Prometheus

Prometheus is a new Sci-fi, horror about a team of explorers who discover a clue to the origins of mankind on Earth, leading them on a journey to the darkest corners of the universe. There, they must fight a terrifying battle to save the future of the human race.

Coming out on the 1st June, watching the trailer really intrigued me. Most often recently a lot of films that have been released haven't taken my fancy as they look too generic or down right daft! However, after hearing rumours of this inquisitive film and seeing the exciting trailer this is a film I will definitely see once it is released!

Evaluation

As I wasn't in charge of editing the editor wanted only one member of the group to attend a session at a time so we all had the opportunity to express our thoughts and ideas on the edited  piece without arguments and control. When I attended and watched the rough cut of the edit I was disappointed with the dialogue scene as the quality wasn't perfect as I could clearly hear the rain on the umbrella. Also, as the male actor was more confident he shouted a lot and his voice was clear compared to that of the female actress who's dialogue was quiet and didn't match with the males. We did record this dialogue scene numerous time but all the tracks had the same problem. The editor did the best he could but I thought what we had was poor and could have been easily fixed had we en-counted this problem at the beginning of the edit, such as re-record the dialogue.  I also thought that the final product might look too amateur with the over use of Fades and quick cuts with some of the shots being a little too shaky. However, I was glad to see that all the footage we used was perfect and some of the sounds captured were crisp and clear. We did come across quite a few problems with this project but I am glad we en-counted them as it has been a learning curve for me. 

Camera Logs

These are the camera logs that were constructed to help our editor (Read from bottom up).

Second Day.

Graveyard Scene
On the next day of our shoot we filmed the Graveyard scene. Due to us having the shot list the day went much quick, Also, as we were using natural light and didn't need any lighting equipment this made the shoot a lot easier. The weather was dull but dry and this added to the effect perfectly.

Alleyway Scene
On the same day as the graveyard scene we set up the shots for the confrontation in the alleyway. We had this all planned with the shot list and the equipment was ready to go. However it was planned to rain and even though the morning was dry it decided to downpour. We decide to use this to our advantage and filmed the confrontation in the rain, this worked well and our actors enjoyed this.

First filming shoot.

The first day of the shoot went well and we was happy with the results. The only cons we came across was the lighting, we wasn't entirely sure where to put the lighting to set a mood because of the shadows. However, we did the best we could and I believe we were successful in the end. 

Alleyway Location

For the house scene we used Jens house. We also knew where the graveyard scene would be. We then needed an alleyway to film the confrontation scene. When we scouted out we found a perfect alleyway on Brown street near the Hubs. However, a lot of cars were parked here and we thought this may take the mood away, a lot of people walked up and down this street and this may interrupt the shoot. We decided to look further and found a perfect alleyway that was secluded and looked run down on Sylvester Gardens.

Inspiration

Whilst looking into inspirations for our project I thought about using the usual horror technique of a character blocking the bad guy from view until the character walks off  of the screen so the bad guy is clearly seen. In our project the bad guy isnt neccesarily 'bad' but we want to show the character being 'stalked'. We dont want to portray the film as being a horror so we will only use this technique once.
We also want to use the P.O.V shot from the stalkers eyes looking through bushes (or trees) where the audience can clearly see the other character but the character cant see the stalker. These techiques are generic to horror films but we hope to show it in a differnet light.

Such films that follow these techniques are Halloween (1978), Blair Witch(1999) and Dog Soldiers (2002) amongst a million others...

Walking Dead

The first time I started watching Walking Dead I thought it would be an original, generic, boring zombie series, but I am so hooked!

Walking dead starts off with a lone police officer who wakes up after an accident in an abandoned hospital. He soon realises that all is not right when the dead begin to rise. We then follow the police officer as he tries to find his wife and child meeting survivors (who have their own stories) on the way.


Just like Lost, walking dead introduces us to various characters and we get a glimpse into their situations and how they survived the zombie apocalypse. It also features a lot of stars who are well known to other films.

Made from the comics, walking dead has suspense, twists and plenty of gore. It is also generating a lot of fans and I’m one of them.

We are currently on series two.

Group meeting 5

After one of our workshops we got together and decided to scout locations. We all agreed that the house scene would be shot in Jens apartment (we knew it wasn’t student accommodation so it wouldn’t look tacky). We needed to find a graveyard scene and an appropriate alleyway for the final scene.

 Whilst we were pitching our idea our tutor and one member of our course knew a suitable graveyard within walking distance. We agreed to go and have a look and hopefully plan out in detail where we would place the actors and shoot the scenes.

Shot List

Schedule

Week commencing 23rd April

• Monday: Meet at 5pm outside University to go look around several graveyards to find the graveyard location.

• Tuesday: Meet at 2pm to go to Jen's house to set up ready for a shoot at 5pm with one of the characters.

• Wednesday: Meet at 10am at Jen's house to finish the house scene from the night before and then film in the surrounding streets of the shots of the girl going to work and then shots of the man in the car.

• Thursday: Meet at 10am to film the graveyard scene and afterwards film the confrontation scene.

Week commencing 30th April

• Monday: Jen's house or edit suite to either film any extra footage we missed or to start the editing (depending on if we need any extra footage)

• Tuesday: Meet at edit suite to do the assembly and the rough cut

• Wednesday: Meet at the edit suite to carry on with the editing and possibly start on the sound

• Thursday: Meet at University for a tutorial and then carry on with editing

Group meeting 4

Once we pitched the project idea and consulted our tutor and group, we took their comments on board and started to make our project stronger.
As we delegated the jobs out before we all decided to work on these. I started to create a script for the ending of the project but also produce a sound list for the days when we start filming. As a group we decided to create a schedule for the days the next two weeks so we knew when we were filming, where and what. We also organised days for post production and who was attending on which days (we did this due to the editing suites being too small to cater six people).

Third meeting

As a group we decided to meet and deliver our ideas in person. We all had various ideas but we managed to whittle it down to a storyline we all had a say in and felt comfortable creating. For this idea we didnt have any solid inspirations, it came about from the top of our heads and in some cases it is what we wanted to experiment with ( using various camera angles). For our second idea, Mark came up with an idea that we all liked, however this piece would be comedic and didnt have a strong enough background.

Pitching and idea.

Character Backstory

In our seminar we were asked to create a character profile; this is the profile for my character O'hana Hicks. O'hana is 34 years old, she works as a successful detective and lives with her girlfriend Lorna. She has green eyes and shoulder length cherry red hair. 

Inspiration

Whilst in the siminar we were introduced to a number of drama short films. Each film was created by a different director. Out of all the short films three stood out for me.

Pudding Bowl - Vanessa Caswill

Pudding Bowl is a short comedy drama by Vanessa Caswill. I respected
what Vanessa had created and I thought pudding bowl was shot brilliantly. The
props and costumes (that were made to look like it was shot in the 1950/60s) looked
professional and really well done as I felt like I was in that era from an
audience prospective. However, as for the storyline I didn’t understand nor
like what was happening.

A young girl is sat in the living room cutting images out of
a magazine and using glue to stick them onto a paper collage. Her older brother
(looking bored) is sat not far from her when his friends bang on the window
asking him to come out. Sadistically he puts the glue onto his sister’s hair
and calls his mum as a distraction to go out and play. Their mother annoyed and
frantic blames the girl and chops off most of the poor girl’s long hair into an
ugly bowl cut.
The girl now upset finds her mothers tights and imagines
that she has her hair back (she puts the stocking on her head). She then proceeds
to go outside where she sees her brother and his friends playing. Discreetly
she steals one of the boy’s bikes and rides off while the boys chase her to get
it back. We are then sent into the future where the girl is grown up still
riding the bike. She now has long black hair that she gleefully swishes in the
breeze. Her brother and his friends (now older men) are chasing her to get the
bike back.

When I watched the film I didn’t
know the significance behind the story. Maybe Vanessa didn’t want us to exactly
know but rather make our own mind up on what is happening in the scenes. Visually
it was shot brilliantly and the sound was crisp and clear. I thought the girl
played her part really well and her expressions were portrayed brilliantly and I
felt sorry for her as she was wrongly accused. However, I did not like the
storyline or where it was going.

About a girl - Brian Percival

About a girl is a 9 minute short drama created by Brian Percival. This drama stood out to me as
I thought it was very ambiguous (the title didn’t give anything away).
I understood that obviously it was about a girl and from the beginning shot the
audience understands this. I also thought it was cleverly pieced together and
the camera angles, sound and colour were spot on and powerful.

The film follows a 13yr old girl as she narrates her life
explaining the struggles between her divorced parents, the feeling of being
rejected, her love of Brittany Spears and being able to form a band with her
friends. The girl talks non-stop about things any 13-year old girl might talk
about.
Her monologue is interrupted and intercut with
different scenes of her with her family and her dad; her in a perfume department,
sitting on a bench, singing and on the back of a bus.

I found this very
inspiring as the shots are quickly cut and we are placed in different parts of Manchester
with the girl’s dialogue still going along on top of the cutting. We don’t know
where the girl is going, being from or coming back from but I thought that
maybe the director did this as it isn’t significant to the film, we are only
focusing on the girl and what she is saying.
Near the end of the drama the cuts become even more quick,
the underside to her light hearted story telling begins to get negative (a
little too grown up for her age) as she speaks about poverty, the feelings of
being alone, ignored and domestic violence. We then see the girl walking next
to a canal and she explains to use that she has become “good at hiding things”, she then throws a bag into the river and
out of the bag a dead baby is seen covered in blood.

This drama didn’t necessarily inspire me for the drama we
are asked to produce. However, I thought that the use of quick cuts and the dialogue
running over the top made it very unique and watchable. I also like the use of ambiguity
from the beginning to the end; we don’t necessarily know where the story is
going or how it’s going end. I found the end scene very visually shocking as I
felt quite un-comfortable watching it, but looking back I realised where the
director was taking us with the girl talking about various interests but also
bringing back some of the negativity. He wanted to show us that this in some
cases is normal life, for example underage pregnancies, feeling of being alone
and living in deprived areas and the effects of this.

Facebook page 2

Facebook page.

After our first meeting we decided to think of some ideas over the easter holidays. To help voice our opinions and gather feedback from the group Fraser created a facebook page. This was very beneficial as we all kept in regular contact on possible ideas for the project. From the ideas that we each generated and put up on the facebook page, a story line had begun to take form.
We also added links as inspiration to back up to our ideas.

QUOTE!

-"Killing me wont prove anything!"

Alice-"No, but its a start"

'Resident Evil 2, (2004)'

First meeting.

For the first meeting we decided to assign roles for ourselves.
We all roughly jotted down what each person would be contributing to out of group sessions for project the the production folder.

This is what I jotted down-

For the last two projects I was the Director and Camera Operator so I had to choose a different role. I wanted to try Editing but someone else also wanted to do this job for the last project but didnt have a chance to so I obliged on given them that job. I was then given the job of Sound Recordist which I wasnt too keen on.

Going through the roles on what we should do out of university I realised that some of roles had already been completed by members of the group which I was dismayed at as they didnt consult the group to begin with.
However, I was willing to complete any task given and I chose to complete the Parashoot form. I also agreed to write an initial script for one of our chosen ideas and complete the schedule when the time was needed for it. To be fair on everyone we also agreed to complete the storyboards, initial treatments and final treatment together as a group.

Last Project..Pheww.

So we were given our next project, the much awaited Drama project. Looking over the objectives for this piece I realised we were working in a group of 6. The positives of this meant we all would harbour fresh ideas to input into the project with lots more hands at the ready to help with the making and post production of the piece. However, through experience of being in a large group I thought this may complicate the project. Some people may be pushed to the back and some peoples egos may take control. I also thought that with the amount of people, some members will decide upon themselves to take most of the work load rather than sharing it out amongst the group.
With the negatives aside I joined the group who I was with for the documentary project as we all adapted with each other well and believed we did a successful job in creating the documentary. Jen then joined our group as she is hard working and commited.

Ojective
For this project we are asked to create a 5 minute drama films that conveys the notion of 'Journey'.
We are to use a maximum of 3 characters and a maximum of 3 locations.
We are to consider mise-en-scene the strong use of sound design and synch sound.

Pros and Cons

Positives
Overall this project has been very successful. Whilst editing we easily constructed our documentary without many problems.
Whilst filming, the weather was on our side and we luckily had an interviewee.
The location of where the boat was docked was perfect, not only because it was close to the hostel but it was a very picturesque area.
Eventhough it was a stressful time in securing permission, it was worth while and educational in the end.

Cons
After much debate we didnt secure an idea until much later on.
Whilst filming we found that the wind was a problem as it ruined some of our sound.
It took a long time to secure permission to film in the docks and on the gangways.
In editing a lot of the group bickered which caused delays.

"Coz' I dont have it, dont mean its not there."-
As the director, Joe decide to obtain all our paperwork needed for this project. He scanned all the documents and sent them to us to use on our blog. However, as they are scanned they come through our emails as a PDF document which blogger hates. With this I havent been able to upload all the documents needed, which I am very dissapointed with. Furthermore, I have made sure thaty everything we have constucted will be proffesionally and neatly placed in our document folder in order to show that we have actually got planning work.

Liverpool, Day 2

On the day of the filming we started to do some research into permission to film on the dock. The Headquarters of the Dock advised us to get in contact with the film institute of Liverpool as they were the ones who allowed film/documentary makers to film within the city. We successfully got in contact with the film institute and stressfully we walked to the film institute building (capitol). (Learning curb, always do the research a week in advance). Luckly, after 45mins of signing paperwork, the film institute allowed us to use our cameras within the city but they did not say if we were allowed to film within the docks, this was down to the Headquarters of the docks ( who never got in contact). We daringly decided to film in the docks and if asked to move on we would do straight away. Luck was on our side as the docks were quiet. Also, the life boat was neatly parked in the jetty and the weather was mild and sunny.

11:00, 7/3/2012-John (owner of the lifeboat) meet us at 11:00. Quite the gentleman he suprisingly said he would give us pictures and archive footage of the boat, he was also very keen to perform an interview as he knew lots about the boat and was greatful we wanted to do a documentary on it.
With his permission he allowed us to construct the interview on his boat! ( I was very happy at this point)..as a team we set up the scene. We then moved around the boat filming close ups, long shots, pans, tilts and still shots.
After three hours of this we decide to pack up and thank John for all his help.

Evaluation-
Overall I was very happy with how the day went. We worked proffesionally as a team with the construction of our set and we implemented our roles sucessfully. I was very pleased that John allowed us to film on his boat and he was very patient with our demands. In doing this project and set up it has positively opened my eyes. I have enjoyed visiting Liverpool and I enjoyed the topic we based our documentary on.

Liverpool, Day 1.

When we arrived in Liverpool we decided to meet up with the group then discard all our luggage in the rooms. We wanted to have a look around Liverpool then visit the Albert Docks and see if the boat was there.

Whilst looking around the dock we all shared our opinions on where we wanted the interview to take place and what we wanted to capture on the day of the filming. We also asked security at the docks if we would be able to have permission to film on the docks. The Security advised us to contact the Headquarters of the Docks before we start to film.

Driving Down.

Joe offered to drive us down to Liverpool so all the group clambered into his car. On the drive down we decided to come up with some questions to ask John (The boat owner). We decide to choose ten questions, some questions were about the structure of the boat, some were about John himself and some about the history of the boat.

Having not constructed a shot list (as we didn't know if we would be allowed permission to film on the dock nor did we have full knowledge of the layout of the docks), we started to think of some possible shots we could interpret, using influences from other documentaries.

Luck!

Thankfully we received an email from the owner of the William Cantrell Ashley. He was happy enough to participate in an interview and he even offered to give us pictures and archive footage of the boat.

He didn't say if we were able to film on the boat, but receiving an email is better than nothing!

Location Location...Location?

As a group we decided to pick the Historical Boat Idea. We decided to do some in-depth research into Albert docks and looked at contact details incase we have to have permission to film.

Here is some shots of the dock.

I believe this idea would be beneficial as the docks would provide use with enough location shots. Its also a perfect place for an interview. Hopefully the boat will be docked so we will be able to film it (permission provided).

Thankfully the dock is a ten minute walk from the hostel so we will be able to visit it easily with all the equipment we have to lug!.