Need for re-filming

After having my footage checked on the computor, I realised there is quite a few problems with lighting in many of the shots as in the bedroom, there is one large window which is the main source of lighting and so it darkened the majority of the shot.

I'm going to complete the first half of my filming in the next few weeks; the filming in the house. But I will need to change location to one with more suitable lighting.

Josie offered to let me film at her house as if I filmed in the livingroom for the video game shots and the room is well lit with windows either side of the room, and so this would increase the quality of the lighting. Plus there is the main light and lamps if they were required. So we will arrange when we can be available for filming, and reshoot then. I will leave the filming at possibly the museum or Trinity Square til a slightly later date as then the natural lighting will be better which I will need to have the highest quality footage possible.

First day of shooting

I started my filming today and filmed everything in the 'modern day' part of my film and I feel it went succefully. I'm going to have the footage checked ont he college editing computor. I'm not convinced the lighting was very good, so I may have to refilm some shots, but overall I feel the shooting went quite well, even if it is as preperation for my refilming. It took about two hours to film what will be roughly about 2 minutes and 30 seconds of footage, but setting out the props and directing my actors, plus filming shots which are perfect, (as sometimes my actors would laugh and I'd need to refilm), and refilming a shot can take a while. So I know how it must feel in the film industry when they need to set up lighting and sets and shots and I feel I got a taste of that in my filming.

Fourth 'study group' meeting.

Today, Chelsea, Keeley and I decided on how we should schedule our filming so that we would be done in time for Christmas, and also so we could plan how long it would take us to edit and when we would do this editing.

For me, the schedule went thus:

October half-term: Complete first half of filming, (house scene).
Week commencing 2/11/09: Upload footage onto college editing quite computor and get the footage checked by a member of staff.
Week commencing 9/11/09: If footage is okay, then begin to edit clips. If footage isn't of a high enough quality, then I will need to re-film asap.

All footage will be filmed by Christmas, and the weeks following will be spent on editing this footage.

Props!!

For my film I decided to scrap the idea of making my own box as I found out my nephew had a chest that could be perfect as it looked old and carved out of wood. I saw the box and decided to use this as the chest in my film. I just added some peel off stickers to make it look more old and more decorative.

For props I also needed a note that would be found inside the chest. A note that would look old and ripped. Most people would use a teabag to stain it, but I thought using chalks and blending yellows and browns together on the note would be more effective. I then wrote a self-written riddle on it that is read out in the film, and drew the symbol on the bottom of the note that is used as a motif.

I thought about when the chest would be opened, and how with just a note inside it would look empty and bare. So because of this, I put my blue scarf inside the chest as a kind of cushion for the note to go on top. This increases the enchanting and mysterious feel the chest has as it looks more 'luxurious'.

Other props in my film include:

-Bed (light coloured with light duvet, etc).

-Lots of cushions, various colours

-Desk

-TV

-Playstation 2

-Two Playstation 2 remotes

-Final Fantasy IX

Props for my film!!

In preparation for filming, I am creating props to be used that will fit in well for mise-en-scene to add meaning to my film. For this I am creating a chest with a lock and a key to go with it that the note in my film will be found with. So I've found an old shoe box and I am decorating it to give it a Victorian look so it will fit in with the flashback of the Victorian times. I am making a lock for this box and a key which will both have the symbol on of a butterfly, representing freedom of the two main characters, but also a butterfly is delicate and fragile, representing their vulnerability.
-The butterfly is also half over a sun, which symbolises how they are half cast in light, (i.e they are in a happy and bright and fun life), but the butterfly is of course also half cast in darkness, representing that things could go wrong at any moment.
-This picture of the shoebox is my beginning product for what is going to be transformed into my Victorian chest.
-The note that goes along with my chest needs to look old, so I'm going to use a teabag on the paper to give it a yellowed and old look to it.

Films that influenced mine.

The main influence for my film was Bridge To Terabithia, which is a film about two children who don't fit in and spend their spare time in the woods which, to get to, you have to swing across a creek on a rope. This 'bridge' being a metaphor for the crossing over from reality into fantasy as it is in the woods where all their adventures happen, and they meet horrible creatures who are based on people they know in reality, such as the bullies at school or the boy, Jess's father.

This trailer sums up the essence of the film. And in ways which it influenced by film include:

1)The two main protagonists - I felt that if I based my story around two young teenagers, it would be an effective way of building an interesting storyline; it would be very mundane and would probrably bore the spectator if it was just one girl who got bored and decided to go exploring. You need a friendship to make the narrative more interesting and to add dialogue, as it wouldn't really work if the only character was Zoe and she just spoke to herself. I could do a voiceover narrative suggesting her thoughts, but I find it more effective to create a friendship through two seperate characters.

The two main protagonists in my film have contrasting personalities - Zoe is innocent and naive. She is very childlike; it is Zoe that comes up with the idea of exploring, and it is Zoe that believes Eugene and decides that she and Josie should go with him to his house. Josie on the other hand is more mature and more cynical. She comments on exploring as 'no, it's for babies', and she it wary of following Eugene. So in the way that she is aware that following him could be a bad idea, it aids in creating a sense of danger. This is similar to the two protagonists Leslie and Jess in Bridge To Terabithia as whilst Leslie has an open imagination and constantly tells Jess 'just close your eyes... and keep your mind wide open', Jess is cynical and has a more pessimistic and narrow view of things.

2)The pace creating anticipation - Like in the trailer, and indeed in the film of Bridge To Terabithia, the pace of the editing increases to create a sense of excitement, adventure and anticipation which I am hoping to recreate in my film through use of editing shots in the Victorian times to create a sense of fantasy and adventure compared to the 'modern day' where my shots will be longer with a slower pace to the editing.

3)A lot of long shots to establish the settings - In Terabithia, the cinematography includes a lot of long shots which linger on the settings. In my film sequence when the girls find themselves in the Victorian times, I am going to frame a lot of my shots so that the setting is clearly visible in the background as not only do I want to establish the two protagonists as outsiders and so contrasting their 'modern' outfits to settings where they don't fit in, but also I want the settings to appear quite large and dominating to portray the girls as small and vulnerable in this 'new world'.

Another film which has influenced mine, is The Corpse Bride, (Tim Burton 2005)

The main stylistics and ideas from this film which have influenced mine include:

1)Use of colour - This film contrasts the world of the living to the dead by using lots of blacks and dark shades for the world of the living and making it appear lifeless. The world of the dead however, uses much more vivid and rich colours and is more colourful and connotes an atmosphere of excitement. This contrasts to most portrayals of the living and the dead in films as normally the land of the dead is portrayed through blacks and bleak colours, and the land of the living is bright and full of life. In a similar way, my film will contrast the Victorian world to the modern world by presenting the modern world through dull colours and light tones, whereas with the Victorian world, I will saturate the shots to brighten the colours and make them appear more vivid and use as much colour as possible to help create an exciting atmosphere. This differs from most portrayals of Victorian streets which tend to appear in tones of black and grey with a very foggy and smoky atmosphere, (as seen in Sweeney Todd, (Tim Burton, 2007)).

2)The use of outsiders - as Victor accidentally marries the corpse bride and is thrown into the Land Of The Dead, he is the only living person there. This has the effect of making him an outsider to the rest of the people residing there and they don't understand why he still has a pulse. This is similar to my film where the two girls transport into the Victorian times but are 'modern day' girls, which I have shown through their modern costumes. This establishes them as outsiders in the Victorian world, particularly when they meet Eugene who is in Victorian costume. As fantasy film conventions often follow the idea of an outsider, I thought including outsiders in my own film would help establish my film as the genre of fantasy.

3rd meeting for the films

Today, Chelsea, Keeley and I all looked at eachothers initial ideas, storyboards, scripts and anything else we'd planned and gave eachother advice on it. This included advice on how to improve the cinematography, mise-en-scene and the script. Chelsea suggested that I look the films that influenced me, and make some notes on how they could influence my project, and work on that.
So I looked at Tim Burton's films such as The Corpse Bride, for his use of contrasting worlds presented through colour, and films such as Bridge To Terabithia, (Gaber Csupo, 2007) which merges the ideas of fantasy and reality - them crossing the boundaries by swinging on a rope across a creek, much like how the two girls in my film go through a door into the 'fantasy' elements of the film, that being the Victorian times.

Second Meeting For Project

The second meeting for our project was based around the plans for our films. We looked at eachother's ideas and thought about practicality of suitable locations. As my film would be a transition between the modern and Victorian day, I needed seperate locations that would suit each of these eras. For the Victorian times, I decided the most suitable place would be the old town, specifically Trinity Square. I have decided to use a shot of the church for my establishing shot, and for interior shots, I shall ask for permission to film in the old Grammar School museum. I did my coursework for the AS film studies coursework in here, so it should be fine, but if not, I will film outside in Trinity Square. Either place would work, but the Grammar School is filled with Victorian props and clothing that would make the film realistic. A downside to this place though, is that the lighting is quite dark, and so it may not be suitable using a video camera there as the footage may not turn out very well. In the main room though, it is really good lighting, but there could be background noise, which wouldn't fit as the characters are supposedly in a room with no one else in it.
In this meeting, we also discussed possible actors for our projects. I decided to use Zoe Wood and Scarlett Baldwin as the two main characters as their personalities equal the personalities of the two main characters, so the acting will be more realistic as they can relate to them more. I thought about characters I will need in the Victorian times, such as a maid who the two main characters will speak to. For this, I decided to use Josie Robinson as she had the right physical look and has some of the clothing required. I then thought about how I can make the setting look more realistic through use of characters, and so I asked my friend Liam to act as a street urchin, begging perhaps as he has the youthful look I want in this character, he also has clothes which would suit it.

Skipping Boundaries Synopsis

Set in modern England, two girls named Rachel and Valencia get bored one afternoon and decide to go exploring. They find a treasure box in the attic, and as they touch the treasure chest, a flashback appears of a maid called Nadina hiding the box in the same attic the girls just left. Then back to the modern day, the girls open the box and they find a key inside with a symbol on it which leads to a door with the same symbol on. Once they enter through the door, they find themselves in a Victorian world – in the past of their ancestors.
They go exploring to find someone to help them and come across a gentleman called Eugene who offers them a place to stay. Rachel willingly accepts, but Valencia is a little wary. However, they both follow the gentleman to his huge mansion. Rachel and Valencia come across Nadina and although she is startled to see them, she suspects they found her letter and key and she begins questioning them about how they got there.
The girls go off to explore the town a little but the weather grows dark and it begins to rain, as they rush back into the house, they overhear a heated discussion between Nadina and Eugene – Eugene is accusing Nadina of plotting against him by using these two modern girls to sabotage his plans. Upon hearing someone approaching them, Rachel and Valencia run off to their room where they discuss what they’ve heard.
As the days pass, Rachel and Valencia go exploring and come across a portrait of a beautiful woman reminiscent of Rachel, but the master catches them and explains how she is his late wife and that he needs Rachel and Valencia to go back to the modern times and bring him a medicine which will bring back his dead wife, giving them three days to do it in. As Rachel tries to explain that this is impossible, Eugene begins to go crazy, draws out a pistol and threatens them.
Rachel and Valencia tell Nadina what has happened and she admits that Rachel is Eugene’s great, great granddaughter and informs them about a masquerade ball Eugene is planning and that only on the third day of this ball, can they return home safely, so they hatch a plan and Nadina gives them suitable clothing they can wear to disguise themselves.
A flashback appears of a masquerade ball – Eugene is stood with his wife and child on a balcony casting magic over the ball, whilst everyone below is dancing and laughing. When the flashback ends, Eugene sees Rachel dressed up and mistakes her for his wife. They dance around the ball until he sees the key around her neck. Eugene confronts her but she escapes and finds Valencia and Nadina.
Rachel, Valencia and Nadina run to the mirror door and unlock it. Rachel and Valencia run through to the modern world, followed by Eugene. After they have all entered the portal, Nadina locks the mirror door from the other side, trapping Eugene in between worlds. Similarly, after Rachel and Valencia have left the portal, they lock their side of the door, trapping Eugene inside. They hear a high pitched scream which fades as Eugene becomes lost in time. Rachel and Valencia bury the key and return to their everyday lives.

My extra long, full synopsis!

I decided to write a synopsis for my film which was detailed. I find this helps me personally to understand the situation and how the film will work out, so that when I write a script, draw a storyboard, etc, it is more realistic because you know how the stylistics may hint at ideas in the storyline, etc.

So this is my full and detailed synopsis:

Set in modern England, the film focuses on two teenage girls who are bored one summer afternoon and decide to go exploring to entertain themselves. The film begins by the girls rummaging through some junk in their attic. On doing this, they come across an old key with an odd mark on it, and along with this, a very old letter written by one of the girl’s ancestors. The moment they touch the key, a flashback appears, (in a sepia tone), of a young maid in Victorian clothing finishing writing the letter, and hiding the key in the same box that the two girls found it in. Being young, they are curious to find out where the key leads, but to do this, they have to analyse the riddles in the letter to locate the same image that is on the key.
They come across the symbol on the lock of the door and use the key to open it, revealing a bright light which they enter through and on closing the door behind them, find themselves in a different time and place. That being a town of the Victorian times. They look around and enter an old house, they climb down some stairs and come across the young maid seen in the flashback. She is startled to see them but upon seeing their clearly modern dress, (classifying them as outsiders), she drags them into the room, shuts the door and begins questioning them about the journey as she suspects they have found the key.
The young maid provides the two girls with clothing more suitable for the Victorian era, and allows them to go look around the town providing they are careful and come back to see her that night. So the girls leave, excited about what they may find and they go sit on a stone bench to think over what has happened.
As they are talking the weather changes; the sky grows dark and it begins to rain. The girls jump up off of a bench and begin to run back to shelter when they bump into a broad, well dressed gentleman named Mr Brownstock. He scolds them for hurrying but upon seeing the key the girl’s found tied around Zoe’s neck, he tells them he can provide them with shelter and something warm to drink, and so hesitantly, they follow him.
They walk through some dirty streets clearly for the poorer class and they are brought to a large wooden door which they enter to find themselves in a filthy little office. Mr Brownstock then begins questioning them on they key, how they got hold of it and where they come from. The girls, being innocent and confused by the situation, tell him everything, even the fact that they were from the future, and they learn that Mr Brownstock is the master of the house with the young maid in.
Mr Brownstock then accompanies the girls back to the house, and as the maid peers through a dusty window at them, she is horrified to see the girls talking to her master who she fears and knows the true dark nature of. The maid runs to the door and bids the girls get inside. Once in the house, the girls run to a window to see the maid and the master having a heated discussion.
Weeks pass as the girls become accustomed to the times and begin forgetting the modern world from which they come, and they receive no more visits from Mr Brownstock. One afternoon though when the girls have finished playing blind man’s bluff, they decide to explore parts of the house they haven’t yet been in, and they come across a pile of dusty boxes and a portrait of a beautiful woman who looks a lot like Zoe dressed in a masquerade gown and mask, in the master’s chamber. The master catches them here and explains that the woman in the portrait is his late wife and explains how she died. Slowly it begins to dawn on him that the girls may be able to help him in a wicked plan he has begun to create. He asks the girls about the future, what their medicines are like and if it can cure death itself. They tell him that there have been situations where people have been brought back to life, and the master misinterprets this as being able to bring back a corpse, and so he commands these girls to return to their original time and bring back a potion that will revive his deceased wife. Scarlett explains that it isn’t possible to bring back a corpse, Mr Brownstock looking tortured and crazy, becomes very angry, draws out his pistol and commands that they leave right now and find him something to bring back his wife within 3 days.
The girls are terrified and run to the servant’s quarters and tell the young maid everything that has happened. She understands and explains that on the third day there is a masquerade ball hosted by her master. She tells them to look back in the master’s chamber at the boxes to find something to wear for it so Mr Brownstock won’t recognise them. She also says that it is only after the masquerade ball that they can return to their own world for their safety as it is after the masquerade ball before, that the young maid stole the key and opened the door between the two worlds, and so after the masquerade this time, they can use that same key to open the door and return to their own world.
When the girls go back to the boxes, they open them to find them filled with masquerade masks and bright gowns and hats. The girls are excited by this and begin trying them on for something to do, and as they touch them, a flashback appears made up of lots of colour and movement which shows a ball where Mr Brownstock is stood on a platform with his wife and a baby. Mr Brownstock, dressed like a ringmaster, is shouting upwards with his hands raised above his head as if casting some form of magic, and whilst people down below are dancing and laughing, the young maid is sat in the corner looking around at everyone mesmerised by this ball. The flashback continuing, the young maid then stands up and creeps out of the ballroom and then a dissolve shows her appearing in Mr Brownstock’s office. She then wlaks over to a large mirror framed with gold carving and a small lock on the side. The young maid places the key in the lock and as she turns it, golden sparks fly from the lock and the young maid replaces the key back into her pocket.
As the film returns to the two girls, they are preparing with the maid for the masquerade ball. They look in the mirror to see a reflection of themselves with a cloudy background, and they realise upon seeing how changed they look, that they have forgotten their true homes. The image in the mirror is used with a dissolve to set the girls in the masquerade scene and a passage of time.
The girls are dancing around the ballroom and enjoying themselves, and Mr Brownstock, amazed by Zoe’s appearance and mistaking her for his wife, begins to move through the crowd to find her. Once they are face to face, he asks for a dance and surprised, she accepts. As they are dancing, Mr Brownstock notices a key around Zoe’s neck – the same he is wearing around his, and he realises that this is not his wife and he confronts her on finding the cure. Zoe panics and in a desperate act, snatches the key from around Mr Brownstock’s neck, and flees into the masquerade crowd to find Scarlett and the maid. Brownstock infuriated, shoots his gun into the air causing panic and shouts commands to find those girls.
By this time, the three girls have run out of the masquerade and steal a horse and carriage and make their way to Brownstock’s office. Whilst they are riding, Mr Brownstock pursues them on his own horse, shooting his pistol at them, but missing. Once the girls and the maid arrive at the office, they run in and open the mirror door. The maid then writes the letter and places it along with the key in a chest, just as they originally found it. They then run through the mirror door using the key around Zoe’s neck to open it, and at this moment, Mr Brownstock runs in and points the gun at them. Zoe then confronts him and asks if he would shoot someone of his own flesh and blood. He asks ‘what the devil they are talking about?’, and Zoe explains how he is her great, great grandfather. The girls then attempt to run through the door, the maid bidding them farewell, the master does not believe these words and chases them through the door. As soon as they have all gone through, the maid then shuts and locks the door on this side of the mirror.
You then see the other side of the mirror in the modern world and as the girls run through, they turn to hear a piercing scream and see Mr Brownstock dissolving into thin air. He attempts to turn and run back through, but of course it is lock on the other side. As he is halfway through the door, the girls shut it and lock their side. They hear Mr Brownstock’s scream fade away as he becomes lost in time. The girls then leave the doorway, bury the key in their garden and return to their lives as any children would, ‘for what can bother a grown-up, will never bother a child’.

The aims and context of my project

My film is a film sequence from a fantasy film following the journey through time of the two protagonists, which is aimed at an audience who enjoy the cinema as a form of escape, and my film offers the ultimate form of escape as it is a fantasy film. The film is aimed at British family audiences, primarily children aged 7 – 14 as the storyline of my films reflects the conventional lifestyle of a British family, and will use aspects of other fantasy films aimed at this audience, and so this will attract my intended audience.
The aim of my project will be to introduce my skills of cinematography and mise-en-scene that I developed in FM1 studies to create a conventional fantasy film sequence but more influenced by British culture than the lifestyle of American teenagers. I will use mise-en-scene to convey the lives of English teenagers in the modern day, and a Victorian setting, just as it was in Victorian England.
I’m directing my project, and as I am creating the script, storyboard, etc, I have read some appropriate books to help me make the best of this project. I like the way colour can be used in film to create and contrast different worlds, such as Tim Burton does in his films, and I would like to use this in my sequence to establish the contrasting worlds of the modern day and the Victorian times which is the disruption stage of my equilibrium.
As my film is a fantasy, I have been researching the genre and will be following the conventions of it as closely as I can, as I want to create a conventional fantasy film, but as this is a low-budget production, I will have to greatly improvise on a lot of the features such as CGI and fantasy creatures.
I will also look into how British teenagers are portrayed within films and use this as a foundation for the development of my characters and reflecting the British culture to establish this as a British-based film. Most fantasy films follow American pre-teens, and I would find it more interesting to create a sequence based around characters who are a little older, in their mid – late teens as this could also attract a teenage audience.
When beginning my project, I will create a treatment, and then I want to develop the characters before I create a script and storyboard as I feel creating more depth to the characters, even if there are parts not mentioned in the film, it is a foundation for creating dialogue for them and judging what their behaviour would be like from a psychological point of view. After I have done this, I can script and storyboard whilst at the same time finding suitable locations, and then I can begin filming.
I also have a study group for my project where we are all creating our own films, but we can help each other with the other films and offer advice whilst receiving advice in return. This will make the project feel like we are working in the film industry as it’s about teaming up and working together to create a film full of meaning.
Within this project, I would like to further develop my film terminology, and my practical skills, primarily lighting, and sound. I would also like to enhance my skills of scripting and creating a storyboard, and I will use this knowledge to help create a project to the best of my ability.

First Meeting for Project

The first meeting between my 'meeting group' of Keeley, Chelsea and I, consisted of us discussing genre for our upcoming genre essay. I wasn't sure what to label my film as, and so we discussed general conventions for different genres to see which genre my film would fit into.
We then came to a conclusion that my film would fit into the genre of fantasy. This wasn't deemed as a solid genre though. But my film contained all of the elements that fantasy films supposedly did, and so I decided that I would label my film as a 'fantasy', and use elements that appear throughout fantasy films as similar elements used in my film sequence.

Film Studies Brief

My film studies project is to produce a short film or a sequence from a film between 3:00 and 5:00 minutes. For my film, I am producing a sequence from a full movie as I find with this I can include lots of stylistics to convey a meaning which may hint at things happening later in the film. Also, I am planning on focusing my sequence around the disruption stage of my film, so that I can write how it fits in with the rest of the film.
Another plus point for doing a film sequence rather than a short film I find, is that I'm not restricted to filming a full narrative that will both entertain audience's and convey meaning in less than 5:00 mintues. Instead, I can do both of these, plus use longer camera shots if appropriate to convey meaning and not worry about overlapping the 5:00 mins restriction time.
So along with my film sequence, I need to produce a synopsis, script, and storyboard etc and anything else appropriate, so those will be in the next stage of my planning.