James Esdaile: unit 22

Unit 22 prezi link:  http://prezi.com/bhpvm4euy1l2/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy&rc=ex0share

Unit 16 Prezi link:  https://prezi.com/zv0ztueqofal/james-esdaile-unit-16/

APEX trailer

 Genre: Mystery.

This genre may not be good for such a short film, as there are many ideas to be communicated in such a short amount of time, although, if some of the ideas are dampened down, the short film could be created to have quite an intense mood throughout.

The actors face is never visible through the trailer, which fits with the mystery theme, as it keeps the audience on edge and wondering what is to come next. Due to the characters face never being visible, the short film could use a different actor but be based on the same character, as this idea was used to further the mystery aspects used through the trailer.

Sound FX were used. A scream was used to build up shock for the audience, to act as a marker for something bad happening. This part of the trailer represented the character being kidnapped, which was furthered by the blacked out screen.

The trailer is meant to be a view from the character’s eyes to show more emotion and what he would see personally, to make the audience imagine his response and create more of an attachment to the character.

Location: West Byfleet, Train station. This fits the theme, and the music fits with the focal effect created.

Song: milk and honey – arcade fire.

Contrast in light and dark areas were emphasised to create a glowing effect on areas, to make the shadowed parts of the film seem hidden away, creating an empty mood, leaving the audience in the dark, which may make them want to watch the full film as they will be questioning what will happen.

 

Similar effects may be used in our short film, depending on the genre we base our film on.

Ideas: We may not emphasise the effects used as much as in this trailer, as an action film or realist drama film will not need to seem as mysterious and dramatic. We may use a similar soundtrack to the one used in this trailer as it creates lots of emotion which will be needed in a realist drama film as it may seem quite raw, realistic and effect the audience’s emotions more, as they may have similar experiences which relate to them.

Job Roles

Writer: James, Rayan, Michael. (whole group) If we each write part of the script, we will all have an understanding of what the film should be like, meaning it will have a stronger flow and style. It will also be stronger as we will all be able to input ideas and discuss what the strongest ideas for the film would be.

Director: We will all take part in directing the film, as we all have an equal amount of input on planning the short film, and will all be able to alter the order of filming and scenes.

Camera operator: James will be the main cameraman, as I have used cameras before when creating films for art, or photography. I know how to use the camera to its potential in certain lighting, although each of us will have some input in filming.

Editor: Rayan will do the majority of editing, as he is used to editing and knows his way around Premier, although each of us will edit some of the film to ensure that it is fitting to the original plan of the short film.

Actors: We will use friends to act in the film, as we will be able to rely on them and ensure that they will show up to schedule filming days. If we were to use someone we didn’t know well, we would not be able to contact them as easily as if it was someone we knew and could rely on.

Sound operator: Whoever is filming at the time will most probably be the sound operator at the time. If there are specific sounds needed in certain scenes to emphasise a mood or emphasise a certain object on scene/off scene, we may use an overhead microphone borrowed from the media department or the music tech department. We could also use sound FX either sampled ourselves or taken from the internet.

 

 

 

Outline for short film

1)      Mystery drama film: follow the idea of a character being kidnapped and held hostage, although when someone tries to come and help him escape, it turns out to be a trap. This idea may be too complex for such a short film as our short film will only be approximately 5 minutes. The short film may take influences from this trailer, like the setting, characters and lighting.

2)      Setting: shot in Woking, although idea is set in London as the character’s apartment Is set there.

Another idea for this 5-minute short film is a follow on to this trailer. The film could be a carry on from the trailer, where someone had been kidnapped and hasn’t been found. In the short film, his best friend could be living his life, without his friend who had been kidnapped. The short film could revolve around how his life has changed so much since he lost his friend, showing flashbacks, compared to what he does now.

Actors: I could use one of my friends as the main actor in this film. Saul Ward or Misha Scott.

Lighting: If our film is a realist drama, the lighting needed would have to be natural, quite bright, and fitting to the moments mood. This means that if the scene is sad, the lighting may have to be quite dull and less saturated to compliment the mood of the scene.

Sound: The non-diegetic sound would be music, similar to the music used in the Apex trailer. This was a soundtrack taken from the film: Her, by Spike Jonze. The band name is: Arcade Fire. The music produced for the film is a variety of intense, bright timbre music and slow, happy and sad electronic orchestral and music. The diegetic sound will be focused on the natural sound of the area. This may be the sound at a train station or in a more natural area like the woods, where birds and leafs in the wind may be heard. Other areas may focus on the dialogue of the scene, although I think the film may only have a small amount of dialogue to keep the mood fitting to the type of genre.

 

 

Character development

Main character: Pete

Pete is quite innocent and shy character. He is neat and keeps a strict order in his life. He then starts to fall apart once his mother is kidnapped and turns into a fidgety, messy and unstructured character. Pete’s mother is quite a dominant character although she can sometimes be too sure on herself. She is also stubborn and doesn’t tend to listen to others, not even her son, Pete.

The kidnapper is a mysterious, dark figure. None of the characters know who he is, and he rarely speaks. His face is constantly hidden and nothing is known about him. This mysterious character is about 6’ tall, and quite an intimidating character, as he has control over everything whenever he Is on scene. Pete is too scared whenever he is around as they are opposing characters. These characters follow Levi Strauss binary opposition theory. This is because the characters are so opposing and neither of them would be part of the story if the other character wasn’t, as Pete is made the hero due to the kidnapper being part of the story, and the kidnapper would not be part of the story if Pete wasn’t involved in the story.

Character list:

Pete: Main character.

Pete’s Mum: main character – Elizabeth

Kidnapper: main/background character – only on scene for a small amount of time.

Equipment:

SLR camera:   The camera we have chosen to use is a high quality HD camera, which will give us a crisp look through the short film, we will also be able to control the focus of different levels through the background and foreground with this camera, meaning we will be able to control the main focus of the scene such as: Characters or an object that is significant through the certain scene.

 

 

Tripod: The chosen tripod will be borrowed from the college. We may only need a single tripod due to only using one camera. This will be used for pan shots as well as still shots to keep a professional look to the film as the camera will be steady and anchored.

 



Shoulder rig: We may use a shoulder rig for track shots. This would help as create a smooth shot, without having to repetitively move the tripod and set the camera up again. This is much steadier than just holding the camera to film any moving shots. This keeps the camera at the same level and lets you pivot easier.

 



 

Shotgun microphone: We may need a shotgun microphone in order to get a crisper sound quality to our film. This will make the short film look and sound more professional. The sound quality for the dialogue needs to be high quality too, in order to alter the sound levels and make sure the dialogue can easily be heard over soundtracks or sound effects.

 



Green screen: We will use the green screen provided in college as we may need to create certain backgrounds, if we can’t all travel to a certain place for a scene. This will also help us to keep filming if the weather is not fitting, as we will be able to use the green screen to get a certain lighting or scene.

 

Filming plan:

We will chronologically film the short film, scene by scene, in order to have the clips in the correct order for us already, otherwise we will spend too much time planning to edit and editing. This will also help us easily tick off what we have and haven't filmed, meaning that all of our clips will be organised properly.

We will be filming through the week, as we all work during the weekend, and therefore cannot film then. We will film during most of our media lessons through next week (from the 21/03/2017 to 31/03/2017) although I (James) will not be in on 31/03/2017 due to a University interview.

Dates:

23/03/2017: Collect equipment from the media office and begin filming in the lesson, from 3pm until 4pm.
We will film the beginning of the film, according to the script and storyboard, meaning that we should be able to edit approximately a minute or two from the clips we collect on this day, to make the introduction,

24/03/2017: We will then finish our filming on Fridays lesson. This will  be at 8:45, so I will try attend the lesson earlier to set up before the lesson, ensuring that we use our time properly. This last hour of filming should be enough to give us a variety of clips to which we can cut and arrange to make the 5 minute film.

27/03/2017: I will begin editing the short film on Monday (James), as I have many frees, and will be able to use either premier.

From the 27th to 30th we will keep editing the film, which should only really take an hour or 2, as the length of the film will only need to be 5 minutes.

Costume list:

Pete:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have chosen a plain white t shirt for Pete, as it is a simple piece of clothing, which may make the audience relate to him, as he is commonly dressed. The colour of the t shirt also resembles Pete’s original character of being quite pure and innocent. The t shirt being white would also mean that it would pick up dirt and marks easier, which would help produce a certain mood when Pete is running away from the hooded character.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have also chosen for Pete to wear blue jeans, as again, this is quite a simple outfit, showing that Pete doesn’t like to go out of his comfort zone, and tries to stick with simple ideas that prevent him from standing out and being judged. This is suitable to his feeble character.

Pete’s costume is owned by the actor who will be playing him, meaning that we won’t have to spend any money buying the costumes which will also save more time for the actual production of the film, which would let us create a much stronger idea and better visual creativity.

Pete's mother:

 

 

This floral blouse would be worn by Pete’s mother, as many people tend to associate this sort of clothing with a middle aged woman. This is normally thought of by younger audiences, which is our main target audience. A similar blouse may be owned by one of our Mum’s meaning that, again, we won’t need to spend any money on an outfit for the characters.

 

I have chosen some slim black jeans for the mother as I again, they give quite a modern look, and tend to be owned by most women, which means we would be able to get hold of them easily, and if they are not available, they could be replaced with leggings, as they give a similar look, and work well to make the blouse stand out, giving a motherly look.

 

 

 

Kidnapper:

 

I have chosen a black/dark, oversized hoody for the kidnapper in order to fit with his mysterious personality. This hoodie will also help to keep the kidnappers face hidden, which would make sure that both the audience and other main characters would be left wondering what the kidnapper is like and who he is. This will help to fit with the mystery/crime influence of the film’s genre.

Other than this, the kidnapper would most probably be wearing black jeans and black shoes. This will help to keep the character hidden in the dark, and will fit the mood of the scenes that he is in. These scenes will have very little lighting, and will help to produce a dark and eerie feeling.





 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Equipment Email:

 

Email:
Hi Neal,
Just wondering if you are free on either Wednesday (22/03/2017) at 11.50 or on Thursday (23/03/2017) between 3 and 4pm to organise our equipment for our media short film.
Thank you,
James Esdaile.

Risk assessment form:

                                                                  Date of risk assessment:  17/03/2017

What are the hazards?	Who might be harmed and how?	What are you already doing?	Do you need to do anything else to control this risk?	Action by who?
Slips and trips	Staff and visitors may be injured if they trip over objects.	Don’t eat and drink around filming areas and make sure to keep equipment in a certain place, to prevent trips or slips. Clean up after yourself if filming and using equipment.	Put up a sign if we are storing equipment in a place where people may trip up on it.	Everyone
Broken equipment	Equipment may be sharp if something has shattered or smashed and may cut or stab someone.	Making sure equipment is being used properly, and crew isn’t messing around with any equipment. Making sure that the cameras are properly attached to tripods. Etc.	Ensure that the whole crew knows how to use the equipment safely and properly. We will all watch specific videos on YouTube, of how to use the equipment and also ask Neal.	Everyone
Weather conditions	Crew my slip over if not careful, and may slip on the floor if it is wet, either inside or outside, or may get a headache due to the sun if our for a long time.	Ensure that people wipe their feet before going into a room that may cause a slip, if wet. Make sure each person has a bottle of water if it is a hot/sunny day to prevent dehydration.	If someone doesn’t have water or food, supply some for them to prevent any problems.	Everyone.

 

Personal Details and personnel:


James Esdaile:
Cameraman and Editor.
Have used the high quality professional cameras that will be used in this project before.
Created multiple short films for my GCSE and A-level fine art final pieces.
This means that I know how to film and use the equipment to it's full potential. I also know how to use different editing software's such as: Final cut pro, IMovie and also adobe Premier.

Contact details:
Email: J4m351999@gmail.com
Number: 07783472067

Location details:

Our main location for filming will be in Woking college, and around the site. We have chosen to film here as all of the equipment we need will be easily accessed, meaning that we don’t have to keep coming back or carry everything we need to somewhere far away. This means that we won’t have to organise separate transport to somewhere further away.

We will be filming on the field as it is fitting to the beginning of our short film, where the character is in the woods, getting followed by the kidnapper.

If we are in college, we will also be able to film using the green screen, which will help us create certain scenes that are in areas we cannot gain access to.

We also have access to the media studio meaning that we have all the lights we need to film close-ups and create the best mood for the genre of our short film.
Being able to film in college means that we also have more time to film, as we can each film in our frees or in lessons, which means we will be able to get each scene exact to how we would like it. This means that the short film will be much stronger and appeal to our audience.

Sound and visual effects

We will be recording all of our sound effects instead of using secondary effects. This is because our sound will be recorded with the film, meaning that we have a better understanding of timing and we will have less audio to edit. We will be using the shotgun microphone by Rode, which will be attached to the camera. This will help us pick up the audio and dialogue which will be in time with the actual film.

If we need to use any other sound or visual effects, we will most probably use one from a website that provides them, meaning that we will not need to ask them to be able to use it. Although if we use anything from youtube, I will ask the person who has provided it and also credit them in my paperwork and end of the short film.