The Meeting

The Meeting | Project Evaluation

The Meeting

 

Within the process of writing my script, I had to find a way in which to write how my characters are receiving information without it being from the word of mouth. So as an alternative I decided that my characters would get text messages and Facebook messages, as these are the most common forms of  communication in the present day. At first, before getting feedback, I had thought that I could just film the messages on a phone and a laptop, but Simon mentioned that it would be quite hard to do that for continuity purposes, but also it might be a bit boring. So after this feedback I decided that I would show the messages through text, which will be added during the editing process, and also I would shorten the messages slightly.

When adding the text in, I found that there wasn't too much of it and also it worked really well. It's clear to see that they are both getting messages from someone and that's what I was hoping for. To make the messages more realistic, I made sure to add a text tone and a Facebook message tone once the messages appear on the screen. This helps add to the realism of the messages, and also it helps tell the beginning of the story.

Also when filming I decided to do a few extra clips of footage, mainly focusing on the audio, to help add to the atmosphere. I made sure to film my actress crying and walking in the leaves so I can add them in when editing and make them louder to emphasise the location and the emotions her character is filming. This helped impact my final video as it made the emotions clear and it helped create the atmosphere of the locations.

 

Within the process of editing my video, I found that the flashbacks were probably the hardest part to perfect. I struggled with finding a clear way of showing the flashbacks and I experimented with quite a few different techniques. First I increased the contrast of the flashback shots, and then I added a black and white filter onto it, with a flash to black transition in between. This didn't work originally, so I had to find another alternative. During the rough cut, Simon mentioned that I should try an echo effect leading into and out of the flashbacks. I tried this as well as adding a cross dissolve transition and liked the way it sounded and I liked the way it flowed well from one clip to another. Simon also mentioned that I should add a drone type sound effect in the background, and once I had added that it made the flashback more effective, and now it looks and feels like a flashback in the past.

I had originally decided to add the titles of the actors in one of the flashback shots and have them 'sat' somewhere in the room, but after feedback I realised that it didn't work too well with having text on the screen from the messages. After this I decided that I would just add them at the beginning after the production title and this worked better and it helped introduce the opening nicely.

During the writing process I learnt that the middle of the story is the hardest part to write effectively. I found it difficult to show and not say throughout the script due to the storyline I had created. However, I think there is a nice amount of action and dialogue in all 10 pages. I also found it quite hard coming to an end and finishing the script, but I think after the feedback from Steve I have ended the script nicely.
During the filming process I learnt that there is a lot of different pointers to think about, like the audio, the white balance and the focus. I enjoyed the filming process, but I did found it quite time consuming and fairly difficult to remember everything I had to change and check before filming all of the shots. I also found that, depending on the weather and the location, filming can either take all day, hours, or just 1 hour. All of my filming took 2-3 hours each day, which gave me some time to check the footage and make sure everything I wanted to film was filmed.
During the editing process I learnt that it's quite hard to get the colours similar in each shot due to the lighting in the original footage, however, the three way corrector helps a lot when making the colours look more natural. I also learnt that sometimes the telling of the story works better without music in the background, and sometimes the ambience in the clips and the locations helps create a better atmosphere for the audience.

In my next project I will make sure I plan my filming with a storyboard, a shot-list and so on because I found them really useful during the filming of this one. I will also think about filming in different locations and I will think of some other plans if the weather is bad or if an actor can't make the filming days. If I were to do my short film differently, I would probably have filmed with the actors actually together and maybe experiment with different filming techniques like panning and tracking. I might also use the clip mic, but since I was only filming the first 2 minutes there wasn't a lot of dialogue anyway. So if any of my next projects have a lot of dialogue, I will use a clip mic to help make the audio more effective and clear.
Overall, I really enjoyed the process of making this short film, and the first two minutes of it. I am very happy with the outcome of the full script, and I am also very happy with the first two minute video.

Rough Cut | Development

When I showed Simon the first draft of my 2 minute opening scene he said that he liked it, and he said that it tells the story very well. A few things he mentioned were:

• The Titles
• The Flashbacks
• The Audio

The only title I had added before the rough cut was 'The Meeting' which was at the beginning of the 2 minutes and the names of my actors. Simon suggested that I add a company title, for example; A UCA Production. Simon also said that I needed to change the way I introduced the title with the actors name, so I have decided to show them at the beginning after the production title. I kept the font the same and made the actor's names bigger than other text that aren't as important.

The transition I used between the present day and the flashback didn't work as well as I had hoped so I needed to change this. Simon liked the black and white effect on the flashback, but he said I should try adding an echo to the audio before the flashbacks to help transition the new scene. I looked online to find some sound effects of footsteps and some woods ambience to help with the atmosphere of the video, and I decided to use the free SFX website.

I added on echo onto the footsteps before the first flashback and used the door slam noise to transition out of the flashback. Then I used the same transition with the footsteps and added a clock sound effect and transitioned out of the flashback through an echo. I then added a fade transition on the video to add to the flashback and I think it works really well, and you can tell it's a flashback.

I also needed to flip a clip over to help with the 180 degree rule and to make the ending flow better than it did before. I'm really happy with the 2 minute video, and the feedback from Simon was very useful.

Editing | Production

The software I have decided to edit the first two minutes of my short film on is Adobe Premiere Pro.

To start off with, the clips were imported onto the software and I placed them into bins to organise them and de-clutter the workspace. Putting all of the clips into separate bins helps me a lot as I can navigate the clips quickly without having to search through all of the clips. I then used my storyboard and my script to decide what shot I wanted to start off with first. At first I put all of the clips together in the sequence and once they were in the correct order I colour corrected them.

I had previously added on my storyboard the duration of each clip, so I knew how long every shot would be. However, I knew the durations would changed during the editing process as some of the shots may have been too short or too long.

Before adding in any transitions, I left a gap between present day and flashback, so I knew where the transition would be. The hardest part about the editing was finding the correct transition and effects to use within the flashback scenes. At first I made the flashbacks looks brighter and eye-catching to make it look different, and I did this through the levels in the video effects. Once this was changed, I decided it didn't make much of a difference, so I changed the colour to black and white instead. I felt this clearly showed the difference between present day and flashback, but I still thought it needed a transition between the different clips.

Before adding transitions, I added an adjustment layer on top of all of the clips in order to make the colour more natural and constant throughout the whole video. I adjusted the levels and the three way corrector in order to make the colours look natural and bright. I did this for both the present day shots and the flashback shots to keep the brightness roughly the same in all shots. Then I added the black and white adjustment layer to the flashback scenes, and adjusted the levels to make the shadows a bit darker. As a transition for the flashbacks I decided to use a 'Flash to Black' transition. I chose this as I felt it would show the flashback well and also it flowed well with the flashback being shown in black and white.

When it came to looking for music to go over the top of the two minutes, I didn't really know what to look for. At first I thought about using a mysterious sounding instrumental but the few I found didn't really go well with the story. After testing out a few other musical ideas I decided to keep the audio simple and have sound that would show the atmosphere within the wood shots and the room shots. Having no music helps create a natural ambience as well as creating a bit of mystery in which the audience wonders what is going to happen next.

I added a title to the beginning of the two minutes using the font 'AppleGothic'. I chose this font because it looks quite modern and adds in with the teenage age range. I chose to put my title in white as I felt it stood out more against the background and it's clear for the audience to see. The title was placed in line with the fence seen in the opening shot. This was done because I wanted to make the title clear while also keeping the shot tidy and not too busy, hence why the title is at the bottom to the right side of the screen.

Some of the audio clips didn't really work with each other; they sounded quite jumpy and didn't flow very well. I found an audio transition called 'Constant Power' and it helped make the audio sound smooth and it helped it flow nicely along with the clips. I used this transition quite a lot within my opening scene as I found it useful and it helped create a nice atmosphere within the opening scene.

When adding text to go along with the messages being sent to the two characters, I used the same font as the title which is 'AppleGothic' as I wanted to keep the teenage age range clear. I made the messages that Clare receives pink and the messages that Steven receives blue, while also putting a bubble type shape behind it and decreasing the opacity of the white colour. I made sure to add a text tone audio clip into the scene as I didn't film one before hand, and I need it to be heard clearly so the audience knows they have just received a message.

Script Feedback | Development

After handing in the first draft of my script, I received some feedback from Steve Coombes.

Steve said that there was a good visual sense in the opening scenes, but the flashbacks take away the story. There's too much 'saying' and not enough 'showing' in the second half. To improve this I need to add a few more reasons as to why Clare and Steven are going to the woods in the first place.
There is a lot of nicely described action at the start, but not enough at the end, so I need to add a bit more effective verbs in the action in the last few pages. I need to take out the explanations, especially what happens in the flashbacks, and the conversation will become more natural.

He suggested that I add a new scene at the beginning of the short film at set it in a school so you can tell that both characters go to the same school and already know each other before they meet in the woods. Steve also said that I should re-arrange my scenes, so there are less flashbacks. I made the original flashback scenes into present day scenes and made sure they were at the beginning of the script. I also changed some of the dialogue to make it more natural, and to make it less say more show. Clare's brother, Billy, is seen in one of the scenes rather than just being mentioned, and this is the same for characters such as Brad, Rob and Lisa who is originally known as 'the girl who shall not be named'.

By moving some of the scenes and also changing some of the dialogue, it had made my script sound better and it has helped the story flow better. I am very happy with the final draft of my script, and the feedback from Steve was very useful.

Filming | Production

When it came to planning a few dates to film I chose the second weekend of November. Specifically I chose Friday 6th, Saturday 7th and Sunday 8th.

I decided to film with Jamie (Clare) on Friday afternoon, Dan (Steven) on Saturday and Jamie (Clare) again on Sunday.
I also had Nisserin's help on Saturday and Sunday. She helped move the equipment around the locations used and she also controlled the boom mic when the actors had dialogue. Having Nisserin there was very useful, and I realise how important it is to have a crew when filming.

Unfortunately I wasn't able to film with both actors together as Dan couldn't make the Sunday which is when I was intending to do the filming. So to overcome this I made sure to pick shot sizes that would make it look like they were together in the fine cut after editing.

Friday afternoon:

I filmed with Jamie in my sisters bedroom to create the flashback within the first 2 minutes of my short film. I filmed a few cut away shots, such as stacked books, photo frames and boy band print outs, before she came over. I did this so when we had finished shooting I could get the camera ready for the next day. I also did this to get the levels of the brightness and the colour correct so I didn't have to edit it too drastically. The filming went well with Jamie and I managed to film all the shots I wanted for that scene.

Saturday:

I filmed with Dan in the woods to create the present day and in my brother's bedroom to create the second flashback in the first 2 minutes of my short film. We started outside on Fairview Avenue to create the 'montage' of Steven getting to the woods. Within every shot we moved closer to the woods to create the 'montage' type scenes, and eventually we made our way into the woods. I was hoping that the ground in the woods would be dry and covered with leaves and twigs. Realistically, however, the ground was very muddy and slippery at times, but it was covered with leaves which I was pleased about.

Once we had finished in the woods we made our way to my house so I could film Dan in my brothers bedroom. Before filming I made sure to get the colour and brightness at the right level, and I made sure the shot was focused well. After I had finished filming with Dan I decided to film some cut away shots, such as the football shirts on the wall and the messy clothes on the bed, to create the atmosphere of the scene.

Sunday: I filmed with Jamie again but in the woods this time to create the present day. We started outside on Maidstone Road to create the 'montage' of Clare getting to the woods. Within every shot we moved closer to the woods. When in the woods I decided to film some extra audio clips of Clare crying and walking on the leaves. This is useful as I can add these in when editing and it will help create a better atmosphere.

Overall the filming went really well and I am very happy with the outcome of the footage.



Shot-Listing | Production Notes

As well as making a storyboard for my 2 minutes I made a shot-list.
A shot-list is the listing of the different shot sizes that I will be using within my video and also what is being shown in those shots. I started by noting what scene the shots were in and I numbered each of the different shots that I am planning on filming. For some of the shots I mentioned that I would be holding the camera while filming instead of having it on a tripod. This is so I can remember, when filming, that I don't need the tripod for those particular shots.

One other thing that I could have mentioned on the shot list was the duration of which I was planning each shot to be. I noted this on my storyboard but not on the shot list, so in my next project I will make sure to add the duration onto the shot list.

The shot-list was very useful when filming the video and also when editing the video, as I knew what order all of the shots were in and what they looked like.

Storyboard & Choosing Shots | Development

When it came to visualising the first two minutes of my short film I decided to show it in a storyboard, as I felt it would help me during the filming process and also the editing process. My art skill isn't very high, so the drawings in my storyboard are quite basic, but they clearly show what type of shot I want and what I want each shot to look like roughly.

 

When creating the storyboard, I found that there were quite a lot of different shots I wanted to include within the two minutes, so I decided to add in the duration that I wanted each clip to be. This was done so it was clear how long each shot would be when editing it, and also what shot through the drawings, I noted what size each shot was and I noted what was happening in the shot. This was done so it was clear what needed to be happening during the scene and also what the actors needed to be doing while filming. Another thing that was noted was the possible transitions that could have been used when editing the two minutes.

In terms of what shot sizes would be used in the sequence, I knew I wanted quite a few close-ups, mid shots and long shots to create the atmosphere to go along with the scene and also to create an establishing shot to set the scene. I made sure to use a variety of different stable shots and hand held shots to make the two minutes more interesting and make it look quite natural which links in nicely with the different environments used.

I found the process of creating a storyboard straight forward as I have had to produce a few in other projects that I was involved in previously. When I start filming, I'm confident that the storyboard will be very helpful in telling me what shots I need to film, and also when editing it will be helpful in telling me what order the shots go in.

Storyboards | Workshop

In the storyboard workshop we learnt how a storyboard should be laid out, what needs to be in a storyboard, and what important information we need to add below the image.

 

Storyboards are the sequence of shots that you see in a film, used to visualise the action in a story. Storyboards are used in the pre-production stage of creating a film or TV show as a guide to filming the shots they want to use. Soap programmes such as EastEnders tend to use a shot list instead of a storyboard as it's easier to follow.

The drawings that visualise the shot are usually shown in black and white and can either be done in a lot of detail or stick men and basic details. I have created my own storyboard for the first two minutes of my short film, as well as creating a shot list to help when it comes to filming and editing.



Casting | Production Notes

When choosing actors to act in the first 2 minutes of my short film I had a few ideas of what I wanted both characters to look like. I was looking for someone to play my male character, Steven, and my female character, Clare. Both needed to be teenagers, or at least look young enough to be teenagers.

Steven, played by Dan Frank:

 

I wrote Steven as a brown haired guy wearing a casual top, jeans and a big coat to almost hide his outfit in the woods. The actor I used had the right coloured hair for the part while also wearing the correct clothing items. The actor was 17/18 years old which conformed to the age group I wanted to show in the film. 

Clare, played by Jamie Podesta:

I originally wrote Clare as a blonde haired girl wearing a casual top, jeans and a black jacket. The actress I used actually had brown hair, but when picking my actress I decided that the hair colour for the female character didn't really matter as long as it was quite long and well kept. At first I wanted a brown haired character and blonde haired character to contrast with one another, but then I thought that if they had the same hair colour, then it would show that they have something in common which would help foreshadow the whole story. The actress was 17/18 years old which conformed to the age group I wanted to show in the film. 

Both actors knew each other pretty well before filming so they already had some sort of chemistry when it came to filming. Looking at my footage, from the shoot, I can see that I made the right decision in actors as they help create the build up to the story and they both did a very good job.