I think
that I have greatly improved from our preliminary task, my knowledge of the
software are well as the film-making process has greatly improved and therefore
the progression from the preliminary task to the full product has quite
obviously improved.
Firstly,
during pre-production of the preliminary task I found is quite hard to even
come up with more than a few shot types, showing that my understanding of
film-making has vastly enhanced and thus our film opening contained some much
more challenging shots such as the tracking shot, in comparison to just a
shot-reverse-shot which we completed in the preliminary task. Not much thought
went into the location nor costume of our characters in the preliminary, in
fact we used a classroom as a 'restaurant' and we just used actors that were
either in our group or were just free in the time for filming after-school.
Whereas, with the film opening we went through a lot more planning and made
multiple storyboards in case the main tracking shot did not work out. Props for
the preliminary were just things that we found lying around which we thought
slightly would look like they would belong in a restaurant which we were trying
to make from a classroom (?).
Overall,
the amount of planning required for the preliminary task did not amount to what
was required for the main task. Production took a whole day for the main film
opening whereas we only spent around an hour on the preliminary as we only had
a few shots to film, in comparison to the multiple close-up and attempts at
tracking/pull-in shot in the film opening.
Throughout
the process of constructing our film opening I learnt a lot about technologies
such as Final Cut Pro and Colour, as well as the cameras themselves. For
example, with the Canon EOS 550D cameras I learnt that in order to achieve an
extreme-close-up you use the 75mm and for a wide a 35mm is required – the
middle/mid-shot being 55mm. In this way being able to use trial and error to
achieve the perfect wide shot (etc.) was the easiest way to ensure that the
right lens was being used. Similarly, discovering Final Cut Pro seemed like a
daunting task however, once we learnt the basic tools such as the ‘Razor Tool’
for a straight cut, is was easier to use the software. It took a while to be
able to understand the software since there was so many tools on it which
appeared very confusing.
In order to do many things such as the writing
appearing on-screen in a typewriter fashion, we had to google how to do this. Often,
watching videos on how to use Final Cut Pro helped quite a lot.We also wanted to adjust the sound levels of
the music throughout the opening to imply- since the music was diegetic -that
the music would get louder when the shot was closer to the laptop where the
music was coming from. This took a while to get right and make sure that we
adjusted the sound levels with slight fades between the different levels to
make sure that the music was not jarring when it changed volume. Surprisingly,
as a group we managed to work out how to complete this on Final Cut Pro, we
realised that all we needed to do was clip on the audio and adjust it in the viewer.
The Colour
software was actually fairly easy to use, what caused the most problems was
actually transferring it back to Final Cut Pro since we did not understand that
we had to ‘render’ the whole completed sequence in order to send it back to
Final Cut Pro since the files could not be read properly. However, the colour
software itself was easy, as I described it, ‘it’s a bit like Instagram
filters’, despite the appearance of the software looking complicated, it was
fairly easy to use because if you moved one of the buttons you could see how it
would affect the actual picture.
I think the
main audience for our film opening would be teenagers aged 16-18 since it is most empathetic for this age group due to the social issues raised; bullying and
mental illness (depression & anxiety). In this way, we tried to address the
audience through portraying things which many teenager has gone through, since almost everyone at
least has been affected by mental illness in some way, not just exclusively
teenagers, although depression and certainly bullying may be particularly
prevalent in teenagers. In terms of audience being of a global range, I do not think
this is the case since the main plot-line is a school shooting which is quite a
niche subject matter in America. Also, since it is set in America with
music, objects associated with the place and so therefore may not attract
audiences globally. Despite the film opening not being filmed as American the location was meant to be set in America thus, it would not be classified as a 'British' film despite all the cast,crew and location being British. In this way, our film opening may be limited in its audience globally but should appeal to teenagers aged 16-18. According to the BBFC classification for film, our film would most likely receive a '15' certificate. This is due to the themes of drugs and perhaps later scenes of the school shooting and suicide being prohibited in a '12'.
What might I see in a 15 rated film or video?
Any of the following:
strong violence
frequent strong language (e.g. 'f***').
portrayals of sexual activity
strong verbal references to sex
sexual nudity
brief scenes of sexual violence or verbal references to sexual violence
discriminatory language or behaviour
drug taking
Having a '15' certificate however would enable the film to be viewed by who I think would target most appropriately and be able to understand effectively.
We thought
that our film opening would most likely be distributed through online
platforms such as 'YouTube' or 'Vimeo' since it is so accessible for everyone and thus, it is the easiest way to get people to see our film without having to go out of their way to go to the one cinema which may exhibit it. using social media networking sites such as twitter
and Facebook to market and promote the media product. With a small budget behind the film, hardly anything can realistically be spent on distribution, let alone marketing. In this way, I feel that this would be the best way to distribute an independent film like ours to be seen by the audience who need to see it and would most relate to the subject matter. With perhaps the 'death' of cinema as we know it, many films are transferring to internet platforms like 'Netflix' which most people use in nowadays in order to watch what they want, when they want it for a limited price. A trip to the cinema can now cost around £10 per person and that is without the added ridiculous price of popcorn and a drink. Thus, I think we need to embrace digitisation and have our media product distributed online. Online platforms have the added benefit of limited distribution costs and almost everyone can access it and so I think this is the way forward particularly with a small independent film as 'Nineteen Minutes'.
Or alternatively, with something produced
with low production costs, reasonably it is likely that an independent institution would be able to help with the distribution in a more traditional way, through, perchance, cinematic exhibition. Also, in order to get our film some 'critical acclaim' we could enter it into film festivals in order to get more exposure since if the film receives good reviews hopefully people will want to see it to see what the reviewers are talking about (as well as through word of mouth). Our audience may be limited slightly due to the film being classified as a American film since the themes apply to quite an American audience and is also set in America (since school shootings are perhaps culturally specific and also apply to American teenagers). However, I think that the subject matter would apply to teenagers in a global audience since the experience and issue of bullying is particularly prevalent throughout any teenagers lives, in particular their school lives.
Social
groups that are prevalent throughout our film opening is age and gender.
Firstly, the main character in our opening is perhaps perceived as a
stereotypical teenager since he has traits like staying up and sleeping through
the day. This is apparent in our film opening since there is a close-up of the
clock which is already at 12:19 pm. Peter can also be seen as a
stereotypical
teenager since he wears quite young adult clothing; a black t-shirt, skinny
jeans and Nike trainers. In this way he perhaps seen as ‘normal’ and attempting to 'fit'in' with the crowd and therefore at high school. However this
is subverted with the added touch of glasses which usually conform to
the stereotype of a ‘nerd’ in a typical American school, someone who does not fit into the 'cool' group at high school and gets bullied by the jocks for actually caring about his grade average. In this way, this
reflects Peter’s vulnerability as well as representing him as a bit of an
‘outsider’ and therefore his susceptibility to bullying. Peter is also aged 17 and so does conform to the stereotype of being 'mis-understood' by adults since his character shuts himself away in the comfort of his attic room. The attic room is also quite symbolic of Peter feeling closed off from society and kept out of sight, up in a small room. Peter's bedroom also represents his depression since it is very dark and deliberately blue-ish in colour in order to display his isolation and struggle with mental illness and bullying. Despite this, the film also later represents the idea of parenthood and what it is like to be dealing with a teenager as they turn into adults themselves. Peter's mother Lacey is a midwife and throughout the novel is described to dedicate a lot of her life to her job and in this way misses the subtle changes in Peter as he slips deeper into depression. Thus, Lacey could appeal to parents who have gone through similar struggles with their children, struggle to juggle their jobs with bringing up their child. 'Nineteen Minutes' therefore represents parenthood in a very relatable way to many who have experienced the troubles of raising a teenager and helping them transition into adulthood.
I think
that generally, our film opening conforms to the conventions of real film
openings since it establishes time, location, character and creates enigma.
Firstly, time is established in our film opening through having a clock on the
desk and more explicitly having a close-up on the clock as it ticks to the next
minute (12:19pm). In this way, this conforms to the usual conventions of a film
opening by establishing time. Near the end of the film opening, perhaps even
more explicitly, we have typing appear on the screen ‘Sterling, March 6 2007’
thus, establishing location. However, location has already subtly been revealed
through the mise-en-scene, for example, the placement of American sweets like
‘Hershey’ as well as American writers within the main character’s book
collection e.g. Stephen King.
Similarly,
our film opening conforms to conventions of real film openings by establishing
character. Mise-en-scene makes a big contribution to revealing more about the
main character as well as revealing him gradually. For example, the types of
DVDs can been stereotypically seen as ‘nerdy’, with the set including ‘Star
Trek’ and ‘Lord of the Rings’, this enabling the audience to learn about his
character. With the room also being quite messy, with chocolate wrappers and
marinating cereal bowls, it implies that the character is also the
stereotypical teenager (one who would sleep through a whole day). Character is
also established through his clothing, conforming to the stereotypical teenager
with a black t-shirt, glasses and jeans. In conjunction with this, enigma is
created through the audience only seeing parts of the main characters, and not
seeing his whole face one shot. This serves to create a sense of the character
wanting to remain anonymous as well as conforming to conventions of real film
openings by not revealing everything in the opening scene.
The editing process went mostly smoothly, the only thing that seemed to cause the most struggle was the sound. Firstly, we had no sound in most of our original shot and so we had to take some of the 'white noise' from one of the shots that actually had sound and copy this to the remainder of the shots. Luckily the fall out boy diegetic music which we later overlaid made this seem rather smooth and not jarring, which we were worried about. With the music we adjusted the sound levels to make sure that when the camera was nearer the computer that the music would be louder, and when it was further away, like in the close-ups of the objects, that it was quieter - as to replicate the way the sound would be if you were in the room with the character. However, what caused many problems was getting the audio of typing in sync with the typing on the computer screen, the titles, and on the keyboard. To get round this problem and to make sure that it was clear, we recorded the sound of the typing after the shooting day and added this in with the visuals. After quite the struggle with matching up each sound clip to the visuals, it did however pay off in the end, some of the typing shot even had to have each, individual typing noise added in to each letter that appeared on screen, this was quite frustrating but it did pay off in the end.
Once all the sound levels were appropriate we wanted to make sure that the title shot lasted long enough, in particular we wanted to make sure that the main title differentiated from the rest, to resolve this we made the main title larger and stay on screen longer. We also made the titles in a typewriter typeface in order to reinforce the idea of our protagonist tying out a letter and hence give a little away about the story, as well as fitting in with it. The length of each shot also caused some struggles as we didn't want it to drag out each clip, but at the same time we did not want it to be too short and seem jarring, we also needed to fit the 2 minute boundary. Despite his, in the end I think we came to the right conclusion of having shots long enough for the meaning to come across successfully.
Filming day went rather smoothly. But we did have a few expected problems. We were filming in someone's loft which meant that setting up was a but of a hassle since we had to keep going up and down the stairs, clearing what we did not need from the bedroom and assembling the set. All together filming took approximately 5 hours, however it did not at all feel like it (and we got pizza to break up the day). What caused the most difficulty was, what we called 'the troublesome tracking shot' but we did build a rather nifty mechanism for it.
We managed to balance the tripod on top of a small penny-board, despite not being able to get the circular movement around the head of 'Peter' it did enable us to get a relatively steady shot. We also used this to carry out the pull-in shot however, this did not work out since the camera was too shaky and it was hard to focus since we had to position it right against the wall in order to get a wide shot. This was a little frustrating since I think this would have made a really nice opening shot. But it was great that we managed to get a steady enough shot for the tracking shot so we could use this as the alternate opening shot.
The location was perfect since we did actually take over a teenage boy's bedroom, which was perfect for our 17-year-old character, Peter. As for making the set appeared as if it was in America, we simply dressed the set with American sweets, American CDs (bands). Finding these was relatively easy since now most shops seem to sell American sweets (albeit for more money). It took quite a lot of time to dress the set since the stairwell was so narrow and getting things up to the loft was quite hard. We also wanted to make sure that everything was in a good position so that it would appear in frame and just look how we envisaged it. Overall I think that it did look how we wished it to from the desk point-of-view however, the bed just didn't look right and felt a little neglected. This was a shame as it can be seen as not even a bedroom but just a 'study' space. Despite this, I do not think that the bed is really needed to imply that it is a teenage boy's bedroom since I think with the way we dressed it with all of his things, that it did look like a bedroom in the end and the shot of the bed itself was not necessary and would look like quite a 'flat' shot.
Another obstacle which we had to tackle was being able to film shots as wide as possible since it was a small room, with five people in. This lead to me squeezing into awkward small spaces and trying to focus the camera without actually being able to see the screen however, it worked out in the end. This also caused some struggles when it came to the tracking shot and so we had to compromise and not have a tracking shot of the whole bedroom, but rather just the desk. The desk was actually hand-made by one of our group member's dad who specially made it for the film opening, with the main character in mind.
We wanted to have the light in the room to be quite dark, reflective of Peter's depressed personality. In this way, having a room with limited light source, other than a skyline, small window, was perfect. Having one small, desk lamp meant that it was not too dark and allowed us to see the room with all the things in it effectively, as well as being able to see Peter's character. However, we wanted the colouring to be high in blue, reflecting Peter's dull, dark room along with his personality. Despite this we did not worry too much about the colouring since much of this would be completed in post-production using the software colour. During this process we wanted to increase the blue colouring to imply that the protagonist is sad and depressed. As well as this, we increased the red to signify that the character, Peter, also has a lot of anger as in fact capable of doing anything in order to get revenge for the bullying which he received at school. Thus, hinting at what is to come in the rest of the film and also creating enigma, as we would want in a conventional film opening. To keep the lighting in the room quite dark we used the black-out blind that was the only source of light in the bedroom: the skylight. However, even with this drawn it was still quite light so we ended up sellotaping the blind to get rid of any light streaks coming form the side of the blind. The only problem with sellotape is that it is not very good at sticking to walls and so it kept falling down and so the lighting changed slightly throughout the different shot types. However, this was resolved in post-production where we used the software 'colour' to adjust the brightness and exposure of each shot to make sure that the light levels were all the same, thus making sure that each shot didn't look like a different time of day since we wanted it to be around 12 pm. With 'colour' I wanted to create something partially stylised, however we did not want it to be overly stylised as I think it would shade the meaning of the piece. In this way I made most of the shot seem naturalistic, increasing the contrast of the colour to just heighten them and make them look more appealing than the initial shots. Increasing the shadows also made it seem more threatening, relfecting Peter's character.
The main character Peter in 'Nineteen Minutes' and our actor, Tom also reminded me of the character 'Charlie' from 'Perks of Being a Wallflower' and 'Oliver Tate' from 'Submarine' due to their character's having similar in vulnerability. Tom also came across as quite quiet and thus fitted the role perfectly. Not to say that he is the kind of person who would be bullied, he just had a sense of perhaps hiding things behind the surface as with the character 'Oliver' and 'Charlie' who also share traits which Peter (the main character of Nineteen Minutes'). In this way, think this drew me to the character more since I love those films so much. Also, similarly both Charlie and Oliver have an interest in writing which also relates to Peter's character (despite his writing perhaps being more sinister and suicidal). In particular near the beginning of the 'Perks of Being a Wallflower' there is a scene of Charlie writing a letter just as Peter does. Also, Oliver's character in 'Submarine' is introduced though a tracking shot which reveals the interior of his room beforehand. This is similar to how we wanted our film opening to be. Charlie from the 'Perks of Being a Wallflower' was quite influential in creating Peter's character initially since the characters were very similar and both struggle from depression.
Similarly, 'Oliver Tate' was an influence due to the character being portrayed as isolated due to the affects of bullying and perhaps not being perceived as 'normal' by other people the same age.
Since our film opening only required one character, a 17 year old boy, it was fairly easy to fit the role since we were not planning to have them being explicit acting, nor have their whole body on screen. However, we chose a person, Tom Downey, who did have experience in acting and in fact took media studies themselves, so they knew what to expect (in a way) when it came to shooting day. As a director, I wanted to be able to communicate effectively with the actor so that we could shoot effectively and efficiently, in this way it helped that I already knew the actor previously. It also helped that our narrative did not rely on his acting and so he was not heavily required other than just sitting and typing in the scene in which we wanted to conduct. We mostly wanted to rely on the message created by the note he was typing out as well as his surroundings, in order to create appropriate meaning about his character in a coherent way. However, I thought that Tom was perfect for the role as being a 17 year old boy himself he could relate to his character, Peter (except the school shooting plot-line...hopefully). The only thing that was perhaps different would be relating to being an American boy however, the social issues tackled in the opening are perhaps thing that many people have been affected by. Mental issues being a serious problem in today's society. We also wanted the character to have quite a small frame, since the main character is no 'soccer' player but rather one of the kids who sits in the library and reads throughout his breaks to stay away from all the people who bully him for perhaps being 'different' or just a target. In this way, Tom was the perfect size to portray this character in the right way, displaying his vulnerability.
Tom also reminded me of the character 'Charlie' from 'Perks of Being a Wallflower' and 'Oliver Tate' from 'Submarine' due to their character's having similar in vulnerability. Tom also came across as quite quiet and thus fitted the role perfectly. Not to say that he is the kind of person who would be bullied, he just had a sense of perhaps hiding things behind the surface as with the character 'Oliver' and 'Charlie' who also share traits which Peter (the main character of Nineteen Minutes'). In this way, think this drew me to the character more since I love those films so much. Charlie from the 'Perks of Being a Wallflower' was quite influential in creating Peter's character initially since the characters were very similar and both struggle from depression.
Similarly, 'Oliver Tate' was an influence due to the character being portrayed as isolated due to the affects of bullying and perhaps not being perceived as 'normal' by other people the same age.
We wanted Peter's character to be dressed plainly, since it would be odd if we conveyed a depressed character like Peter's by having him wearing a yellow t-shirt or a Hawaiian shirt. In this way, we dressed Peter in just a black t-shirt and jeans. Thus, implying that Peter is a saddened character as well as not really caring what he wears, just as long as he doesn't stand out and hence blend in with the rest of his high school. We also dressed Peter with black rimmed glasses to imply that his character was perhaps seen as 'nerdy', stereotypically.
Similarly we wanted to imply that Peter is perhaps disturbed due to the effects of the other people at his school, that he was bullied. His black t-shirt may also imply that he wants to remain anonymous, so that no one will suspect what crime he eventually commits (a school shooting). The black t-shirt also connotes depression and perhaps a sense of suspicion.
Inspiration for Peter's character also stemmed from 'Charlie' in the 'Perks of Being a Wallflower' who tends to wear dark, monochromatic clothing. In this way, we wanted to portray his character similarly to Charlie's in the way that their character's are being bullied.
The use of props in our film opening was key in signifying certain aspect of Peter's character as well as displaying the setting in which the film its set. We knew that Peter's character was very much the typical perhaps 'nerdy' 17 year old boy. In this way, we attempted to portray this through his glasses, the type of books such as 'Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy' and 'The Hobbit'. We also placed what is often perceived as 'nerdy' DVDs such as 'Star Trek', 'Lord of The Rings' and 'X Men'. As well as this we wanted to signify that this film opening was set in America and so we placed half eaten, American chocolate bars. We also placed an left over cereal bowl, which we wanted to have been marinating for a while, along with a glass of water and a can of monster. We wanted to imply that Peter's character was dis-organised and perhaps didn't really care if his room was dirty and messy since only he abodes there.
Our props perhaps took inspiration from the opening and room of 'Oliver Tate' in the film 'Submarine' since we hoped to create a room with was full of all 'nick-nacks' like Oliver Tate's. Despite the locations of the character's being in Wales and America, the concept of a teenage bedroom was very much the same. We thought the rooms should have the personal touch of the character. The only different being that Peter would have more American-themed items in his room. Props List:
Death Wish poster
DVD’s (Star Trek, Superman,
Doctor Who, X-Men etc.)
Finding a location for our film opening was surprisingly easy since we already had a location in mind in the development of the screenplay. We wanted a location that would be dark and preferably be something you would expect from an American boy's bedroom. We came to the conclusion of using a loft bedroom, with sloping ceilings, and one skyline window. This window had a black-out blind and so perfect for a dark, depressing bedroom. In this way, we wanted to imply that Peter's character is a little different and disturbed as well as suffering from depression. Thus, implying that perhaps something disturbing will occur later in the film and hence creating enigma. As we only had 2 minutes, we did not feel it was necessary for us to change locations since we also wanted to create a very closed-off feel, making the audience feel as if they are trapped as Peter is, almost in his own head. The low ceiling helped to give us this feel of being stuck and confined.
By having the location of the bedroom being so confined it helped to convey how the main character, Peter, was isolated both at high school and at home. Thus, we wanted it to be evident that as well as being physically isolated in the attic room of the house, out of the way from everything else that is going on, he is also psychologically isolated in that he feels he is the only person who is truly effected by bullying. Personally, I think that the location was perfect in representing an isolated, 17 year old, American boy's bedroom since it was so isolated in itself as well as being confined, as Peter's character is throughout the narrative.
A list given to the film production crew which indicates the sequence of scenes being shot for the day. This list may include the scene number, the location of where the scene is being shot, a description of the scene, the length of a scene (listed by number of pages from the script), a list of actors who will be involved in the scene, and, special notes to all departments of what will be needed or required for a particular scene being shot.
Shot Number
Shot Type
Storyboard Number
Shot Description
1
Tracking Shot
2,5,8
Tracking Shot of
Peter from the desk, revealing parts of his bedroom gradually.
2
Medium Close-up
3
Hand on mouse and
pot of pencils on the desk.
3
Close-up
4
Close-up of a
mouse clicking on the music. Switch focus from the play button to the title 'Fall Out Boy Golden' - of music.
4
Extreme Close-up
6,7,9,111,13,14,16,17,
18
Close-ups of
different objects in the room. Switch from out of focus to in, focus on the
object.
Although shots are simple, if the tracking shot works out it will hopefully turn out well and look effective. As well as this difficulty, achieving the extreme close-up with Peter's eyes with the reflection in his glasses may be hard, since we need to have the gun which he is looking at on the computer -achieving the right angle for this may be difficult. We also wanted the extreme close-ups to go from out of focus to in focus in order to achieve a little ambiguity and therefore we wanted to reveal about his character gradually, but enough so that it meets the conventions of a film opening: creating enigma, establishing time, place and introducing character. We wanted to make sure that the meaning was clear as well as being creative with our choices of shots.
Similarly, we do not want to over complicate the number of shots/shot types since when t comes to production day we do not want it to be over-complicated but it still needs to be challenging enough. In this way if the tracking shot works out it should hopefully look more impressive. The influence of this tracking shot stems from Wes Anderson's signature of using tracking shots, with not cuts.
a sequence of drawings, typically with some directions and dialogue, representing the shots planned for a film or television production.
Coming up with a storyboard felt like a daunting task, yet after doing various film opening deconstructions, we managed to come up with shots we thought would be effective, as well as doable with the equipment and budget we had. We came up with the idea of perhaps having one tracking shot, and then entering various close-up shots of the room, of objects, to be able to give us an introduction to Peter's character, as well as creating enigma about the rest of the film, in particular him as a person. In this way, we thought it would be effective if you did not see his face as a whole, but rather bits, fragmented, leaving the audience to piece together parts of his character, without giving too much away.
By having diegetic sound, we thought that it would enable us to be more effective in our music choice, having something that Peter would listen to, and American band, in order to ensure we were portraying the character in the right way.
The text/typing will contain the whole letter, but focus will be on the main words - 'Don't blame yourself;', these being the only ones being still typed out, to draw the audience's attention to it.
Close-ups will ideally start off unfocused and become focused to gradually reveal objects.
I also compiled an alternative storyboard, in case the tracking shot did not work, since we did not have the equipment to create the shot, we may have to use something with wheels with a Steadicam to enable us to conduct this. But, just in case we came up with an alternative, in this way if things did not turn out well on filming day we had something else to follow:
Ideally we would like to have a bird's eye view shot of Peter typing, however we thought it would be hard to could to camera still without having a shaky camera, however we would have to come up with a solution of being high enough to be able to capture the shot -but, it would be effective.
We thought that we could perhaps overlay the typing in post, if the shots on the computer did not turn out well.
