Evaluation Of Final Product

 Our short film is about a student who falls asleep during a boring lesson.

In our film we used a variety of close shots, medium shots and long shots.

We decided to choose a medium POV shot (the teacher is explaining a lesson) as the film's opening shot.








Then comes a long establishing shot of a classroom,which establishes the mis-en-scene (the lesson is in progress). Though we see it only for a few seconds, it plays an important part in our film. In this way, the viewer can see where the action takes place. Here we used a camera movement technique called panning. We moved  the camera horizontally to the right. With this technique we established a scene. We did the pan shot using a tripod so we could move our camera around without any shake. Later I have read that the pan shot often starts with a still frame, and ends with a still frame. So next time we will take this into consideration.

The action then develops through a mix of medium and close shots.

A medium wide shot (A student is sitting at the desk and looking at the window )This allows the viewer to get to know the character more closely by viewing his facial expressions and body language. We see that he is bored. It is an eye-line shot : a sequence of two shots. In the first, you are shown a character looking; in the second you are presented with what he  sees, as if you were looking out of that character's eyes.

 Then one more eye-line shot follows.

                                                                                A student is looking at the clock.


                                                                                           



                                                                                 A view of a big clock showing the time.   

                                                                               
 

The student is daydreaming about going outside.Suddenly he is falling asleep.








We used some special effects in our film to make it more entertaining.

                                                                          Eye effect gives an element of entertainment that makes the viewer want to watch the film.








Transparency effect helps to create the illusion of walking in dreams, not in reality. Unfortunately, we couldn't continue this effect in the beginning of the scene of walking along the corridor because we hadn't filmed the necessary shot before.

We used a tracking shot in the scene of going along the corridor.  The camera was following the action. We didn't have a dolly to pull the camera and get a smooth movement. We did the tracking shot hand held. That's why the scene is looking shaky. Nevertheless, it creates an interesting effect.



In his dream the student is moving to the lockers area in order to take his things and go home. When he opens the locker, he sees devil's face inside. He is frightened At this moment he hears a voice and wakes up (jumping up with fright). He realises that his teacher is standing next to him and the eyes and the voice are ...his teacher's.


Camerawork: the camera was used at different angles. Here is one example:

A low angle shot was used to show the dominance and power of the teacher. This is also a POV shot, because we see that from the point of view the student.  It helps give a sense of confusion, fear and insecurity in the student, who is psychologically dominated by the figure on the screen.




Editing: In the editing process, we selected shots, reduced them to the necessary length and put together in sequences following continuity rules ; then soundtrack was completed and added, along with effects and titles. We used available software, ''Adobe Premiere Pro CS6'' and ''Adobe After Effects CS6'', however most of editing as done in Adobe Premiere Pro,which is a really comfortable and useful program.

Sound: We wanted to use the sound to amplify the action.At first, we were really unsure about the sound, but then we decided to pick a 'Heart Beat'sound. It fit in really good.


To sum up, I feel that I have learnt a lot in the time between filming our continuity exercise video and this short film.I have learnt a lot about the importance of camera angles. Also I found that Adobe Premiere Pro is a lot easier to use than I had thought before. I learnt the importance of planning before filming.


                                                                        

                                                                                                     

Production Schedule

Pre-production stage - Paperwork- 16.10 - 23.10 (trial shoots on 23.10)

<---This is our production schedule for trial shoots.

Production stage - filming- 05.11 -07.11
Post-production stage- editing -08.11-deadline(14.11)

TALENT AGREEMENT RELEASE

Location Release

Budgeting

Luckily in our short film, we don't have to spend money. The equipment is available to us through college and the editing software is also available to us. We need no costumes or make up and the only props we need are a mask of a Devil, pens and sheets of paper. These props are given by our college.

Prop/costume list

                                                            Costume List
As we are filming a school story, all students will wear their casual clothes. The main character will also be dressed casually as a usual student. He(me) will be wearing a blue Adidas hoodie, grey jeans, and grey high top trainers.
                                                              Prop List
A mask of Devil, sheets of paper, pens

Recce location

 

ROOM W12

 

LOCKERS AREA

 

 

 

 

Risk Assessment Form

Storyboard

Shot List

1. INT. Classroom. Long shot panning.
2. INT. Classroom. Medium shot of a student.
3. Close up eye line match.
4. Medium shot of a teacher.
5. Medium shot of the student looking towards the clock.
6. Close up shot of the clock.
7. Medium shot of the student  falling asleep. 
8.  Long shot panning of the student getting up of his chair and walking towards the exit of the classroom.
9. Point of view tracking.
10. Medium shot of the student at his locker pulling out the locker key.
11. Close up of the student unlocking the locker.
12. Medium shot of the opened locker.
13. Point of view shot of inside the locker.
14. Close up of the student.
15. A trombone shot of the locker.
16. A medium shot. Student wakes up in shock.
17. A point of view shot of the student  tilting up to the face of the teacher who shows power with the mask.
18. Close up of the student.
19. Medium shot of the teacher.

Depict Production Diary

16th October 2013
Today we got into our groups, we shared quite a lot of ideas with each other and have come with a final one!

17th October 2013
This time we worked on a storyboard and have made a plan for the shot list.
       
18th October 2013
We have finished working on our storyboard.

22nd October 2013
Today we have completed a location recce.  We had to take some pictures of  locations we are going to use and to see when they are available. We also finished filling in Risk Assessment form. I am looking forward to putting our planning into practice

23rd October 2013
Today with one of our group members being absent, we have started draft filming. We used our completed storyboards to help us. We used the classroom to establish the setting.We have also uploaded our draft shots onto our computer.

4th November 2013
Today I had to create several documents by myself because Lauren is still on holiday, and Luis' laptop is broken. I have filled in Talent Agreement Release, Location Release, Budget Sheet, Production Schedule, and Prop/Costume List.

5th November 2013
The classroom scenes were shot today. Unfortunately, my crew members Lauren and Luis were absent. I am very thankful to my teachers Ellie and Sean who helped me to shoot some scenes.

6th November 2013
The lockers area scenes were shot today. On the whole, we have finished filming today. So it is time to start editing.

7th November 2013
Today we have edited the first part of our film. 

12 November 2013
Today we have started editing the second part of our film.

13 November 2013
We have finished editing our film today. We wanted to add some more effects but the deadline.........

Depict Planning (Initial Idea)

Concept: A short film about a student who falls asleep during a boring lesson.

Synopsis: Classroom - Early Afternoon
A view of the classroom (the lesson is in progress).
A student is sitting at the desk. A view of a big clock showing the time. He feels bored. He is starring at the window. The weather is wonderful outside. The sun is shining brightly in the blue sky, the birds are singing, etc. The student is daydreaming about going outside. Suddenly he is falling asleep. In his dream he is moving to the lockers area in order to take his things and go home. When he opens the locker, he sees somebody's eyes (or mask) inside. He is frightened and running to escape from his fear. At this moment he hears a voice and wakes up (jumping up with fright). He realises that his teacher is standing next to him and the eyes and the voice are ...his teacher's.

Depict video analysis

DEPICT is a world known competition that is mainly based on short videos that can only last 90 seconds.
As my new assignment I had to choose 3 best videos that deserve to win. In my opinion, these are 'Unicorn' by Ninian Doff ,  'Four Years From Now Walking With My Daughter' by Liam Owen, and 'Sun' by Paul Hill.
It is difficult to decide which film takes the 1st place. 'Unicorn' is good from the point of view of acting and film techniques. The idea is also quite interesting. But the  creative idea of the animated 'Sun' is more interesting for me. However, the animation in 'Four Years From Now Walking With My Daughter' seems more professional.

Analysis of Film Techniques
'Unicorn'
The film starts with a long shot setting the scene.

Then come some medium close-ups and  mid shots.

We can see  the characters from the waist up. From these shots, we can see the characters' faces clearly as well as their interaction.



Camera angles in this film help shape the meaning. The low angle  makes a character and a unicorn look more powerful. This makes the audience feel small by looking up at the character and the unicorn.



We are viewing this scene from other character's point of view (POV shot and over the shoulder shot).


By the way, over the shoulder shots are widely used in this film because there are dialogue scenes where we are given a frontal view of a dialogue partner from the perspective of someone standing behind and slightly to the side of the other partner, so that parts of both can be seen.
 'Four Years From Now Walking With My Daughter'
The opening scene is a wide angle long shot of a beautiful landscape. Then we are introduced with two main characters followed by side scrolling animation. The characters are shown partly; we don't see their faces because the idea was to show the movement of life without any personification. The focus is on what the characters are doing. The poem adds to the impression of the beautiful walking.



to be continued