Rebecca Bennett Directs Pretty Little Liars

Introducing Me

Directing | Project Evaluation

When starting this unit I was very worried about having to direct two videos. I was mainly worried about having to tell people what to do and being in control of multiple cast and crew members - it's quite daunting. However, I have learnt a lot about directing and how to be a good director through our lectures and workshops. Having the opportunity to have lectures and workshops with director Steve Finn has really helped when learning about directing and gaining the confidence to do it. Steve Finn gave us a lot of helpful information about how to cope with the responsibility of a large group of people, while also staying calm and keeping everyone equally calm.

I didn't think directing my drama video was as bad as I thought it would be as I stayed calm and collective which in turn made everyone around me calm. It was quite scary having around look to me for instructions but I realised that they don't mind waiting and I could take my time when deciding what to do next. I gave the actresses clear instructions on what I wanted the whole scene to look like and they followed the instructions well. Also it helped that my crew were willing to help come up with ideas when I was struggling, so that was nice to have. This was the first project that I used professional actresses in my video and it was quite a stressful process finding them. I'm really happy with the actresses that I chose for the parts and they all did a really good job.

This was also the first project that I used the lighting kit and, as I said in my drama evaluation, I found it quite difficult achieving a natural look to the scene. This is something that I want to work on for the next unit and practise a little more to get better at it. When working on one of the third year projects, I learnt quite a lot about the lighting and how to cancel out shadows, which is something that I definitely needed to do in the first scene. For the next unit I would like to have  improved on my lighting skill, and I will definitely practise and experiment with it. I felt comfortable using all of the equipment in other student's films that I worked on, and I'm very confident with following others instructions.

Since my last project, I have improved in my planning and my directing skill, as well as my editing skill. I definitely feel more confident with these key aspects after this project and I'm really happy with the outcome of both of my videos. Even though directing isn't something that I want pursue as a career, I have still learnt a lot about it and I think I'd be confident to direct again. I hope to continue all of these skills through the next unit.

Drama | Project Evaluation

When I first started thinking about my drama video I had an idea of what TV series I wanted to choose, but I wasn't 100% sure with my decision. At first I thought about picking 'One Tree Hill' but because it's my favourite TV series I thought that it would be quite hard to direct it myself and put my own twist on it. My second choice was 'Pretty Little Liars' (PLL) and I thought this would be a better TV series to pick as I had watched some of the show, but I wasn't mad about it at the time. I'm really happy with my choice of PLL and I'm also really happy with my choice of scenes.

When picking my scenes, at first, I was nervous about the amount of dialogue that was in the script but I wanted to challenge myself and I knew that the scene wouldn't be too complicated to direct myself.

 

When shooting the first scene, three of my actresses came to the location on time, but the fourth one ended up not attending which was disappointing and slightly stressful. This meant that I had to adapt the script quickly with help from my actresses and quickly write one of the characters out of the scene. Overall, the first day of shooting went really well considering we were missing one of the actresses, and the three actresses that did turn up worked really well together and were all really good at portraying their characters. I'm very glad I produced a storyboard and shot list for the drama as I used them both quite a lot during the shoot. They were useful to have when deciding what shot to shoot next and how much of the shot I wanted. The second day of shooting also went really well with a different actress. We shot the second scene and although the day was planned last minute, it still went smoothly and we managed to get everything shot.

 

So when editing the video I started by placing all of the clips down onto the sequence and I used the storyboard to help me with this. One of the things that I wasn't too happy with is the lighting in all of the shots. I found the lighting during the shooting process really quite difficult to perfect and make it look natural and looking back at the footage I know that lighting is something I need to practise and work on. The sound design of the video was quite difficult as I didn't want anything to overpower the dialogue in the scene, but I needed something in the background that could help the video flow. The background music I found and used in the first scene works really well with the scene and gives the audience something to listen to while listening and taking in the lines of dialogue. The second scene doesn't have any dialogue and I didn't want to have music in the background in both scenes, so I decided to use ambience sounds. I added some birds chirping, dogs barking and outside garden ambience and I kept the sound natural and realistic. 

 

One of my favourite things about the video is the fact the dialogue flows nicely and the music works well with the scene. I also really enjoyed working with the actresses and they portrayed the characters really nicely in both scenes. The scenes work well together and the shot sizes match the lines of dialogue nicely. 

One of my least favourite things that I wish would've worked on longer is the lighting of the first scene. It's very over exposed in one area of the shot and it's also very orange which is quite confusing to me as I put an ND filter on one of the lights. After adding an adjustment layer to the shots, the lighting doesn't look too bad but if I were to do the project again, I would spend more time on working out the lighting.

 

Throughout the whole process of producing my drama, I have realised and learnt that finding actors, and also choosing suitable scenes are quite challenging. Having a bigger cast number meant that it was harder to find enough actresses, however everything worked out in the end which I am very happy about. I've also learnt that directing an already existing TV drama is harder than it sounds as you have to make it your own and stay away from doing similar shot types, while keeping to the same storyline. I really enjoyed making this video, and I liked putting my own twist on the scenes I have chosen. 

 

Self Portrait | Project Evaluation



When I first started thinking about my self portrait video I didn't know exactly what I wanted to achieve and I wasn't sure where to start. Once I had thought about my location [the beach] I knew roughly what I wanted to do and what I wanted the outcome to look like. The day of the shoot was miserable and the weather was not ideal. However, looking at the final outcome, the weather gave a good effect to the shots, and it added an emotional tone which is something that I wanted to achieve. I'm very glad I produced a storyboard and shot list for the video as I used them both quite a lot during the shoot. They were useful to have when deciding what shot to shoot next and how much of the shot I wanted. Also because the weather was bad we just wanted to get the shoot completed and having the storyboard with me gave us a focus point and we got on with the shots I wanted. However, due to the weather being bad, there were a few shots that I didn't manage to film, so when it came to editing the video I had to change the order of the shots slightly and work with what I had.

 

So when editing the video I started by placing all of the clips down onto the sequence and I used the storyboard to help me with this. I'm really happy with the colour that I added onto the video as it's very similar to an Instagram filter and that was the look that I was trying to achieve. The sound design of the video is very full on and I'm really happy with the outcome of it because it helps the video move along nicely. Due to the restriction of using music and dialogue in our self portraits, it was very hard to find something that would keep the audience interested. This worried me at first because I wasn't sure how I was going to make the video interesting and engaging without music or dialogue. Once I had added the sound effects and beach ambience, I realised it didn't need music to make the video come to life, it just needed a few extra sounds to make it seem more realistic. The sound effects work really well with the video as they are synced nicely, but also they help create a nice atmosphere and ambience in the video which help create the tone I wanted.

 

One of my favourite things about the video are the quotes that are shown throughout it. I like the addition of these as they create the personal tone and they help show what type of person I am and what type of quotes I live by. The way they are presented is really nice and it flows nicely with the tone of the whole video. I also really like the part where I'm taking photos on my phone and the video stops momentarily as if time stops. It works really well with the video and adds a nice effect to the tone of it. 

One of my least favourite things that I wish would've worked out better is the beginning of the video where the music from my headphones come on. I like the part where the music stops as I press the 'pause' button, but I don't like how it just fades in at the beginning of the video as it's quite harsh. Originally I was just going to have the music playing with no ambience - the ambience would've come in once the music stopped. However, this didn't work as I had wanted it to so I adapted it, and I'm still not 100% happy with it but it's better than my original plan.

 

Throughout the whole process of producing my self portrait, I have realised and learnt that there are other experimental ways to carry a video rather than adding a music soundtrack in the background. Having ambience sounds really help make the video realistic and bring it to life which makes the video interesting and enjoyable. I really enjoyed making this video, and I loved experimenting with it through the editing process.

 

Fine Cut | Drama Development

The second time Simon saw my drama video, after the rough cut adjustments, he gave me some extra feedback.

He told me again that he liked the smoothness of the scene and he said it flowed well. He watched through and mentioned that he thought the shot sizes were placed nicely and they work well together. He also mentioned that he liked the extra shots of the house and the doll and he said they made the scenes better than before. He enjoyed the sound design and thought the chosen sounds/background music were a good choice. He suggested looking through the scene again and just experimenting with the shot sizes once more just to make sure the scenes flow as they should.

After this I watched the scene a few more times, tweaked the shot sizes and decided that the video flowed nicely and it all looked good.

Fine Cut | Self Portrait Development

The second time Simon saw my self portrait video, after the rough cut adjustments, he gave me some extra feedback.

He liked the addition of the screenshots, but he thinks it could be more effective if I experimented with the sound element. He suggested to try and get rid of the sound design during the screenshot moments and see what they looked like. He also mentioned trying to find a phone camera sound effect just to make it more realistic. With the sound design, he wanted me to add a few more sound effects like walking on the stones and the book closing just to bring the video to life and make it more realistic.

I tried removing all of the sound during the screenshot parts of the video and I thought it made the video better and it worked really well. I found a sound effect for taking a picture and reduced the volume to make it subtle and not that noticeable. This sound effect helps create a better atmosphere and brings the video to life. I also added sound effects of walking on stones, however the one I found was too slow, so I had to speed it up when editing and I also reduced the volume to make it less noticeable. For the closing of the book, I found a sound effect on YouTube and synced it up with the footage and thought it worked well with the video and made it more realistic.

Rough Cut | Drama Development

When showing Simon my drama video for the first time he gave me some feedback and gave me a few things to think about when I carry on editing it.

He thought it flowed nicely and he was impressed with the different type of shots that I have used within the video. He thought the audio was nicely put together and he enjoyed the sound design element of the video. He also mentioned that he liked the actresses I had chosen for the parts and he really enjoyed the scene as a whole. He thought that the colour of the video was nice and the over exposure has definitely been reduced through the adjustment layer that I added. He wanted me to look  at the placement of some of the shots and think about whether they should be placed there and whether another shot size might work better.
For the second scene, he said he liked the atmosphere of the scene and again liked the sound design. However he would look to see a close up shot of the doll and also an establishing shot for the beginning of the video.

The first thing I did after Simon seeing the video is watch through it myself and make note of some of the shots that Simon mentioned before hand. I rearranged some of the shots and added another shot size to see what it would look like. Some of the shots worked better with the lines of dialogue, but others didn't so I moved and changed some while keeping quite a few of the same. When at home, I filmed the front of the location I used and made sure to have the whole building in view. I also filmed a close up of the doll in the summer house to add into the second scene. I made sure to plan where I was going to place the footage so I could move it into the sequence, place an adjustment layer on it and it would flow nicely with the rest of the scene.

Rough Cut | Self Portrait Development

When showing Simon my self portrait video for the first time he gave me some feedback and gave me a few things to think about when I carry on editing it.

He enjoyed the video as a whole, and was impressed with the sound design. He said that I should have a title for my self portrait and it should be shown at the beginning with the 'A UCA Production by Rebecca Bennett' part of the video. He also wanted more wave sounds at the beginning of the video to help create the beach atmosphere. He liked the appearance of the quotes in the video and thought that the colour of the clips went well with the tone of the video. He suggested experimenting with the part of the video where I'm taking a picture on my phone. He thought it might look like good if I screen shotted the image at the moment I take the picture and add it in the video for a few seconds - almost like time is stopping as I take the photo.

When finishing with Simon, the first thing I did was experiment with the photo part of the video. I screen shotted both times I take an image on my phone and added it to the video for a few seconds. I thought it added a nice effect to the video and I think it makes it more interesting and unique. I added some more wave noises at the beginning of the video and decided to only add them with the images of the waves so it's realistic. I then thought about a title for the video, and Laura suggested 'Introducing Me'. This works well as that is what the video does but also it's the title of a song from one of my favourite movies 'Camp Rock 2' so it adds to the personal tone that I have created in the video.

Editing | Drama Production

When beginning the editing process for my drama piece, I started by placing all of my clips into Bin's and I titled them based on the shot type. This helped me during editing as it was an easy way for me to find the different clips that I wanted and it kept the workspace tidy. 

At the start of the video we had to add in a title of the video's name, which is 'Rebecca Bennett Directs Pretty Little Liars'. I decided to choose a nice and simple font for the first part of the title and then I took an image, of the actual title of the show, from google images and added it to my title. I did this because I thought it was a nice effect and it's clear as to which TV series I have chosen. I had to experiment with the different background colours as I wasn't sure if the title worked better on a white background with black writing or the other way round. I eventually decided that it looked better on a black background with white writing as it stood out well and it's quite clear.

The sound design of our projects is one of the key elements for this unit, so I decided to spend quite a bit of time experimenting with the sounds. Due to the first scene being set in a living room, it's quite hard to create a realistic atmosphere without being too artificial with the sound effects. I added a dog bark at the beginning of the scene to make it sound like it was coming from outside the house. I added this to my video due to the creepy and quite intense atmosphere that I wanted to try and create. I also added this to the end of the video as the end of the scene is quite sad and tense and I felt that the dog bark adds a little bit of mystery to the scene.

Due to the atmosphere of the living room being quite boring on it's own, I decided to add some instrumental music in the background. The music I chose is quite intense and adds a sense of mystery which is something I wanted to create in the scene, mainly through the sound design. When looking for royalty free music I found quite a few different types that all add tension. There was one that I liked but it was a bit too dramatic to use for the whole scene. So instead I decided to cut an intense part of the soundtrack out and add it into parts of the scene that I felt needed to be a bit more dramatic. I decreased the volume of both soundtracks so they weren't too prominent and so they didn't take the attention away from the dialogue being spoken by the actresses.

Some other sound effects I added was the pulling of the cloth from the box. Originally I wasn't going to add it, but I decided that it would add to the scene and make it seem more natural. After the filming was over, I decided to record myself saying the lines of dialogue that come from the dolls. In the editing process, I added the audio to the sequence and added the 'AUPitch' effect to it. I then adjusted the levels to make it higher and less natural than my normal voice. I think these pieces of dialogue work well as they sound like they were to come from a doll and not a person, which is the effect I was after.

For the outside scene I had a different sound design planned. I added outside ambience to make it seem natural, and I also added some birds chirping in the background to make it more realistic. Due to having the dog barking in the last scene I thought about adding it into the second scene just to carry the atmosphere through both scenes. I added it to see what effect it put on the video, and overall I thought it worked and sounded natural along with the outside ambience. I made sure to adjust the volume when the camera is inside the summer house to add the realism. After adding the effects I didn't think it needed a soundtrack in the background so instead I added the dramatic piece of music that featured in the previous scenes, and I placed it near the part where the doll is being introduced to add tension.

After creating the sound design I moved on to colouring the footage and making it look realistic. The lighting in the first scene is quite over exposed and it's very clear in the original footage. This meant that I had to experiment with the different video effects in order to reduce the exposer and make the colour more natural. The first effect I used was the three way corrector as the footage is quite yellow and orange and I needed to add a blue/green undertone. With this effect I also adjusted the lighting and made it slightly darker while keeping the colour clear. I changed the saturation in some of the clips to either make it more saturated or less saturated to balance the over exposed area of the shot. I also adjusted the brightness and contrast of the image, and the levels were adjusted to make the image darker and less bright.
With the outside scene I didn't have to make too much of an adjustment to the colour, but I did want to continue with the blue/green undertone. For this I used the three way corrector. In the scene, the character walks into the summer house, and you can't really see her face. This meant that I had to adjust some of the levels and duplicated the original image then change the blend mode in order to get some light onto the characters face.

Props & Costumes | Drama Development

When finding props for my drama piece, I looked back at my mood board and got an idea of what I wanted. I decided that buying a doll similar to the ones in the original scene would be quite expensive and also I felt that it didn't quite fit in with the modern era. So, as it is on my mood board, I purchased three barbie dolls to match the characters. Originally I bought three barbie dolls to match the characters on the show, but as I couldn't find a blonde actress for Hanna I had to choose a brunette. This meant that Hanna's doll didn't match the appearance of the actress, however, I decided that I would keep the doll for Hanna and if anyone questioned it I would say that she died and cut her hair before the scene occurred.

I then needed a box for the dolls to appear in, so I used the box that one of the Barbie dolls came in. It was just about the right size width ways, which was good, and I could fit the paper in it as well. For the paper underneath Aria's doll I copied the title from what I saw in the original scene and got a similar picture from google images. Even though the title is the same, the words past it are a previous piece of work that I had produced earlier last year. Also, after the first page there are blank or spare pieces of paper to make the paper look thick and informative. I also wrote the characters name on a blank piece of paper, in capitals and in red ink, and then cut them out so the audience and the actresses knew which doll belonged to each character.
On top of the dolls are a sheet of fabric, so I used one of my scarfs as it was big enough to fit in the box and it easily covered up the dolls. For the paper on top of the fabric I found different letter shapes and fonts on google images and photoshopped them all together to form the message, and to make it look similar to the one in the original scene. Lastly, on top of the box I wrote, in bold and red ink, 'OPEN OR SHE DIES'. I decided to add '-A' on the box so the audience know who it's from, and also so they know it's quite a daunting and unexpected package.

When it came to the second scene I used the same doll for Emily as I did for Aria, as they have similar appearances, but I changed the clothing items so it suited Emily's character. I also made a sign with her name on it to place on top of the pillow in the summer house, and I printed off a map. In the original scene, Emily is in a car and the sat nav has automatically calculated the root for her to take to find the missing person. Due to the changing of the location, I needed to find a way to show this root for her to take. To do this I printed off a screen shot of an area in google maps and added a red line to show the root. I decided to include an 'X' to show where she should end up and '-A' to show the audience who sent these items to her which helps create a sense of mystery.

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Before the shoot days I sent the actresses a short description of what type of clothing I wanted for each character. I also sent them a link to the mood board I had created for each of their characters, so they could research and get a clear idea of what I was looking for.

Nadine [Hanna] wore purple skinny jeans, a pink vest top and a floral pinkish blouse that went on top of the vest. I liked this outfit choice for Hanna as she loves the colour pink and she loves her fashion, which shows in this outfit. She also wore black high heel boots which matched the character also. Overall, I am happy with Hanna's costume.
Grace [Aria] wore a black and white patterned dress, black tights, a black leather jacket and bold pieces of jewellery. I liked this outfit choice for Aria as she loves to wear patterned and abstract clothing items with a lot of large jewellery. She also wore black boots which matched the characters style well. Overall, I am happy with Aria's costume.
Shannon [Spencer] wore a white blouse with a black vest top underneath, black tights and a yellow and black checkered skirt. I liked this outfit choice for Spencer as she looks smart but still quite casual, and the colours go well together which is something that Spencer looks for in her outfits. She also wore black flats which matched the characters style. Overall, I am happy with Spencer's costume.

Oriane [Emily] wore black skinny jeans and a grey top. However, since the scene is set outside I decided that I wanted her to wear a coat and wear something suitable for the cold weather. This meant that she wore a brownish red coat and a black and white scarf. I liked this outfit choice for Emily as it doesn't look too feminine, but it has a few feminine touches to it, like the colour of the coat and the pattern on the scarf. She also wore greenish blue trainers to show the characters sporty side. Overall, I am happy with Emily's costume.

Filming | Drama Production

When it came to filming my drama video, we shot on Monday 8th Feb, and I had Nisserin as my camera operator and Troy as my sound operator. I liked Nisserin's filming for my self portrait so I decided to have her film this as well because I knew the footage would come out well.
I started the setting up of the equipment at 9ish and that gave us an hour before the actors turned up. We set up the camera, the sound and the lighting. We knew the lighting would take a while to set up and get correct so we made sure that we had enough time to do it.
Three actresses arrived at 10am, and unfortunately, the original actress who I had casted to play Emily did not arrive. This meant I had to adapt the script and work with the present actresses by giving them a few extra lines and changing the camera angles slightly.
I gave the actresses some time to read through their lines together and get to know each other so the friendship chemistry between them would be realistic. I then told them what actions I wanted them to do and how I wanted the scene to look, which they then took on board and rehearsed a few times. We then started the filming at 11am.

I started on a long shot and used that as my master shot. We did this shot a few times, and I had the actress run through the whole scene so when it came to editing I could go back to this shot knowing it contained the whole scene. I then moved on to a mid shot and the two over the shoulder shots that I wanted to achieve. All three shots contained the whole scene which meant that, when it came to editing, I could look through the shots and decide which angle works better with the different lines of dialogue.
I made sure to give the actresses a few breaks in between shots to let them have a drink, have a snack or run through their lines once more just so they reassure themselves of the line.
The last shots we filmed were the close up shots. The close ups were of all of the actresses both when they were stood up and sat down, and I started with Spencer, then Aria, and ended on Hanna. I made sure to keep the close ups tight to make the lines of dialogue seem more personal and to get better coverage of the actresses emotions.

Once the close ups of all of the actresses were done, we did some cut away shots. I wanted a birds eye view type shot of the box where you can see it being opened and can see everything inside it. I also wanted the actress to carry on with their actions of taking the piece of paper, the fabric, the dolls and the other pieces of paper out of the box. I also wanted shots of the actresses holding the dolls and the actresses holding the papers so I could use them as cut away shots as well.
Once every shot was filmed and I didn't need anymore shots, I wrapped the shoot and started planning the second day of shooting.

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The second day of shooting was on Saturday 13th Feb, and because I had to arrange it last minute I had Nisserin as my camera operator but we had to make do with a road mic on top of the camera for the sound. We also had to use my Canon 700D camera due to the camera availabilty. There isn't any dialogue in the second scene, which is what we were shooting, so it didn't matter too much. 

We decided to start the shoot quite early so we could get the scene done with time after to look through the footage and make sure we had everything.

I started with the shots in the summer house due to having to move around the furniture. We did a few shots outside of the summer house where you can see the actress walking towards it, opening the door, walking inside and then outside. We then moved inside the summer house and had a shot from the corner of the room. A few close ups of the actress and the doll were shot and a cut away shots of the actress picking up the doll and the map were shot also. 

We then worked our way up the garden, and shot the beginning of the scene by the door. We did mid shots of the actress walking into the building and back out, and we also did a close up of the rubbish bag being put down and the actress wiping her hands. 

Once I had looked through my storyboard and shot list and had decided that I had all the shots I needed, we wrapped the shoot. After putting all of the furniture back, and once the actress had left, we looked through the footage on the camera and decided that the shots looked really good. I wanted a shot of the garden from a point of view type shot, so we went back out and shot that angle and decided we had everything that I wanted.

Script Changes | Drama Development

Due to actresses dropping out of the shoot, and actor availability I have had to make a few changes to the script. These changes include taking a character out of the first scene, however her absence doesn't impact and affect the scene.

Emily only has a few lines of dialogue in the first scene so we evenly gave her lines to the other characters.
Emily's first line in the script is "It's a big box for an ear." We've decided to cut this line out completely as it wasn't needed and didn't make much of an impact in the script anyway.
Another line Emily has is "I didn't get one." This line was some what important so we decided to give this line to Hanna but we adapted it to make her say "Em didn't get one."
In response to Emily's comment Aria says "You've been 'A's target for weeks, Em" and Hanna says "Yeah, maybe 'A's bored with you." We have had to adapt these lines so Aria says "She's been 'A's target for weeks" and Hanna says "Yeah, maybe 'A's bored with Em."
The last line Emily says in the script is "I get that this is a game but I don't understand it." Due to Aria speaking after that line we have given that line of dialogue to Aria's character. So now Aria will say "I get that this is a game but I don't understand it. Spence?"

Adapting the lines have helped make the script flow a little better and also it has made it easier for the character of Emily not to be present in the first scene but to make her appearance in the second scene.

Recasting | Drama Development

Due to actresses dropping out at last minute I have had to find another actress to play the role of Spencer and Emily. I've contacted many different actress who applied for the job as well as actresses I have asked off of the search section of the website, and I've found quite a few people who I felt were suitable for the job.

After contacting many actress I got a few replies saying that they were unable to fill in for the role, but I did get a couple of replies from actresses who were happy to fill in.

The actress I have chosen to fill in for the role of Spencer is Shannon Tracey.

 

The actress I have chosen to fill in for the role of Emily is Oriane Pick.

 

 

Directing Practise with Steve Finn | Workshop

In our second workshop with Steve Finn we learnt some more information and tips on blocking a scene, but we also learnt that the first thing you should do in a shooting environment is talk to the actors and give them instructions.

As a small group we were given the same script and were asked to block out the scene the way that we would if we were directing the scene. We went away, blocked the scene, and came back ready to direct the scene. Steve picked a few people in the group to direct their scene and each time the scene was slightly different. In this workshop I was the sound operator as well as an actress for two different directors.

Through this workshop I realised that it's important to run through the scene with the actors before moving the equipment. This is because it gives the actors time to rehearse the lines and the actions before the shooting starts. At the end of the workshop we all got given different scripts and we were asked to block out the script and plan what shots we wanted to shoot when directing these scripts in the next workshop.

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I had the '2 women' script. In this script the two females are best friends and one of them thinks her  boyfriend is having an affair with the other girl. They argue and it ends up with them making up but the assumption of her friend seeing her boyfriend is revealed to the audience. Before the workshop I blocked the scene and planned how I wanted the scene to look in terms of furniture and camera shots. I then made notes on the script so  I would know what to do within the workshop.

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When it came to the workshop I was one of the first people to direct their given script. In my group I chose to have Nisserin, Laura, Troy, Sam, Ellen and Sammi as I work well with them. Nisserin was my camera operator and Sam was my sound operator. Troy and Ellen acted as runners and kept the sound lead away from the drama to keep the area safe while Laura and Sammi acted as the lead roles in the script.

Before we started moving the props and getting the camera set up I wanted to talk to the crew and tell them how I wanted it to look like and roughly what my idea for the scene was. We went through the script with Laura and Sammi reading their lines as I read the stage directions. Then we got the 'stage' set up and moved the chairs and table around to suit the way I wanted the scene to look like. Once that was set up I told and showed Laura and Sammi what I wanted the scene to look like and then they rehearsed.

I told Nisserin where I wanted the camera each time I wanted a new shot and I gave her clear instructions of the angle I wanted for each shot. The shoot went well and I feel like I did a good job of directing the scene. I'm happy with how it has turned out, but I would've liked to do a few extra close up shots. These weren't filmed due to time restrictions.

Editing | Self Portrait Production

When it came to editing I wanted to make the footage look like an Instagram filter to try and create a social media feel to it. To start this I began with the three way colour corrector and I directed all the shadows, midtones and highlights to the blue section of the colour scale. I then adjusted the input levels to make the image slightly darker. I also changed the levels of the image quite heavily. The black input was heavily increased while also creating a contrasting look. The blue and red levels were also adjusted to help create this filter look.

Once I added the adjustment layers to all of the footage in the video I found that the filter look made the video feel like something you'd see on Instagram as well as giving it a little bit of an emotional connection. The blue tones make it seem slightly sad which is something that I wanted to create in the video and also the Instagram tone gives off  the impression that I like to use social media quite regularly which also makes the video personal.

For the titles and the quotes shown in the video I decided to use the same font as I liked the boldness of it and I also like that it gave the video a sophisticated and mature look, which is something that I like. To being the video, I have started on a title page with the words "A UCA Production By Rebecca Bennett" and it's white writing against a black background. This then fades into white and the video begins on the sky which is white. I like this transition as it looks like smooth and helps start the video well without it being a harsh introduction.
Within the video I have added 5 different quotes that appear on the screen. One at the start of the video, another at the end and a few during the middle. The fonts of these quotes are the same as the beginning title and they're all roughly the same size. These appear in landscape shots of the water and the beach, the sky with the water in view, and the bench that I am sitting on in the video. I think these quotes really add to the video as, not only does it show my favourite quotes, but also it shows my personality and my inner thoughts in a way.

Sound design is one of the main things we have learnt about in this unit, so I wanted to make it quite prominent in the video. Firstly, in the video I am listening to music through my headphones and at first I wanted the music to be the only thing you could hear until the music is stopped, but I decided that it didn't work as well as I had hoped. So, instead, I added some beach ambience on top and decreased the volume of the music so you could hear it but it isn't the only sound you can hear. The music you can hear is the end of 'Skyscraper' by Demi Lovato and the beginning of 'American Idiot' by Green Day. I chose to add these songs to the video because it added to the personal tone; Demi Lovato is my favourite music artist and has been since she started her career, and I enjoy listening to Green Day and that genre of music.
Once the music stopped, I added some fairly loud wave sounds to add to the beach ambience and also to make it sound quite relaxing. Then once the book comes out of the bag and I start to read it, I have added an echoed sound of turning pages and flipping through the pages. I recorded this separately and to make it sound quite distorted I added an echo to it. I decreased the volume slightly to make it less powerful and prominent as I wanted the beach ambience to still be fairly loud and clear.
Then at the end of the video, due to a seagull appearing in the footage, I have added a seagull noise just to make it more realistic and to end the video nicely.

Props & Costumes | Self Portrait Development

Within my self portrait video I used certain props and wore a certain outfit in order to show my personality and interests.

 

Due to the weather I was unable to wear the outfit I had planned originally (a Disney t-shirt and jeans) but I found an alternative. Through my outfit I wanted to show that I love Disney and because I couldn't show it through my t-shirt I used a bag with Minnie Mouse on it to clearly show that interest. Suited to the weather, I wore boots, jeans and a coat which is what I usually wear on a winter's day. This adds a personal tone to the video and also a relatable tone as everyone wears the same sort of attire.

The first prop that you see in the video is my phone which have headphones connected to them. Through the phone you can tell that I use the device quite a lot for social media, communication, taking photos - this is also shown later on in the video - and you can also see that my favourite colour is pink . The headphones add a musical tone to the video and through the sound design I have made sure you can hear what is being played through the headphones so the audience can tell what my taste in music is. This then, again, adds a personal tone which is something that I want throughout the whole video.


The last prop I used was  a book called 'Silver Bay' written by Jojo Moyes. The book cover is pink which then emphasises my favourite colour, and also it ties in the theme  of being on a beach. Moyes  is one of my favourite authors  and this prop shows that I like to read, and it also shows what type of books I enjoy reading. In this prop is another - the giraffe bookmark. This prop emphasises my interest in books while also showing my love of giraffes, adding to the personal tone of the video.

Filming | Self Portrait Production

When it came to filming my self portrait video I had Nisserin as my camera operator and Troy and Josh as my sound operators. Nisserin would film and Troy and Josh would separately record the ambience on the road mic. I brought my storyboard and shot list with me so we knew what shot was going to be filmed first and how it was going to look.

On the day of filming it was very windy and wet which I hadn't planned. I knew it would be fairly windy due to being near the sea, but I didn't think it would rain as heavily as it did. I'm glad that it did rain during the shoot as it helped create a murky and low tone to the footage which is something I wanted to portray in my self portrait video.

Due to the rain and wind, it was quite difficult to set up the shots as I would have liked them, and also it created a murky look on the camera lens with a few rain drops noticeably. However this slightly blurry and wet look adds a good effect on the footage and makes it look interesting and metaphorically hidden.

The rain and the wind made it quite difficult to get a good audio recording, however when I being to edit the audio I will decrease the volume and add some other sound effects to make the sound of the wind more clear. I made sure to film some audio close to the waves, turning the pages of the book I am reading and the music coming out of the headphones I am wearing at the beginning of the video. When it comes to editing I will add these sounds on top of the footage and layer up all of the sounds while putting effects on them to make them echo.

The outcome of the filming is very good and I am happy with the result.