PRODUCTION

Because of our late schedule, we had to film during Easter and only Carrie and I were available. One major problem we had was that we couldn't book out any equipment so we used Carrie's canon 600d and no sound equipment. I brought my camera tripod with me and a 50mm lens. For the sound, we were going to do it all in post production.

The whole production process went well, even though it was just the two of us. The producer made a schedule for the filming day and we filmed it over a period of 2 days. We filmed on gell street and at a bus stop near the University. On day 1 we filmed at the park and street and day 2 we did the bus stop and ending scene + a few more extra shots.

I did all the filming during that day. It was my first time to use a canon 600d and I went on YouTube for tutorials on how to use it. The camera was really good but I wish we had a better lens because the standard lens had problems focusing on the subject.

RESEARCH

Inspiration

The main inspiration of the idea of the film came from Submarine and 500 Days of summer. I saw Submarine and had an understanding of what the characters are going to be like. Watching the film also helped me think of the shots we could use and how we could film certain scenes. Similar styles like this (fig 1) where the character breaks the fourth wall, would be great at the start of the film to help establish the character and draw in the viewer. 

Figure 1 - Submarine

Looking at the characters with in Submarine, I saw the kind of shots they were using in different moments. Below are some of the shots I like and might use them during filming. 

Figure 2

Figure 3

I wasn't able to watch 500 Days of Summer but I was able to get the concept of boy meets girl from the trailer. I also saw some of the shots they used and some of them looked similar to submarine.

Colour Scheme

The colour scheme from Submarine was a bit dark contrasting colours except from Jordana's red coat. From reading the script, The park scene made me think of Amelie and how the colours in that film created mood. In our film, I will try to use warm and cool colours (orange, green, red, pink, blue, peach).

Figure 4

Figure 5

Figure 6

Equipment

The camera I'm going to be using will be a canon 600D. I've never used this camera before and looked for tutorials on how to use it online. I have a canon 1100D but I think the settings might be slightly different. The links below showed me specks of the camera and the additional specks which it has that cannot be found in the 1100D. 

Dave How To

Pete Spence gave me a link to a YouTube which gives you tips of what to consider when filming a dialogue scene. These included: 

• Rule of thirds
• Using different lenses and how it affects the footage
• Blocking your characters 
• Lighting
• Editing
• Angles

How To Film a Dialogue Scene

Story Board

Below are the storyboards I drew to help me during the filming. They are not 100% accurate but the give me the idea of what to film in each scene. 

Reference

Amelie (2001), [Online], Directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet. Netflix. Video from Netflix last accessed 09 May 2014 at: http://www.netflix.com/WiMovie/60022048?sod=search-autocomplete

Breaking the fourth wall (2013). [Online] Last accessed 09 May 2014 at: http://directaddress.tumblr.com/

OH, Jubilee (2011). Stuck on the puzzle "the submarine 2011 film", [Online], Last accessed 09 May 2014 at: http://provocallyism.blogspot.co.uk/2011/04/stuck-on-puzzlethe-submarine-2011-film.html 

Searches The Depths of Teen Angst to Find Laughs. (2011). [Online]. Last accessed 09 May 2014 at: http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/entertainment/searches-the-depths-of-teen-angst-to-find-laughs/story-e6frewt9-1226132173484

Jean-Pierre Jeunet

stuck on the puzzle''the submarine 2011 film''

BLOCKING & ADR

We made a remake of a scene from the last tycoon in my production skills session. I learnt how to block a film and how the different positions create a different effect of how the audiences are placed within the film.

What I mostly liked was editing the scene. Selecting the scenes to use was really interesting & I played about with the pace and reverse shots. This small scene made me think of the following:

• Angles
• Shots
• Blocking your set
• Positioning your characters
• Lighting
• Editing - Pace, reaction shots

We also had a lesson on how to ADR a film. This was a very useful session as it showed me how to correct or replace the dialogue in a film. Firstly you need the actor to get the pace and rhythm of the original dialogue, that way what they say will be in sync with the images. The recording needs to be done in a quiet room so as to get good sound quality and no background noise. The film we ADR'd was Mr and Mr's Smith. The scene was when they have dinner at a restaurant after they have been assigned to kill each other. I recorded the sounds using the zoom and they need to be mono, not stereo. 

CHANGING OUR IDEA

We ended up changing our idea last minute because there hasn't been any development on Nyle's idea and we tried to organize a group meeting but not everyone turned up. We chose Carrie's idea & it's now developed and it's possible to film it.

Treatment

Working Title: Whirlwind

Length: 5 mins

Hook paragraph:

A story about  a teenage boy trying to come to terms with the feeling of love towards a girl. A journey about how he struggles to figure out how to feel with pure infatuation and desire which he has never experienced due to a sheltered life.

Narrative Development:

Beginning: 

The story begins by introducing Flynn, a teenage boy. A natural introvert and unpopular, Flynn narrates a story about love and fantasy. Flynn leads a troubled home life and his parents are in the midst of a messy divorce due to infidelity and secrets.

The story starts by him walking out of his house, you can hear shouting in the background. We then see him journey in to Sheffield whilst daydreaming/narrating about his life and how he feels about topics such as love and societal norms.

He constantly points out that his life hasn’t been ideal and he’d rather not talk to anyone – choosing to spend his time alone with his thoughts in scenic locations – drawing and writing despite living in the hustle and bustle of a city. We journey with him as he explains his life up to now and how he hopes to move away. In the city we get more darker as we enter the city (Sheffield). No one notices he’s there but he doesn’t mind. In the city he waits at a bus stop for a bus to the countryside and suddenly you can hear his heartbeat – he sees a beautiful girl in a red coat approaching him. She introduces herself – Flynn looks amazed.

Middle: 

We notice an obvious jump in time. A montage of Lily dragging Flynn around from the city to the countryside it shows how they’ve come together and how close they have become. Accompanied by music. Flynn explains his time with Lily and their whirlwind romance. She becomes his muse, he spends all his time writing about her and drawing her.  Flynn explains his infatuation with her and talks about his new emotion – love.

Lily and Flynn are now in the woods laid next to each other – Flynn listens intently to Lily as she talks about how her parents are also divorcing and how she has to move.  This rocks Flynns world. Lily explains how they need to appreciate what’s around them and that nothing lasts forever.

End: 

Flynn gives Lily a collection of drawings and poems as she gets ready to move.  We see a montage of Lily and Flynn tells us what love is and how it’s changed him as a person. Lily kisses Flynn and tells him to appreciate every moment and see the good in the bad. Lily drives off. Flynn returns home and hears quiet and tranquility when walking towards his house.  Flynn smiles – he holds a picture of Lily in his hand. The story focuses on seeing things positive makes you more optimistic.

Style:

Visually similar to “Submarine” by Richard Ayoade.

Heavily narrated by Flynn.

Vintage/sepia effect so it’s slightly off colour to give warmer tones, especially to the montage and woodland scenes.

Red is a main colour that stands out to represent love and warmth. Red is prominent on Lily, as she wears the colour.

16:9 Letterboxed for a more cinematic feel.

Soft yet upbeat music through ought the montage sequences.  This really stands out with only little dialogue in these scenes.

Lots of wide shots to make the characters stand out.

Strange effects when Flynn daydreams about Lily. E.g. Kaleidoscope.

Audience:

16+ though mainly aimed at teenagers.

Both male and female.

Working Class

Would be more of an independent feature – shown on Film 4.

Roles

Director - Carrie Marples
Producer - Carrie Marples
Cinematographer - Myles Chimutanda
Sound recorder - Chris Kelly
Editor - Myles Chimutanda
Sound design - Nyle Roberts and Myles Chimutanda

We slightly changed our roles since we had changed the idea.

RESEARCH

Since we were sticking with the plane idea, I researched into ways we could make it work and not look cliché.

I found a video called Mid air emergency which shows the interior of an air plane and how it was developed using adobe after effects. Watching this video make me almost think that our idea was possible to recreate the space we wanted. The complications that came with this was

1. I didn't know how to use adobe after effects,
2. The person editing the mid air emergency used some plugins which I do not have access to and would require money to buy them,
3. We would have to recreate the space for every shot in the scene which will be really difficult.

I looked at some feature films which had air plane interiors to see how they had recreated that space. I found the visual effects of the air plane crash in Final Destination 5 and it involve's a lot of animation and set building which I think will be time consuming.

Nyle told us he had a studio in which we could film and his plans of recreating the interior involved having the seats and a plane poster and the final touches will be made in after effects.

I think we are not going to be able to make it work because to make the interior of the plane will be really hard & non of us have any experience of how to do it. Even if we tried to do it in after effects, getting the plugins & creating the air plane interior will be hard and I don't know how to do it. I tried to convince Nyle to change the location and use a train or coach but hi insisted we stick with the plane. This made us think of a plan B because we weren't convinced about how this idea would work.

We had a session with a few actors who wread the script and they give us feedback and how to improve it. They liked the idea of the awkward encounter of the girl and his old boyfriend but were be concerned about the plane setting. They suggested we use a train, bus or coach.

Reference

Final Destination 5. Visual Effects of Death: Airplane Crash (Special Feature) Full HD 1080p. (2011). [Online], Last accessed 09 May 2014 at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZcEGXEkHjo

Video Copilot. (2012). [Online], Last accessed 09 May 2014 at: http://www.videocopilot.net/tutorial/mid_air_emergency/

GROUP + IDEAS

I found a group but had to to leave because we had worked together before for the Documentary project. I had problems in finding a group at first then I managed to find one. I'm working with Carrie Marples, Chris Kelly and Nyle Roberts.

Two ideas were presented in the group. The first one was from Nyle which was about an awkward encounter between a girl and her ex boyfriend and This meeting takes place in an air plane and there's a sudden twist at the end. Firstly I liked this idea in terms of the story and characters but the air plane concept wasn't a good idea. I went along with the idea because it was fully developed & I thought we could change the location but Nyle didn't want to.

The second idea was from Carrie's which was a teenage love story influenced by Submarine. She only had a plot summary & it was under developed. I liked the idea but because it was under developed I pre-fared Nyle's idea.

Treatment of Nyle's idea

Boyfriend/girlfriend on flight from Australia, approaching stop off at Kuala Lumpur.

3 characters, 2 of them we know immediately have a relationship of boyfriend and girlfriend. The third is treated as a stranger, with no initial obvious relationship to the others. There is a slight Michael Haneke, Luis Bunuel, influence with slightly surreal ambience. Also inspired by recent events in the news.

Jamie Palter, 25 aspiring artist, middle class but with alternative edge background, sensitive well rounded introvert, but popular. Teaches art part time at a young adults college. Born near Brighton but Living in Sheffield after Uni at Leeds. Met Lucy at Showroom cinema.

Lula Ormsford, 25 upper working class suburban background, studied dance at Uni. has known Jamie for 3 years. Working as a teacher in a modern progressive school. Studied in Cardiff, but returned to Sheffield. She’s a loyal, giving, trusting person.

Third passenger is Jack Kerrigal, 27, studied journalism at Uni. but now working for sports agency, up and coming career, appears ambitious, ruthless, has been in Far East on sport business, caught up in a complicated deal to get investment finance for a British Football Club. Male who is secretly unsure of himself, and afraid of commitment in relationships.

                          Scene 1- Interior 3 seats on a long haul flight.

Distant fixed point shot of the 3 seats. One seat occupied by anon man. Interior plane hum sound of flying, occasional voice announcements.

The plot revolves around 3 passengers on a plane, two obviously connected, in a confined space, and the relationship between them. Their lives are somehow thrown together, intertwined by the past, the present and the future. Is there is chance or fate involved in their meeting? What’s their connection?

They are all on a journey, but which journey. Are they going to somewhere or going from somewhere? Are they contented or frustrated? How susceptible are they when confronted with an unexpected event, and total uncertainty?

We see their dreams, giving a brief glimpse and an insight into their lives, their aspirations, pre-occupations, and their worries. We hear their conversations so that we can gauge the closeness or distance of their connection. We can guess their bonds and also their conflicts.

The idea is to leave a twist at the end, we discover that Lula was in fact the girlfriend of Jack when they were at Uni together. Jack left Lula pregnant and in love, and it was a very difficult time for her. Suddenly she is confronted with this person who left her scarred emotionally. Now 5 years later she has a new boyfriend, Jamie, a different type of man, not commitment phobic like Jack. But is she sure of that?

Just when we are concerned with their personal lives, there is actually a second twist in the very final seconds, an unexpected event occurs, leaving the viewer in an ambiguous, interrupted, surprised frame of mind. As in a Haneke film, the viewer is deliberately left to make his/her own mind up about the possible resolution.

For this idea, these were our roles

Director - Nyle Roberts

Producer - Carrie Marples

Cinematographer - Myles Chimutanda

Sound recordist - TBC

Editor - Myles Chimutanda

Sound Design - Chris Kelly

Because there were only 4 of us in the group, some of us had to take a double role. 

SEMESTER 2 - TASK 2 DRAMA

The task for this project is to create a 5 minute drama film which conveys the notion of 'Journey'. I'm really excited about this project and I want to be the camera operator or editor in this project.