Canterbury College

Level 3 Extended Diploma

Creative Media Production and Technology

Unit 9 – Characteristics and Contexts in

Media and Communication

And

Unit 10 – Engaging with and Audience in

Creative Media Production

CONTENTS

Chapter 1 - Contextual Study – Week 1...............................................................................5

Reflective Log................................................................................................................................9

Chapter 2 - Own Choice Contextual Study – Week 2........................................................11

Reflective Log..............................................................................................................................11

Chapter 3 - Copy Transform Combine Scene 1 – Week 3................................................12

Reflective Log..............................................................................................................................12

Chapter 4 – Characteristics Analytical Study– Week 4....................................................13

Reflective Log..............................................................................................................................13

Chapter 5 - Copy Transform Combine Scene 2 – Week 5................................................14

Reflective Log..............................................................................................................................14

Chapter 6 - Target Audience Study – Week 7....................................................................15

Reflective Log..............................................................................................................................15

Chapter 7 – Students Choice for Target Audience Study – Week 8................................16

Reflective Log..............................................................................................................................16

Chapter 8 - Copy Transform Combine Scene 3 - Week 9.................................................17

Reflective Log..............................................................................................................................17

Chapter 9 – Final Scene Production – week 10-13............................................................18

Presentation of Initial Idea........................................................................................................18

Research.......................................................................................................................................18

Planning........................................................................................................................................18

Presentation of Research and Planning...............................................................................18

Production....................................................................................................................................18

Post-Production..........................................................................................................................18

Evaluation.....................................................................................................................................18

Reflective Logs – one for each week.....................................................................................18

Advanced Production Skills................................................................................................19

Reflective Logs – one for each week.....................................................................................19

Table of Figures...................................................................................................................21

Chapter 1 - Contextual Study – Week 1

Broadchurch {2013} Ep. 1 (Broadchurch, 2013)

Broadchurch is a Television series originally broadcast on ITV 1 in 2013. Written by Chris Chibnall and starring David Tennant and Olivia Colman, the ‘Whodunit’ series set in a fictional town on the coast of Dorset, follows the investigation of a young boy, Danny Latimer, whose body was found on the beach.

Personal Context

Chris Chibnall, living in a small town in Dorset, has a deep understanding for the sense of innocence and calm that comes from a seaside town, allowing him to accurately and quite morbidly put that up against the horror of a child murder case. (Anon., 2015) Chris Chibnall was starting to gain popularity for his screenwriting, much like David Tennant, who after his role as Dr. Who from 2008-2010 gained a large fan base. With two well-known names working on this programme, plus the fact the production value was particularly high due to the working with ITV and Kudos, it’s not much of a surprise that this show gained recognition so promptly.

‘The Teddy Bear Scene’

This scene shows to a full extent the location in which the kidnapping has taken place and seeing the police investigation set up clashing with the otherwise serene beach landscape, is one of the first times the contrast between the setting and the subject matter clash, putting into perspective the horror of this case. The fact there are also a particularly large number of tourists enjoying the sunny seaside despite the incident also makes this scene particularly morbid.

Political context

This episode and the show in general shines a light on how difficult it is for the police to work on a child kidnapping/murder case. Not only do they have the livelihoods of both the victim and the victim’s parents in their hands, but they also must keep on top of the media, fake news, and the fear felt by the locals. This scene shows one of the investigators on this case struggling emotionally with the horror of working on not only a very sad case, but one very personal to her. The show certainly humanises the investigators and highlights the emotional pressure cases like these can put them under.

Social Context

This scene is also the first time that Broadchurch highlights the issue of social media and media exploitation. Olly Stevens, the local budding media reporter, is seen exploiting this trust and close-knit community, by using the fact he recognised the victim’s sister to leak information on the case to a larger media company. This is the point at which ‘Danny Latimer’ became less of a victim of an awful crime and more a face of a media story, used for the media’s gain. This is just the start of a running theme throughout Broadchurch that very much paints the media as a destructive force. This theme was most definitely covered by the writers due to the ongoing social issue of media exploitation and the rise in ‘fake news’ due to sites such as

Figure 1 - Broadchurch beach shot - BBC

Figure 3 - Broadchurch Twitter Shot - BBC

Figure 2 - Broadchurch Car shot - BBC

‘Twitter’. The evil nature of the media in this episode is put directly up against the theme of innocence and childhood, specifically with the use of the teddy bear.

Historical Context

This show was written amid the Madeleine McCann investigation, meaning the horrific idea of child kidnapping was very fresh in a lot of the publics’ minds. However, this show highlights yet another social issue, recognised off the back of the madeleine McCann investigation. The kidnapping victim of the show was an 11-year-old boy, which tackles the issue of mainly young, middle class female victims getting more media coverage to catch a reader’s attention. This issue can be shown directly with 2 real cases from the early 2000’s, Madeleine McCann’s case and Shannon Mathews’ case. Madeleine came from a very middle class background with parents in well-respected jobs, Unlike Shannon who was raised on a council estate with a less wealthy background. (Greenslade, 2008) There were also many more home photos and videos of madeleine, for the media to use and exploit, than there were of Shannon. Both factors, plus others regarding Shannon’s less fortunate background, have been put to blame for Shannon not getting anywhere near as much media recognition or help as Madeleine received. The Madeleine McCann case also got a lot of, both negative a positive, media engagement, like that of Danny Latimer.

Reflective Log

This week the expansion of my knowledge on context and understanding the reasoning behind a filmmaker’s choices, has helped me to think deeper into the different ways I can portray a strong social message with my work. I also feel I now have a greater understanding of why the framing and lighting of shots is important to the context of a show and how to take certain ideas from a show or film and use them in my own work.

Chapter 2 - Own Choice Contextual Study – Week 2Sherlock / Series 1 / Episode 1 (Sherlock, 2010-2018)

Production

The main production team working on this show were Hartswood films along with BBC Wales and Masterpiece Theatre. The show was then initially distributed by BBC worldwide on British Television (BBC One). (Anon., n.d.) The show stars Benedict Cumberbatch as Sherlock Holmes and Martin Freeman as John Watson. Martin Freeman had been cast in many successful British films and TV shows, Including the BBC’s ‘The Office’ in the years prior to the production of Sherlock. This made him a particularly high profile British actor and would be a recognisable face to the initial viewers of Sherlock, possibly increasing the number of viewers keen to see the new show. Benedict, on the other hand, had not been in the public eye as much as Martin Freeman, apart from a few small British Soaps but managed to gain a surge in popularity after the show aired. (IMDb, n.d.)

Personal

The writer of this show, Mark Gatiss, was a known writer in the BBC having written episodes of Dr. Who in the years running up to Sherlock. He also had a history of acting, hence his role as Mycroft (Sherlock’s Brother) in the series. Mark Gatiss has previously talked of his love for the original Sherlock Holmes novels, By Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, growing up (Deacon, 2010). This love and appreciation for the original novels would go on to aid his understanding and enthusiasm when it came to not only playing one of the characters, but writing the modern-day adaptation.

Social

The opening scene to this episode introduces John Watson and a detailed depiction of his struggle with PTSD and general everyday life having returned from war in Afghanistan. This is a running theme throughout the first episode as John continues to struggle with a psychosomatic leg injury, after getting shot in battle. PTSD is a social issue that often goes un-talked about/ undocumented in media despite being common due to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. The opening scene of this episode also sets up the background to the case that would be covered throughout the case. The investigation covers a string of suicides that turn out to be the work of a serial killer, who would force victims to self-administer a poison. The media were shown not to care as much about the case until it was suggested by the police that the suicides may be linked, suggesting they were the work of a serial killer. This suggests the media were portrayed to only want a story that is going to scare and subsequently going to interest the audience. On the subject of the media portrayal in this episode, like that of Broadchurch, the police and investigators are shown to be ‘treading on eggshells; around the press in hopes not to give them any way in which to twist their words and spread fake news – Representing a very realistic and relevant issue in society today.

Figure 4 - John Watson ep. 1 - Sherlock - BBC

Figure 5 - Media in Sherlock ep. 1 - BBC

Figure 6 - Police comment 1 - Sherlock - BBC

Political

The show is set in London, both because of the original books and because Sherlock’s character is portrayed as being constantly at the heart of the most horrific crime investigations, and people would naturally relate such a thing with a major city like London. The portrayal of the police in this episode and the show in general is not great, possibly as a way of heightening the power of Sherlock and to show how much he is needed to help solve these crimes. For example, when Sherlock explains his job to John he says “When the police are out of their depth, which is always, they consult me”. This automatically paints the police force as particularly useless compared to Sherlock. In later episodes, this theme is also shown when Sherlock refuses to call the police for backup even in the most dangerous of situations, continuing the degrading of the police force throughout the series.

Reflective Log Having completed the tasks for this week, I feel I have a much stronger understanding of how to use the 3 point lighting technique efficiently and how I can take inspiration from the way current films are lit to form my own creative work. I also feel I have furthered my understanding of context having analysed a TV show of my choice, and can identify the things that creators have taken from current society and politics, as well as past experiences and their own personal lives, to bring the film/show together.

PEER REVIEW: After reading through your 3 point lighting task it is evident from the work you have produced that you have furthered your knowledge in this particular field. I particularly liked how after taking your self-produced pictures you knew instantly what worked and didn’t. In addition to this, the photographs that have been taken are of a high standard. After assessing the work you have completed on the television show Sherlock I can see that a lot of research has been conducted, I particularly liked the amount of detailed added to the social aspect of the Sherlock report.

Figure 7 - Police comment 2 - Sherlock - BBC

Chapter 3 - Copy Transform Combine Scene 1 – Week 3The aim of this task was to, with our understanding of contextualisation in mind, take certain elements of a scene of our choice and produce our own scene. This allowed us to consider the shots and framing of a scene and use such techniques in our own work, a practice that will help us develop our own creative projects in the future. We were given a few instructions to abide by to give context to the production of the scene as well as get us used to working for a client.

My shooting Script –

My storyboard -

Figure 8 - My CTC Scene - Storyboard

Evaluation

Figure 9 – My CTC video // Captures

https://youtu.be/l7Sk-xMc0N4

Contextualisation of my scene.

The first contextual element of this video was the lack of time we had to create it. We were given 3 days to plan, film and edit our scene as well as help others with the production of their scene. This effected the result because I didn’t have a lot of time to play around with different lighting set ups, framing and other areas of production. I also didn’t have time to reshoot scenes that didn’t turn out as I wanted or scenes that I had missed. However, this did force me to get used to working under pressure and within a small timespan, and overall was a strong learning curve. I think this was the most important piece of contextual information as it was the reason behind a lot of the changes I would make to improve this scene and has strongly affected the end result.

Another element was the difficulty filming in a lab, like the original scene, so I decided to create more of a ‘living room’ set up.

Figure 10 - My CTC Video - Background distractions

However, I think I should have filmed it somewhere different as the TV studio had things in the background, such as the ladder shown in the shot above, and generally didn’t feel like a ‘living room’. Although, filming in the TV Studio did allow me to practice working with the lights and in trying to somewhat build a set which, again, resulted in a strong learning curve.

Copy, Transform and Combine.

I transformed this scene by changing one character to a female, Changing the set from a lab / work environment to a living room / homely environment. The changing of one character to female was with the intention to diversify the cast a little more as well as make it slightly different to usual by having a female war veteran. This was the main reason I wanted to keep the dialogue the same, to highlight the background of this character. I think this was quite successful and portrayed the message I set out to portray.

The original scene from Sherlock was set in a lab, with very white quite clinical lighting. To change this into a homelier setting I used orange lights to give a warmer feel to the scene and didn’t many harsh shadows or pools of light. I also had the main character sitting down at a small table, as opposed to standing at a desk, reading a book. I think I was quite successful in the use of lighting as I do think it created a warmer atmosphere, but I think the set building could have been a lot stronger had I planned it more.

Figure 11 - My CTC Video - Establishing Shots

Another personal transformation of this scene was the addition of 2 establishing shots at the beginning of the scene. I did this as I felt it set the tone of the location more and highlighted the fact that this was taking place in a homely environment. I liked this addition to the scene and think I was successful in what I set out to do (Set the mood of the location).

Generally, I think the result of this video would have been a lot stronger if I had spent more time on the planning of it. Despite having a storyboard and shooting script complete, I didn’t dedicate enough time to working out the logistics of the filming and how I would attempt to make it more my own. I think I should have changed the script to have it make more sense, as I think I was quite closed minded when It came to changing the actions taking place in the scene.

Figure 12 - My CTC Scene – Use of Framing

I do like the fact I used a selection of shot types that I otherwise would have used in my own work, and I have certainly taken a lot from the framing used. I also think the match on action shots I used in this scene worked well and were visually very interesting, making me more inclined to use this in my future work.

Figure 13 - My CTC Scene - Lighting improvements

I think I could have improved the lighting by making sure “Joan Watson” wasn’t so dimly lit.

Conclusion

Overall I think this task has broadened my creative outlook on how a simple dialogue scene can be produced in a visually interesting way. I have also gained a greater understanding for how context can affect a scene and how much of an impact the changing of framing and shot types on the cinematics of a scene. I also had a chance to advance skills in set design, lighting and directing, all of which I believe will greatly help me improve my future practical projects.

Peer Feedback (practical video):

I like the way you’ve planned each shot, changing angles but keeping continuity is a strong point that you achieved.

How you had one character on focus and another in the background was an interesting choice of framing that adds detail to the screen.

In the shot where the other friend goes to sit down on the chair the shot cuts so quickly that you don’t see the person sit down on that chair, so maybe you could’ve extended the shot more so that it doesn’t immediately cut to the next person.

I like how the room in the scene looks mysterious, with the shadows especially as it creates a different tone than just a lit-up room with three people.

As well using the over the shoulder shots is a great use of framing.

Reflective LogAlthough I found the time restraints quite stressful during this task, I think it was a good way to get used to the restraints of working in the industry and working to strict deadlines. I think I have gained a lot of creative inspiration from this task and it has not only made me more confident in creating a more interesting cinematic image, but has also made me more enthusiastic and excited to use what I have learnt in my own projects. I also developed my directing skills and think I coped better, under the pressure of directing a scene, than I thought I would. Overall, I have a very positive outlook on the things I have learnt this week and look forward to using them in my future work.

Chapter 4 – Characteristics Analytical Study– Week 4

Characteristics

Many genres of film and television have key features and characteristics that make them recognisable and allow media products to be categorised. Sitcoms, derived from the term ‘Situational Comedies’, have many recognisable characteristics such as;

30 minutes long 6 episodes per series Laughter track (Canned Laughter) – Initially used to encourage the audience to laugh. Relatable experiences – Creating storylines around situations that are somewhat relatable to the audience Comedy normality – Creating comedy from every day, otherwise normal, situations.

As sitcoms have evolved some of these features have either changed or been left behind entirely. For example, Modern Family doesn’t use canned laughter at all in the show and each episode is only 21-22 minutes long but is still considered a Sit-Com due to the comedy used and the general flow of the series.

Sit-Com Humour:

Running Jokes – Jokes that are carried on throughout the series make each episode feel more connected to the next and can help develop ongoing themes. For example, the fact that Cameron (Mitchell Pritchett’s husband and the main family’s uncle) is always trying to get involved in things, often going over the top and causing more problems.

Inside Jokes – Jokes that are kept between the characters, which helps develop the relationships between them as the series progresses and, similar to running jokes, help connect each episode to the next. For example, the ongoing joke between Claire Dunphy and Mitchell Pritchett (The older siblings of the show) are often making jokes about their dads second wife, Gloria Pritchett is a ‘gold-digger’ for marrying their dad.

One-Liners – This is often used in sitcoms as it is a way of making the audience laugh, through speech, that is more situational. For example, Phil Dunphy is known for his one-liners throughout the show as he says the strangest and most amusing things during the interview scenes.

Catch Phrases – Catch phrases, as demonstrated by the 3 above, is a comedy technique that can link the episodes and develop a character. Many sitcoms have become recognisable by a characters catch phrase and can make a good sitcom/sitcom character more iconic.

Character Archetypes:

Sit-Coms characters often follow a list of personality types as illustrated below:

Character Type ‘Modern Family’ example Key characteristics The rebel

Haley Figure 14 - Modern Family Haley

Thinks they can do whatever they want and get away with it.Believes they are above those around them – Haley often talks down to her siblings.

The Innocent

Luke Figure 15 - Modern Family Luke

“sweet and loveable”Naïve but still trustworthy and caring.Luke is often left out of jokes and would make silly mistakes simply down to his innocent nature.

The Buffoon

Phil Figure 16 - Modern Family Phil

Not unintelligent but have an amusingly inaccurate view of life.Does silly things in a serious nature.Phil often expresses ideas that are completely absurd but wants to be taken seriously.

The Cynic

Claire Figure 17 - Modern Family Claire

Can often be quite pessimistic but very strong and invested in their lives.Claire is a strong headed business woman and realist who takes life in general quite seriously.

The Smart One

Alex Figure 18 - Modern Family Alex

Highly intelligent but often lack social skills.Alex is very smart and is often left frustrated by her family’s lack of understanding for things she perceives as simple, but is simultaneously very socially awkward.

The Player

Manny Figure 19 - Modern Family Manny

Life revolves around girls/boys. Generally, quite bold characters.A running theme through this series is Manny’s constant but bold attempts at getting girls.

Reflective Log This week I believe I have become more confident in the use of green screening and Chroma keying techniques. In my last project, I wasn’t very confident in my use of green screening so u was happy to be advancing my skills in this area with the task this week. Learning about how characteristics can help categorise a media product as well as make certain features of a show recognisable has advanced my understanding of the copy, transform and combine concept.

Peer Review –

You have shown that you understand this subject through the detail in your writing. I also like the table being used to show each character type and their features very clearly. I think you could have expanded some of your points about characteristics, maybe by discussing examples other than just sitcoms to further your point. Overall i think this report is written clearly and you have obviously understood what has been taught this week.

Chapter 5 - Copy Transform Combine Scene 2 – Week 5

My video: https://youtu.be/Q5ViTzOXoYs

Context:

We had a deadline set to have all the filming and editing done in 5 days. I didn’t struggle as much with this task, in comparison to the first copy, transform and combine task, as we had more time and were planning and filming in small groups rather than trying to create our own individual scene.

For this task, we were told we could not use dialogue or large amounts of sound and had to try and tell a story visually rather than with speech. This came as a slight challenge as we had to think about how to show the emotions and story through visual elements such as; Facial Expressions, Shot Types, Body Language and Framing. However, I think being forced to think about the visual elements helped us to experiment with different ways of telling the story as well as creating something more visually interesting. I think this was the most significant piece of context as it completely shaped the way in which we could tell the story.

Inspiration (Copy, Transform and Combine):

The starting point of our project was the ‘Strudel Scene’ from ‘Inglourious Basterds’ (Tarantino, 2009).

Figure 20 - CTB Inspiration - Inglorious Basterds

The extreme close ups of the food and how the portray the discomfort felt by the female character inspired us in our own work and sparked the idea of using eating to make someone uncomfortable, plus trying to portray this visually.

Figure 21 - Using inspiration in our CTB project

The difference in energy in this scene inspired the difference between our two characters, having one eating quite confidently and the other very visibly uncomfortable.

Experimentation:

Figure 22 - CTB Lunch experimentation with Shot Types

Composition and Shot Types

We wanted to know which positioning of the characters would be more awkward and portray the most discomfort. We tried shots of the characters sitting next to each other and opposite each other to see which one was more awkward. We decided to go for placing the characters next to each other as the personal space invasion of the character on the left made for a more uncomfortable shot.

Figure 23 - CTB experimentation with Location

Location

We wanted to experiment with the areas outside that we should sit at. We ended up choosing the bench under the tree (In figure 51) because we preferred the the shot background and colours in this area. There were also more benches in a closer proxemity which would help with the establishing shots, which were quite important to the story.

Figure 24 - CTB experimentation with Framing

Framing

We also experimented with framing. We found that if the shot had more space around the characters it felt a lot less uncomfortably claustrophobic and generally less awkward, so we made sure to frame this shot at a closer range.

Review of the final cut:

I think the range of shots we used made the video more visually interesting and told the story quite effectively, however the broad range of shot types caused a few continuity issues due to the fact we were changing the camera placement often and didn’t do a proper shooting script. Despite the colourings of the shots and the location being quite nice, some of the shots were a little over-exposed and the lighting / exposure wasn’t always consistent from shot to shot. Generally, I am quite happy with the way our video turned out and I think we worked well as a team to bring together our ideas.

Reflective Log

This week I developed my skills in visual storytelling and using a broader range of shot types and framing. I also was inspired by the way we formed a story independently from as little as an a few shots in a well-known feature film. I feel I have greater developed my understanding for the copy, transform and combine ideas and why it is so important to be inspired by existing media products to create our own work.

Peer review –

I enjoyed the storyline to your video and i think the shots you used were very creative and told the story well on screen, However, i feel like the film lacked atmosphere a little because of the lack of sound. To improve this project i think adding Foley sounds in post or live on set would make this project a lot stronger. In terms of your written work, i think it is shown clearly and you have understood the reasoning behind this task.

Chapter 6 - Target Audience Study – Week 7

Target Audience

Uses and Gratification

Identity: Watching a show to identify with the characters or events in the show.

Integration: Watching a show because other people are watching it and to be part of a conversation – Social Integration.

Education – Watching a show to gain knowledge on a subject – Documentaries, Factual and ‘History shows’ – There is an element of trust here in which the viewer believes the source is giving out purely facts.

Entertain – Watching for entertainment purposes. Very individual, Dependent on personal Psychographics.

Psychographics – The likes, dislikes, interests, etc. of an individual.

How do you work out your target audience?

You must know your product, its competition and the characteristics of its genre, what makes it like existing products and what can make it different. This allows you to identify the groups of people and the psychographics it would appeal to.

Atlanta [2016 – Present]:

Producer and Creator:

I think one of the main pull factors to this show, and the reason its target audience tackles mainly young adults, is because of the creator. Atlanta was created and produced by Actor, Producer and singer/Rapper Creator, Donald Glover also known as Childish Gambino. Glover has a huge following in the music industry but is admired by many video creators for his unique music video and short film style. His reputation in the music industry has certainly boosted his reputation in the TV industry as fans of his music are intrigues by the other creative outputs Donald is producing in.

(Anon., n.d.)

Cast:

Not only does Donald Glover produce this show, but he also stars as the main character, giving his existing audience and following yet another reason to support this show. The cast also consists of fellow Rapper and Actor Lakeith Stanfield, bringing this series to the attention of yet more Rap scene enthusiasts. Playing a main character alongside Glover is Actor Brian Tyree Henry, who has only started acting in mainstream television and film in the past 5 years or so and has slowly picked up roles in more popular productions, such as Spider Man – Into The Spiderverse [2018] and Hotel Artemis [2018].

Figure 25 - Donald Glover [IMDB]

Music:

Obviously, considering the creator of this show is well known mainstream rapper Childish Gambino and the cast features Rapper Lakeith Stanfield, one could already assume it would pick up interest in the rap fan community, making the possibility of this show being watched for social integration purposes more likely among these music fans. To keep this possibility of attracting this large group of people to the show, the soundtrack to the series consists of predominantly mainstream rap songs, including some of Glover’s music. Not to mention the storyline being solely based on the journey of an underground rapper working through the rap music industry in Atlanta.

Themes:

Music Industry struggle – The main storyline of this show follows the underground rapper ‘Paper Boi’ and his manager Earn, trying to work from the bottom of the music industry of Atlanta. This may appeal to those who follow the music industry and/or know the struggle of working up the entertainment industry ladder.

Struggling with money – A lot of the issues the characters are challenged by throughout the series stem from their (more specifically Earn’s) struggle to make enough money. This is a theme that many people can relate to when watching the show, an example of people watching a show to identify with the characters as explained above.

Young Parents – Earn not only needs money to better his life but also the life of his young daughter Lottie. Both Earn and his daughters Mother Vanessa had Lottie in their mid-twenties so they weren’t teen parents but nonetheless, neither of them were stable enough in their lives yet to easily raise a child.

Gun Violence – With Gun Violence being such a prevalent subject in society today, especially in America, the theme of Gun violence in the first few episodes of Atlanta Season would certainly appeal to young American’s who are very familiar with the ongoing political subject of Gun Laws and Gun violence. This can therefore create attention from an entertainment, Identity and Educational standpoint.

Racism – Similarly to the theme of Gun Violence, explained above, the theme of Racism is one that is very prevalent in media and politics today. Throughout the series the theme of racism pops up every now and then, and even has a full episode dedicated to racist hate in season 2, as well as having a predominantly black cast, the issues portrayed in the show could be identifiable for people of ethnic minorities.

Gang crime – After noticing the strong ongoing theme of gang culture in this series, I decided to research into how common this is in Atlanta. I came to find that Atlanta is home to some of the highest rates of gang crime and that there is a rapidly growing number of gangs throughout the state. (Boone, 2015) Young people who have grown up in these areas, whether in America or not, where gang culture is well developed may be able to relate to the lifestyle of the characters. However, to coincide with this point, people who have not grown up surrounded by this culture may watch it for entertainment purposes, as it is a way of living they are unfamiliar with and consequently intrigued by.

Reflective Log

I feel I have expanded my knowledge on the reason why an audience may watch a show and how this then may create the target audience for a media product. I was confident in the basic knowledge of target audiences prior to this task, but feel I now understand how to market to an audience and why knowing both your product and your target market is so important.

Chapter 7 – Students Choice for Target Audience Study

A genre based Literature Review:

Why understanding genre is so important in filmmaking.

Genre has been significant in storytelling before the idea of film was even developed, whether it be in literature of theatre, the unique features of each genre, that we are so familiar with today, were prevalent in entertainment consumption since storytelling was invented. The question I will be exploring is just how necessary the concept of genre is to film and why it is important to both filmmakers and consumers, however, to answer this question I first need to understand the basics of what ‘genre’ is. As presented on an educational webpage about genre, this concept can be described on a basic level as being “used to group various forms of art according to a predictable range of features and expectations” (Casano, n.d.). In other words, it helps the filmmaker to know what features they should include to appeal to a certain group of people and prepares the consumer for the type of experience they will receive when watching said film.

Target Audience

To further explain the importance of this concept for audiences, Genre helps target a more specific group of people as the consumer will often turn to genre to look for films they feel like watching. This simple use of genre shows how it benefits both the consumer and the creator when a film is being produced. As conversed on the informative film site ‘Raindance.co.uk’, The marketing of a film is what can make or break its success in the industry, if trying to attract as large an audience as possible is your aim, and advertising the stereotypical features of your films genre can help bring the right group of people to your film in the first place. (Grove, 2017)

Different worlds

As genre has developed, the typical features it holds have simultaneously created different worlds that the audience can jump into when choosing a film to watch. For example,

Figure 22 - War Film Genre

Figure 27 - Teen Comedy Genre - Mean Girls [2004]

Figure 26 - What is Genre – Own Image

the world typically created in a ‘war film’ is significantly different to that of a world created in a Teen Comedy, therefore allowing the creator of the film to use genre stereotypes to target a specific group of people and the consumer to jump into any universe they feel like, with their expectations almost always being met.

Tapping into emotionEach genre and its stereotypical features play a huge part in making sure a filmmaker evokes the desired emotion from the audience through the characters and storyline used. As discussed in a report found on the emotional effect of film, Author and Professor of Film and TV at the university of Copenhagen believes strongly in the theory that film is completely made up of emotional responses based on the stereotypical “narrative themes” and “generic characteristics”, therefore believing that genre is the very basis of creating a successful, emotion evoking piece of media (Redfern, 2012).

Using existing genres to be original

The main argument, As deliberated in a specific blog report about the limitations of Genre, I have come to hear against the use of genre in filmmaking is the possible restrictions that may come with sticking to stereotypical features and themes or limit what people read because they create “boundaries and divisiveness” (Gardner, 2015). However, I think this can sometimes help a filmmaker be more creative and unique in their style as the technique of ‘mixing genres’ can challenge the audience’s expectations – in a good way, if done correctly. One filmmaker who demonstrates this perfectly is British born, feature filmmaker Edgar Wright. From his Zombie Thriller meets Romantic Comedy ‘Shaun Of The Dead’ [2004] to his Musical meets Action packed, Heist thriller ‘Baby Driver’ [2017], Wright beautifully exhibits just how powerful and innovative mixing genres can be. Infact, Wright often talks of genre as if it was the predominant motivation behind the originality of his ideas. In an interview with The ‘Washington Post’ Edgar Wright explains “Even as far back as doing ‘Shaun of the Dead,’ it wasn’t like we said we’re going to do a straight zombie film — because why bother? There’s many of them, and some of them are very good. So you have to think of your take on it. So, what if it’s a romantic comedy where a zombie epidemic is actually interrupting a different movie.” (Wright, 2017)

Figure 28 Edgar Wright's SotD and Baby Driver

To conclude this report,

Genre has become so ingrained in the way we both make and consume films, whether it be to attract an audience through the standard conventions of each genre or to challenge these stereotypes and use typical film tropes in new and innovative ways. As the film industry develops and a cry for new material in very prevalent, the concept of genre has been seen to allow filmmakers the ability to break new ground and bring stories to the screen that surprise the audience and inspire the next generation of storytellers.

Chapter 8 - Copy Transform Combine Scene 3 - Week 9Presentation of Initial Idea

Original ideas presentation: : https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-2-qpuJyKUOKUsSj8vaja2gH4xgDwQKx/view?usp=drivesdk

Presentation of Research and Experimentation

Target Audience

Genre

Thriller Movie Tropes War Film Tropes

No Cell Phone Signal

Found Footage

‘Everyone’s already dead’

Flocks of birds signal

something terrifying is on the

horizon

Breathing Loudly

• Themes of War.

• Protagonist more powerful than antagonist for the most part.

• Close family or friends taken by 'war'.

• Children and Animals are kept safe.

https://warmoviebuff.blogspot.com/2010/09/war-movie-cliches.html

https://www.cinemablend.com/new/11-Horror-Movie-Cliches-How-They-Can-Done-Right-33768.html

https://roadshow.com.au/articles/2017/10/biggest-horror-movies-cliches

How can these tropes help us to blend together both the war and thriller genre?

Making elements of both prominent will help mix both genres. The most obvious War Film Trope is already very apparent in our storyline considering it is being set in an area at threat of war. The war film trope ‘Close friends and family taken from war’ could be mixed with the thriller trope ‘Old found footage’ to create a somewhat sentimental but also harrowing image and to show the extent to which the characters’ current situation has ruined their life. I think by mixing these genres and using typical tropes and evoking the same emotions of both, we will open our target audience and intrigue a wider group of people who are fans of both thriller and war films. I think this can also be beneficial for the audience as strict thriller fans may then feel they can branch their go-to films out to the war genre and vice-versa.

Competition

Five Children and It [2004] Opening

Figure 29 - 5 Children and It Credits

Accompanied by a mini monologue of the children’s’ situation from one of the characters, this immediately sets the scene and prepares the audience for the time and area in which the story is taking place. We could very much use this technique, or one similar, in our film as it would help solve the issue of not filming the project in a real war zone.

Figure 30 - 5 children and It Props

They use both costuming and props in this opening scene can already tell us a lot about the characters and the situation. The clothing and gift given from the father hint at the family being an average living class family, this later contrasts with the luxurious and upper class living standards of the family the children move in with. The props and costuming here also accentuates the time in which this film is set and the situation they are in. I think the use of props and costuming to tell as much about our character as possible will be effective if used in our film, especially with the significant lack of dialogue to describe the scene.

Figure 31 - Five Children and It Opening

The film is also colourised very effectively. The contrast and saturation is very low, giving is an almost dusty or smoky look, which very much correlates to the smoggy polluted streets of London. It also makes the film feel a lot older, taking the audience back to when the scene is set and immersing us further. I think this is a very effective whilst quite unique and creative way of transporting the audience into the scene.

Literature Review

How would our main character behave when in the situation of war preparation and evacuation, based on known human responses to crisis?

In this report I will look in the actions taken by people in previous wars taking place in Britain and how evacuations were carried out. I will also look at how we have responded to the increasing threat and worldwide fear of nuclear war and what precautions and preparations governments have suggested we take in the modern day. To then conclude and bring this information together I will talk about how the research I have done can positively influence both the accuracy of our character and immersing the audience.

Ww2 war responses

One of the most troubling experiences for evacuees / those staying behind was the fact they would be split from their friends and family for, at the time, an unknown duration. This worry was more prevalent in the older children/Teenagers and their parents as the younger children were left quite unaware of the situation, and most saw evacuation as more of an adventure. (Summers, 2011).

Figure 32 - WW2 Evacuation list

Possibly the most important subject of this research, to our narrative, is the contents of a wartime evacuees suitcase. From an educational BBC report, I found that the children/young people being evacuated were sent a letter from their school detailing the necessary contents of their suitcase, plus any other needed supplies for the journey. A list detailed in the figure above is taken from a London school in 1939 when its students were evacuated from the city. (BBC, 2014) The types of food and clothing detailed will be useful when knowing what props to use in our film.

Modern Day Responses

Figure 33 - Modern Day Evacuation list

As shown above, the government list of what to do in an emergency, requiring evacuation, is quite like that of the WW2 letter, including details of clothing to wear, food to eat and dust/gas masks. The main difference between the two is that, in the modern day, the information is given upon the assumption that individual families will be getting themselves to safety, in comparison to the evacuee children in ww2 being evacuated separately by train. This resulted in a lot more instructions about how one should prepare their house for war which could come as more help to the events taking place in our film. There is also an obvious presence of technology being used to help in modern day evacuations, such as apps directing to nearby shelters and instructions regarding electrical equipment, which again gives us more opportunities to play around with the actions our character takes. (Ready.Gov, n.d.)

How can this reflect on our character’s actions and the features of our storyline?

Understanding both the similarities and differences between past and modern day evacuation methods will help us to achieve a unique mix of time zones and give an abstract timeless feel to the film. We can also now consider the contents being packed into our character’s suitcase and the Mise En Scene we can use to create a more immersive and realistic feeling scene. Branching out from the point on Mise En Scene, this research can help us with set design and the kind of things that will be around our character, possibly foreshadowing the events taking place before the audience is fully aware of the situation. For example, the use of a “note telling others when you left and where you are going” or a newspaper article could be quite effective to establish the situation. We can also think more about the actions being taken by the character as she panics to get out in time, such as frantically unplugging electrical equipment and locking up all windows and doors.

Exploration

Props and costuming;

Figure 34 - Props Research

We want our piece to appear in a time period that can’t be placed to show the timeless fear of war. With this in mind, I have attempted to include props and clothing that can suggest both a 1940’s setting and a vintage modern day setting.

For example, having an old teddy bear and suitcase but a modern flask design. Or an old looking newspaper but a video camera that could be from the early 2000’s. In terms of the clothing, I think having clothing that represents a casual 1940’s teen can also fall under the modern-day bracket with the modern fashion industry recently drifting into more vintage styles that are often very much inspired by that of the 1940-60’s.

I think the props I have chosen here, plus any others my group chose to include, can help advance and tell the story visually. I think the video camera can be used to show ‘life before the evacuation’ or family members as this is a more modern version of the typical ‘mourning over a picture frame’ war film trope.

A lot of the things I have chosen to include in the props were taken from both the original ww2 evacuation letter and the modern-day evacuation instructions, in an attempt to make it as realistic and factually accurate as possible. I also think these items should be achievable to collect and include in our project.

How can tell a clear story, with an interesting narrative, without much dialogue (Narrative)

In order to answer this question, I first took to some educational videos that could explain the fundamentals of storytelling without dialogue. One technique I found very interesting, and possibly very helpful for our project, was the concept of basing the story on ‘Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs’.

(McLeod, 2018)Figure 35 - Maslows Hierarchy of Needs

This technique involves taking the bottom two rows of this pyramid (also known as basic human needs) and basing the character arch around these requirements. The reason these things tend to work well in progressing a story without the use of speech is because every human being can relate to the struggle to strive for these elements. (D4Darious, 2015)

For example, if a character’s struggle is to retrieve food, this can be shown very easily and obviously through simple shots of the character trying to reach the food. There is no need for dialogue to explain why he wants the food or what its significance is, because it’s common knowledge and relatable to the audience that the character needs food to survive.

In terms of the second to bottom row of features, this is where the story can become deeper and developed. For example, if a character is after money this is also relatable and can be understood by our audience without dialogue, despite ‘money’ not being specifically referred to as a basic need, because it falls under the security category.

To relate this to our character, our story is based around the need for our character to escape war. So, based on this theory, as long as we visually make it clear that our character’s current location leaves them at threat of being bombed, the audience should be able to understand and empathise with the need to get away due to this idea falling under the ‘safety’ category.

In conclusion, I think with in depth thought and planning going into the ways we can show the audience the situation our character is in, we should be able to tell the story clearly through props and the body language of our character. If the story is solely focussed on our character’s safety being the main objective, then the story and motives should come across clearly to the audience.

What is the most suitable location available to us for this project?

We wanted the location of our project to appear dated, despite our objective to make our piece timeless. This is due to wanting to make a visible contrast between some of the props used and the setting it is in, in terms of time-period. This idea happened to work in our favour due to one group member having access to their grandparent’s house, which appears quite dated inside. This location would be easy for us all to access and have already been granted permission to film inside.

Figure 36 - Filming Location

As shown above, the house follows a particularly old fashioned colour scheme and overall design. There is also enough room for camera equipment and general filming set up in most of the rooms which means we have a range of areas to work with. For all the reasons stated, we believe this would be the most appropriate filming location as it is the only one we have access to that tackles all our needs and aims for this project, both design and practicality wise.

Experimentation

Lighting in a non-studio environment

ISO 600,1/30, F7.1 ISO6400,1/60, F7.1

Figure 37 - Lighting Harsh Key light

Figure 38 - Lighting No Key light

The image on the left was taken with no key light, just the filler light to the right of the subject. As shown, this meant the subject was very low lit and could barely be seen. The image on the left was taken with a white soft box lamp as a key light, as well as the filler lamp on the right. I felt this image was too harshly lit and the lighting overall didn’t look very natural.

Figure 39 - Lighting Set Up Experiment

The lamp I was using had no way of lowering light intensity and I did not own any diffusers so, to try and fix this issue, I thought covering the soft box with a thin material may help diffuse the lamp and make the lighting less harsh. I hung a thin blanket over the lamp and took the shot below.

ISO6400, 1/30, 7.1

Figure 40 - Preferred lighting set up

I think this image was the most naturally lit of the two. The light from the filler lamp was just visible enough to seem natural and the key light wasn’t too harsh.

I feel this experimentation was successful as I have found a solution to some of the issues we may have otherwise had to try and figure out on the actual production day, as well as generally practicing and feeling more comfortable with this lighting equipment.

Building tension with sound-scaping

For this experimentation, I wanted to create a soundscape of noises that built tension. My first step was to find multiple separate pieces of audio that worked alone. After some searching, I found some audio that I decided to use within the video: • Air Raid Siren – A royalty free sound effect on YouTube. (Audio Productions, 2014)• Lift Audio – A moving, clicking mechanical and electronic pulsing noise used within the Disneyland Attraction “The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror”. (SHL, 1994)• Lift Shaft Ambient Audio – Ambient background noise taken from the halted elevator shaft from the Disneyland Attraction “The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror”. (SHL, 1994)

Once all the files had been downloaded, I opened the video editor, opting to only give the background a black screen to not distract from the audio. I began by adding the audio files, layering them over each other after a few seconds of one playing by itself, I would add the next file until it was a fully completed initial audio draft. The next thing I did would be raise the audio of certain files up one by one, so that while listening to it, there was this definite building of tension that could be heard.Finally, I saved the file as a video and uploaded it to YouTube, which can be viewed below:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lk7jd8-jAQ&feature=youtu.be

The next step was to present the video to various people, both in and out of college to gage their opinion, and how much or if they felt uncomfortable by it. This was a tactic of audience review that I had previously used during last year’s final major project and it worked perfectly then.Here are some of the thoughts given:• Vivi - I feel that the sounds were very distinctive, they gave off a creepy vibe like in a horror movie. The alarm especially makes the atmosphere feel intense and would make the audience interested and scared to know what’s happening. I also feel that the sound of the metal moving makes it sound spooky in a way as it slowly goes on.• Tom – There was an obvious conflict that was occurring which started with a slow build up however it eventually climaxed when emergency sirens were raised indicating immediate danger. • Joe – The beginning sounded like heavy machinery being moved around which, without much context, was quite unsettling. Then as the volume increased and the sirens started, it created a sense of panic and aggression. The volume declined but still leaves the listener feeling vulnerable after being attacked by such loud noises a few seconds’ prior.

So, with the audience participation section finished, I was done with this experiment. Judging by the audience reaction, I’d say it was an absolute success and reinforced the notion about using this kind of atmospheric sound and tension building within the film.

(Welch, 2018)

How can we colour correct our footage to give the illusion of a different time-period?

Before going into this task, I decided to research into different way other media products had given the illusion of dated footage in a modern production. I found that the opening scene to 5 Children and It [2004] was a good example to use.

Figure 41 - 5 Children and It Colour Correction

The contrast and saturation is very low, giving is an almost dusty or smoky look, which very much correlates to the smoggy polluted streets of London. It also makes the film feel a lot older, taking the audience back to when the scene is set and immersing us further. I think this is a very effective whilst quite unique and creative way of transporting the audience into the scene.

With inspiration taken from the editing of this scene, I began to manipulate the footage I had taken to test colour correcting methods with.

The video demonstrating the footage manipulation; https://youtu.be/CZB7q6HYjlU

Figure 42 – colour manipulation experiment

I started by brightening the footage slightly as the original clip was quite dark and I thought this would be a good base to work with. From this point, I then went on to decrease the saturation to give the footage a dusty look that would make it look more dated. I also increased the temperature of the footage to give it a typically vintage and dated feel. I think, based on the inspiration I took from the existing media product above, the difference between the original footage and the final colour corrected clip is quite a positive one.

I think colour correcting our footage in this way could work quite effectively in terms of changing the suspected time zone in which it as filmed.

Contextualisation:

In terms of our original idea, I think we have more so developed our initial plans rather than changing anything drastically. The research we have undertaken has given us the confidence to go ahead with our project plan and given us the knowledge and understanding as to ow we should go about this. For example, we have practiced the main production and post production elements (Lighting, Sound, Editing and Cinematography) which has informed us on how to go about doing these things and achieving the original desired look of our film.

Reflective Log – This week i have learnt a lot about the genre in which i will be working for this project, as well as experimented with techniques that will make this film both visually and audibly more exciting. One report in particular that was very interesting to both research for and write about was the report on ‘Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs’ as i found the crossover of human psychology and film and Tv very intriguing and i know this will help me in my storytelling both with this project and in future projects. I also enjoyed experimenting with colour correction and researching into how existing products use colour correction to further bring footage to life for the audience.

Pre-Production Planning

Project Proposal

Candidate Name Megan Wyrill

Pathway Film and Television Lvl 3

Project Title Packing project

Section 1: Rationale (approx. 150 words) Minimum 135 Maximum 165

My project is about a girl’s desperate attempt to escape from an inevitable nuclear blast.

We are trying to evoke strong emotion from the audience through relatable subjects such as fear of war and enemy attack and the importance of family in desperate situations

It is important for the audience to understand the isolation of this character and the contrast between their calmness before the radio announcement and their desperation when they attempt to get away.

I think the relevance of the fear of nuclear war and bomb threats is something that will attract the audience’s attention. I also think the lack of any specific time period would intrigue the audience as, if done right, it will be quite a different way of portraying war films. The strong relatability factors will also hopefully make this troy stand out.

Section 2: Project Concept (approx. 200 words) Minimum 180 Maximum 220

The format of our project is a short, fictional, war thriller film.

We are trying to tell a story that the audience can relate to and feel with the character. We are also demonstrating the importance of family in desperate situations.

A major influence in terms of design is the Five Children and It [2004] due to things like the colour correction and props being used showed the early time period – a technique we could very much take inspiration from in our project. We also took inspiration from and Episode of the Twilight Zone called ‘The Shelter’. The plot is very similar to ours, as it portrays one family’s frantic attempt to survive a nuclear attack on the US.

I will research the way humans react to crisis to try and portray our characters struggle as accurately as possible, as well as creating a series of events to which the audience can say “I would probably do that too”.

My target audience is someone who often enjoys thriller and/or war films, likes films set in a vintage / different time zone and people who have a high regard of short films.

My mains roles will be as actor, storyboard artist, and editor.

My technical requirements are a camera and tripod, as well as a Steadicam for the tracking shots.

Section 3: Evaluation (approx. 150 words) Minimum 135 Maximum 165

I will create a production diary that documents the process of our production, within this I plan to take a photo of our progress every 30 minutes to accurately capture the flow of our work. I will also keep a progress tracker weekly to document the projects development and whether we are keeping on track for our deadline. Another technique I think will be useful Is a reflective log at the end of each day during production and post production, just a sentence or two to document how that day went in terms of developing the final product. As the project develops into post production I think it would be beneficial to collect regular feedback from both my tutors and my peers, to get constant opinions on where I could improve to make the result as strong as possible. My main aim in the constant evaluation of my work is to document as much as possible, making sure to include pictures and screenshots.

Proposed Research Sources and Bibliography (Harvard Format)

Location Recce

REMOTE SURVEY CHECKLIST

LOCATION RECCE Canterbury College

Date of SurveyLocation Channel Haven, Kingsdown Road, Kingsdown, Kent, CT148AS

L1. Spare BedroomL2. Outside Field

Day of Shoot 06/12/2018 Time of Shoot 10am-4pmProduction Contact 07749495298

Power AvailableQuantity

L1 -4 power sockets within the room.L2 – None.

Extension Cords Both Locations – N/A

AC Outlets Quantity

Both Locations – N/A

Reflection Interferences L1 - Two Mirrors within the room, 2 windows with 3 sections to each. Shiny wood-covered surfaces.L2- None

Obstructions blocking camera viewL1 - Bed in back of room, Sofa on left of room.L2- None – possible tree interference.

Sprinkler System L1 - N/AL2- None

Sun Location

L1- If standing at the entrance to room, the sun will generally be in the West.L2- Generally in the West.

View from inside looking outL1- The left, main window looks out towards the main lawn. The right window looks over to the courtyard by the front door.

L2 – N/A

External Surroundings (noise interference) Both Locations - The Location is surrounded by few houses and mostly fields. The only major noise would be noises of nature.

Type of FloorL1- Beige Carpeting.L2- Dirt – Grass.

Type of WallcoveringL1 - Beige Striped wallpaper. L2 – N/A

Ceiling Height L1 -8 feet. L2 – The Sky.

Health and Safety

Risk Assessment Hazard Checklist – Filming of “Packing”

Project Name “Packing Project” Assessment Date 04/12/2018

Assessed By Megan Wyrill Approved By Jenni Blackman

Locations

Channel Haven, Kingsdown Rd, Walmer, Kent, CT148AS

Activities

Filming in the Bedroom – Location 1

Filming in the Field – Location 2

1 INDOOR Spare Bedroom Risks

5 HAZARDS Field Risks ON HILL

L1.1 Inappropriate lighting in Bedroom

L2.1 Slips & trips on grass, mud, rock

L1.2Tangled blinds

L2.2 Small Road-Track Crossing

L1.3 Insufficient or unsuitable space

L2.3Remote locations

L1.4 Untidiness – causing trip / fire hazard

L2.4Difficult communication

L1.5 Hidden wall – door opening hitting someone

L2.5 Cold Temperature For Actors

L1.6Lack of fire escapes / extinguishers / procedures

L2.6 Extra work imposed by terrain type / angle

L1.7Slip / trip / fall hazards

L2.7Dog Walkers interrupting filming

L1.8Inadequate ventilation L2.8

Unpredictable Weather

L1.9Inhalation of dust

L2.9Tractor rolling across fields

L1.10 Bright Sunlight Through Windows

L2.10Hidden items in ground

L1.11Electrical hazards

L2.11

Spare Bedroom Risk Fixes6 PEOPLE Field Risk Fixes

ATIONAL

L1.1Camera Testing with the lighting – use of our own lighting set up.

L2.1 Making sure everyone wears terrain-appropriate footwear, as well as bringing paper towels to step on.

L1.2Keeping the blinds tied back.

L2.2 Look both ways before crossing.

L1.3

Moving furniture to assure for a good amount of free floor space.

L2.3 Making sure the group stays together.

L1.4

Keeping sure all the equipment and items are placed somewhere safe and out of the way.

L2.4While not straying far apart, speak loudly if the conditions limit sound.

L1.5 Making everyone in the house aware of filming – ask them to knock first.

L2.5 Making sure all the crew wear warm clothing – including all the actors.

L1.6Not locking any doors, keeping an open path to the exit.

L2.6

Bringing only the essential equipment, as well as towels and paper for safety.

L1.7

Keeping a constant eye on the ground for

L2.7Halting filming, allowing them to pass before continuing.

possible wires or liquid to trip on.

L1.8Keeping the window open and regulate the radiator’s temperature.

L2.8 Checking weather beforehand, but also bringing umbrellas.

L1.9 Making sure the area is fully dusted and clean

L2.9 Keeping an eternal eye on the field surroundings, making sure the path is clear.

L1.10Pause filming in that room until sunlight position changes.

L2.10 Watching closely where we step, not just for items but also slippery ground.

L1.11Making sure that all electrical outlets are turned off before filming.

L2.11

Canterbury College Media Department

CALL SHEET Canterbury College

Production Title: Packing Project Production Group: Megan, Thomas Reeve

Day: Thursday the 6th Month: December Year: 2018Shoot Start Time: 10:00 am Wrap Time: 4:30Location: Kingsdown, KentAddress: Channel Haven, Kingsdown Road.

Contact Name/Tel No: 01304369448

Main Production Contacts/names Number & e-mail

Director:

Line Producer:

1st AssistantDirector:

Assistant Producer:

3rd AssistantDirector:

Thomas Welch

Reeve ClapsonMegan Wyrill

Reeve Clapson

Thomas WelchReeve ClapsonMegan Wyrill

Megan Wyrill

07749495298

0754397816107943935987

07543978161

077494952980754397816107943935987

07943935987

Pibbtalk@gmail.com

TheReeveClapson@gmail.comMeganwyrill@gmail.com

TheReeveClapson@gmail.com

Pibbtalk@gmail.comTheReeveClapson@gmail.comMeganwyrill@gmail.com

Meganwyrill@gmail.com

Cast Name/Artiste Character Call Time Contact NoMegan Wyrill Robin Weiss 10:00am 07943935987N/A Radio Announcer N/A N/A

Name Production Role Call Time Contact NoMegan Wyrill Producer 10:00am 07943935987Thomas Welch Director 10:00am 07749495298Reeve Clapson Camera 10:00am 07543978161

Megan Wyrill Sound 10:00am 07943935987Thomas Welch Design 10:00am 07749495298

Reeve Clapson Design Assistant 10:00am 07543978161Megan Wyrill Lighting 10:00am 07943935987Thomas Welch Camera Assistant 10:00am 07749495298Megan Wyrill Storyboard Artist 10:00am 07943935987Thomas Welch Health+Safety 10:00am 07749495298Megan Wyrill Assistant 10:00am 07943935987

Production Requirements

Location: Heather Lowne – owner of the property which will be filmed on. Parking: A drive which will any vehicles will be parked at.Catering: Thomas Welch + Family will provide food or drinks.Toilets: Two bathroom and toilet facilities on the property. Props:

Old Case – Provided by Heather Lowne Radio – Provided by Heather Lowne Rocking chair – Provided by Heather Lowne Old Books – Provided by Heather Lowne 1940s Championship Clock – Provided by Heather Lowne General Bedroom Furniture – Provided by Heather Lowne “Invader” Prop – Provided by Thomas Welch

Equipment: Camera Tripod Lighting Set-Up Steady Cam

Preliminary Schedule – Subject to change Time Action 10am10.05am

10.15am10.25am11am11.30am12: 301.30pm1.40pm2.40pm2.55pm3.30pm4.30pm

Crew meets up in Deal.Crew gets Cab to filming location.Filming set up inside.Filming begins.Hourly Break.Filming Resumes.Lunch Break.Filming set up outside.Filming Begins Outside.Hourly Break.Filming Resumes.Allow time for Reshoots.End of day.

Travel Name Travel Method Departure time +

any additional information

Return time (plus any additional information)

Megan Wyrill Bus Depart from: Seabrook, Folkestone. Kent: 8:17amBus: 102Arrive: 9:10am

Change at: Dover, Ladywell Stop K:9:16amBus: 81

Arrive: Deal, South Street:9:48am

Depart from: Ringwould, Five Bells:16:43pmBus: 80AArrive: 16:49pm

Change at: Dover, Pencester Road (Stop X):17:20pmBus: 102

Arrive: Seabrook, Folkestone:18:05pm

Synopsis and Mood Board

Figure 43 - Mood Board

Treatment

Background / setting:

Under the great threat of nuclear war, citizens of the UK live in constant fear of the seemingly inevitable threat to their livelihoods. Those who have the opportunity have begun the fleeing of their homes, attempting to get their loved ones to safety before their fears becomes reality. However, some, including 20-year-old Robin, refuse to believe in the possibility of such terror ripping through their homes and decide to continue with their lives, The time zone i uncertain t the audience, with hints of different generations, this films depicts the timeless fear of mass human destruction and violence on a national scale.

Characters;

Robin: A 20-year-old art student from east London, staying away from home for the summer in an old rented house near the south coast, in which she spends her time developing her art. She is dismissive of the nuclear threats and believes the panic is for nothing, so she decides to remain in her holiday home in peace rather than panicking like the rest of the country.

Robin’s current situation:

With constant letters from her parents flooding through her letterbox warning of the nuclear threat and their want her to return home, Robin is left somewhat conflicted. Whilst she believes she will remain safe and everyone is stressed for no reason, she can’t help but feel unnerved by her family’s panic. She eventually decides she would pack up and travel home, just to ease their minds. However, she certainly wasn’t in any rush, after all she was their too enjoy her time away and that exactly what she planned on continuing to do.

Storyboard

Figure 44 – Storyboard 1

Figure 45 Storyboard 2

Figure 46 - Storyboard 3

Figure 47 - Storyboard 4

Figure 48 - Storyboard 5

Figure 49 - Storyboard 6

Figure 50 - Storyboard 7

Figure 51 - Storyboard 8

Figure 52 - Storyboard 9

Figure 53 - Storyboard 10

Figure 54 - Storyboard 11

Figure 55 - Storyboard 12

Figure 56 - Storyboard 13

Shooting Script

Ext: Close up of leaves blowing in the wind.

: Long shot of establishing the house.

: Medium shot of window, looking into bedroom.

Int: Still shot of bed with suitcase on it.

: Still shot of radio. A hand turns up the dial.

: Still Mid shot of Newspaper on the chair with t-shirt on the back. A hand picks up the shirt.

: Mid shot of hand putting the shirt in the suitcase, picking up a note also in the suitcase.

: Over the Shoulder shot of her reading letter.

: Close up of the Letter dialogue. “Robin. The situation is getting worse and we’re worried for you. Please come back to us, we’re scared about your safety. Things could deteriorate any day now and if they do we want you to be with us. You know where we are. The same old house, the same old street. Willoughby. Home. Our door is always open, just please don’t stay out there any longer. Please. -Mom & Dad.

: Medium Long Shot of Robin reading note, as the radio beside her begins to crackle.

: Medium Close Up of radio as it continues to crackle.

: Medium Close Up of Robin trying to tune the radio.

: Medium Close Up of radio as Music stops and voice comes onto the radio. “This is the CONELRAD emergency broadcast system, all programs are halted at this time. At thirteen hundred hours, a nuclear warhead was launched from enemy territory, towards the coast territories, Bixler County, Parrish County and Stockton County are all within immediate range of the projectiles. Repeat, enemy warheads are heading towards locations this message is playing in. Take shelter. Take cover. Be safe. The programs have been cancelled until further notice.

: Close Up of Robin reacting to announcement.

: Close Up of her feet as they slowly back up.

: Close Up of her hands placing themselves against the bed for support.

: Extreme Close Up of her reacting further.

: Long Shot of her racing around to the case.

: Close Up of her swiftly packing items in the case – bomb siren begins to chime outside

Ext: Medium Shot of window, looking into bedroom as she continues to pack.

Int: Close Up panning shot of her closing case and picking up camera.

: Close Up of her stuffing camera into her pocket.

: Long Shot of her walking out the door as the sirens get louder. She is visible out the window walking.

Ext: In front Tracking Shot of her walking out of the gate, leaving it open.

: Over the Shoulder tracking shot of her walking to the entrance of the field.

: Shaky tracking shot of her running up the field hill.

: Medium Shot of her suddenly stopping, as missile sound is heard.

: Close up on her face as she reacts, shaking her head.

: Wide Shot as she sits down on the case.

: Close Up of her with her hands on her face.

: Mid Shot of her taking camera out of her pocket.

: Over the Shoulder shot of her turning on camera and watching footage.

: Close Up of the footage on camera.

: Medium Close Up of her looking upwards closing her eyes as screen fades to white.

Reflective log - Pre-production week:

This week I produced the preproduction work for this project. To produce this work quickly and efficiently my group and I assigned a couple of the bigger and more shareable tasks to individual members and then we passed these pieces around and shared pre-production paperwork. We found this was a much quicker and more efficient way of completing the work, and meant we all understood each other ideas and plans. Overall, I believe this week’s work to have been successful and time efficient and should have us set up well for production week.

Production Production Diary:

10:45am - Production day commences. General discussion over where we will start and how we will follow the storyboard / shooting script. We intended to iron out any potential issues, misunderstandings, or questions before going ahead with the filming so we knew exactly what we wanted to film and that we were all on the same creative wavelength with this project.

11:00am -

Filming of external house and establishing shots commence. We tried to collect both the storyboarded shots as well as a few random shots to help fill out the scene setting and to give us more footage and possibilities in editing. Thomas, Reeve and Tom worked on getting as many varying shots of me inside the house, from outside, as they felt necessary.

Figure 57 - External filming diary entry

In an attempt to get a shot of leaves swaying, Thomas moved the branch slightly to create the movement due to there not being enough wind that day. This was an issue we handed thought of before the filming of that scene, somewhat because it simply didn’t cross our minds but also because Reeve and I, the storyboards, were still unaware to some degree of where the tree we drew was positioned in the garden, how big the tree was, etc.

11:30am – Filming inside, in the characters bedroom.

Figure 58 - Internal Filming Diary Entry

This part of production also went pretty well. We continued following the storyboard but also experimented with a few unplanned shots too. We shots from quite a few different angle, which involved using the tripod to both its shrinking and extending extrememes.

Figure 59 - Experimental Panning Diary Entry

The shot above shows Tom and Thomas attempting to replicate steady cam movement by creating a panning shot across the bed as my character got up and walked away. I think this shot would have looked nicer if we had used the actual steady cam, but it was a good experiment and I would consider trying it properly in future projects.

12:30pm – LUNCH + talking through the next scene and discussing prior completed work.

Figure 60 - Reviewing Footage Diary Entry

1:30pm -

Figure 61 - Field Filming Diary Entry

After we finished lunch we walked over to the local field in which we would film the next / final scene. This was the point at which we realised the ground was very slippery, but we decided we would have to try and work with it cautiously as we didn’t have much time or another location that would work with this scene.

Figure 62 - Steady Cam Diary Entry

We also tried using the steady cam for some tracking shots from behind the walking character. These didn’t turn out too bad after a few of us got familiar with how it worked, but it did take more time as we didn’t have much experience in using this equipment.

3:00pm – Check through footage and check we covered the whole storyboard

3:45pm – filming wrapped

Reflective log - Production week:

For day one of production week (Wednesday) I was asked to help in the production of another groups project so my group left our production day for day 2 (Thursday). Whilst I was filming with the other group, the other 2 members of my group looked over the pre-production work again and made sure everything was set in place for our production the next day. One member of my group, a resident of the house in which we would be filming, also spent some of the day set dressing the room we would be filming in and making sure the set was ready and accurate to our story. On day 2 of production week, my whole group came together to film at one group members house and local area. We also had one member of another group come in to help us with the production of our film, mainly in camera work. We were filming for roughly 5 hours, with a lunch break in between. There were some points at which i felt the production of some shots was a little rushed or some further attention to detail could have been taken but i think, apart from this possible issue, we worked very well together as a team, there were no major issues that arose and filming flowed quite well.

Post-Production

Colour Correction.

Figure 63 - Colour Correction in Post

I colour corrected every clip in this project, taking inspiration from the research I did on colour correction in war films. I was inspired by the way the footage was manipulated to portray footage of the early 1940’s, as I think using colour correction is a subtle but powerful way of transporting the audience to a different time period. I gave the shadows a blue tint and the highlights and midtones a subtle yellow/orange-y tint as I felt the combination of these manipulations gave the footage quite a warm, dusty effect and generally made the footage look a bit older. I also decreased the contrast slightly to give make it look further dusty.

Existing footage manipulation.

Figure 64 - Archive Footage Manipulation

This section of my film involved collecting existing family footage I had and compiling it to represent the last videos our character watched before the inevitable nuclear warhead hit. I edited about a 2 seconds of each clip in to create a fast and tension building compilation, whilst also colour correcting the footage to make it look like it was taken off an old video camera. I kept the ear ringing sound and the war siren sound over the top to keep the tense atmosphere going throughout the scene.

Sound manipulation.

Figure 65 - Sound Design in Post

To give a more 3d a realistic effect to the music playing throughout the scene, I used key frames to mix the music with the ambient sound depending on the environment. When the camera was placed closer to the window I left the music volume at a comfortably high level, but when the camera moved further out into the garden I decreased the msuic audio below that of the outside ambient sound, so it sounds like the camera was moving further away from the sound. I think this worked particularly well in giving the illusion of the music being played from the characters bedroom. The only issue with this was the excessive time it took to attempt to sucessfully manipulate the sounds I used.

Showing time passing through an editing technique.

Figure 66 - Experimental Editing in Post

I took inspiration from other members of my group for this technique, it involves fading between a landscape shot and a shot of the character running through to show the character moving further in a shorter amount of time. Although I wasn’t overly pleased with the result, I do think it’s a more creative way of showing the characters movement over a shorter amount of time and think I could make this echnique look better over time. The most difficult aspect of this technqiue was making sure the fade look natural and the colour correcting on each clip matched so that the change in clips wasn’t obvious.

Reflective log - Post-production week:

This week was quite stressful overall, with outside college projects interfering with the time i could spend editing and difficulty in putting the project together in general i think the post-production of this project could have gone smoother. I struggled with the manipulation of a lot of the clips and because i was acting on camera and didn’t have much control over the shots being taken, it made it a bit harder for me to put this footage together as i hadn’t seen in being taken. A lot of the effects used were also very time consuming which was quite stressful when the time we had was very limited. However, i managed to push through the editing and completed my project my day 3 of editing week to a standard i was somewhat happy with. I think there were lots i would do differently if i were to produce this project again, but there are still lots of elements of the result that i am pleased with and will take forward into my future projects.

FINAL PROJECT – ‘LAST SUMMER’ BY MEGAN WYRILL, REEVE CLAPSON AND THOMAS WELCH:

https://youtu.be/mPHjdasqjto

EvaluationAn explanation of our project;For this project, we were placed into small groups and instructed to create a creative pieced based around the idea of packing. If our ideas were shaped around a scene in which a character packs something and we could successfully put it together before the deadline, everything else was up to us. Our short film project told the story of a young girl who, after rejecting the idea of possible nuclear attack, finds herself in the middle of a nuclear invasion and desperately attempts to escape to the nearest fallout shelter. We left the ending somewhat open but it is heavily suggested that she doesn’t make it to safety in time. The time zone is non-specific, mixing aspects of an early 1940’s time zone and a modern day one.

Pre-production, production and post-production techniques and processes

What were our main goals?Our main goal was to create a film that could depict and appeal to the timeless and common fear of

mass violence. I think the idea that through generations people have always had the idea of terrorist or large scale violence looming in the back of their head but simultaneously people don’t often discuss this fear, is very interesting. Very few films I have seen around nowadays touch on the fear of nuclear threat, despite it being so real and present in all our lives.

Obviously, considering we wanted this film to be part of the thriller genre, we wanted to create tension throughout the film. However, the tension we had to create was different to that of any other thriller films I have made in the past. Whilst in my past thriller projects the fear has been based on something more paranormal and small scale, the thing our main character feared here was much bigger, more powerful and certainly a lot more real.

Another goal we aimed to achieve, more to give our film a unique style twist, was to attempt to mix time zones through semiology, props costuming and post-production techniques. We thought having style influences from that of the early 1940’s, 1970’s and 2000’s would further depict the idea that the fear of war and violence is timeless.

What is challenging, different and interesting about my media product?We thought the mixing of time periods may make our film visually more unique and many of the existing

media products we looked to for inspiration we’re set in early 1940’s of based in existing past wars. With this in mind, we tried to bring elements of both early 1900’s, the modern day and time periods in between. For example, the décor of the house was quite early 1940’s, the dress of the character was more 1550’s, the song used (‘I’m sorry’ by Brenda Lee) was from 1960 and the video camera suggested early 2000’s.

I also think touching on the very real and current idea of nuclear threat is something the media seems to stay slightly away from in mainstream thriller movies, possibly due to the political climate revolving around the idea. However, I think putting this threat in an ambiguous time period makes it less of a political statement in terms of modern media but also allows it to be relatable for those watching in the current day.

Who is our ideal target audience? We decided our ideal target audience was those who enjoy war films and/or thriller films, is intrigued by

the morbid yet somewhat intriguing ideas and fears surrounding nuclear war or world war in general and those who enjoy films that aesthetically touch on different time zones. Whilst we don’t want to limit our audience to this group of people, we would hope that, given the content of our film, this collective of media consumers would enjoy our film the mostDoes the finished project present and promote our idea to our chosen target audience?

I think our project presents and promote our idea to our chosen audience quite successfully. Whilst using the typical tropes of films our audience would be interested in, we have created a story that makes the audience think about normalisation of the global and fear of violence and mass human destruction and how we should feel about this kind of fear being so real in every society.

Why should the audience consume our media product? I think the audience should consume our product because it does include many stereotypical tropes

of both the war and thriller genre, hopefully appealing to their love for these genres. However, I feel our film also includes elements that may be new to the audience and consequently draw their attention, such as the time zone mixing and the way we have used music.

What is the message of our media product?Our main message being the idea that nuclear war and mass violence in general is a fear that has

not aged for centuries and will most definitely live on for centuries to come. It is a fear that people of most ages can relate to, yet a possibility that people generally choose not to think about. I think rather than portraying any particular message, our film tells a story that appeals to a very relatable fear, hopefully making the audience get engrossed in the portrayal of a deeply

How did our creative decisions help communicate our message?I think our decision to have the props and various Mise en Scene elements depict a mix of time

zones helps portray the message of war and violence being a timeless fear, as well as being a seemingly unique decision based on our prior research of existing war films. The colour correction of this film, taking inspiration from existing products I researched, was quite

Specific Skills Based Questions

What audio/visual/interactive problems did we encounter during the production and post-production process and how did we / I solve them?

During filming, we came across the issue of room being slightly too small to get the amount of shots and camera angles on the extended tripod as we initially wanted. To fix this issue, we tried collapsing the tripod down as small as possible or manipulating the angle it was pointing with the legs. If this still didn’t fix the issue, we would then attempt to get a steady hand held shot by holding the camera but also leaning our hands on a solid surface like the bed or chair.

As the music from the radio played through at the beginning, the audio, having been layered over the top of the footage n post-production, sounded quite 2D and unrealistic. To fix this issue I needed to change the volume / mixing levels of the audio depending on where the camera was positioned in regards to the radio, whether the character was changing the volume or whether the music was crackling due to the nuclear announcement. This technique took the most time out of all the effects which was difficult when it came to time management and it was a struggle trying to make the audio sound as realistic as possible, but I think it was worth it for the result.

As well as manipulating the footage to look somewhat aged, I also had to fix issues regarding footage being under exposed or grainy due to low light through colour correcting techniques. I fixed this issues by manipulating the brightness and contrast of the footage to make it appear brighter, darker or less grainy. Similar to the sound manipulation, this also took quite a long time as each shot was lit differently, meaning they had to be colour corrected independently, however I like the effect it had and feel it was often necessary in order for the footage to appear well on screen.

How effective was our finished project in solving audio/visual/interactive based problems at the end of our creative media project?

I think we got my group and I found logical solutions and got around most of the issues we had, despite the solutions often taking more time than intended. Regardless of the extra time needed to solve some of these issues, I think my group and I still managed to create a project we can be proud of and that has allowed us to learn and experiment through tackling problems and finding solutions. I think we could have put more time into fixing some of the footage issues on set by being more aware of footage issues and re-recording some clips we found to be even slightly below the standard we had hoped for. This could also have been helped by following our planning and pre-production more carefully on the production day.

Figure 67 - Tripod Manipulation

How could we / I make it better?I think we could improve our project by having further control over the shots we were taking on set

and by following the storyboard more. I think we should have collected more footage, whether it be repeats of shots of shots from different angles, mainly to give us all more to work with in post-production, but also to allow us the opportunity to make our final edits more unique.

I think in terms of our idea to mix time zones; I think more could have been done to represent the modern day as the film could still be viewed as one set in the early 1940’s and the hints of modern day representation look more like time zone inaccuracies than a bid to mix time zones. Whilst I think our ambition and ideas for this creative choice was heading in a good and interesting direction, I think we could have spent more time in finessing it.

I think I could have worked more on the sound design of my project as, whilst I like the beginning section that involves the music, I believe it falls quite flat and becomes quite audibly uninteresting once the music fades out and just the sirens can be heard. I think this is something I would have played around and experimented more on had I had more time to spend on the sound design for this film, but i will take this forward into my Final Major Project and make sure to dedicate more attention to this area during that production.

I also think more could have been done in terms of understanding our character and learning how to bring that onto the screen. This is because i believe our story would be a lot fuller and would make more sense if the audience understood our character’s background, emotions and general opinions surrounding the nuclear threat to her country. It may also have then been easier to portray this character on screen as the whole group would know what they want from the acting and would consequently be able to both act and direct this part.

What audio/visual/interactive skills have I learnt during this project and how can I develop them further for my Final Major Project?

One technique I learnt over the post-production of this product is manipulating the sound levels depending on the distance of the camera from the sound source. For example, the music from the radio was coming from in the bedroom, so when the camera was filming from just outside the window the volume and mixing levels were higher than when the camera was positioned across the garden. This made the sound in the film come to life a lot more, rather than just a flat piece of music playing over the top of the footage. This is something I would like to try again in future projects, especially as I experiment with incorporating music into my films.

The technique of fading between a static empty shot and one of the same shot but with a character running through, to show further distance being travelled in a shorter clip, is one i feel i need a lot more practice on. Whilst i personally didn’t like the effect of this technique in this project, i feel like with further experimentation i could understand it more and it could be a very strong way of showing time passing or a distance being travelled in less time. I have also received feedback from viewers who have said they could see the potential in this technique and the idea of it is strong, the execution of said effect just needs more practice on my part. Therefore, i think i would like to take the idea of this effect through to at least the planning behind my Final Major Project to see if i can incorporate in successfully in another way.

I also think the technique of colour correction based on the environment or time zone brings the film to life and helps transport the audience into the world in which your story is taking place. This is a technique i feel is almost on par with sound design as it makes the film come to life to the same extent. Whilst it can be incredibly time consuming and a lot of research and experimentation may be needed to make sure it is visually accurate and effective, i think the result is worth the work put in and therefore this is something i will continue to experiment with and would love to include in my Final Major Project.

Figure 68 - Colour correction evaluation

Contextualisation

Contextual Elements that effected my project;One contextual element, that both strongly influenced the storyline and was

the root of most of the creative decisions we made, was the fact we had to base our project around ‘packing’. This had both beneficial and negative effects. The fact we had a base idea to branch off of made the initial idea development process a lot easier and quicker. However, it could be limiting, to an extent, as we knew it was a necessity to include the packing element. I think we dealt with this contextual element well as we still included the idea of packing a bag but we also managed to develop an original storyline of the basis of this.

We were also put into groups and worked on both pre-production and production as a collective. This is something we haven’t done properly before so we got to learn how to change your work habits in order to work with a group of people to put a mix of your ideas on screen. The positive effect of working in a group was the fact we could all bring our ideas together and create a much fuller storyline that took influence from all of our individual styles. This also meant I branched into creative styles I wouldn’t usually if I was working on my own, because all the ideas of my group were brought into the final result. I think we embraced each other’s ideas throughout the production process and made the most out of working with each other, so I am consequently satisfied with how we dealt with this element.

The day on which we filmed the project had seen a lot of rain in the days leading up to when we filmed, meaning the field we filmed the final scene in was very muddy and slippery. This combined with the fact I had to run up a muddy hill, lead to quite a dangerous work environment. However, together with the fact we had limited areas to film and limited time to film there, we could not get around this filming location. I ended up falling over which then also lead to continuity issues as I had mud on my clothes for the following shots. I think we dealt as well with this element as well as we could, but there wasn’t a lot we could do other than be careful in the slippery environment.

Something I struggled with slightly was the fact I was playing the main character of the film so I wasn’t as involved in the capturing of every shot because I had to be on camera. Due to usually being so involved in the shot production of the films I have produced in the past; it was initially a struggle to not have full control over the shots that were being taken and being able to see how the final product may turn out as the footage develops. Whilst this was a struggle when it came to post-production as I wasn’t as aware of what I had to work with, it did still work out okay.

We also had the element of deadlines to work with, which meant we had a very specific amount of time we could spend at each stage of production. I think this element forced us to make decisions quicker and to bring as many ideas to the production as quickly as we could. We were also encouraged to plan better as we knew we wouldn’t have very long to play around with the main creative elements on the production day. I think we worked well to the deadlines during pre-production/production, however we possibly could have planned the specific shots a bit better as some shots seemed slightly rushed or unplanned.

I think planning and giving ourselves more time would have overall resulted in a project I could work with better in Post-production. I would also like to have had a greater involvement with the shots being taken in production, possibly by either getting an outside group member to act instead or by having the confidence to retake shots I think could have been framed better. I also would have got multiple takes / different angles of the same shots, to give myself more material to work into my edit.

Figure 69 - Mr Bean Context

What do I believe to be the most important contextual element regarding this project?I think the most important contextual element of our production was the fact we had to follow the

idea of ‘packing’. This completely shaped the storyline and consequently played a large part in a lot of the creative decisions we made and how they would fit around this component. However, I also think working in a group played a large part in the overall production of this piece of work. This is due to the merging of ideas from each person in the group and the fact that I considered creative ideas that I wouldn’t usually because of influence from the rest of my group. I think all of these contextual elements have proven to push me further creatively rather than limit me as I have had to learn to try things I wouldn’t usually and work around problems that have arisen along the way as a result.

Advanced Production Skills

Week 1 – Copy, Transform and Combine Task 1

The Game {2014} – BBC One

Figure 70 - The game replicate 1 – BBC // Own work

This shot could have been more accurate with less fill light on the right of the subject’s face. The framing is almost accurate, but could have been a bit closer. At the beginning of this scene, there is a lot more light illuminating this character, focussing more of the audience’s attention on him and consequently giving him more power.

Figure 71 - The Game Replicate 2 – BBC // Own Work

The lighting on this shot is quite accurate (Dark with a bit more light coming from the right) and the framing is very similar. This character

Figure 72 - The Game Replicate 3 – BBC // Own work

This shot could have been illuminated more from the front (more key light) and framed closer to the subject, however I think the back lighting turned out quite well.

Figure 73 - The Game Replicate 4 – BBC // Own work

The action in this shot is well replicated, but similar to the previous shot of this character, there could have been less fill light on the right to make it more accurate.

Figure 74 - The Game Replicate 5 – BBC // Own work

This shot is quite accurately framed; the lighting is almost replicated but could have been slightly softer on the right.

Figure 75 - The Game Replicate 6 – BBC // Own work

The framing of this over the shoulder shot is quite accurate but the light coming from behind the camera could have been a bit softer to make the character on the left a bit darker.

Figure 76 - The Game Replicate 7 – BBC // Own work

The framing of this shot could have been slightly closer but is still quite accurate. The lighting is still the same as the other shots of this character, the fill light should have been softer to create more shadows.

Figure 77 - The Game Replicate 8 – BBC // Own work

This shot is slightly too dark but is framed quite well. With slightly more key light on the right and more back light for more outline definition, this shot would have been better replicated.

Figure 78 - The Game Replicate 9 – BBC // Own work

This shot should have been more face-on with the character but the lighting is more accurate than the past shot. However, more key light from the front could have helped.

Figure 79 - The Game Replicate 10 – BBC // Own work

This shot could have been framed closer and from a lower angle. The lighting is more accurate here.

Figure 80 - The Game Replicate 11 – BBC // Own work

This shot is framed quite well but the key light on the right could have been softer and placed more behind the character.

Figure 81 - The Game Replicate 12 – BBC // Own work

This shot is framed quite accurately but could have been from a slightly higher angle and with a softer/ warmer key light. The backlight could have been warmer but still gives the subject enough definition. The slight low angle shot emphasises the character looking up at the other, given an impression of belittlement, which strongly contrasts to the connotation behind lighting and framing at the beginning of the scene.

3 Point lightingThis practical task involves us recreating the 3-point lighting technique to light our own subject in a selection of photos. We also then sourced a shot from a film or TV show of our choice and recreated the use of 3-point lighting, in said shot, ourselves.

Figure 82 - 3-point lighting set up - Self Produced

The image above shows the 3-point lighting set up for the following shots. We used white light diffusers to soften the light slightly and had the key light and backlight as the strongest sources.

Figure 83 - 3-point lighting - self produced

This shot is illuminated with all 3 lights. The light is harsher on the left side of this face (The side of the key light) but is still clearly lit on the right (The side of the fill light). You can also clearly see the outline of the subject’s shoulders, due to the backlight.

Camera tripod

Key light

Fill light

BacklightSubject

Figure 84 - Fill light only - Self produced

This shot is illuminated by just the fill light on its own. Very little can be seen of the subject’s face, apart from a slightly brighter area on his right (The side of the fill light). There is no depth or outline of the subject either.

Figure 85 - Back light only - Self produced

This shot is only lit by the backlight, which has given a strong outline of his shoulders on the right side of his body (due to the direction and placement of the backlight) and a small coverage of harsh light on the ride side of his face (Also due to the placement of the backlight).

Figure 86 - Back and key light - Self produced

This shot is lit only by the backlight and key light. In comparison to just the backlight, slightly more of the subject’s face has been illuminated in this shot. The contrast between the light and the shadows is still very strong.

Figure 87 - Key and fill light - Self Produced

This shot is illuminated with just the key light and fill light. This has resulted in the key light strongly illuminating the left of his face and the key light slightly illuminating the right of his face. The lack of backlight has resulted in his shoulders merging into the background, with no solid definition around him.

Figure 88 - key light only - Self produced

This shot is only illuminated by the key light. In comparison to the previous shot, the lack of fill light has resulted in even more of the right side of the subject’s face being lost / merging with the background. It has also meant the shadows have become stronger and there is a greater contrast between light and dark. The effect of the lack of backlight is the same as the previous shot.

‘Copy, transform and combine’ – Recreating a shot using the 3-point lighting techniques.

I chose to recreate this shot from the film Baby Driver as I thought the lighting used to illuminate the subject (Baby played by Ansel Elgort) is illuminated in an interesting way, with an identifiable key light, fill light and backlight.

Figure 89 - Baby Driver shot (Baby Driver, 2017)

Figure 90 - Baby driver recreation - Self-produced

Figure 91 - Baby Driver comparison - TriStar Pictures

In my recreation of this shot, I think I vaguely replicated the shadows on the left side of the subject’s face. However, I think the key light should have been harsher and covered with a white diffuser instead of an orange on. I set the backlight up from the same direction and I think it replicated the defining but subtle effect that is shown in the ‘Baby Driver’ shot.

Reflective Log

After this practical task, I feel I have definitely furthered my understanding of each light in the 3 point lighting technique and how the direction and level of diffusion can change both the mood of the picture and the definition of the subject. Recreating a shot from a film of my choice also allowed me to thing into more detail as to how films use the 3-point lighting technique and how I can recreate this in my own work.

Backlight – Diffused, Very soft light.

Fill light – Soft

(Reflector?)

Key light - Harsh

Green Screening / Chroma Keying:

This week our aim was to experiment and become familiar with the use of green screening or Chroma Keying. This involved us working in groups to collect both background and green screen footage and then individually editing together the footage and Chroma-Keying the green screen out. This task involved using our knowledge in lighting, framing and sound as well as developing skills in Green screening and further working with Avid.

Stages of Green Screening:

We then recorded the green screen footage. This is what would be layered over the pre-recorded background footage and keyed out, in editing. We had to make sure the green screen was evenly lit and was not shadowy in patches, so that the screen was all one colour.

Figure 94 - Green Screen Footage

We didn’t want the edge of the subject to be cut straight as it would look less natural, so we wrapped a green sheet over his shoulders to soften the edges around him. However, this meant trying to get rid of as many creases in the sheet as possible to minimise shadows, which did come as a slight difficulty.

Figure 93 - Green Screen Set Up Figure 92 - Green Screen Set Up 2

Figure 95 - Alpha Mode

Once loaded into avid, I began to edit out the green background. This was done using the spectra Matte effect under ‘key’ in the effects pallet. The background colour could be selected and removed using the colour dropper, found after clicking on the small green square shown in the box above. Then, selecting the Show Alpha tick box highlighted in greater detail the areas that had been cut out but changing the image to black and white, black being the removed areas and white being the areas still shown. This then allowed me to adjust the areas, which were being cut out, more effectively.

Figure 96 - Green Screen Final Product

This figure shows the result after layering the green screen footage on top of the background footage and Chroma-keying out the green screen. I also lowered the green screen layer slightly so that it blended with the background a bit more.

Reflective Log

I have used green screening in Avid for my previous end of year project so am somewhat familiar with how the Chroma key tool is used, however I have strongly benefitted from the lecturer input on how to use green screens more effectively and the general practice. I feel I have become more confident using the green screen and the experimentation done this week has expanded my skills.

Shutter Speed, ISO and Aperture.In this week’s practical session, we developed further understanding in 3-main camera features and how we can use various settings to our creative advantage. These features were; Shutter Speed, ISO and Aperture. We worked in groups but individually captured experimental images that could help us understand how these features work.

Shutter Speed

Shutter Speed is the time for which the shutter is open to expose the sensor to external light and consequently pick up the image being seen through the lens. Therefore, a slow Shutter Speed can pick up more movement than a slow shutter speed can. I demonstrate this is my experimentation below;

Figure 97 - Light drawing - Slow shutter experimentation

Figure 98 - Stable light - fast shutter speed experimentation

To experiment with shutter speed, I got my subject to move a torch around in a shot. For the shutter speed of 4 seconds, more of the light movement was captured in the same shot resulting in a trail of light being painted across the image. Based on this knowledge, slow shutter speed can be used to capture things such as light trails or night traffic in a more visually interesting way for things such as visual art. Fast shutter speed can be used to capture fast moving things such as fireworks, running water or athletes during sport events. (Examples shown below)

(Rowse, n.d.) (Silverman, n.d.)

Figure 99 - Example of Slow shutter in photography

Figure 100 - Example of Fast Shutter in Photography

5” – 100ISO – F22 1/1250 – 12800ISO – F4.0

ISO

This is a camera function that brightens or darkens an image. This can be good as it can help make lighting look softer / not over exposed it can make dark lighting look brighter. The downfall of ISO is its tendency to create noise, also known as grain, on an image, which can make the shot less clear and possibly less pleasing to look at if a grainy image was not your intension.

(Anon., n.d.)

Figure 101 - Example of image noise / grain

Figure 102 - High ISO experimentation

Figure 103 - Low ISO Experimentation

I experimented with ISO by taking a still image of the same subject in the same location and lighting arrangements and simply increasing the ISO in the first image and decreasing it for the second. As seen above, the first image is a more natural looking photo with consistent and easy-on-the-eye lighting. Unlike the second photo, in which the subject is very difficult to see, due to a low ISO being unbeneficial to the lighting in this location. Low ISO can be used to capture images more exposed to light, in comparison to a higher ISO which can be used to capture more dimly lit images (although this can sometimes create noise on the image).

1/40 – 6400ISO – F14 1/40 – 800ISO – F14

Aperture

The aperture in a camera is a small whole that grows wider or smaller depending on whether the F-Stops (Aperture measurements) are high or low. How open the aperture then deciphers how much light passes through to the sensor. This can create either a wide or narrow depth of field, or area of the image that is in focus.

Figure 104 - Wide Aperture experimentation

Figure 105 - Small Aperture experimentation

I experimented with aperture, in the same way as ISO, by taking a still image of the same subject but changing the Aperture Settings (F-Stops) for each shot, so it was easy to differentiate between each setting and not having any external changes that could make the experimentation inaccurate. The differences here are more unclear at first glance. Whilst both shots appear to be focussed in on the subject, the difference lies in the background. In the first image, the wider aperture has resulted in a crisper background, making the subject stand out less against the background. To compare, the smaller aperture in the second image has resulted in a blurred background, further separating the subject from its surroundings.

A narrow depth of field, or smaller aperture, creates a more closed in image as it focuses the attention on the subject. Unlike a wide depth of field, or wider aperture, which makes an image more open and deeper (almost 3 dimensional) and allows the viewer to see more of the subject’s surroundings.

Reflective Log

I feel I have expanded my knowledge in camera work and cinematography this week, and have built my confidence in experimenting with various camera settings to create a more visually interesting image. I also have a deeper understanding of how the camera works and how we can use its features to our advantage creatively. As I have a great interest in visual art and cinematography, I feel this task has given me the confidence to push myself further and gather more skills in this area.

1/13 – 100ISO – F4.5 2”5 – 100ISO – F25

BibliographyAnon., 2015. Chris Chibnall - Before and After Broadchurch. [Online] Available at: http://www.marshwoodvale.com/arts/2015/12/chris-chibnall-before-and-after-broadchurch/[Accessed 18 September 2018].

Anon., n.d. [Online] Available at: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1475582/[Accessed 25 Sept 2018].

Anon., n.d. [Online] Available at: https://digitalsynopsis.com/design/nvidia-ai-removes-noise-grain-watermarks-from-photos/ [Accessed 07 November 2018].

Anon., n.d. IMDB. [Online] Available at: IMDB.com/DonaldGlover[Accessed 07 November 2018].

Anon., n.d. IMDb/Sherlock. [Online] Available at: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1475582/[Accessed 25 Sept 2018].

Baby Driver. 2017. [Film] Directed by Edgar Wright. US: s.n.

BBC, 2014. WW2 Peoples War. [Online] Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/stories/40/a7540940.shtml

B, J., 1990. Cats and Dogs. First ed. London: Fred.

Blackman, J., 2016. Cats Rule. First ed. New York: Routledge.

Boone, C., 2015. [Online] Available at: https://www.myajc.com/news/crime--law/violent-crime-fueled-gangs-the-rise-atlanta/rPSsKPTcDm4qLg34iHle6N/[Accessed 01 November 2018].

Broadchurch. 2013. [Film] UK: Kudos film.

Casano, A., n.d. study.com. [Online] Available at: https://study.com/academy/lesson/what-is-genre-definition-types-quiz.html[Accessed 11 November 2018].

D4Darious, 2015. How To Write A Short Film: Part 7 - Non Dialogue Films. [Online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9jYd8-fRoA[Accessed 27 Nov 2018].

Deacon, M., 2010. Mark Gatiss - The Journey Of A Geek Made Good. [Online] Available at: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/bbc/8067325/Mark-Gatiss-the-journey-of-a-geek-made-good.html[Accessed 25 Sept 2018].

Gardner, K., 2015. Genre Limitations, s.l.: Nose In A Book.

Greenslade, R., 2008. Shannon Mathews Kidnap. [Online] Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/media/greenslade/2008/mar/05/whyismissingshannonnotget[Accessed 18 September 2018].

Grove, E., 2017. Why genre is importnat to filmmakers. [Online] Available at: https://www.raindance.org/genres-importance-screenwriters-filmmakers/[Accessed 11 November 2018].

IMDb, n.d. IMDb/BenedictCumberbatch. [Online] Available at: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1212722/?ref_=nv_sr_1[Accessed 25 Sept 2018].

Inglourious Basterds. 2009. [Film] Directed by Quentin Tarantino. s.l.: s.n.

McLeod, S., 2018. Maslows Hierarchy of Needs. [Online] Available at: https://www.simplypsychology.org/maslow.html[Accessed 27 Nov 2018].

Ready.Gov, n.d. evacuating-yourself-and-your-family. [Online] Available at: https://www.ready.gov/evacuating-yourself-and-your-family

Redfern, N., 2012. Emotion, Genre, and the Hollywood Paranoid Film, s.l.: s.n.

Rowse, D., n.d. How To Shoot Light Trails. [Online] Available at: https://digital-photography-school.com/how-to-shoot-light-trails/[Accessed 07 November 2018].

Sherlock. 2010-2018. [Film] UK: BBC.

Silverman, L., n.d. [Art] (https://www.nikonusa.com/en/learn-and-explore/a/tips-and-techniques/taking-pictures-of-fireworks.html#).

Summers, J., 2011. Children Of The Wartime Evacuation, London: The Guradian.

Welch, T., 2018. Sound Experimentation. UK.

Wright, E., 2017. From ‘Shaun of the Dead’ to ‘Baby Driver,’ Edgar Wright shatters Hollywood’s formulas [Interview] (28 June 2017).

Table of FiguresFigure 1 - Broadchurch beach shot - BBC........................................................................................................................4

Figure 2 - Broadchurch Car shot - BBC.............................................................................................................................4

Figure 4 - Broadchurch Twitter Shot - BBC......................................................................................................................4

Figure 5 - Police comment 1 - Sherlock - BBC..................................................................................................................6

Figure 6 - Media in Sherlock ep. 1 - BBC..........................................................................................................................6

Figure 7 - John Watson ep. 1 - Sherlock - BBC.................................................................................................................6

Figure 8 - Police comment 2 - Sherlock - BBC..................................................................................................................7

Figure 8 - My CTC Scene - Storyboard.............................................................................................................................9

Figure 9 – My CTC video // Captures.............................................................................................................................10

Figure 10 - My CTC Video - Background distractions.....................................................................................................10

Figure 11 - My CTC Video - Establishing Shots...............................................................................................................11

Figure 12 - My CTC Scene – Use of Framing..................................................................................................................11

Figure 13 - My CTC Scene - Lighting improvements......................................................................................................12

Figure 14 - Modern Family Haley..................................................................................................................................14

Figure 15 - Modern Family Luke....................................................................................................................................14

Figure 16 - Modern Family Phil.....................................................................................................................................14

Figure 17 - Modern Family Claire..................................................................................................................................14

Figure 18 - Modern Family Alex.....................................................................................................................................14

Figure 19 - Modern Family Manny................................................................................................................................15

Figure 20 - CTB Inspiration - Inglorious Basterds...........................................................................................................16

Figure 21 - Using inspiration in our CTB project............................................................................................................16

Figure 22 - CTB Lunch experimentation with Shot Types..............................................................................................17

Figure 23 - CTB experimentation with Location............................................................................................................17

Figure 24 - CTB experimentation with Framing.............................................................................................................18

Figure 20 - Donald Glover [IMDB].................................................................................................................................19

Figure 21 - What is Genre – Own Image........................................................................................................................21

Figure 27 - Teen Comedy Genre - Mean Girls [2004]....................................................................................................21

Figure 28 Edgar Wright's SotD and Baby Driver............................................................................................................22

Figure 29 - 5 Children and It Credits..............................................................................................................................25

Figure 30 - 5 children and It Props.................................................................................................................................25

Figure 31 - Five Children and It Opening.......................................................................................................................25

Figure 32 - WW2 Evacuation list....................................................................................................................................26

Figure 33 - Modern Day Evacuation list.........................................................................................................................27

Figure 34 - Props Research............................................................................................................................................28

Figure 35 - Maslows Hierarchy of Needs.......................................................................................................................29

Figure 36 - Filming Location..........................................................................................................................................30

Figure 37 - Lighting Harsh Key light.......................................................................................................................31

Figure 38 - Lighting No Key light............................................................................................................................31

Figure 39 - Lighting Set Up Experiment.........................................................................................................................31

Figure 40 - Preferred lighting set up..............................................................................................................................31

Figure 41 - 5 Children and It Colour Correction.............................................................................................................33

Figure 42 – colour manipulation experiment................................................................................................................33

Figure 43 - Mood Board................................................................................................................................................45

Figure 44 – Storyboard 1...............................................................................................................................................46

Figure 45 Storyboard 2..................................................................................................................................................46

Figure 46 - Storyboard 3................................................................................................................................................47

Figure 47 - Storyboard 4................................................................................................................................................47

Figure 48 - Storyboard 5................................................................................................................................................48

Figure 49 - Storyboard 6................................................................................................................................................48

Figure 50 - Storyboard 7................................................................................................................................................49

Figure 51 - Storyboard 8................................................................................................................................................49

Figure 52 - Storyboard 9................................................................................................................................................50

Figure 53 - Storyboard 10..............................................................................................................................................50

Figure 54 - Storyboard 11..............................................................................................................................................51

Figure 55 - Storyboard 12..............................................................................................................................................51

Figure 56 - Storyboard 13..............................................................................................................................................52

Figure 57 - External filming diary entry.........................................................................................................................55

Figure 58 - Internal Filming Diary Entry.........................................................................................................................55

Figure 59 - Experimental Panning Diary Entry...............................................................................................................56

Figure 60 - Reviewing Footage Diary Entry....................................................................................................................56

Figure 61 - Field Filming Diary Entry..............................................................................................................................56

Figure 62 - Steady Cam Diary Entry...............................................................................................................................57

Figure 63 - Colour Correction in Post............................................................................................................................58

Figure 64 - Archive Footage Manipulation....................................................................................................................59

Figure 65 - Sound Design in Post...................................................................................................................................59

Figure 66 - Experimental Editing in Post........................................................................................................................60

Figure 67 - Tripod Manipulation....................................................................................................................................63

Figure 67 - Colour correction evaluation.......................................................................................................................64

Figure 68 - Mr Bean Context.........................................................................................................................................65

Figure 70 - The game replicate 1 – BBC // Own work....................................................................................................67

Figure 71 - The Game Replicate 2 – BBC // Own Work..................................................................................................67

Figure 72 - The Game Replicate 3 – BBC // Own work..................................................................................................67

Figure 73 - The Game Replicate 4 – BBC // Own work..................................................................................................68

Figure 74 - The Game Replicate 5 – BBC // Own work..................................................................................................68

Figure 75 - The Game Replicate 6 – BBC // Own work..................................................................................................68

Figure 76 - The Game Replicate 7 – BBC // Own work..................................................................................................69

Figure 77 - The Game Replicate 8 – BBC // Own work..................................................................................................69

Figure 78 - The Game Replicate 9 – BBC // Own work..................................................................................................69

Figure 79 - The Game Replicate 10 – BBC // Own work................................................................................................70

Figure 80 - The Game Replicate 11 – BBC // Own work................................................................................................70

Figure 81 - The Game Replicate 12 – BBC // Own work................................................................................................70

Figure 82 - 3-point lighting set up - Self Produced........................................................................................................71

Figure 83 - 3-point lighting - self produced...................................................................................................................71

Figure 84 - Fill light only - Self produced.......................................................................................................................72

Figure 85 - Back light only - Self produced....................................................................................................................72

Figure 86 - Back and key light - Self produced...............................................................................................................72

Figure 87 - Key and fill light - Self Produced..................................................................................................................73

Figure 88 - key light only - Self produced......................................................................................................................73

Figure 89 - Baby Driver shot (Baby Driver, 2017)..........................................................................................................74

Figure 90 - Baby driver recreation - Self-produced........................................................................................................74

Figure 91 - Baby Driver comparison - TriStar Pictures...................................................................................................74

Figure 61 - Green Screen Set Up 2.................................................................................................................................75

Figure 62 - Green Screen Set Up...................................................................................................................................75

Figure 94 - Green Screen Footage.................................................................................................................................75

Figure 95 - Alpha Mode.................................................................................................................................................76

Figure 96 - Green Screen Final Product.........................................................................................................................76

Figure 97 - Light drawing - Slow shutter experimentation............................................................................................77

Figure 98 - Stable light - fast shutter speed experimentation.......................................................................................77

Figure 99 - Example of Slow shutter in photography.....................................................................................................77

Figure 100 - Example of Fast Shutter in Photography...................................................................................................77

Figure 101 - Example of image noise / grain.................................................................................................................78

Figure 102 - High ISO experimentation.........................................................................................................................78

Figure 103 - Low ISO Experimentation..........................................................................................................................78

Figure 104 - Wide Aperture experimentation...............................................................................................................79

Figure 105 - Small Aperture experimentation...............................................................................................................79