Music Video or Short Film?

From my research into the history of my form - short film, I found that in the 1980s/90s when MTV began to flourish and spread worldwide, this was the proliferation of short films due to the rising demand for music videos. The most famous music video directors are also short-film makers and there is certainly an overlap from music videos and short films. Most music videos are now short films, and many films and short films have non-diegetic music over it.



From 0:22, the non-diegetic song begins playing over the film and I believe this looks effective and is a technique I may use within my 5 minute film. It gives an excitement to the clip, having tension build as the song builds up.

Planning for shooting day 2 - The second try!

I now plan to film on Sunday 8th of December as the day I planned to film for 'shooting day 2', it was dark by the time I left college therefore I need to navigate my filming time around college days as both me and my talent finish at a minimum of 3 o'clock every weekday and I work all day Saturdays.

The weather is relatively dry and 'visibility' is good, therefore will be an ideal filming day, which are rare in the winter.

Shooting day 2: A disaster!

Having picked up the camera from Ray the media technician and biked to location from college to meet talent from his college it was already to dark to film, above shows the lighting at my point of arrival. With street lights already beginning to turn on, this was not ideal filming time and therefore me and talent both agreed that we would need to film outside of college time, on Sunday's or Monday mornings. 

Filming Day 1

Here is the set up I had for the shot of my little brother and sister for the line 'Their little nippers have bare feet'. I cleared out a space in my bedroom as this was the only white wall I had to film on. The only problems I had while filming was keeping these two concentrated and to get them to do the actions I wanted to, to smile and show their missing teeth! 

This was my position to film Alfie getting out of bed. I wasn't able to use the tripod as it was too big, therefore I used the floor to keep my camera steady. 

I had to use this 'floor filming' technique again to get low enough to shoot this shot of Alfie on the toilet. This is practically the same shot as the shot of him getting out of bed, as I plan to do a straight cut from shot to shot as I feel this may look effective. 

This is my talent getting ready for the bathroom scene - an imitation of the opening scene to the TV show 'Dexter'
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PL3cJXD90SI

This is how I set up the camera to film Alfie washing his face. The shot only includes a section of his face, from just below the eyes down, this is to create almost a mini feeling of tension in the audience as they wonder who this character is - to be revealed at the end of the introduction. 

Equipment

I used my dad's Canon EOS 300d to shoot still shots as this is better quality than the camera that college could provide. The still shots I took are for my location ideas, and for my production process filming day shots.

I used a tripod to ensure my filming was still and not shaky. I learnt this lesson frmo when I was filming at Hull fair - the footage is shaky as I am walking and not using a tripod. I didn't use a tripod however for some shots, as the camera had to be placed on the floor as the tripod was too high.

For my editing I will be using Final Cut Pro X on my MacBook Pro as I have past experience with this programme and it is industry standard software that will allow me to create a great quality product.

Hull: The City of Culture 2017

While reading the Guardian I online I came across an article that had similar messages to what I would like my film to portray and capture.

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2013/nov/25/hull-city-of-culture

Last week, it was announced that Hull has won it's 'City of Culture bid' for 2017, against competitors Dundee, Leicester and Swansea Bay. This is great for the city in terms of it's budding re-devolpment, in combatting it's out of date pre misconceptions and for the young people in Hull, these are real-life events that could effect my main character Alfie.

A screen shot taken from the article

Shooting Schedule: Day 1

Creating my Animatic

To create my animatic, I used Final Cut Pro, as I have used this before in personal projects outside of college and am therefore familiar with how to use it. I will use this programme to create my film as it gives me the tools and freedom to create a quality piece using industry standard software, without taking extra time to learn how to use it. 

One thing I learnt while creating my animatic was to use the 'Blade' tool. This tool is used to split clips at the point where you mark. This was useful because the clip I downloaded of someone reading the poem toads, was read a lot faster than I plan to have Alfie read it and therefore to give me an accurate idea of how long I want my piece to be, I used the blade to cut up the piece and then 'Position' to move the clips apart from each other. 

The red line on the picture above shows the line I used the blade to cut down, and the other black lines show how the clip has been cut up.

Another use for the blade was to help me fade out the intro song (Witch - Lazy Bones) as I only wanted to use the start of the song and I needed to fade it out to focus on the beginning of Alfie's narrative. I cut the clip up into many different pieces, and gradually lowered the volume of each clip, to give it that fade effect. I only lowered by 1dB at a time however as the audience would be unable to notice the sudden drop of 1dB compared to if I dropped it say 5dB at a time. 

Another technique I used was to zoom in onto the storyboard to ensure that the straight cuts I was using were on the beat of the song that I wanted them to cut at. As you can see in the picture above I have perfectly lined up the end of the first clip and start of the second clip precisely where the sound waves amplitude is the highest, all on the red line. 

Cast List

Ronan:

My friend Ronan is currently studying lens photography at the University of Hull. I will be asking him to help with cinematography as he will be able to help with framing, focusing shots and also in terms of mise-en-scene, how to avoid lighting problems with the camera.

Alfie:

I will be using my friend Alfie as my main character. This is because he is available a lot of the times that I will be able to film. Furthermore, in terms of the story Alfie can speak from experience. As a young person leaving school in his first year Alfie didn't choose to go into an apprenticeship or college, because he was never really directed to do either. Now in his second year, he is studying graphic design at college, something he both enjoys and can maybe actually see himself doing in the future. My film is about how easy it can be to be misguided as a young person. He is shown going on an adventure throughout the film on his bike, and finds equilibrium at the end as he turns into college and rides towards it, somewhere between living on his wit and working for money.

Hull Fair Filming

Here is an example of how the handheld camera can make the shots look shaky. From this I have certainly learnt the importance of tripods.

I think I will use this shot for the 'their unspeakable wives, skinny as whippets', as this is Larkin making a comment on poor women in Hull. Poor women were conventionally 'skinny' as they could not afford food, however in modern times, obesity is becoming more prevalent between poorer communities as it is becoming more expensive to stay healthy and unhealthy food like fast food that will cause obesity is cheaper, therefore the poorer in the community will be the ones eating it most often. 

This could be a cutout for the 'six days of the week it toils', as labour in this form clearly cannot be vocational. Furthermore, it could also be used for the 'skinny as whippets' with reference to the shot above.

'Brothers & Sons', fairground ride.

Older generation looks on as the younger generation are still on the merry-go-round. They have already got off the merry-go-round. Could be connotated that for many young people for a while their life is going round in circles until they can finally change path when finding a vocation.

Flag, could be an interesting cut-out shot in between poem. 

Here are some stills from the filming I did at Hull Fair. I had to do this very early on in production time with no storyboard, shot list or shooting schedule as the fair was only in town for a week. The filming is shaky as it was filmed as I walked round with no tripod. From this I have realized the importance of a tripod for good quality footage. Furthermore I have realised the importance of shooting excess footage, as some clips I filmed I now wish were longer.

Phone Call Effect Tutorial

In terms of achieving the phone-call effect, I look to a tutorial for the programme GarageBand, only available on Apple products and as the editing programme I plan to use, Final Cut Pro, is also exclusive to Apple products, I will be using my Macbook Pro for the editing and production part of the film.

This tutorial was great and I now have a preset called 'telephone' which I am able to easily switch to to make the audio sound like a phone call. I will get the standard ringing tones and answer message via download.

Health & Safety - Hazards Table

HAZARDS	RISK	WHO IS AT RISK	SEVERITY OF POSSIBLE INJURY	CONTROL MEASURES
Getting hit by a car	Mild	Alfie	High	Ensure that we are filming at a time where Bricknell Avenue isn’t busy comparative to rush hour, and to ensure to look both ways on the road.
Being mugged	High	Me and Alfie	High	Sacrifice camera to mugger, avoid conflict at all costs. Post-incident, call the police.
Being hit by falling tripod/camera	Low	Me	Low	Ensure camera is attached properly to tripod. Ensure all three legs of tripod are firmly on the ground.
Electrical Equipment	Low	Me	Mild	Ensure, especially during washing up scene, to not touch any electrical equipment with wet hands to avoid electrocution risks.

Test Shots - Still Images

Pearson Park

Bankside Close

River Hull

River Hull

Derelict Factory on the River Hull

Near the Derelict Factory

Derelict Factory on the River Hull

'Witham Tandoori'

'Trade-ins'

'Massive Sale Now on' - Good Example of some of the shots of cheap, sale signs I would like for my film.

Abandoned shop.

Closed shops in broad daylight.

Boarded up charity shop.

Mcdonald's clearly the most dominant and outstanding feature to this picture however at the same time simply blends in, as it has become that normal to see the Mcdonald's sign.

These are some practice shots I got while going out for a drive around Hull with my dad. I feel that these images really show the contrast from derelict, tatty old buildings to beautiful ponds and green trees, all within a few metres of each other, and that is one of the strangest things about the city. In terms of mise-en-scene, the city connotes a stereotypical, Northern England 'working class' city, that will be the perfect home for my working class character.