Team santa

Children's film progress

So far in this project our group has managed to complete the majority of the work set; we have completed story-boards and time lines, recorded our ideas and thoughts about the music, props, decorations and film it's self and have recorded our whole sequence. In addition to this, we have begun to transfer our film into Final Cut where we edited out out-takes, adjusted the time span for each shot and duplicated two differnt shots of "the elves" aka Jazz and I to make it look as though there are alot more of us than we had planned which relates back to both our initial ideas and our storyboard.
We are commited to finnishing the task by tommorow and think that we are well prepared; we need to create our credits and music which we will do on garage band. We feel we are prepared for completing the music as we know what we would like our theme tune to sound like. We Also need to transfer our narrative/voice-over of the poem into the opening scene of our film.

During the credit sequence we are going to play cheerful, jingly music to fit in with the happy, Christmas theme. We are going to make the music on garage band using bells, string instruments and brass instruments. We think that this would be appropriate for the credits and film title because it would introduce the Christmas theme and give the audience a feel of what the film will be about. This would also be appropriate for a young audience because it would make them happy as opposed to a loud, dramatic piece of music that could scare them.

Storyboard and Timeline

In each individual box on the story board is a drawn explanation of the scene; beneath each of these is a brief summary of what is happening in the scene including shot types and length of the scene.

The time line is split twenty second intervals explaining in further detail exactly what will take place each twenty seconds; this includes shot types and a more reliable time schedule.

In our children's film we are going to use a Christmas poem.

http://www.carols.org.uk/twas_the_night_before_christmas.htm

Location Ideas, Props and Costumes

Opening Scene- Sleeping Children
Location: This shot will be located in a classroom with all the blinds down so the room is dark.
Props: We are going to try and make this look like a bedroom, so we will use candles to create a cosy bedroom light and bedsheets, bed covers and pillows to make tables appear as beds in which the children will be sleeping.
Costumes: Children don't need costumes, the parent will wear normal casual clothing.

Second scene:
Location: This shot will be shot in a college classroom so there is lots of space to establish how many elves there are, and it will be possible to decorate in a cristmasy theme.
Props/ Costumes: The elves will be wearing green costumes and will have rosy red cheeks. Santa will be wearing a full Santa costume with beard etc. Presents will be made from boxes wrapped in paper, the toy machine will also be made from a box wrapped in paper and the childrens list will be on a long roll of paper. The room will be decorated with tinsel.

Childrens Film Ideas

For our children's film idea- we have decided to set it on the theme on Christmas, including the characters Santa Clause, Mrs. Santa and his two helping elves. The storyline will consist of Christmas being jeopardised by the breaking of the toy machine used to make all the children's presents. The intro will also have a narrator introducing the story with a Christmas poem. The opening scene will introduce the main characters- whilst also introducing the problem that will consist throughout the film- that will eventually be resolved.

Santa will be played by Mark
Mrs. Santa will be played by Ryan
The two elves will be played by Abi and Jazz
and the Narrators will also be Abi and Jazz

The title of the film will be "..."

Storyboard for Back To The Future

We had to access the opening scene of Back to the Future; our group was split up into 4 parts, Jazz analised the character positions, Mark analysed the sound, Abi analysed the camera movements and Ryan analysed the mise-en-scene. We then had to document our work onto a story board which Mark wrote up and Jazz drew the pictures.

Initial Ideas

We have decided to classify our childrens film as a PG as we will be able to include more adult themes and it would also be more entertaining for adults. PG's are suitable for people of 8 years old and over, anybody under 8 has to have permission from their parent or guardian. It can include some discrimination but only for educational purposes, such as bullying but the problem has to be resolved by the end of the film. It can include drugs but only with an anti-drug message and any horror scenes must be short and not very intense. It allows mild bad language as it generally is a more grown up theme.
The genre of our film will be adventure and it will be animated rather than live action.

A Bugs Life Analysis- Opening Scene

A Bugs life is a Fantasy/ Adventure Childrens film- as its based around a family of talking insects.

Analysis of the Conventions in the clip

The Film immediately sets the theme, as it starts outdoors, showing us the sun, a bright falling leef, and a perfect green field. This addresses its summertime and introduces the film, as the titles and credits are shown. The opening scene gives us a good picture of what the film will be like, zooming from an establishing shot, right into a blade of grass. We see the ants working together, but then the use of a crain shot reveals there is a colony of ants, this is where their home is, and their working to collect stocks of food. It includes some comedy- for example when the cherry falls and sticks on the ants head- this shows the film is aimed at a younger audience. The music is a clam and happy tune, that fits in with the summertime theme and introduction of a childrens film. It gives us an insight into who we should side with in the story, being sided with the ants, who appear vulneable, being scared by a leaf.

Discuss how the Genre is reprasented

The genre of Fantasy/Adevture is immediately introduced as we are shown ants working and talking together- this clearly wouldnt happen in real life. We are shown that the action is taking place in the great outdoors- showing no boundries. This has an ora of adventure.

Discuss how the micro elements are used

The scene begins with an establishing shot, this sets the scene and tone of the film- being in the bright, summery outdoors. A zooming shot is then used which turns into a close up, so we can see the characters in the film, whilst giving a sense of perspective, seeing them clime a blade of grass. As mentioned above a crane shot is then used to show the viewer where the ants home/colony is, this also shows where they are stockpiling the food that they are collecting. When the leafs falls in front of the queing ants a couple of close up shots are used to show the panic, disrupted and confused look on the ants faces.

Overall this is very good start to Bugs Life it establishes the setting and genre very well and it uses a number of good shots to do this, also the fact that the ants are collecting food up makes us the viewer question this and so we want to watch on to find out.

Finding Nemo Opening Scene

Finding Nemo Opening Scene

From the title of the film, you can tell immediately that it's an adventure film. This is because it suggests that somebody will go missing and a search will be carried out to find them. The audience hears the name Nemo mentioned right at the start when Marlyn and Coral are discussing the names they are going to call their children. Therefore, this gives the audience an idea that it will be one of the children that goes missing.
From the beginning, a family element is introduced because the couple have moved to a new area that is appropriate for raising their children in. The audience can then tell that the theme is family orientated.
The opening scene uses a lot of bright colours and all the fish are colourful and look like they're having fun, whereas the shark is a dark colour which suggests binary opposites. The binary opposites are the fish and the shark, so it is good and evil. The audience knows to relate to Marlyn and Coral's side because they are on the good side and are automatically seen as good characters that the audience can relate to.
The sound used in this clip is soft and gentle. A calm piece of music is used and the sound of bubbles and water makes the audience feel relaxed. However, when the shark comes you notice the calm and gentle music stops and it quickly switches to a dark and scary soundtrack. This represents the sharks character, and lets the audience know something bad is going to happen.
The audience is introduced to the setting straight away. It is bright and lively, which keeps the audience interested at the same time as picking up the location of where it is set. The area is a good area, which you can tell from the dialogue from when they are talking about moving there.
Genre is represented in many ways in the clip. Just from reading the title, the audience can pick up that it is an adventure film. Right from the very beginning, when the shark comes, this introduces the first piece of action. Therefore, the audience can probably tell that after this it will go into the genre of Adventure.
The lighting used in the opening clip is very bright therefore it seems fun and interesting for the audience however it gets a lot darker when the shark comes so it changes the whole mood of the scene.

Jess' evaluation

During this preliminary exercise I learnt how to use the college cameras, how to attach them to tripods and upload and edit our film. We used Final Cut Express to edit our video, I've learnt how to cut out the bits I want, and shorten them to cut out other people talking or a loud door closing.

In class we learnt about match on action. In this preliminary task we put these into practice. First the match on action shot was added. We used a close up of Jazz's hand then matched the action from the otherside of the door as she opened it and walked in. This helps the flow of the scene, here it meant you don't see Jazz's back to the camera because she doesn't have to walk infront of the camera, she is captured from another angle.

We learnt about the 180 degree rule aswell. We also put this to practice in the preliminary task. The 180 degree rule refers to an imaginary line between the actors on set and the cameras. In order to achieve this I filmed all of Abi's lines, then all of Jazz's seperately keeping the camera on an imaginary line just angleing it diagonally onto the actor accordingly. When cut together it formed a conversation it cut out all awkward pauses that would of occured if I had filmed one line from Abi then the next line from Jazz and so on.

I think this task prepared me well, I wont have to faff around learning to use the camera which would waste filming time, I now know how to use the Final Cut Express programe efficiently and with confidence which may save time later as I can go straight into using it, and I wont have to worry about what button will do what. I am now more confident with filming the tougher camera shots like match on action and the 180 degree rule as i have atempted these shots and now not worried about finding them difficult or doing them wrong. The other shots we used seemed pretty obvious to shoot and they were easy but time consuming.

Preliminary Task Evaluation

In the preliminary task, I learnt to use Final Cut Express in order to give our film clip a professional look. By using this programme, we were able to cut out any scenes with mistakes in and edit things like the conversation scene that takes place. In this, a shot reverse shot was used hich is where one of the group was filmed saying all their lines then the other person in the conversation is filmed saying all of their lines. Then when editing the clip in Final Cut Express, we could cut out parts so that the conversation made sense when put together.
In the film clip, we used the 180 degree rule in order to film the conversation scene. The 180 degree rule is to save the viewer from feeling confused and disorientated. It is when there is an imaginery line cutting through the middle of the scene running parallel to the cameraman, the camera should never cross the imaginery line in the scene in order to create a clear scene.
The film clip also uses match on action when there is a close up of my hand on the door handle and then it films from the other side of the door and the viewer see's me walking through the door. Match on action is when you see the scene from one angle then it switches to another camera angle but it's still the same scene. This ensures that the clip will flow, rather than not make sense and jump to different scenes.
Doing the preliminary task has prepared me for the actual task as I know how to do different camera angles, and how to use the editing programme afterwards. Therefore, when it comes to the actual task, I would have had practise from the preliminary task and know what to do.

Abi's evaluation

During this task I have learned how to film a shot-reverse-shot which we used in this film during a conversation between Jazz and I; a shot-reverse-shot is when you film the people speaking at different times or with a different camera and then edit the film to make it look as if you are switching between speakers as opposed to just moving the camera your self to see both people speak. This is more effective because it gives a cleaner finish instead of the chaos of a hand-held effect.
I have also learned how to edit and cut films effectively using the programe Final Cut Express. I found this interesting because we saw how films were put together and how each scene does not just naturally lead on from one another which was what I had assumed.
The 180 degree rule is a way to film effectively, it works by the camera person imagining a line that cuts through the middle of the scene, from one side to the other with respect to the camera. We used the 180 degree rule in our film when we filmed the conversation. I think it was effective because it made it look as if it really were a conversation.
Match on action is when the audience see's the same thing from a differnt angle, for example we filmed Jazz's hand on the door-knob on the front of the door and then filmed her coming in from the opposite side of the door. This is an effective way of filming because because it puts you in the shoes of character on the other side of the door watching the person walk through. We used match on action in our film when we filmed Jazz's hand on the door and then Jazz walking through the opposite side of the door into the room that I was in. I think that we did this quite well because we did not keep that shot running too long for it to seem strange but it was long enough to be noticable.
I think that this task has prepared me for filming the childrens film because I now am confident with the cameras and tripods and can use the Final Cut Express effectively. I think that it was neccersary for us to complete this preliminary task prior to the childrens film because it has shown me how to film things such as the shot-reverse-shot which was unclear to me before and now I think that I could film all shots effectively. It also urged us to become comfortable with using the equipment such as the cameras which I may have been wary of breaking if I had not already seen how they worked.

preliminary task video

story board

this is our story board, we will take it out with us when we shoot so we know what we are aiming to do, there will now be no confusions with timings, shots or the task.

Continuity task.

Group S1-19: Abi, Jess and Jazz

Roles: Abi- actor
Jess- filmer
Jazz- actor

The Continuity task will help us get to know to use the cameras before our Childrens film task. It will help us practice establishing shots, close ups, match on action shots, reaction shots, longs shots and filming a conversation using the 180 degree rule.

Shot 1: establishing shot (4 secs) of Jazz walking down the down the corridor.
Shot 2: closeup shot (1 sec) of jazz's hand on the door handle.
Shot 3: match on action (2 secs) from inside the door from abi's point of veiw of jazz opening the door.
shot 4: reaction shot(1 sec) of abi seeing jazz come through the door.
shot 5: long shot(2 secs) of both abi and jazz in the room to show their positions and surroundings.
shot 6:the conversation 180degree rule, shot reverse shot: (7+ secs) 2 sentences/camera time each.

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