This was our last lesson before we started so we decided to make a planner which would help us when we were filming and keep us on track of the shots we needed to get. Before filming the suited and booted company ran through some camera functions and set up. We looked at lighting and exposure settings and gaining a certain light setting using the menu. They also showed us how to use colour bars and why we should use them between takes to help us when editing our movie later. We also looked at manual zoom and focus, this is useful for using instead of automatic settings which may give you a light setting you don’t want. Before we went filming we needed to familiarise ourselves with the camera's so we were sent into the corridor with the task of three different shots. We were experimenting with pan and zoom effects to get some experience with the camera's, this helped us find out what was effective and linked some shots to our storyboard which we thought were relevant to the type of shots we were shooting. We set out to begin filming our movie, starting at the roman baths.
We had Tom to help us film in the Roman Baths, we made our way up there as a group and after handing in the health and safety form and being shown around we found an ideal setting which matched our storyboard and began filming. We worked quite well as a team and took a few takes to make sure we had enough to chose from and work with. Kris was very good as a director and we were missing one team member but this didn't affect the shooting to much. As an actor I found my role fairly easy as I had a minimal amount of acting to do, I tried to get involved with filming and directing when I wasn't needed to act. I think this session of filming went fairly well although if we did it again I would have filmed a lot more as we didn't have enough to work with as I would have liked.
shooting schedule
Time of Arrival/ Departure
Location
Shooting Plan
08:30- 09:30 Roman Baths Get some panning shots of the water and dramatic shots of the water. Shoot a close up shot of the water in the Roman Baths coming over the shoulder of Jake seeing Kate’s reflection in the water
10:30- 12:00 Widcombe Cemetery Filming Jake walking around the graveyard and putting a rose on a grave.
13:00- 14:30 Bear Flat- 52 Meare Road Shot of Kate dead in the bath.
Close up and over the shoulder shots of Jake in the bathroom. Movement shot of Jake running down the stairs and out of the door.
Shot of Jake seeing Kate again in the Bathroom and locking himself into his room and taking an overdose.
14:45- 15-45 Bear flat track Frantic action shot of Jake running as if he’s losing his mind.
Before entering the Roman Baths I had a permissions form to fill out on behalf of our team. Basically a signature to say we all understood the rules and that if any filming equipment was broken it was our responsibility.
Friday, 27 November 2009
Tuesday, 17 November 2009
17/11/09
Today we reviewed our chosen locations and discussed angles of shots, composition and what we wanted to achieve with each shot.
We wanted to film in the Roman Baths as a theme for our film as part of our brief was to show the best bits of bath, the Roman Baths were also a beautiful place with a lot of history behind them. I contacted the Roman Baths via email and got us permission to film there with a date, time and health and safety conditions.
Thinking about other places suitable for us to film we decided on a few locations: Jayke’s Grandfathers’ House, which we decided was good because it was a modern location which fitted in with our storyline, a spooky track near Jake's Grandfathers house which was very atmospheric and a Cemetary in Widcombe. We had to get permission to film in these places by phoning the people in charge of the places involved. I made a phone call to get permission to film in Widcombe cemetery; I talked to Charles Curnock and got permission for us to film there.
We needed to think about the public and having emergency numbers in case of emergencies. To do this we posted letters to the surrounding area in residential areas to ensure the public knew we were filming on that date and time, and exchanged phone numbers with various other staff and students so they could be aware of our whereabouts at all times.
We also filled out a locations planner this was so we could plan the amount of time spent at each location, what we would be doing and so the teachers could keep track of where we would be and for how long. We also filled out a treatment form, which contained information on the members of our group and the roles they will play in the development of our film. After deciding on locations and gaining permission our final step was to fill out a permission form for the Bath Film Office to get permission to film. I did this via email and received an email back with confirmation.
We created a final storyboard we would try to stick to throughout filming.
Locations Planner
Original Location-Roman Baths
Reason that it can’t be used-NA
New Location-NA
Comments- We have been given permission to film here for up to one hour before the roman baths opens to the public but we are not allowed to film an actor in the water.
Original Location-Widcombe Cemetary
Reason that it can’t be used-NA
New locations-NA
Comments-We have been given permission to film here at 10:30 on the 4th December.
Original Location-Bear Flat- 52 Meare Road
Reason that it can’t be used-NA
New Location-NA
Comments-We have handed out letters to the surrounding area so they know to expect to see cameras and hear unexpected noises
Original Location Bear Flat Track
Reason that it can’t be used-We have not yet found a name for this location to get permission to film here
New location-NA
Comments-Need to find a name for this location to get permission to film
13/11/09
In this lesson we developed our ideas further and decided on roles. We decided Tom would be in charge of filming with Jadine, Jake and I would be acting and Kris directing. We also decided that I would be the contact with Bath film office for location permissions. We walked around Bath looking at and filming possible locations for our film. After looking at Ophelia we decided to have an ongoing theme of water throughout our film so we looked at locations which have water or are related to water. We found some nice canals in Bath and took some short shots of them to review. We also filmed in the Abbey as this is a very big tourist attraction in Bath.
As we were walking around Bath we saw the Roman Baths and considered this as a possible location. We then enquired in the Roman Baths as to see if we are allowed to film in there and they said it was possible, they very kindly put me on the phone to someone in charge and we discussed how this could be made possible, they told me that you could film in the Roman Baths before opening hours but unfortunately were not allowed to enter the water. I also received an information pack about the history of the Roman Baths, times we were allowed to film and the rules about filming, also the reasons you were not allowed to enter the water, one of which was because of health and safety in relation to drowning and diseases in the water. We then went back to the college with our shots and filled out a locations sheet for reference. When reviewing the footage we found some good locations which fitted in with our theme and storyline I was particularly exited about having the opportunity to film in the Roman Baths and thought this would give our film something special and an atmosphere.
Discussing our ideas further we decided on a rough plot for our film and wrote it down for reference, our idea was based around Ophelia and the theme of a love story twisted with suicide and water. To make this idea come alive in a modern day story we decided to use the idea of suicide in a bath, originally I wanted to use the Roman Baths within this but as you are not allowed in the water that idea was made unrealistic. To overcome this and find a way to include the Roman Baths in our film we thought of different things you could associate with water, some ideas from the group were reflections and the idea of mist. I knew there was a lot of steam because the water in the Roman Baths is quite warm so this was perfect.
As we were walking around Bath we saw the Roman Baths and considered this as a possible location. We then enquired in the Roman Baths as to see if we are allowed to film in there and they said it was possible, they very kindly put me on the phone to someone in charge and we discussed how this could be made possible, they told me that you could film in the Roman Baths before opening hours but unfortunately were not allowed to enter the water. I also received an information pack about the history of the Roman Baths, times we were allowed to film and the rules about filming, also the reasons you were not allowed to enter the water, one of which was because of health and safety in relation to drowning and diseases in the water. We then went back to the college with our shots and filled out a locations sheet for reference. When reviewing the footage we found some good locations which fitted in with our theme and storyline I was particularly exited about having the opportunity to film in the Roman Baths and thought this would give our film something special and an atmosphere.
Discussing our ideas further we decided on a rough plot for our film and wrote it down for reference, our idea was based around Ophelia and the theme of a love story twisted with suicide and water. To make this idea come alive in a modern day story we decided to use the idea of suicide in a bath, originally I wanted to use the Roman Baths within this but as you are not allowed in the water that idea was made unrealistic. To overcome this and find a way to include the Roman Baths in our film we thought of different things you could associate with water, some ideas from the group were reflections and the idea of mist. I knew there was a lot of steam because the water in the Roman Baths is quite warm so this was perfect.
Friday, 6 November 2009
6/11/09
We met with the Suited and Booted film company to learn about what they do and what they are about, I also looked on some of the websites they suggested to get a background knowledge of their role. I learnt that they help film companies with making and shooting film locations in and around Bath, they handle and deal with small and major companies to allow filming to go on in Bat not only for films, but documentaries and television shows too. We also met with someone from the Bath film company called Sara, she was very helpful and insipring in showing us the opportunity we had to create an individual and expressive film. We were given our film briefs, the idea was to work in groups producing a film 3 minutes long promoting Bath in a gothic way, we had a fairly large scope in what we could choose as subject matter which meant every groups film would be different. We were then split into our groups to mindmap and discuss possible ideas. We came up with quite a few possible ideas these were all gothic related and we wrote these ideas down into a mindmap. We thought of different themes such as Shakespeare, love, romance, and tragedy, there were also ideas like madness and insanity and it was quite challenging to keep in mind how we were going to promote Bath as a city. I wanted to do a love story similar to Romeo and Juliet so I proposed this idea to the group, they agreed this was a good idea but each added there own aspects such as the theme of an overdose, madness and flashbacks. Our favourite idea and the one we decided to go with was a tragic love story set in Bath with ongoing themes of madness, insanity and eventual suicide. We also looked at the character Ophelia by Shakespeare and also a famous painting, this seemed like a good starting point to focus on.
Thursday, 5 November 2009
Gothic film report
http://www.zonehorror.tv/clippreview.aspx?clip=8021a273-4fa7-4bcf-ba54-668da3122bdf
The first film I chose to write about came from the Zone Horror website and is called “The Pigeon”. It is only a couple of minutes long but captures a gothic theme in it throughout. The scene is set in a castle, the actual film is very dark and the lighting very low to create a gothic scene. The main character is dressed in Victorian clothing which sets the scene of being either very old or a ghost. The use of a scary castle, dark lighting and old props like candles and cobwebs creates a very eerie mood and ghostly setting. At the very start of the film the use of a wide angle shot to show a dark castle sets the scene of an old and creepy location, the castle looks run down and as if it hasn’t been used for years. The use of thunder at the start of the film creates tension as most people create negative thoughts from thunder and instantly associate it with horror and spooky events. The film is shot at night which is again spooky and the audience will associate this with ghosts or horrific events. The director has used lightening to show the audience short shots of what the castle looks like this is also very random and shocks the audience creating excitement and a sense of foreboding as lightening is also associated with horror. The dialect used in the voiceover is also quite old and the use of poetry creates age and mystery, the actual voice used in the voiceover is very deep and foreboding, this makes the audience sit up and listen you are engaged in the entire film from start to finish. The director has used eerie music throughout the film and chiming of clocks to create a ghostly scene. The table in which the Duke sits at is very old fashioned and gothic and having a character play a duke makes the film more gothic and old fashioned, how the table has be laid also helps create a gothic scene. As we get to the middle of the film the Duke starts to chase to eat it this seems odd to the audience as in modern day people don’t normally eat pigeons (I think). The use of time in this film is very clever and gives a ghostly feel as it never seems to change the time is always nine-thirty. The director changes the scene when the Duke returns and makes it cobwebbed and old as if loads of time has passed but the Duke is stuck in one place. This is very eerie and by this point I was beginning to think he was a ghost, and then the audience is shown a skeleton of the Duke on the floor and find out he is. This is very gothic as skeletons are used a lot in horror. The use of rhyming is very clever and using time to create a ghostly setting.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxQcBKUPm8o&feature=PlayList&p=3884EDDEF3E82F35&index=4
The next film I chose I found on YouTube, a Tim Burton short animation. I thought this was a brilliant film and very clever. Although it is animated I still thought it portrayed a gothic theme very well being in black and white helped this. Particular aspects of gothic I picked up on while watching the animation was the use of creatures like bats and cats. It was particularly dark and creepy and the animation made everyday objects like trees seem creepy and dark. I particularly liked the use of font in the film this was very gothic and intricate. The use of poetry also in this film seems to give it an edge in which you are encaptured from the start and watch it until the end, it draws in the audience especially using Vincent as the voiceover. The film is set in a house which is made to switch from normal to gothic throughout the film, the character also continues this theme of switching genres and the audience almost forgets the little boy until he is switched back to himself as the storyline and sub-stories are so enticing. There is a lot of use of lighting in this animation to show switchover from gothic to normality also shadows are used a lot. The theme of zombies comes up in the film also and is set in London which is a good location for gothic horror stories. Church bells are also used in this film, which are used in gothic films to create an eerie atmosphere. There are also many skeletons and skulls which pop up throughout this short film similar to others I have watched, other symbols such as crosses and graves also appear in this film and the character is actually made to like quite thin and pale with shallow sunken eyes which relates to vampires and other gothic films. The theme of insanity and madness also appears in this film which is common to some other gothic films I have watched. The way the film ends is very gothic with a quote from Edgar Allan Poe and a complete back-out with sad music.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wug4q-enhkY&feature=PlayList&p=3884EDDEF3E82F35&index=43
Next I chose a really odd film I found on YouTube. It is a stop motion animated short film. . This film is set in a graveyard. It starts with just clips of twigs and graves. Played over these clips are various noises of night time and animal noises you probably would not find scary in the daytime but would at night as it is entering the unknown. It uses very typically scary noises you might associate with ghosts, there is again thunder used in this film which has been an ongoing theme of all the films I have watched. The film uses a technique in which it focuses in and out of certain objects this makes the object more dramatic, for example a gravestone with RIP wrote on it. In this film there is only one character and he has been made out of material so you can only just make out a face which looks quite pale and shallow which is similar to the other films I have watched. He is a really creepy character and has blood on his robes to enhance the horror. He is made to seem magical and is carrying a staff in which he moves things with and creates religious symbols out of twigs. This film is overall very eerie and creepy.
The first film I chose to write about came from the Zone Horror website and is called “The Pigeon”. It is only a couple of minutes long but captures a gothic theme in it throughout. The scene is set in a castle, the actual film is very dark and the lighting very low to create a gothic scene. The main character is dressed in Victorian clothing which sets the scene of being either very old or a ghost. The use of a scary castle, dark lighting and old props like candles and cobwebs creates a very eerie mood and ghostly setting. At the very start of the film the use of a wide angle shot to show a dark castle sets the scene of an old and creepy location, the castle looks run down and as if it hasn’t been used for years. The use of thunder at the start of the film creates tension as most people create negative thoughts from thunder and instantly associate it with horror and spooky events. The film is shot at night which is again spooky and the audience will associate this with ghosts or horrific events. The director has used lightening to show the audience short shots of what the castle looks like this is also very random and shocks the audience creating excitement and a sense of foreboding as lightening is also associated with horror. The dialect used in the voiceover is also quite old and the use of poetry creates age and mystery, the actual voice used in the voiceover is very deep and foreboding, this makes the audience sit up and listen you are engaged in the entire film from start to finish. The director has used eerie music throughout the film and chiming of clocks to create a ghostly scene. The table in which the Duke sits at is very old fashioned and gothic and having a character play a duke makes the film more gothic and old fashioned, how the table has be laid also helps create a gothic scene. As we get to the middle of the film the Duke starts to chase to eat it this seems odd to the audience as in modern day people don’t normally eat pigeons (I think). The use of time in this film is very clever and gives a ghostly feel as it never seems to change the time is always nine-thirty. The director changes the scene when the Duke returns and makes it cobwebbed and old as if loads of time has passed but the Duke is stuck in one place. This is very eerie and by this point I was beginning to think he was a ghost, and then the audience is shown a skeleton of the Duke on the floor and find out he is. This is very gothic as skeletons are used a lot in horror. The use of rhyming is very clever and using time to create a ghostly setting.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxQcBKUPm8o&feature=PlayList&p=3884EDDEF3E82F35&index=4
The next film I chose I found on YouTube, a Tim Burton short animation. I thought this was a brilliant film and very clever. Although it is animated I still thought it portrayed a gothic theme very well being in black and white helped this. Particular aspects of gothic I picked up on while watching the animation was the use of creatures like bats and cats. It was particularly dark and creepy and the animation made everyday objects like trees seem creepy and dark. I particularly liked the use of font in the film this was very gothic and intricate. The use of poetry also in this film seems to give it an edge in which you are encaptured from the start and watch it until the end, it draws in the audience especially using Vincent as the voiceover. The film is set in a house which is made to switch from normal to gothic throughout the film, the character also continues this theme of switching genres and the audience almost forgets the little boy until he is switched back to himself as the storyline and sub-stories are so enticing. There is a lot of use of lighting in this animation to show switchover from gothic to normality also shadows are used a lot. The theme of zombies comes up in the film also and is set in London which is a good location for gothic horror stories. Church bells are also used in this film, which are used in gothic films to create an eerie atmosphere. There are also many skeletons and skulls which pop up throughout this short film similar to others I have watched, other symbols such as crosses and graves also appear in this film and the character is actually made to like quite thin and pale with shallow sunken eyes which relates to vampires and other gothic films. The theme of insanity and madness also appears in this film which is common to some other gothic films I have watched. The way the film ends is very gothic with a quote from Edgar Allan Poe and a complete back-out with sad music.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wug4q-enhkY&feature=PlayList&p=3884EDDEF3E82F35&index=43
Next I chose a really odd film I found on YouTube. It is a stop motion animated short film. . This film is set in a graveyard. It starts with just clips of twigs and graves. Played over these clips are various noises of night time and animal noises you probably would not find scary in the daytime but would at night as it is entering the unknown. It uses very typically scary noises you might associate with ghosts, there is again thunder used in this film which has been an ongoing theme of all the films I have watched. The film uses a technique in which it focuses in and out of certain objects this makes the object more dramatic, for example a gravestone with RIP wrote on it. In this film there is only one character and he has been made out of material so you can only just make out a face which looks quite pale and shallow which is similar to the other films I have watched. He is a really creepy character and has blood on his robes to enhance the horror. He is made to seem magical and is carrying a staff in which he moves things with and creates religious symbols out of twigs. This film is overall very eerie and creepy.
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