherwise the project will be so narrow minded and shallow.
We received much of our feedback throughout our ancillary texts stages. The poster was redone about a dozen times to adhere to the audience’s feedbacks. When starting out with the idea for the poster we were very passionate about having the fist in the layout. This seemed to be very appropriate due to the fact that the film was about child abuse. However we received feedback that it seemed too much like a boxing film and did not hold the true representations of the story. As we took this into consideration, it was decided to stray away from the first idea and begin a new poster involving the tree and the girls. This received more positive feedback such as “It holds a good representation of the film without giving too much away”. The poster campaigns all went through vigorous feedback sessions that would be altered after each one. Even minor details such as adding more leaves to the posters were considered. I believe this feedback helped us make the best of our poster. The main feedback we received for the film review page was that it looked very professional and fit the style of the magazine very well. The only alteration that they suggested was to make the “Total Film” icon in the top right hand corned bigger to take up the empty space. However we considered and we did not change this because that is just how it looked in the actual magazine.
I believe receiving lots of feedback during the preproduction stages was extremely important, because at this stage it is still not too late to change your ideas or even go to a completely different direction. (As we did) However the feedback we received during editing helped us so much in terms of solving issues that may have arisen or just help us get out of a rut if we had trouble being creative. All of the editing feedback (that is located on my blog) was all highly considered and alterations were made where necessary. Overall I believe evaluation has shaped the look of our entire film, from start to finish. Without people’s feedback we would probably have a horrible film about an old man on his deathbed!
Final Evaluation Q4
4. How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?
There is not a doubt in my mind that without most of the technologies that we used during the making of our coursework, our film would not exist. However in reference to ‘new media’ the main form of technology we used to help us through out the different stages of the entire production is the internet. This mainly includes my blog, search sites for research, videos and more. The internet has endless amounts of information that was useful and relevant to our coursework. The main search site I used was Google. This allowed for me to narrow down all of the web pages on the internet to my relevance. Youtube was also very helpful when it came to finding information videos such as the ones I viewed about Cinematography. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDMRB5cCrzY) Everything that we have created so far on paper or on the computer has been either scanned in (paper versions) or copied onto the blog to keep on record. This allowed us as a class to view on a large projector screen and give feedback or evaluations without everyone looking at a single sheet of paper that includes our storyboard- they now have the opportunity to look at it on a large screen. After drawing the storyboard it went through stages to appear there-which all included technologies of new media. First it needed to be scanned onto a computer, the scanned JPEG image was then uploaded onto a PowerPoint document, then that document was uploaded on a document sharing website called SlideShare; finally after getting the embed code, pasting it onto my blog as an entry. This was done with many entries that included any type of pictures. The videos that were uploaded from my camera onto my computer were then uploaded on a video sharing site like Youtube or Tinypic and then later posted on my blog in video format. This allowed for people to see ‘samples’ of the final product in video format as opposed to simple pictures. This can be seen on the post about Monster Masks where I constructed masks that were going to be featured in the opening sequence of our film. The video displayed the masks just as they were going to be in the film. This allows others to see the thoughts and ideas in our heads easier that just by description through word.
Another way we used our blog as a product of new media was by viewing each others blogs and leaving each other comment feedbacks so they can easily be accessed and viewed by each person. To address the digital side of new media- Adobe Photoshop was the most used program when it came to creating any type of enhanced picture project. This includes our original moodboard for the color red, world our film collages, and both of our ancillary texts. I was familiar with Photoshop from using for quite a few parts of our coursework for the AS Production, however that does not compare to how much I learned this year from having to use it so much. We are very fortunate to have such programs at our disposal as it makes the image editing process so much easier and more creative. The posters took an extremely long time to complete due to the constant feedback we kept receiving, however having it saved as a Photoshop file, it was always easy to go back to the program and make any needed adjustments to the layers. This would be impossible to do on a hand drawn artwork without completely restarting the artwork. The editing program we used, Adobe Premiere, is also made by the same company. This can be seen as media convergence when two areas of the media come together to form a new sector. This results in two programs having similar functions, therefore being easy to use same images/videos/ideas for both of them.
The production side of the filmmaking process has been so highly improved over the past years to make it easier and more practical to make films. This can be addressed from the point of portability. Almost everything but the desktop computers was portable. This results in going on location-such as the park- without having to recreate the set where the equipment is. By digitally recording the video on a tape it is easy to digitize it onto the computer and digitally cut it without having reels of tape and having to physically cut it by hand like years ago. Computers can easily read the tape and view the videos that have just been recorded instantly; this makes it very universal. Having all the information saved on a computer makes it very accessible and easy to view without any special arrangements. My group could easily edit the film individually without everyone having to be there because we had such simple access to the computers.
As I mentioned earlier, for the evaluation/feedback stages we used the blogs to leave each other comments. For this final evaluation I am using Microsoft Word to write my evaluation. It is much easier than writing a few thousand words out by hand. Also, once I am finished it will take just a few seconds to post it on my blog. New media has made everything instant and easily reachable within a few clicks.
Sunday 6 December 2009
Thursday 3 December 2009
Poster Campaign-Drafts
We made 2 other posters to go along with our original poster- this will create our poster campaign. Here are the following options we first created along with the feedback:
This was a simple spin on the original poster with the cracked door in the background. It shows a sad Lilly as a focus of the poster. However, the feedback that we recieved stated that it looked unfinished and had some bits missing. It did not completely correlate with the original poster with the tree in it. We recieved positive feedback about the glow around the girl- this makes her look more innocent and pure. It was also said that the glow around 'Monster' would look better in orange along with the other poster.
This is the 3rd poster idea. It has a picture of Lilly on the round-about smiling and happy. However to contrast the happiness of this poster; the shadow of Lilly (scene from the movie) is on the top corner, on her shoulder. To go along with the other 2 posters the top of the tree branches are located at the very bottom behind the credit block. The feedback we recieved is that the layout of this poster does not look good with the quote on the shadow of Lilly. 'Taylor Cook' also seems to be in the wrong place. The suggestion we got was to move the quote to the top of the credit block and move 'Taylor Cook' to the of the poster. To tie this poster together along with the other ones some orange color is needed.
This is the updated version from the feedback we recieved. Now the tagline is included like on the other psoters; the glow behind 'Monster' is now orange to stay the same house style with all the posters. I put blowing leaves at the bottom of the picture of Lilly so it brings in some color as well as texture to the over all poster.
Once again I brought in the leaves at the bottom of the page to tie all the posters together. They have a blowing in the wind effect to bring in the theme of the park.
This was a simple spin on the original poster with the cracked door in the background. It shows a sad Lilly as a focus of the poster. However, the feedback that we recieved stated that it looked unfinished and had some bits missing. It did not completely correlate with the original poster with the tree in it. We recieved positive feedback about the glow around the girl- this makes her look more innocent and pure. It was also said that the glow around 'Monster' would look better in orange along with the other poster.
This is the 3rd poster idea. It has a picture of Lilly on the round-about smiling and happy. However to contrast the happiness of this poster; the shadow of Lilly (scene from the movie) is on the top corner, on her shoulder. To go along with the other 2 posters the top of the tree branches are located at the very bottom behind the credit block. The feedback we recieved is that the layout of this poster does not look good with the quote on the shadow of Lilly. 'Taylor Cook' also seems to be in the wrong place. The suggestion we got was to move the quote to the top of the credit block and move 'Taylor Cook' to the of the poster. To tie this poster together along with the other ones some orange color is needed.
This is the updated version from the feedback we recieved. Now the tagline is included like on the other psoters; the glow behind 'Monster' is now orange to stay the same house style with all the posters. I put blowing leaves at the bottom of the picture of Lilly so it brings in some color as well as texture to the over all poster.
Once again I brought in the leaves at the bottom of the page to tie all the posters together. They have a blowing in the wind effect to bring in the theme of the park.
Wednesday 2 December 2009
New Poster-Draft
I decided to make an entirely new poster because the feedback we received for the last poster did not seem like it would be a useful poster to put forth as our final poster. Also, every time I tried changing anything on the old poster it would all end up looking more or less the same. I believe it was more useful to just go with a whole new idea. This is the new poster idea draft one. It shows the happy side of the girl because she is with her friends on the round about, however there is something mysterious and chilling about it due to the cracked door in the back of the black background. The tree in the foreground suggests the presence of nature in the film-which is the park. The leaves from the tree are being dragged towards the door- which also signifies the mystery of the door. Overall, the door suggests a hidden meaning of child abuse. –However it is not as obvious as in the previous poster where the fist took up the entire page. We received very positive feedback from this poster such as it looking as an actual poster-the tree with the leaves looked very nice and had a meaning for the film. The negatives we received would be that the actress’s names aren’t very visible and the picture of the girls needs to be more in the foreground because you lose touch of what is most important in the picture. The door isn’t as visible as it should be either because all of your attention goes straight to the leaves and the tree. Also the actress’s names aren’t very visible in the bottom of the page because they are dark and too similar to the background. Here is the updated version of the poster:
FINAL POSTER:
This poster idea came directly from the aggustments due to the feedback that we recieved about the first one.On this poster, I corrected all the little misperfections to make it all once together. I moved the copied and moved the image of the tree onto the other side so it looks more like a border as opposed to just a tree on one side. This allows for the girls to be more centered-hence the center of attention, because we want the viewers to be immediatly drawn to them. I also made the title more bold and prominent because once both trees were combined it was too messey and too difficult to read the title at the top. Another aggustment I made was the color of the cast's names at the bottom of the page. Now they are white and much more easier to see. I recieved very positive feedback stating that this final poster represents our film but does not give too much away at the same time. It's mysterious and interesting- which is one of the best feedback we recieved as that is the way we'd like people to see our film as well.
Friday 27 November 2009
Initial Posters-Draft
This is the first draft of the poster for Monster. Some of the feedback we recieved was that it looked too much like a boxing movie and did not potray the real meaning/themes of the film. It showed no link to the girl's happy side in the film. Also by looking at it, it was too easy to desipher that the film has something to do with hitting, or child abuse.Here is the 2nd draft of this poster:
In this poster I tried to show the happy side of Lilly's life By adding in a picture of her and the girls on the round-about as well as a background image of a tree shadow. However the feedback did not compeltely change, as the poster still
was not to its fullest extent when it came to potraying the film. Some positive feedback was the handwriting title-as this showed that the film was about a child- as well as that it had something to do with writing because the background was an image of a sheet of paper.
was not to its fullest extent when it came to potraying the film. Some positive feedback was the handwriting title-as this showed that the film was about a child- as well as that it had something to do with writing because the background was an image of a sheet of paper.
Monday 16 November 2009
Child Abuse Posters
This is a short list of poster which I collected to get inspiration for our poster. The listed posters all have a theme of child abuse in them-since this is our main theme, I thought it would be a great idea to contrast the way each of these posters has portrayed child abuse through the images/text. From looking at any of those posters, it is very difficult to tell that child abuse is present in the film. This could be for a surprise affect-so the story line isn't too obvious from just looking at the poster. They also all seemed to have some sort of mash-up of character pictures from the film.
Addition to Script
After watching our film with the voice over we had recorded and added we received feedback telling us that the lack of voice over was too much in between shots and scenes, so we got our cast member back in again to record a longer version, which then improved our final product.
There are not many things that I am scared of there are actually many things I enjoy, like swinging on the swings, and going round on the Mary go round, I love my friends Emily and Zoey and I know they love me too, we have so much fun.
We love going to the park, and lying in the grass, we could laugh all day long. I love going to the park its better than going home.
I’m scared of spiders I’m not even scared of ghost, even when my friends leave me I’m still not scared. The only thing that frightens me is a monster.
The monster I know isn’t like any other monster. He doesn’t live in my closet or under my bed.
He doesn’t only come out at night. I don’t really understand because I love him; He says he loves me. We still have fun too.
But playing hide and seek isn’t the same as before.
Because these days, if I lose the game, I lose sleep that night too.
I don’t know what to do, I’m so lonely sometimes
I know everything will be okay and the fear will go away,
Besides, the monster only comes out when the bottle is out.
But I’d still like to know why does he treat me so?
I’ll never be mad but I know there should be love & comfort at home.”
There are not many things that I am scared of there are actually many things I enjoy, like swinging on the swings, and going round on the Mary go round, I love my friends Emily and Zoey and I know they love me too, we have so much fun.
We love going to the park, and lying in the grass, we could laugh all day long. I love going to the park its better than going home.
I’m scared of spiders I’m not even scared of ghost, even when my friends leave me I’m still not scared. The only thing that frightens me is a monster.
The monster I know isn’t like any other monster. He doesn’t live in my closet or under my bed.
He doesn’t only come out at night. I don’t really understand because I love him; He says he loves me. We still have fun too.
But playing hide and seek isn’t the same as before.
Because these days, if I lose the game, I lose sleep that night too.
I don’t know what to do, I’m so lonely sometimes
I know everything will be okay and the fear will go away,
Besides, the monster only comes out when the bottle is out.
But I’d still like to know why does he treat me so?
I’ll never be mad but I know there should be love & comfort at home.”
Final Film Feedback
- The narrative seems to go on for a while- and perhaps what she was saying could have been made more interesting. -I believe this is true as well because we added extra bits to the script last minute, which means it wasn't up to standard with the majority of the original script.
- The last shot wasn't completely clear of what was going on. The only way they knew what was happening is due to the "Daddy, no"
- The park scenes were very emotional.
- The twist in the story was interesting
- The hide and seek scene was nicely done.
- The title sequence works well with the music
Scene 2 & 3 Editing Feedback
Scene 2
- Continuity and match on action was well done
- The track with off screen dialogue of the teacher saying good morning was good
- Shots from the front of the teacher are missing-no POV?
- Overused tracks- they're supposed to symbolize a meaning and we have used them so much where it does not mean anything anymore.
- The walking scene at the beginning looks too much like a chick flick type movie. It sets the mood the wrong way, either slow down or use different shots.
- The tilt from the pond to the girls laying in the grass is extemely long
- The white distilled fade affect is useless
- Go back to the classroom more to remind audience what is happening
- More dialogue! Use enough to cover the entire sequence
- The sounds of the girls laughing gives a good affect. (We thought of completely cutting out the sounds of the park but we got more than one feedback that the sound of the girls laughing is affective and sweet.)
Monday 9 November 2009
Poster Brainstorming
Before developing our poster we first thought of the themes, messages and genres of our film so we could potray the right message to the target audience through our poster.
Themes: lonliness, child abuse, friendship, innocence
Messages:To raise awareness of child abuse and the fact that any one you know could be a victim.
Feelings Evoked: sadness, sympathy, confusion, happiness
Genre: drama
The following is a poster idea we came up with and the feedback we recieved.
We came up with a brief to help us develop ideas into actual posters. We thought that a fist would be very effective to have as a focus of the background of the film. Withing the fist there would be different screenshots from the film to make it clear that the girl is the main character in the movie. Here are some examples we came up with:
We decided to stick with the fist idea as potrayed in the last poster. However this would be improved by makingt the fist more visible with the pictures on top of it. We received feedback stating that the black background is very effective and sticks with the over all mood of the film. The title of that fits the story/poster the most is of a kids handwriting with a lined paper in the background. This sticks to the storyline of her writing the story about a monster.
Editing
Whilst we have been editing, we have been getting feedback from our class mates in order to improve our edits and overall film. The following is feedback for scene 1:
Scene one – Initial Feedback
- The pan of the monster mask is too long.
- Use cut away shots go from the classroom to girls then classroom to girls again this makes the scene less boring and allows the audience to see what is happening in both situations.
- The hand held shot of the girls walking is too long and needs to be shortened otherwise becomes boring, this much attention to them walking to school is not needed we have already established that they are late.
- The hand held shot of girls needs to be cut down try cutting into the classroom.
- The back of the classroom shot is too long and needs shortening.
- There are too many back and fourth of the same shots.
- The track needs to start from another classroom pupil then needs to go to Lilly’s character.
- Flip the scene around so it goes teacher, Lilly, track.
Scene One – Feedback Two
- Jumps from the mid shot of Lilly to the track of the classroom this needs to be changed.
- Some of the sounds need to be fixed with in the scene as they are too slow for the image.
- The children looking at Lilly a good shot whilst she comes in.
- The clock shot is too long and does not pay attention to the fact that they are late.
- Prefer the pan from the clock
- Likes how the kids have a look at the teacher.
Scene One – Feedback Three
- Need to decide on the pace of our film because at the moment the pace is not established as it goes from fast to slow – fast to slow.
- Why is the character so fast when the pace of the classroom is so slow and nothings going on, it seems like there is too much attention on the girls walking than what is going on in the classroom.
- The girl sits down too fast, needs to be slowed down.
- Is this the best way to show a girl walking to school?
- The hand held shot makes the story seem like an action film try using a normal shot of the girls and cut away to the classroom, continue using cut away shots as the girl progress.
Scene one – Initial Feedback
- The pan of the monster mask is too long.
- Use cut away shots go from the classroom to girls then classroom to girls again this makes the scene less boring and allows the audience to see what is happening in both situations.
- The hand held shot of the girls walking is too long and needs to be shortened otherwise becomes boring, this much attention to them walking to school is not needed we have already established that they are late.
- The hand held shot of girls needs to be cut down try cutting into the classroom.
- The back of the classroom shot is too long and needs shortening.
- There are too many back and fourth of the same shots.
- The track needs to start from another classroom pupil then needs to go to Lilly’s character.
- Flip the scene around so it goes teacher, Lilly, track.
Scene One – Feedback Two
- Jumps from the mid shot of Lilly to the track of the classroom this needs to be changed.
- Some of the sounds need to be fixed with in the scene as they are too slow for the image.
- The children looking at Lilly a good shot whilst she comes in.
- The clock shot is too long and does not pay attention to the fact that they are late.
- Prefer the pan from the clock
- Likes how the kids have a look at the teacher.
Scene One – Feedback Three
- Need to decide on the pace of our film because at the moment the pace is not established as it goes from fast to slow – fast to slow.
- Why is the character so fast when the pace of the classroom is so slow and nothings going on, it seems like there is too much attention on the girls walking than what is going on in the classroom.
- The girl sits down too fast, needs to be slowed down.
- Is this the best way to show a girl walking to school?
- The hand held shot makes the story seem like an action film try using a normal shot of the girls and cut away to the classroom, continue using cut away shots as the girl progress.
Monday 2 November 2009
Film Poster Analysis
500 Days of Summer film posters:
The first film poster was I believe the least popular one of the rest. It has a very simplistic message that portrays the theme of the film-being love through the text and the image. It automatically allows you to understand that the story will be about the girl and the guy pictured. Even though the picture of the girl is much bigger than the one of the male, you can understand that the film is from his point of view. You see him writing something in his notebook. The quote 'This is not a love story. It is a story about love." is suggested to be written by him because it is hand written and not in text. By him being so small- it may suggest that he is insignificant somehow in the girl's mind. From just viewing the poster, it would be hard to understand the meaning behind the title. The 500 days of summer may be interpreted as the season of summer. Before viewing the movie, and just watching the trailer it became apparent that the summer they are referring to in the title is the girl.-Her name being Summer. I believe this poster does a good job of relating to the target audience. It has light colors with friendly pictures. It is easily identifiable that it is a love story. Overall it is a simple and creative poster.
I believe this is a very creative poster idea. It still is consistent with the other two when it comes to colors & theme, however its unique in its own way. You can automatically assume that the main characted in this film will be the guy pictured there looking down at the different pictures from the film. It's as though he is wearing the poster on his T-Shirt. This poster also imcoporates a quote from an outside source. It is also rated 4 stars by the same source who gave the quote. Unless you look extremely close up it is hard to tell who the source is-the main focus is the actual postive quote which leads viewers to believe that this comedy is the coolest of the year. By looking at the 7 pictures on the shirt the viewer can assume it is a love story because the pictures include a girl and a guy looking in love- kissing in some. He is smiling, which is another indication that this film is happy. It is an effective film poster which targets the audience directly with friendliness and love appeal.
This seems to be the most time consuming poster to make. It is a mash up of many pictures of Summer from the film. The main boy character is once again seen drawing/writing as in the first poster.This helps relate the posters to one another. The drawings of buildings become apparent after seeing the movie because he is an aspiring architect. The mash up of pictures are made to looks like a sky and the sun in the middle- once again tying in the summer theme. The quote about love is seen just like in the first poster to keep the theme apparent. Once again the friendly colors and soft, handwriten text makes the movie seem fresh, friendly and loving.
The first film poster was I believe the least popular one of the rest. It has a very simplistic message that portrays the theme of the film-being love through the text and the image. It automatically allows you to understand that the story will be about the girl and the guy pictured. Even though the picture of the girl is much bigger than the one of the male, you can understand that the film is from his point of view. You see him writing something in his notebook. The quote 'This is not a love story. It is a story about love." is suggested to be written by him because it is hand written and not in text. By him being so small- it may suggest that he is insignificant somehow in the girl's mind. From just viewing the poster, it would be hard to understand the meaning behind the title. The 500 days of summer may be interpreted as the season of summer. Before viewing the movie, and just watching the trailer it became apparent that the summer they are referring to in the title is the girl.-Her name being Summer. I believe this poster does a good job of relating to the target audience. It has light colors with friendly pictures. It is easily identifiable that it is a love story. Overall it is a simple and creative poster.
I believe this is a very creative poster idea. It still is consistent with the other two when it comes to colors & theme, however its unique in its own way. You can automatically assume that the main characted in this film will be the guy pictured there looking down at the different pictures from the film. It's as though he is wearing the poster on his T-Shirt. This poster also imcoporates a quote from an outside source. It is also rated 4 stars by the same source who gave the quote. Unless you look extremely close up it is hard to tell who the source is-the main focus is the actual postive quote which leads viewers to believe that this comedy is the coolest of the year. By looking at the 7 pictures on the shirt the viewer can assume it is a love story because the pictures include a girl and a guy looking in love- kissing in some. He is smiling, which is another indication that this film is happy. It is an effective film poster which targets the audience directly with friendliness and love appeal.
This seems to be the most time consuming poster to make. It is a mash up of many pictures of Summer from the film. The main boy character is once again seen drawing/writing as in the first poster.This helps relate the posters to one another. The drawings of buildings become apparent after seeing the movie because he is an aspiring architect. The mash up of pictures are made to looks like a sky and the sun in the middle- once again tying in the summer theme. The quote about love is seen just like in the first poster to keep the theme apparent. Once again the friendly colors and soft, handwriten text makes the movie seem fresh, friendly and loving.
Monday 12 October 2009
Call Sheet
The call sheet was handed out to all the cast and crew so each member of the entire production could be easily reached by phone. The call sheet also includes when each cast member would be needed during the two shooting days and when they would be finished.
Health & Hazards Talk
The following are notes from a Health & Hazards talk from our school. This helped us request and organize the locations of shooting at the school.
- We must be considerate of the rest of the school, classes are still going on!
- Last year a teacher took a camera from one of the filming groups to check just how careful they were being with the equipment. - We need to watch over it 24/7
- Keep an eye on the bell- Pack up 10 minutes before and start filming 1o minutes after the bell
- After school, it takes a while for everyone to clear out and for the halls to be quiet. We must wait until most everyone leaves in order to start shooting. -This applies to us because we are filming our classroom scene after school!
- Also be aware that after school clubs & other events are happening- therefore still be aware of theft and safety of equipment is still an issue.
Director Masterclass
My teacher ran a masterclass on directing for all the directors in our class. Here are the notes that I took down:
- Communicate with the cast and crew clearly
- Rehearsals are very important- it is vital for the director to create a relationship with the cast
- Be descriptive-"This is what I want you to say, and this is how I want you to act"
- Help the cast understand how a film is made
- Explain shooting schedule & story boarding
- Talk about character's profile, interests & background
- Let the cast be aware that there will be lots of standing around
- Inform the cast of health & safety issues
- Keep all cast between shooting in the Media Classroom to stay organized
- Take several takes of a shot- even if it seems okay, Leave 5 seconds before and after the tape rolls to make it easier to edit
- Pay attention to continuity!
- Start at action, stop at cut
- Tell the extras to act natural- even if their role doesn't seem dominant
- Be very clear in speech
- Shooting schedule and Storyboard on set
- Direct everyone.
- Only look at the camera screen while filming! Not the action in front of the camera
Rehearsals
Our rehearsals went fairly well. I explained to the cast the process of making a film. I walked them through the shooting schedule and explained the purpose of it. I also showed them our storyboard and explained how each shot is planned out- as well as how we will shoot an entire scene from one angle and hen run through it exactly the same form a different angle.
This is a clip from one our rehearsals of me directing the cast for one of the opening sequences.
I have a couple more videos from the rehearsals but they are too large to upload! I will try to find some way to upload them because they are quiet useful.
This is a clip from one our rehearsals of me directing the cast for one of the opening sequences.
I have a couple more videos from the rehearsals but they are too large to upload! I will try to find some way to upload them because they are quiet useful.
Monster Final Script
We see a shot of three girls hurrying to class (this is noted by the empty halls in the school and the fact that they are carrying books rushing) Right before Lilly goes into her classroom:Lilly: Bye guys I’ll meet you after school. Same place as always!
Lilly walks into the classroom. Everyone looks at her and the teacher immediately tells her to sit down.
Ms. Harper: (Teacher gets up from her desk where she was busy doing something on the computer) Good morning class! I thought today we would do a fun writing activity.
Class: Awe (whiny, not waning to do it)- Lilly is seen and she does not participate in the whining.
Ms Harper: Now, now kids I mentioned it would be fun, so there is no need to panic. I want you to write about what you are most afraid of. It can be fictional or non-fictional. (A cut to a kid raising his arm, very eagerly) Wait Mathew let me finish then I’ll help you.
I am leaving that for you to decide. Say for example, if I were to write about my worst fear I would write about giant spiders attacking my house! (laughs) Anyway, get started now and you have until the end of the lesson, if you don’t finish it’s homework! (Sounds of the class whining again)
(The focus will start to go towards Lily. Due to an over the shoulder shot, we can start to see what she is writing. Her first written words are “I don’t have many things I’m scared of. There are actually many things I enjoy. (In the midst of that sentence the narration starts and there is a slow fade to three girls playing the park on swings, they are laughing and playing but the voice over covers up the sound from the park) There is a fade back to the classroom of Lilly writing.
Lilly(V.O. narration):” I’m not scared of spiders. I’m not even scared of ghosts. The only thing that frightens me in this world is a monster. (There is fade to Lilly walking along a fence and dragging the stick along the metal bars.)
The monster I know isn’t like any other monster. He doesn’t live in my closet or under my bed. He doesn’t only come out at night. I don’t really understand because I love him; He says he loves me. We still have fun too. (Fade to Lilly sitting on the ground in the park with her knees to her chest and her eyes covered with her hands. She uncovers her eyes and looks around, but there is no one there)
But playing hide and seek isn’t the same as before. Because these days, if I lose the game, I lose sleep that night too. I know everything will be okay and the fear will go away. (Fade to Lilly laying on the grass with a flower in her hand. She is laying on her back looking up at the flower as well as the sky. There will also be a POV shot of the sky at this point)
Besides, the monster only comes out when the bottle is out. (A fade of Lilly at the park watching an alcohol bottle float by in the pond. )
(We are now back in the classroom scene.)
But I’d still like to know why does he treat me so? I’ll never be mad but I know there should be love & comfort at home.”
As she finishes writing the essay. She puts down her pen and looks up. She is looking straight at the camera when she shuts her eyes. We then have sudden scenes of the film running backwards in about 5-10 seconds as there is a anticipating sound playing. We then have a mirage type scene where We are zooming into Lilly yet tracking backwards at the same time to create a "different world" feel. We cut to a black sillhouette shadow of a man raising his hand and then we hear Lilly saying "Daddy, No"(-The last scene will be very discrete and dark, the man will not be fully shown therefore we will not see his face, yet everything comes together at this point as it is clear who the monster really is.)
Costume & Props
Costumes
Lilly
-Black Blazer
-Red and Yellow Tie
-Black Shoes
-White Shirt
-Red Bag
Zoe
-Black Blazer
-Red and Yellow Tie
-Black Shoes
-White Shirt
-Red Bag
Emily
-Black Blazer
-Red and Yellow Tie
-Black Shoes
-White Shirt
-Red Bag
Ms. Harper
- White shirt
- Long skirt
- Heels
- Long Cardigan
The Father
- Black Top
- Black trousers
- Black shoes
Props
- Monster Masks
- Red Note Book
- Spider
- Bottles
- Flower
- Stick
Lilly
-Black Blazer
-Red and Yellow Tie
-Black Shoes
-White Shirt
-Red Bag
Zoe
-Black Blazer
-Red and Yellow Tie
-Black Shoes
-White Shirt
-Red Bag
Emily
-Black Blazer
-Red and Yellow Tie
-Black Shoes
-White Shirt
-Red Bag
Ms. Harper
- White shirt
- Long skirt
- Heels
- Long Cardigan
The Father
- Black Top
- Black trousers
- Black shoes
Props
- Monster Masks
- Red Note Book
- Spider
- Bottles
- Flower
- Stick
Wednesday 7 October 2009
Auditions
Today we held cast auditions for the characters in Monster. We had a great turn out and nearly everyone who promised to come showed up! We told all the cast about rehearsals, filming times, what would be needed of each character etc.
The following is a short segment from the auditions:
Here are the three candidates for Lilly's Character;
Grace
Audition:
Taylor
Audition:
Anabeth
As a group we discussed who would be best for the part. They all did pretty well in the audition, even though it was a cold read. However we decided to choose Taylor to play the part of Lilly. This is due to her having great acting/dancing experience, as well as her sweet voice & look. Her voice is very important due to most of the film being a monologue. She also looks the youngest out of the three girls. Grace and Anabeth will play her friends.
The following is a contract that we asked all the cast main & extras to sign:
The following is a short segment from the auditions:
Here are the three candidates for Lilly's Character;
Grace
Audition:
Taylor
Audition:
Anabeth
As a group we discussed who would be best for the part. They all did pretty well in the audition, even though it was a cold read. However we decided to choose Taylor to play the part of Lilly. This is due to her having great acting/dancing experience, as well as her sweet voice & look. Her voice is very important due to most of the film being a monologue. She also looks the youngest out of the three girls. Grace and Anabeth will play her friends.
The following is a contract that we asked all the cast main & extras to sign:
Filming Permit Not Needed
As I still have not received an email back from Geoff Smith, I called him on the phone number that was listed on the city website. I told him everything and the problems of us maybe needing a permit. He said due to this being such a small scale project we do not need a permit. However, we must not interfere with the public and make sure there are no hazards that the public could be injured on. (Such as cables etc.) He said he would still read his email (he has been away from his office on location) and get back to me in writing as well. As soon as I receive the email I will post it on here.
EDIT:
Here is the letter I received back from Geoff Smith;
EDIT:
Here is the letter I received back from Geoff Smith;
Hello.
Thank you for your enquiry.
The general rule is that you can film in any public space as long as it does not cause obstruction or nuisance etc. Filming in the public domain does not require a formal permission.
Of course you must have the permission of any of those taking part to be filmed.
As I am guessing that your crew is small and will not involve large equipment or vehicles I can’t see any issues with your enquiry.
Good luck with your filming.
Tuesday 6 October 2009
Location Recce
The following is the location recce PowerPoint we have created concerning problems and health safety issues of our locations. (Pictures included!)
Problem (?)
We have recently been noted by our teacher that we may need a filming permit to film in the park because it is a public place! This can cause some major problems for us because some very important scenes in the film take place in the park...the field behind our school is merely but a substitute..
So I researched about who to contact regarding this matter. I looked on the main Barking & Dagenham Borough website and found some useful information about filming in these two boroughs. It had some great locations where film makers are welcome to come and use with the proper planning. However I did not see anything about permits. So I emailed the main person whose name was always used as if there were any more questions/concerns about filming in Barking & Dagenham. I sent Geoff Smith this nice little email:
Dear Geoff Smith,
I am a student at Barking Abbey School in Barking. I am currently doing my A2 Coursework for Media Studies. For the coursework we are instructed to create a 5 minute film. However some of our shots are needed to be filmed off the school grounds in a nearby park- Mayesbrook Park. I was wondering if we would need a filming permit from the city council for such a small project. We would only need to use the location for about 6 hours.
If you could get back to me as soon as possible I would really appreciate it.
Klaudija Alasauskaite
So far I have not gotten a reply back from him. However, fingers crossed everything will be okay!
So I researched about who to contact regarding this matter. I looked on the main Barking & Dagenham Borough website and found some useful information about filming in these two boroughs. It had some great locations where film makers are welcome to come and use with the proper planning. However I did not see anything about permits. So I emailed the main person whose name was always used as if there were any more questions/concerns about filming in Barking & Dagenham. I sent Geoff Smith this nice little email:
Dear Geoff Smith,
I am a student at Barking Abbey School in Barking. I am currently doing my A2 Coursework for Media Studies. For the coursework we are instructed to create a 5 minute film. However some of our shots are needed to be filmed off the school grounds in a nearby park- Mayesbrook Park. I was wondering if we would need a filming permit from the city council for such a small project. We would only need to use the location for about 6 hours.
If you could get back to me as soon as possible I would really appreciate it.
Klaudija Alasauskaite
So far I have not gotten a reply back from him. However, fingers crossed everything will be okay!
Cast
Acquiring cast for an unpaid school production about an abused girl is not so easy! However we have learned from our years of junk food eating that most anything will be done if you can lure some people in with a piece of chocolate or a packet of crisps.(Or so we hope)
Anyway, here is how we went about. We wrote a letter concerning the cast that we need for our film. This included character descriptions, times needed etc. Then we handed out copies of the letter to the drama teachers at our school.(We figured they would have a good eye for young starlets on the rise) One teacher got back to us with a pretty hefty list of name. So far we have met with 3 girls and have told them to come along for an audition tomorrow during lunch time. This is also the case for other that we haven't met but we know would be interested in being in the film from other teachers or students.
So tomorrow is our cast auditions. We only need to really audition the main girl because she actually has to show acting ability and good speech because almost the entire film is narration! We asked others to come along even if they would like to be an extra because we would like to inform them of the rehearsal/meeting/shooting days. We will also be handing out our actor contracts. (Because we know how reliable 13 year olds can be.)
We've got sweets and crisps ready so hope all goes well!
The following is the letter we are giving to all the kids tomorrow regarding rehearsals and times needed for each character;
Dear _____________,
As you know we are shooting a short film based on young girl called Lilly who suffers from domestic violence. In doing so we must have full trust in our cast who must be reliable and willing to turn up for rehearsals.
Rehearsal Times
Thursday 8th October - Lunchtime – Lilly, Teacher and Friends rehearsal
Friday 9th October- Lunchtime – Full Cast Rehearsal
Monday 11th October – Lunchtime – Full Cast Rehearsal
(Meet in the media block for all rehearsals)
Important Dates
Lilly’s character needed
2 Days of filming
13th and 14th October 2009
Lilly’s friends needed
Couple hours of filming either on Wednesday 14th or Thursday 15th
Teacher & Extras needed
Couple hours of filming either on Wednesday 14th or Thursday 15th
Anyway, here is how we went about. We wrote a letter concerning the cast that we need for our film. This included character descriptions, times needed etc. Then we handed out copies of the letter to the drama teachers at our school.(We figured they would have a good eye for young starlets on the rise) One teacher got back to us with a pretty hefty list of name. So far we have met with 3 girls and have told them to come along for an audition tomorrow during lunch time. This is also the case for other that we haven't met but we know would be interested in being in the film from other teachers or students.
So tomorrow is our cast auditions. We only need to really audition the main girl because she actually has to show acting ability and good speech because almost the entire film is narration! We asked others to come along even if they would like to be an extra because we would like to inform them of the rehearsal/meeting/shooting days. We will also be handing out our actor contracts. (Because we know how reliable 13 year olds can be.)
We've got sweets and crisps ready so hope all goes well!
The following is the letter we are giving to all the kids tomorrow regarding rehearsals and times needed for each character;
Dear _____________,
As you know we are shooting a short film based on young girl called Lilly who suffers from domestic violence. In doing so we must have full trust in our cast who must be reliable and willing to turn up for rehearsals.
Rehearsal Times
Thursday 8th October - Lunchtime – Lilly, Teacher and Friends rehearsal
Friday 9th October- Lunchtime – Full Cast Rehearsal
Monday 11th October – Lunchtime – Full Cast Rehearsal
(Meet in the media block for all rehearsals)
Important Dates
Lilly’s character needed
2 Days of filming
13th and 14th October 2009
Lilly’s friends needed
Couple hours of filming either on Wednesday 14th or Thursday 15th
Teacher & Extras needed
Couple hours of filming either on Wednesday 14th or Thursday 15th
Storyboard!
Probably one of the more time consuming parts of pre-production. And definitely not one of the artistic assignments. (As you can tell by our stick figures!) But this is a great basis for our film and has all the shots that we are planning to use so far. After the storyboard we can start filling our our shooting schedule for the film day.
Monday 5 October 2009
Monster Script Draft 2
We see a shot of three girls hurrying to class (this is noted by the empty halls in the school and the fact that they are carrying books rushing) Right before Lilly goes into her classroom:
Lilly: Bye guys I’ll meet you after school. Same place as always!
Lilly walks into the classroom. Everyone looks at her and the teacher immediately tells her to sit down.
Ms. Harper: (Teacher gets up from her desk where she was busy doing something on the computer) Good morning class! I thought today we would do a fun writing activity.
Class: Awe (whiny, not waning to do it)- Lilly is seen and she does not participate in the whining.
Ms Harper: Now, now kids I mentioned it would be fun, so there is no need to panic. I want you to write about what you are most afraid of. It can be fictional or non-fictional. (A cut to a kid raising his arm, very eagerly) Wait Mathew let me finish then I’ll help you.
I am leaving that for you to decide. Say for example, if I were to write about my worst fear I would write about giant spiders attacking my house! (laughs) Anyway, get started now and you have until the end of the lesson, if you don’t finish it’s homework! (Sounds of the class whining again)
(The focus will start to go towards Lily. Due to an over the shoulder shot, we can start to see what she is writing. Her first written words are “I don’t have many things I’m scared of. There are actually many things I enjoy. (In the midst of that sentence the narration starts and there is a slow fade to three girls playing the park on swings, they are laughing and playing but the voice over covers up the sound from the park) There is a fade back to the classroom of Lilly writing.
Lilly(V.O. narration):” I’m not scared of spiders. I’m not even scared of ghosts. The only thing that frightens me in this world is a monster. (There is fade to Lilly walking along a fence and dragging the stick along the metal bars.)
The monster I know isn’t like any other monster. He doesn’t live in my closet or under my bed. He doesn’t only come out at night. I don’t really understand because I love him; He says he loves me. We still have fun too. (Fade to Lilly sitting on the ground in the park with her knees to her chest and her eyes covered with her hands. She uncovers her eyes and looks around, but there is no one there)
But playing hide and seek isn’t the same as before. Because these days, if I lose the game, I lose sleep that night too. I know everything will be okay and the fear will go away. (Fade to Lilly laying on the grass with a flower in her hand. She is laying on her back looking up at the flower as well as the sky. There will also be a POV shot of the sky at this point)
Besides, the monster only comes out when the bottle is out. (A fade of Lilly at the park watching an alcohol bottle float by in the pond. )
(We are now back in the classroom scene.)
But I’d still like to know why does he treat me so? I’ll never be mad but I still know there should be comfort at home, not pain from your dad.”
As she finishes writing the essay. She puts down her pen and looks up. She is looking straight at the camera when she shuts her eyes. We then have sudden scenes of the film running backwards in about 5-10 seconds as there is a anticipating sound playing. This leads to a shot of Lilly sitting in her room (with the camera looking in from outside the bedroom door) All of a sudden we see a man walk into the door and suddenly slam the door. (-The last scene will be very discrete and dark, the man will not be fully shown therefore we will not see his face, yet everything comes together at this point as it is clear who the monster really is.)
Final Character's Profile for Monster
Name: Lilly
Nickname: Lils
Age: 11 - 13
Role in the plot: Main character
Biography: An unloved child deprived of affection from a needy mother who is dependent on an abusive partner, has had a hard start to her life. After her parents split and her older brother left, Lilly has been forced to grow up all by herself.
Height: Small
Weight: Light
Eyes: Brown.
Hair: Brunette, wavy.
Complexion: fair complexion
Face Type: Skinny faced
Body Type: Slouchy.
Clothing style: Casual such a teens and t-shirts other than a dirty looking uniform that is creased for school.
Speaking Style: Dreamy, doesn’t talk a lot however when she does makes sense unlike her mates.
Likes: Being alone, school, the park, her small circle of friends, escaping when she is not at home, her room, her bed, fairy tales, films, writing.
Dislikes: Home, ignorant mother, her split life (school and home)
Fears: Her father. The monster.
General Demeanour: Lonely. Quite, smart and depressed.
Ambition: escape from her abusive fathers grasp and live out a normal teenager’s life.
Occupation: Student
Strengths: She is mature and a good listener.
Weaknesses: Can be scared to voice her opinion.
Hobbies: Going to the park, going to after school clubs.
Name: Emily
Nickname: Ems
Age: 11 – 13
Role in the plot : Best mate
Biography: From the start of life Emily had the up hand being born into a rather wealthy family. She is an only child who finds comfort in her friends and is cared for tremendously by her loving, generous parents. He lives in a massive house in an expensive area a little further away from school than the other characters. Her father is a writer and mother is artist who have inspired her massively as she wants to be a fashion designer.
Height: Small
Weight: Fairly Light
Eyes: Blue or Green
Hair: Blonde, wavy
Complexion: fair complexion
Face Type: round faced, baby faced.
Body Type: Skinny Character who seems fragile.
Clothing style: Posh, she could wear clothes such as blouses skirts and tights, wears full uniform to school.
Speaking Style: Proper English however speaks at a fast pace and is very enthusiastic.
Likes: Her friends, fairytales, life, art, make believe and school.
Dislikes: Boys and boring subjects such as history as she much more enjoys creative subjects such as art.
General Demeanour: Bubbly, warming, chatty, immature, girly.
Ambition: To be a fashion designer.
Occupation: Student
Strengths: Full of enthusiasm.
Weaknesses: Can be easily lead.
Hobbies: Drawing, talking, reading non fiction texts.
Name: Zoe
Nickname: Zo
Age: 11 – 13
Role in the plot: Friend
Biography: Zoe is a distressed character seeking more out of life than her mum wants her to. She lives in an average sized house and is not particularly rich or poor. She lives with her mum who is a nursery nurse and her older brother who are always fighting. She confides in music and is bored by her mother wanting her to achieve. She is rebellious, out spoken and does not adhere to the rules.
Height: Just above average for a girl of her age. She is taller than Emily and Lilly.
Weight: Average weight for a girl her age.
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Black or Dark Brown, long and straight.
Complexion: Extremely pale.
Face Type: Slim bone structure
Body Type: bony and her posture is slouched.
Clothing style: In an average day this child would wear jeans and her favourite band top for example my chemical romance with converse. To school she wears uniform although tries to custom it to her own style making it look scruffy.
Speaking Style: She talks depressingly and seems to suck the life out of the conversation, she seems not bothered and laid back.
Likes: Isolation, music, the colour black, hanging out with her small group of friends, dark make up.
Dislikes: School, the colour pink, dodgy boy bands, her brother and girly stuff.
General Demeanour: Laid back, depressed.
Ambition: Something to do with music doesn’t really care about a stable career.
Occupation: Truanting student.
Strengths: Out spoken
Weaknesses: Her image and is not accepted by everyone.
Hobbies: Listening to music, sketching.
Nickname: Lils
Age: 11 - 13
Role in the plot: Main character
Biography: An unloved child deprived of affection from a needy mother who is dependent on an abusive partner, has had a hard start to her life. After her parents split and her older brother left, Lilly has been forced to grow up all by herself.
Height: Small
Weight: Light
Eyes: Brown.
Hair: Brunette, wavy.
Complexion: fair complexion
Face Type: Skinny faced
Body Type: Slouchy.
Clothing style: Casual such a teens and t-shirts other than a dirty looking uniform that is creased for school.
Speaking Style: Dreamy, doesn’t talk a lot however when she does makes sense unlike her mates.
Likes: Being alone, school, the park, her small circle of friends, escaping when she is not at home, her room, her bed, fairy tales, films, writing.
Dislikes: Home, ignorant mother, her split life (school and home)
Fears: Her father. The monster.
General Demeanour: Lonely. Quite, smart and depressed.
Ambition: escape from her abusive fathers grasp and live out a normal teenager’s life.
Occupation: Student
Strengths: She is mature and a good listener.
Weaknesses: Can be scared to voice her opinion.
Hobbies: Going to the park, going to after school clubs.
Name: Emily
Nickname: Ems
Age: 11 – 13
Role in the plot : Best mate
Biography: From the start of life Emily had the up hand being born into a rather wealthy family. She is an only child who finds comfort in her friends and is cared for tremendously by her loving, generous parents. He lives in a massive house in an expensive area a little further away from school than the other characters. Her father is a writer and mother is artist who have inspired her massively as she wants to be a fashion designer.
Height: Small
Weight: Fairly Light
Eyes: Blue or Green
Hair: Blonde, wavy
Complexion: fair complexion
Face Type: round faced, baby faced.
Body Type: Skinny Character who seems fragile.
Clothing style: Posh, she could wear clothes such as blouses skirts and tights, wears full uniform to school.
Speaking Style: Proper English however speaks at a fast pace and is very enthusiastic.
Likes: Her friends, fairytales, life, art, make believe and school.
Dislikes: Boys and boring subjects such as history as she much more enjoys creative subjects such as art.
General Demeanour: Bubbly, warming, chatty, immature, girly.
Ambition: To be a fashion designer.
Occupation: Student
Strengths: Full of enthusiasm.
Weaknesses: Can be easily lead.
Hobbies: Drawing, talking, reading non fiction texts.
Name: Zoe
Nickname: Zo
Age: 11 – 13
Role in the plot: Friend
Biography: Zoe is a distressed character seeking more out of life than her mum wants her to. She lives in an average sized house and is not particularly rich or poor. She lives with her mum who is a nursery nurse and her older brother who are always fighting. She confides in music and is bored by her mother wanting her to achieve. She is rebellious, out spoken and does not adhere to the rules.
Height: Just above average for a girl of her age. She is taller than Emily and Lilly.
Weight: Average weight for a girl her age.
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Black or Dark Brown, long and straight.
Complexion: Extremely pale.
Face Type: Slim bone structure
Body Type: bony and her posture is slouched.
Clothing style: In an average day this child would wear jeans and her favourite band top for example my chemical romance with converse. To school she wears uniform although tries to custom it to her own style making it look scruffy.
Speaking Style: She talks depressingly and seems to suck the life out of the conversation, she seems not bothered and laid back.
Likes: Isolation, music, the colour black, hanging out with her small group of friends, dark make up.
Dislikes: School, the colour pink, dodgy boy bands, her brother and girly stuff.
General Demeanour: Laid back, depressed.
Ambition: Something to do with music doesn’t really care about a stable career.
Occupation: Truanting student.
Strengths: Out spoken
Weaknesses: Her image and is not accepted by everyone.
Hobbies: Listening to music, sketching.
Wednesday 30 September 2009
More Monsters!
So as I mentioned before in one of my earlier research posts, I was interested in doing an opening scene with monster origami hanging on the classroom ceiling. It may have sounded a bit strange but I have completed a full demo of what it was would look like. (kind of) Once again here is the link to where I found out how to make these little monsters.
A few pictures of the 'making of'.
My cat seemed to be very interested... But even more so in the final hanging monsters.
A few pictures of the 'making of'.
My cat seemed to be very interested... But even more so in the final hanging monsters.
Monster Script Draft 1
Monster Script
Draft 1
Ms. Harper: Good morning class! I thought today we would do a fun writing activity.
Class: Awe (whiny, not waning to do it)- Lilly is seen and she does not participate in the whining.
Ms Harper: Now, now kids I mentioned it would be fun, so there is no need to panic. I want you to write about what you are most afraid of. It can be fictional or non-fictional. I am leaving that for you to decide. Say for example, if I were to write about my worst fear I would write about giant spiders attacking my house! (laughs) Anyway, get started now and you have until the end of the lesson, if you don’t finish it’s homework!
(The focus will start to go towards a little girl in the front of the room. Due to an over the shoulder shot, we can start to see what she is writing. Her first written words are “I’m not scared of spiders. I’m not even scared of ghosts. The only thing that frightens me in this world is a monster.”- Then the narration starts and we fade into a flashback.
Lilly: The monster I know isn’t like any other monster. He doesn’t live in my closet or under my bed. He doesn’t only come out at night. I don’t really understand because he says he loves me one day, and others I just hear screams. We still have fun too. But playing hide and seek isn’t the same as before. Because these days, if I lose the game, I lose sleep that night too. I know everything will be okay and the fear will go away. Besides, the monster only comes out when the bottle is out. But I’d still like to know why does he treat me so? I’ll never be mad but I still know there should be comfort at home, not pain from your dad. (As the last sentence is said, we skip to a shot of a man’s shadow hitting Lilly in a dark room)
Sunday 27 September 2009
Collage Feedback & Second Collage
The collage helped us put our ideas onto pictures for everyone else to see and imagine. The first collage helped us to improve our treatment because there was some confusion that arose due to the collage. Some people imagined the park to be a happy place where Lilly can get away and escape. So by having a black & white swing set in the collage, there was confusion whether that place was sad or happy. Therefore we decided to bring in a couple of Lilly's friends into the movie. They would start out with her in the park being happy and playing together. However as the narration of the story goes on, the friends start to leave, and it is noticed that Lilly sticks around. That is when the realization occurs of the reason of Lilly being in the park.
I believe the following collage of "the World of Our Film" is a better representation of the themes and ideas that we plan to include in our film. All the pictures are not just about child abuse, as the story also explores Lilly's childhood of school and friends.
I believe the following collage of "the World of Our Film" is a better representation of the themes and ideas that we plan to include in our film. All the pictures are not just about child abuse, as the story also explores Lilly's childhood of school and friends.
Monster Research
I realize that the monster in our movie is not the typical monster one may imagine in their minds. But the more I though about it, the more I started to question what exactly a monster is- at least in most people's minds. This may not seem very relevant to our film, but I believe it is very important, since the actual monster in our film will firstly be depicted as the fictional monster that comes to everyone's minds. The following is an exert from the wikipedia article about monsters.
A monster is any type of legendary creature which usually appear in legend or horror fiction. The word monster derives from the latin word monstrum, meaning omen, from the root of monere("to warn") and also meaning "prodigy" or "miracle".The term monster refers to a being that is a gross exception to the norms of some ecosystem. A person referred to as a monster is taken as exceptionally evil, grotesque, unreasonably strict and uncaring, sociopathic, and/or sadistic. The word monster connotes something wrong or evil.
This definition can be associated with so many things other than Godzilla and Frankenstein. The second part of the definition is an exact description of Lilly's father. A story/film that comes to mind that does not use the stereotypical monster name to large creatures destroying cities is the movie "Monster". In this movie, Charleze Theron plays a lesbian prostitute who due to some unfortunate events begins killing her clients. This movie, like ours, shows a different side of the 'monster' definition.
Here is a link to the top 10 movie monsters. (Godzilla included!)
Cinemassacre's Top 10 Giant Movie Monsters
After thinking and reading about monsters I came up with a great shot that we could use for our opening scene. This would help us tie in the monster theme. I found a video online teaching you how to make "Monster Origami Masks". The shot I have in my mind sets in a classroom that is filled with crafts done by the children. The craft focus of the shot is the monster origami masks that are hanging from the ceiling on strings. They are light and therefore swing and twirl in the breeze. All different colors are present. If we open with a close-up shot of these hanging masks (that the kids supposedly have created before in a classroom project) it sets the mood for a 'monster' theme. They seem innocent and fun, yet they represent a whole lot more- which is found out throughout the duration of the film. During this shot, the title of Monster would appear on the screen.
Monster Origami Mask
