On Friday 7th February we are having a Peer screening session with year 12 and 13. This will allow us to get feedback for our first draft of our trailer. We will then be able to do changes and amendments prior to handing our trailer in.
This is the questionnaire we are going to give the audience :
When editing our trailer, we felt that we needed to use a different accompaniment because we wanted to capture emotion through music. The best way for this to be presented was to use a piano instead of a guitar, and also not to have lyrics as we would rather feature a voiceover.
Therefore, we decided to change personnel and use Emilie Brittain who is doing A Level Music. After hearing her compositions previously, we felt that she would be the best to do this and she has the passion behind it. We knew she would be able to compose something in a short period of time and she is a very reliable person.
On Thursday 23rd January 2014, we visited the BFI study day in Southbank, Waterloo where we were spoken to about 'We Media' and democracy in the pre digital and online age. Matthew Hall was joined by Rosa Weber and Malcom Smith to talk and answer questions about what 'We Media' is and how it has affected the past, and how it continues to affect the present.
At the beginning of the day we were given a student pack which included key terms, examples of We Media and several case studies which will help us in our exam. We were also shown a short 45 minute extract from 'Life in a Day' which showed hundreds of original footage shot by multicultural people across the world. All of the footage was filmed on the same day, 24th July 2010, which was edited into themes including love, family and work.
After watching the extract from 'Life in a Day' we were inspired to capture emotion and also think about the aspects of using technology to enhance our trailer.
Filming completed-10th January
Editing started-13th January
Diary entry 1- We started editing on the Monday 13th we changed every clip to black and white and shortened them down to quicken the pace when all put together.
Diary entry 2- We've added the background music so that we can edit and add transitions between each scene and get a feel for the pace to synchronise with the music.
To add more depth to the storyline and show the roots of Mandy's troubled life we wanted to include a traumatic scene from her childhood.
Some examples of this being:
A shot of Mandy as a child drawing a disturbing image, her were some images I found when researching art therapy techniques and how therapists are able to detect signs of abuse. Here are some of the images I found when looking into child abuse.
Another potential idea we had was to include some form of arguing between Mandy's parents which she would've witnessed.
When we first discussed this, a couple of music videos featuring similar shots to this came to mind.
The first being Kelly Clarkson's 'Because of You'
Here some of the shots taken from the video:
Close up of argument with husband in background.
Mid shot of argument, arms raised in threatening way.
Family portrait, contrasting with the intense argument scene.
In this shot the husband has picked up the family portrait and is about to smash it.
Establishing shot, dark lighting, dark atmosphere,
intense conversation
Husband becomes aggressive and throws table up
Wife in vulnerable position, arms raised in defence
Arms raised in a threatening manner
Bottle smashing
Throws bottle, as he walks away
Little girl in foreground as her father leaves her, driving away
The other video we analysed and watched for inspiration was 'Confessions of a Broken Heart' by Lindsay Lohan
Here are some of our favourite scenes featured:
Theres a short amount of dialogue featured in the video as well took inspiration from:
'don't you put me down in front of my children, do you understand me? You brought this on yourself'
'Get on your feet'
Towering over wife
Wife pushed to the floor
Daughter scared and cowering in corner on bedroom
Agression shown through throwing everything off mantelpiece
We felt that showing our storyboard in a video would allow for us to explain our reasoning behind each shot and it would give it a more interactive approach. We have explained our reasoning behind choosing the shots and then also explained sound and editing within this video.
When first discussing what we should film our trailer with we decided on using our iPhones. As all of us had the iPhone 5 we felt this would be the best camera to use as its portable, easy to carry, easy to use and the camera is HD. We found that because of technological convergance the iPhones had better quality images rather than a video camera.
The benefits of using an iPhone 5s:
iPhone 5s features a state-of-the-art sensor that increases the area available for pixels by 15 per cent
The iSight camera on iPhone 5s features an impressive 33 per cent increate in light sensitivity
Fast phone capture and up to 2x faster autofocus
Continuously captures 10 photos per second
Capture moments in stunning 1080p HD and you are able to take still photos as you record
This then allows for us to capture moments in the filming quickly without having to worry about turning on the camera to shoot. You are also able to switch on stabiliser which when holding the camera it stops the images from shaking and blurring.
When using the iPhone you are then able to transfer your images to iMovie on the phone which then enables you to see what shots would look like together.
iMOVIE
iMovie allows us to bring together all the shots and then create the trailer. This software has everything on it and is easy to use. From AS we have become more comfortable with the programme which means we can do things we were not able to do before.
When filming we will be using natural light as well as enforced lighting. We want to use as much natural lighting as possible in the day shots to capture the mood. But when it starts to get darker and we do the night shots we have got a portable torch
After finalising our storyboard we have decided we are going to include flashbacks. This is because we felt we needed to have another character who is the opposite of the main character. This would then create binary opposition and allow for a plot line to emerge from these shots.
The flashback idea was thought of because the main character suffers from schizophrenia we felt that it would play into the fact that they suffer from hallucinations and thought disorders. This meant we were able to find another actor that could play the younger 'Mandy'.
After researching into how to create flashbacks we have been practising with test footage to enable us to understand how to create the effect before we start editing the whole trailer. When looking at different flashbacks that have already been created we found that they all have a glowing effect and the footage has a film grain effect which together creates the whole flashback look.
This is a video that we found on youtube that we thought was very helpful:
